Marika gave a little smile, pushed her hair back from her face. ‘It is a beautiful meal you have prepared, Mrs Hunter, but unfortunately I can eat very little. I am a vegetarian, you see. I do not eat rice either, or pasta.’
Evie set her knife and fork against her plate. ‘But Jordan told me …’ She looked across at him for confirmation. ‘I’m sure you told me she didn’t have any dietary issues.’
‘I might have forgotten about the rice and pasta but I definitely said you needed to have a good selection ofvegetariandishes.’ He gave her an innocent shake of his head. ‘But never mind; let’s just enjoy the afternoon, shall we? Marika does love puddings so she’ll more than make up for what she’s not eaten here, won’t you, babe?’
‘Oh yes.’ Marika nodded, looking across at him with an adoring smile.
Evie stared at her food then reached for her wine glass. The meal continued in silence.
‘How could he? How could he do this to me?’ Evie screeched, turning on Gareth, her face red with rage.
They had just waved Jordan and Marika off and closed the front door. During the meal everything was calm, although early on Gareth had detected one of Evie’s volcanic outbursts brewing. The constant topping up of her wine glass and her lack of conversation were the key elements to an approaching storm. It had been left to Marika to hold sway, enlightening them all about her life in Poland and her reasons for coming to the UK. As she talked of her dreams her hand slipped over Jordan’s.Gareth noticed he didn’t pull away. She kept referring to him as ‘my lovely Jordie’, something that made him cringe and caused Evie to pour even more wine down her throat. Was he honestly smitten with this girl? Or was it merely another spiteful game he was playing with his mother? From the expression on his face and the way his gaze constantly drifted towards her, he guessed the latter. Nasty little bastard.
However, in some ways he believed Evie was only reaping what she had sewn. From an early age their son had been wrapped in cotton wool, sent off to the same smart school Ruan’s children attended, Evie had insisted. Over the years her demands grew with more nagging, more rows, until it became all too easy to step back and simply let her have her way. Anything for a peaceful and quiet life. His weakness had been his undoing. It turned his wife into a monster: one who had just rushed past him and was currently out by the pool trashing everything she could lay her hands on.
He followed the sounds of splintering glass and shattering crockery. Coming to an abrupt halt in the doorway of the dining room, he surveyed the chaos. Well, she’d done herself proud today, even managing to heave a couple of patio chairs into the pool. And now she stood out on the lawn, shoulders slumped, head bowed, sobbing. Carefully avoiding the carnage, he made his way towards her, wrapping her in his arms. Evie went limp, sobbing into his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled into his chest. ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’ Hearing her words it occurred to him he’d been here so many times before with ruined crockery and wine-stained carpets. Once Jordan became an adult and was inundated with young women falling all over themselves to be seen out with him, instead of letting go and simply being there for him like most mothers, Evie continued to smother him; to constantly interfere. Something which ultimately led to today’sevents – Jordan punishing his mother in the way he knew best: humiliation.
Her life, lived solely to serve his wants and needs, meant she had few, if any friends. She had been outgoing when she was young, but not now. At Rotary dinner/dances she had little to say to the other wives and turned down invitations to lunch or to join groups. They thought her snobbish, unaware this preferred isolation was in order to devote her time to her son. A dangerous path, which led them to where they were now. Her continual refusal to recognise an obsession, which had reached alarming levels, led Gareth to reluctantly admit his wife probably needed professional help. But how did you help someone who, within their alcoholic bubble, insisted there was nothing wrong, that their world was perfect?
Chapter Sixteen
The first week in September heralded the end of the summer season and was marked, as it was each year, by the Carrenporth Beach Barbeque. Cat had been liaising with Sam and Benita all week, transferring the large, portable commercial grills from the hotel, helping Benita with the food order and stocking up on wine and spirits needed. For the last five years it had been a shared project between the hotel and beach restaurant; a regular yearly gathering which saw the community, the hotel and the small restaurant come together in celebration. For Cat, the event was normally tinged with sadness as it marked the end of another summer. But now, with Luke, it was simply one more event in their connected lives.
Since their first night together she regularly slept at the cottage. Always waking before Luke did, she enjoyed those first quiet moments of the day. She loved to observe him, watching the rise and fall of his chest as he slept. There were times she was tempted to reach out to smooth his dark hair away from his damp forehead; to run her fingers over his cheek or down his stubbled jawline. There was so much to love about him: his strength, his gentleness and his honesty were only a few of the qualities she admired.
For a while Cat was happier than she had ever been, but over the last couple of weeks there had been one significant problem. His mobile constantly rang or buzzed with an incoming text and he would excuse himself, telling her it was ‘just work’ and leave her to take the call outside or in another room. Instantly, she became suspicious. What work issue could be so secret it required her to be out of earshot? At first she tried to ignore the calls, but as they became more frequent her curiosity increased. Who was phoning him out of hours? If it was customers, howhad they come by his personal mobile number? She already knew Arcadia’s policy about out of hours customer contact. There was a dedicated mobile number and a rota of senior technicians to cover those sorts of emergencies. A week after they began Luke’s calls appeared to be happening three or four times a week. It meant something else was going on and she was determined to find out what. During the third week when he’d left her in The Smugglers and walked outside to take yet another work call, he was gone for nearly twenty minutes. Annoyed, she’d waited for him to return.
‘Who was that, Luke?’ She’d tried to sound curious rather than confrontational.
‘Only work.’ He’d given her a reassuring smile as he’d pocketed his phone. ‘Absolutely nothing for you to worry about.’
‘But …’
‘Shh …’ He’d leaned in and given her a soft kiss, suggesting maybe it was time to take her home.
He’d seemed preoccupied during their short walk to his Nissan and as they reached it he caught her hand and pulled her gently around to face him. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been so secretive lately,’ he’d said. ‘Those phone calls. There’s a potential customer who may be about to spend rather a lot of money with us.’
‘What kind of customer?’ Cat had asked, wondering who was so important they could demand such out of hours attention.
‘Oh, it’s a new guy. Big commercial car and van hire up the coast. Gareth has asked if I’d make myself available.’
‘Why didn’t you say?’
‘I didn’t realise it would become so intrusive. I’m sorry.’ He’d bent his head, brushing her mouth with a soft, apologetic kiss.
Cat had no idea who this customer was but she wasn’t sure running around after them before a contract was signed was agood idea. However, now she knew the reason behind the texts and phone calls she felt a little easier.
‘Any idea how long this is likely to go on for?’
‘Not for much longer, I promise, and …’ he’d pulled her against him gently and nuzzled her ear ‘… when this is all over I’m going to take you out to the fanciest place I can find for dinner to make things up to you.’
‘The biggest and most expensive, I hope,’ she’d teased, giving him a gentle shove. It was hopeless, she could never be mad at him for long.
‘Only the best for you, Cat.’ He’d followed his comment with one of his hot and very passionate kisses.
‘I’ve a late start tomorrow,’ she’d whispered in his ear. ‘I could stay, keep you warm in that big bed of yours.’
‘No, better not.’ He’d brushed his mouth softly against hers. ‘I need to drop back into Arcadia to collect some paperwork.’
