‘He knows where I am.’ In a daze Margot came inside. It was as if her legs were barely working as Bonnie led her to the table and sat her down. ‘All this time I’ve been waiting to get another email or for him to make a move.’
‘Well now he has.’ Bonnie unbuttoned Margot’s coat for her. ‘So that’s done, over with. And you’re safe with us.’
Faye made a mug of tea for Margot and set it in front of her and Bonnie turned down the oven.
‘The dinner,’ said Margot. ‘I’m ruining dinner.’
‘Nobody is ruining anything,’ said Bonnie firmly. ‘The dinner will be fine. The potatoes are still in the oven, the lamb is covered and ready. Now tell us what happened exactly?’
Faye covered up the mint sauce as Margot recalled the confrontation with Perry, the way she stood her ground, that she told her husband she had left him and she’d been in touch with a solicitor. She was shaking and Faye encouraged her to sip the tea and by the time she’d finished it and Bonnie had begun to dish up their dinner she finally managed a small smile.
‘I didn’t get in the car,’ Margot told them both although it sounded like she was telling herself as much as anyone else. ‘I didn’t go with him. Even up until today I didn’t know what I’d do if…’
Faye put an arm around her shoulders and only let go when dinner was on the table and she felt Margot’s body finally relax.
Dinner and conversation were exactly what they needed. Margot was in shock after her encounter but as they talked she realised this moment had been coming and now that it was out of the way, she could keep moving forwards.
Eventually they moved on from talking about Perry to chatting about Margot’s interview, a topic Faye knew would put a smile back on her friend’s face despite her husband’s behaviour.
Margot told them all about the people she’d met, the fun she’d had, the challenges, her nerves.
‘Even if I don’t get the job,’ she said with a smile, ‘today was a day to remember.’ Margot raised her glass. They’d opened a bottle of red to share. ‘To new beginnings and to new friends,’ she said.
‘To new beginnings and new friends,’ Bonnie and Faye chorused.
‘I know we’re talking about brighter things,’ said Margot, ‘but can I just say that until today I’d never stood up to Perry like that, unless you count the time he talked about sending the boys away to boarding school. I think I got so busy raising a family and doing the right thing that I didn’t see how bad he’d got until it was too late. Half the time I thought I was being ridiculous; some of the time I told myself just what he told me today: that I was lucky. And I was. He was never violent; I never wanted for anything in the financial sense. But I was lost and it took my boys leaving home for me to really see it.’
Faye had known that her distraction, the talk about the interview, would’ve eventually given way to more talk about Perry. Margot needed to get it all out and Faye was glad that she felt comfortable to do so in the safety of the cottage.
‘You’re a strong person, Margot,’ Bonnie assured her as Faye cleared the plates away and dismissed Bonnie’s effort to help.
The plates still in her hands before she reached the sink, Faye beamed. ‘I bet it felt good to tell him no and to watch him drive away.’
‘It really did. This is it. I am never going back to my marriage.’ She looked at both of them, determination on her face as she removed her wedding ring and platinum engagement ring that had been on the fourth finger of her left hand for far too long already. ‘I’m going to get a job,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m going to make my own money; I won’t have to answer to anyone.’ She said it with such conviction it was clear she was no longer going to put up with the life she’d had before.
And then Margot turned to Bonnie. ‘Your Howard was so kind to me. He never told me to get out of my marriage, not in so many words, but somehow it was better that way. The things he said helped me see it for what it was, helped me see I could have more, that I was worth more.’
‘That’s my Howard.’ Bonnie smiled.
Faye sat down at the table again. ‘You must miss him so much.’
‘Every single day.’
‘I know he’s missed at the bookshop,’ said Margot. ‘People mention him often. And we all miss him at book club,’ Margot told her.
‘He’d always be there,’ Faye added, ‘every week. He’d always have his pyjamas on apart from when you guys were travelling. He said that coming to the club was like being a part of a midnight mystery, an adventure. He said he felt like a character in an Enid Blyton book.’
Bonnie seemed to love that. ‘Does the book club have anyone else like Howard?’
‘There was only ever one Howard,’ said Margot.
Faye told Bonnie a bit about some of the other members in the Midnight Book Club and Bonnie told them about some of the book clubs Howard had tried over the years, including the one he’d gone to every Tuesday and came home complaining they talked about whisky more than stories. And as they talked Faye exchanged a look with Margot. Bonnie was very chatty these days and she was taking more of an interest in what went on beyond her cottage. Getting her to the bookshop was going to be a challenge but she was taking small steps all the time, like the painting she hadn’t been able to work on and then suddenly found she was able to start, like not inviting them in when they first knocked on her door and now forming a wonderful friendship. Bonnie was changing and every little step was a win.
‘Are you going to be all right?’ Bonnie asked Margot when it was time to pull on their coats and call it a night. ‘You don’t think Perry will be lurking near your accommodation, do you?’
Margot looked like that was exactly what she suspected. ‘He doesn’t like to lose at anything, but he has a job that means more to him than anything – that’s why he was in a suit and why he was here in the evening; he wouldn’t want to take much time off work.’
‘But youareworried?’ Bonnie pressed.
