‘Cheers to friendship,’ she repeated.
‘Now tell me, what happened before to make you wary of me?’
She let out another sigh and took in a deep breath.
‘Well. There were a lot of things that caused friction between all of us. But it all came to a head when I told Marcus his wife was having an affair with his best friend, who lived next door, in your cottage.’
Eight
‘Are you busy?’ I asked Madi when she answered her phone an hour or so later, after I’d turned the heating on and poured myself a mug of hot chocolate from the flask Adele had kindly made me having told her about my capricious kitchen tap. ‘Because you are not going to believe this, and it’ll take some time for me to tell you everything.’
‘Let me grab my coffee and settle on the sofa. Is this about Paul? Did something happen last night?’
‘No. It’s even better than that.’
‘Better than Paul? What – or who, could be better than Paul?’
‘Marcus and Adele. Hurry up and get settled because I’m bursting to tell you. And before you ask, Adele knows I tell you everything, and I told her I would be telling you this, so this isn’t gossip or talking behind anyone’s back.’
‘Okay. That’s good. Although, if it’s juicy I’m not sure I’d care. Right. I’m settled. Go.’
‘Dad gave me a lift home and …. Oh, you don’t need to know all that. Adele invited me in for coffee this morning, much to my surprise, and once we started talking, it all came tumbling out.’
‘Wow! Finally. After all this time.’
I told Madi all the stuff about Adele’s baking, about her low self-esteem, about her opening up regarding her feelings, about her struggling financially, about her losing her job and how she is certain Cara and possibly Jeff had been involved in some way, and then I got to the bit that had literally taken my breath away when Adele had told me.
‘The guy who owned this cottage when I bought it, had been Marcus’ best friend. He and Marcus had bought the cottages several years ago at the same time as Adele had bought hers. All three cottages had come up for sale when more of the land and property that was once part of Midwinter Farm was being sold off. Anyway, they all got on and soon became friends but over the course of a year or so, Adele formed a bit of a crush on Marcus.’
‘You see! I knew something had happened between them,’ Madi said when I had stopped for breath.
‘Wait. There’s more. Marcus started dating, “a stunningly beautiful woman” to use Adele’s own words. Her name was Cara, and she and Adele soon became friends too, even though Adele was a little jealous of her. Marcus had no idea how Adele felt about him, and nor had Cara, as far as Adele knew.’
‘They had an affair didn’t they? And Cara found out.’
‘No. Will you let me tell the story?’
‘Okay. But hurry up.’
‘Fine. Fast forward a couple of years. Cara and Marcus are now engaged, but Adele began to have doubts about Cara’s friendship because Cara suddenly started saying hurtful things about Adele, not just behind her back, which Adele happened to overhear, but also to Adele’s face. Things like, ‘You need to watch your weight, Adele, or you’ll never get a man.’ Adele admitted that she started overeating when Marcus proposed to Cara. But Cara was also telling Marcus that Adele was saying hurtful things about her. About Cara, that is. Which wasn’t true. ButMarcus started to believe it after a while and he asked Adele to stop hurting Cara. Tensions formed between Marcus and Adele, and Cara and Adele. Marcus’ best friend, Jeff said he wasn’t taking sides, but then he too started being nasty to Adele.’
‘Can I say something here?’ Madi interrupted. ‘Cara was clearly a bit of a bitch, wasn’t she? Unless Adele was lying?’
‘I don’t think Adele was lying. Cara was a bitch, as Marcus would soon find out. Fast forward another year or so and Marcus and Cara are married. Adele wasn’t invited to the wedding, but Jeff was Marcus’ best man. Now Cara, Marcus, and Jeff were no longer friends with Adele and she started to feel isolated. She ate more, stayed indoors so that she didn’t bump into her neighbours, and basically, her world began to fall apart. She lost her job as head baker and pastry chef at a swanky hotel a few miles away, where she had worked for several years. It’s since been taken over by a hotel chain now, but anyway, she was told she was let go because there had been complaints about her food and there were rumours about her having sex with some of the guests. Something Adele said she never did and never would do. They didn’t believe her because there were some photos sent anonymously to the hotel manager, of Adele having drinks at the bar with a couple of different guests. She said that’s all it was. Drinks. And that those guests had invited her just for a drink.’
‘Poor woman. Men can be so awful.’
‘I know. Adele managed to get a job at Fairlight Bakes, but only as a waitress, because the owners do their own baking. Adele told me they are really good bakers, so I suppose that’s fair enough. But this meant that she was struggling to pay her mortgage, and still is, because she’s earning less than half of what she was. But she couldn’t get a good reference from the hotel and she’d worked there for years so no one else would employ her without that reference.’
‘Blimey. And you think you’ve got problems?’
‘It gets worse. Adele came home early one afternoon because she wasn’t feeling well, and she saw Cara and Jeff having sex. They hadn’t closed the curtains because it was the afternoon and Marcus was at work and they thought Adele was too. Only a few people ever come up to the cottages on Midwinter Lane, so they probably thought they were safe. Or maybe they liked the risk of being seen. But not by Marcus, obviously. They didn’t know they had been seen by Adele, who saw them at it again two days later. A few weeks later, Adele saw yet another session, but this time she managed to corner Marcus, in the car park that evening, and she told him what she’d seen and when. He didn’t believe her and they argued. Jeff and Cara then told Marcus that Adele had made it up because she was obsessed with him and she wanted him for herself. Marcus believed them and told Adele that he knew what she was trying to do. He told her he’d get a restraining order against her, and they’d sue her for defamation if she spread rumours about Cara and Jeff. At the time, Marcus was a solicitor, so Adele believed he’d sue her, and she had no proof, so she stayed out of their way even more.’
‘Oh my god. But would you have thought Marcus was a solicitor?’
‘Nope. He isn’t now. But I’ll get to that. Where was I? Oh yes. By now, Adele hated Cara, Jeff and even Marcus. But one day, Marcus himself came home early and saw his wife and his best friend having sex in Jeff’s sitting room, for anyone passing by to see. He stormed to the front door, and there was a massive row, which Adele heard because she was home as it was her day off. This was a few days before Christmas, two years ago. On Christmas Eve, Cara left Marcus and moved in with Jeff, next door!’
‘What? She really is a bitch. And Jeff’s not much better. Who needs friends like that?’
