Hannah, who was trembling, bit her lip and stared at her lap.
‘You can tell us,’ Edie persisted, meaning her and Ralph. ‘We’ve known each other forever. You know you can trust us, don’t you?’
‘Of course.’ Hannah looked up again with tears in her eyes. ‘He’s OK with you and Ralph. He’s really fond of you both. Plus, we go back such a long way. But if I ever mention meeting someone new – male or female – and say how much I like them, he gives me the silent treatment. Either that or he goes off on one. He says I bend over backwards for everyone else and hardly give any attention to him. Apparently, there’s no room in my life for new friends; I’ve got too many as it is.’ She gave a humourless laugh. ‘He certainly doesn’t want to meet anyone new either. He’s not interested. That’s why we hardly socialise together these days. If we ever get invited anywhere, he refuses to come.’
Edie exchanged glances with Ralph, who was chewing his thumbnail. She rolled her shoulders, which were stiff and achy all of a sudden.
‘This isn’t good,’ she said gently, leaning forward to touch Hannah lightly on the knee. ‘It’s classic controlling behaviour – you know that, don’t you?’
Hannah’s bottom lip quivered. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.
Edie sat up straight and took a deep breath. ‘This can’t go on, Hannah. It’s not right. Would he agree to marriage counselling, do you think?’
‘I asked a while ago. He refused point-blank.’
‘I can have a word with him?’ Ralph suggested. ‘Edie and I found counselling helpful ten years ago when we… when I… you know…’
His voice trailed off, but Hannah knew what he was referring to. She’d been Edie’s main source of comfort and support after she’d found out about the other woman.
Hannah was silent for a moment while she considered his proposal.
‘Thanks for the suggestion, but now’s not the right time,’ she said finally. ‘He’s too angry and I think it would make him feel cornered. He’d know we’d all been talking about him.
‘It’d be better to wait for the right moment. Maybe you and he could go for a drink sometime when we’re back in England? You could broach the subject then.’
She shivered, despite the heat, and reached for her cardigan on the back of her chair. ‘Check with me first, though, so I can be prepared.’
Ralph nodded gravely. ‘Of course.’
Edie gave a big sigh. ‘But I’m worried about younow, Hannah. Seriously, should you even be in the same room as him after he threw that mirror at you?’
Hannah gave a brave smile. ‘I appreciate your concern, but it’ll be fine, truly. He’ll have simmered down by the time I go up and if he hasn’t, I’ll sleep on the sofa.’
Edie knitted her brows. ‘It’s your call, of course. But remember, Ralph and I are always here for you. You can ask us for anything.’
12
Edie, Ralph and Hannah sat in the shade by the pool for a while and tried to read, but none of them could concentrate.
When Hannah’s phone rang, they all jumped, but it wasn’t Jessica. It was Hannah’s eighteen-year-old daughter Charlotte.
Hannah got up and took the call at the other end of the pool, so as not to disturb the others, but they could hear her anyway.
A few moments into the conversation, Edie couldn’t help noticing a frown appear on her friend’s forehead, and her face, normally round and smooth, turned pale and pinched.
‘For God’s sake, Charlotte! What the hell were you thinking?’
Edie glanced at Ralph, who rolled his eyes. He was no doubt reflecting, as she was, that things surely couldn’t get much worse, yet it seemed they just had.
Charlotte had always been a bit of a wild child and Hannah and Mac had briefly sent her to boarding school, hoping it would sort her out. But they couldn’t really afford the fees and she’d hated it anyway, so they’d pulled her out after just one term.
Maisie always said Charlotte was attention-seeking, and Maisie was usually right. She also said Charlotte couldn’t wait to get away from home as her parents hated each other and the atmosphere was toxic.
At the time, Edie had dismissed this as youthful exaggeration, but she now feared it wasn’t far from the truth.
‘It’s your problem. You sort it out…’ she heard Hannah say in a whisper-shout. And: ‘I’m not giving you a penny… borrow it from somewhere… I don’t know… I don’t care…’
When she’d finished speaking, Hannah stomped back to Edie and Ralph with a big scowl on her face.
