She was about to close her email when another one jumped out at her. It was from one of the customers at her dad’s water-sports business in Queensland and so she clicked on it assuming this would be about booking more lessons, or asking whether her dad had a certain piece of equipment for sale. But it wasn’t. This was from Daryl, a lovely man in his seventies who had learned to kayak with her five years ago at the age of sixty-eight and had fallen in love with the sport.
She smiled. Daryl was lovely, great company.
But the smile fell away when she read on.
He had written because he was aware that Keith and Faye weren’t around at the moment. He thought they should know that the reporters had been asking questions to everyone who came to the business and that morning he’d been hounded himself for comment when he was only a customer. Faye knew what being targeted was like and felt for him. But hadn’t the gossip died down now? Weren’t people tired of the story?
It was only when she stood at the side of the pavement moving out of the way of the same lady from earlier pushing her pram uphill that she did a bit of reconnaissance on her phone. And she didn’t have to do much to find out why this was happening.
The headline:
Politician Leaves Wife for Lover Half His Age
said it all. She didn’t need to read the body of text beneath it to know that her sister, Steph, and Brad’s father were back together.
21
BONNIE
It was the fifth day in a row that Bonnie had seen the girls – Margot usually came in the mornings, Faye in the afternoons, and sometimes their visits overlapped. Other times, like today, they showed up together. During the visits the girls liked to talk about Howard, the book club, and the bookshop, and rather than inducing more pain, the memories were slowly becoming more of a comfort.
Faye had brought Midas with her again today and they spent a bit of time outside wandering around in the sunshine, inspecting the state of the flowerbeds.
‘They’re terrible, I know.’ Back inside in the warm, the doors to the garden closed, Bonnie made them all a cup of tea.
‘The pots won’t take much sorting,’ Margot assured her. ‘I could do them if you like. You could have something winter-flowering or you could pop in some bulbs – how about daffodils or tulips, and they’ll bloom come spring? You’ll have more colour than you can imagine.’
It did sound rather good. ‘I’ll have a think, decide on something.’
‘Good,’ said Margot. ‘That’s settled then.’
Midas happily curled up next to the radiator in the kitchen while the girls sat at the table. ‘He likes it here,’ said Bonnie, almost to herself. ‘He reminds me of Patsy, our German shepherd when I was a young girl. German shepherds aren’t known for being docile, but Patsy was.’ She stirred a spoonful of sugar into her tea from the little bowl she’d set in the middle of the table. ‘I think it’s the amount of time Dad spent training her that did it. And the exercise.’
‘The exercise?’ Margot shook her head at the offer of sugar.
‘Those sorts of dogs need mental and physical stimulation,’ said Bonnie. ‘You don’t want them getting bored; that’s when they misbehave. At least that’s what my dad told me.’
‘Did you ever think about getting a dog?’ Faye blew across the top of her tea.
‘Me and Howard?’ She shook her head. ‘Not really, not when we both had work. Howard did talk about it when he retired but it was always one of those “maybe one day” things. Then I retired, and we travelled.’ Life went by far too fast.
‘What is that on the stove?’ Faye was curious about the large deep saucepan that was making a low rumbling sound.
Bonnie smiled. ‘I thought it might be nice to make you both Howard’s favourite pudding.’ She’d made the syrup sponge before the girls turned up and it was happily steaming away inside the saucepan in the pudding basin she’d placed on top of a trivet.
Margot’s eyes widened. ‘The famous steamed syrup sponge?’
‘He told you about it?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Faye, ‘he was forever talking about how delicious it was.’
Bonnie had wondered whether she would ever make it again after the day he died, given she’d taken him a piece and promptly thrown it everywhere when she realised what had happened, but something about these women had made her want to try. And the thought of her Howard sharing this part of their world with his friends touched her more than she expected. It brought him closer again, the same way that had been happening since these two women walked into her life.
While the pudding cooked, talk turned to Faye’s family and specifically her dad when Bonnie asked after him.
‘He’s taking it all in his stride. I think it’s the only way he knows how when it comes to my sister.’
‘So are the stories definitely true about Steph and that politician?’ Bonnie asked. Faye had told her all about it and she had to say having a sister like Steph sounded hard-going. ‘It’s not salacious gossip?’
