Ralph cleared his throat. ‘We must get going,’ he said, sounding slightly desperate.
Edie apologised. ‘We need something for supper,’ she told April. ‘Any suggestions? It can’t be too complicated.’
April thought for a moment. ‘What aboutkeftedes– Greek meatballs.’
She pointed to the meat section in one of the refrigerators. ‘All you need is some ground beef or lamb, fresh mint, chopped onion, garlic, an egg, salt and pepper and breadcrumbs. Mix them all together, make them into little balls and fry them in olive oil. They only take about fifteen minutes. You can have them withtzatziki– I’ve got some here – and a squeeze of lemon juice. I’d serve them with pitta and a Greek salad. They’re delicious and dead easy.’
Edie glanced at Ralph, who nodded and said, ‘Sounds perfect.’
‘Mac?’ Edie prompted, because he hadn’t spoken and clearly wasn’t paying attention.
‘Oh, yes, anything. Great.’
She looked at him properly, because he sounded far away, and his appearance shook her. He seemed lost and sort of shrunken, all his anger and bluster gone.
‘You all right?’ she asked, experiencing an unexpected wave of sympathy.
‘Yes, fine, well…’ He swallowed. ‘You know,ish.’
She gave his arm a squeeze. ‘It’ll be all right, you’ll see.’ She wasn’t sure she believed it, though.
Hannah breezed in as they were paying for the food and offered her bank card.
‘It’s OK, Ralph and I have got this,’ Edie told her.
On the way back, Hannah made a point of staying close to Mac. She even took his hand at one point. Edie, behind them, wondered if he’d shake her off, but he didn’t.
In fact, there seemed to be a new spring in his step, as if his wife’s tender gesture had breathed new energy into his limbs and feet, which were landing on the ground more lightly.
Supper turned out to be a jolly affair. The wine flowed and moods were high. Ralph left the meatballs on for too long and they were rather burned, but no one cared.
Looking round the laughing faces in the candlelight, Edie felt her tension evaporating, like steam from a kettle. Perhaps Hannah and Ralph were OK and the holiday would be all right after all.
‘So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?’ she asked, when they all rose and started to clear up the plates and glasses.
Mac and Hannah exchanged glances.
‘I think we both fancy a chilled day here, right, Aitch?’ It was his pet name for her. Edie hadn’t heard him use it in a long while.
‘Definitely,’ Hannah replied, with an unmistakably cheeky grin.
11
Jessica didn’t message anyone the following day and tellingly, no one tried to contact her, either.
‘I wonder what time she’ll be back,’ Edie said to Ralph, on her left, when they were lazing by the pool in the late afternoon. Hannah and Mac were lying on her other side, both with their eyes closed.
‘Late, I expect,’ Ralph replied gruffly. ‘Any time will be too soon, as far as I’m concerned.’ He growled, like a dog guarding its supper.
Edie took a deep breath. ‘At least we’ve had a bit of a break from her. Maybe she’ll have mellowed on her trip.’
After a while, Hannah and Mac woke up in restless moods and Hannah announced she was going for a shower.
‘Coming?’ she asked Mac, looking all wide-eyed and fake-innocent. It was obvious what she was thinking.
Mac got up and followed her indoors.
Sometime later, Ralph said he’d had enough sun and wanted to read his book upstairs. Edie told him she’d do twenty lengths of the pool before joining him.
