Leaning his elbows on his knees, Murray looked out across the garden, seemingly focused on a blackbird fluttering between the willow and one of the hedges. He glanced down at her hands wrapped around her mug. ‘And your own wedding? You planned that too?’
‘Ha, the chance would be a fine thing!’ She held her left hand up and wriggled her ringless fingers before clamping her lips shut and closing her eyes. That was her stock answer when clients asked her, which nine times out of ten they did, but she hadn’t meant to say that to him. ‘Sorry, I mean, no. In fact, I’ve recently split up with someone.’
‘Ah, I’m so sorry.’ Looking at her, he grimaced. ‘I’ve gone and put my foot in it, haven’t I?’
Shaking her head, she smiled. For some reason, she didn’t want him to think she was pining over Rick. Nothing could be further from the truth. ‘Not at all. To be honest, things between us ended months ago, we’ve just been living together until the rental agreement was up.’
‘Ouch! Now, that’s tough, living with an ex, and that’s coming from someone who did it for two months.’
‘You did?’ He was single then. Or, of course, he could be talking about an ex before the relationship he was in now. If he was. She glanced at his left hand. No ring. But he was a carpenter, he wouldn’t wear his ring to work. Plus, she didn’t care. It was none of her business, and she wasn’t interested, anyway. She quickly looked away, embarrassed that she’d even glanced at his left hand.
‘I did. Just before I moved back home from America, actually. And it was tough, so I understand and sympathise. I’m assuming you’ve got your cottage back to yourself now?’
‘That’s right. I have my cottage.’ She omitted to add that that was all she had, and that Rick had cleared her out of all belongings. ‘I’m sorry to hear that too.’
‘Thanks.’ He took a long gulp of coffee before placing the empty mug on the step beside him. ‘Although it was for the best. Things have a funny way of working out, don’t you think?’
Ellie frowned. Did they? She thought back to just a few days ago, in the space of twenty-four hours, she’d lost her job, Rick had moved out and taken most of their things with him and she’d run into the one person who had broken her heart. Yes, she supposed they did have a funny way of working out. But she had a feeling her ‘working out’ was nowhere as positive a spin as Murray’s was on the saying. ‘Is that why you moved back?’
‘Because me and Jenny split up?’ He shrugged. ‘No, I was ready to move back, regardless.’
What was that supposed to mean? He would rather have moved countries than try to stay in his relationship? Well, that was what had happened to them, hadn’t it? So maybe she had understood that correctly. ‘And she didn’t want to? Move back, I mean?’
‘Sorry, that probably sounded harsher than I meant it to be. We’d been having a rocky time of it for months before we made the decision to split. We did mull over the idea of trialling a long-distance relationship, but we both knew that wouldn’t work. We both knew the relationship had seen out its time, so we decided to go our separate ways.’ He pulled a face. ‘That does sound harsh, doesn’t it?’
Pulling one knee up beneath her, she shifted so she was facing him. ‘No, it doesn’t. In fact, apart from the affair, that’s pretty much what happened between myself and my ex.’
‘The affair? He cheated on you?’ Murray widened his eyes.
‘Uh-huh. I mean, I’m not one hundred per cent sure he was seeing her whilst me and him were still okay…’ She curled her forefingers around the word ‘okay’ as she wasn’t sure that was the best description for her and Rick’s relationship. Certainly not in the latter years, anyway. ‘But he was seeing her whilst things were falling apart and when we were living together but separately. You know, seeing out the terms of our tenancy. And I didn’t know about it.’
‘Wow. How could anyone have an affair behind your back?’ Murray shook his head in disbelief. ‘I’m so sorry that happened to you.’
Ellie bit the tip of her tongue to prevent herself from replying something along the lines of ‘much the same way someone plans their future with me and then runs off to another country’. Instead, when she did speak, she did so quietly. ‘I don’t really blame him. Things hadn’t been right for a good long while.’
‘That’s no excuse. It’s never right to start seeing someone else behind your partner’s back.’ Murray shook his head vehemently. ‘No excuse.’
‘Thanks. I didn’t actually find out about her until the day he moved out.’
Sighing audibly, Murray shook his head. ‘I really am sorry.’
Shrugging, she forced a smile. ‘Hey, it wasn’t you who had the affair.’
‘No, but…’ Letting his voice trail off, he looked off into the distance once more.
Frowning, Ellie searched his face. Hoping his expression would tell her if the ‘but…’ was referring to him leaving her or if he was still just talking about Rick’s affair, but his eyes were hooded and he had that glazed expression on his face again, much the same as the one he’d had when he’d come running out of the gate yelling at her to move her car. What had happened in the years he’d been away? Something had. ‘Life can be trying at times.’
‘You can say that again,’ Murray muttered under his breath, his eyes still focused on something further down the garden.
Picking up her coffee mug again, she twisted it in her hands. She should be getting back to work, Laura might have finished with the family she was helping. Although it felt wrong to leave him as he was. He’d seemed so happy when he’d been on the phone earlier, and now, after talking about their dismal relationship statuses, he looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. She needed to – no, wanted to – say something to lighten the mood. ‘Now, there’s one certain secret about Meadowfield which we didn’t unearth in all our hours of research. One particular fortnightly event which isn’t spoken about until you’ve moved here in case it puts you off.’
Looking back at her, Murray blinked before smiling. ‘Oh really? What have I been missing?’
‘Umm, actually, you may have already been to one. Or a few. How long have you been skulking around the village before we ran into each other?’
‘This is my first full week here. I think we ran into each other on day two of my village life.’
‘Ha, no, you have no idea then. If you did, then you’d have been tempted to run a mile. Or ten, to the next town along.’ Ellie laughed. ‘The residents of Meadowfield hold fortnightly village meetings in the town hall, and everyone – and I mean everyone – is expected to attend.’
