Kate smiled grudgingly. ‘Anyway, it’s hardly the same situation.’
‘True,’ Freddie allowed. ‘Maria was afraid she’d given her feelings away because she got a bit hot and bothered when the Captain was giving her a twirl in hislederhosen.’
Despite herself, Kate giggled.
‘And who’d blame her?’ Freddie continued. ‘You, on the otherhand, came right out and swallowed his ceremonial sword. I think it’s safe to say your cover is well and truly blown.’
‘Much as Will was,’ Ken said.
‘Oh, I don’t know why I’m laughing,’ Kate moaned. ‘It’s not funny. And you two could try not enjoying it so much either.’
‘Well, we couldtry,’ Freddie said, ‘but I doubt we’d get very far.’
‘The point is, you’ve shown your hand already, so what have you got to lose?’ Ken said.
‘Certainly not any dignity,’ Freddie said chirpily. ‘That ship has sailed.’
She knew they meant well, but Kate was feeling seriously ganged up on. As if he had sensed this, Ken’s tone changed. ‘I know it’s not an easy thing to do,’ he said gently, ‘but this is Will we’re talking about – the love of your life. I mean, heis, isn’t he?’
‘Yes.’ Kate sighed defeatedly. ‘I wish he wasn’t, but he is.’
‘Well, that’s that, then,’ Ken said, with an air of finality, grabbing the fat Sunday paper he had brought back from the shops and shaking it open.
He was right. If she had any chance of being with Will, she had to go for it. At least then if it didn’t work out, she would have nothing to reproach herself with. But she had to do something else first.
‘I’ve got to break up with Brian,’ she said. She might never have Will, but she couldn’t use Brian as a safety net – it wasn’t fair on him.
It occurred to her that she had never had to dump anyone before – she was usually the one dumped – and she didn’t have a clue how to go about it. She knew all too well how painful it was to be dumped, and she dreaded having to do that to Brian. It was a lot easier to be the dumpee.
Suddenly Ken sat up with a jolt, almost choking on his coffee.
‘What is it?’ Kate and Freddie asked in unison.
‘Oh, nothing—’ he spluttered, folding the paper he’d been reading while Freddie slapped him on the back.
‘What?’ Without waiting for an answer, Freddie picked up the paper and opened it to the page Ken had been reading.
‘Oh my God!’ He darted a panic-stricken glance at Kate.
Kate looked at the paper in his hands. ‘Oh God – May Kennedy,’ she said faintly. It was the paper in which Tina’s journalist friend had her social column – though ‘column’ was something of a euphemism since it took up the entire back page.
‘Look,’ Ken said brightly, ‘it’s going to be a beautiful day. Let’s do something!’
‘Like what?’ Freddie asked, eyes still on the paper.
‘We could go to the zoo,’ Ken said.
‘Thezoo?’ Freddie looked askance at him.
‘Now you’re really scaring me,’ Kate said.
‘It’s not that bad,’ Freddie said.
‘Just give me the highlights.’
‘It’s quite short,’ Freddie said, and proceeded to read the whole thing. ‘“Friends of Ireland’s favourite celebrity couple, Will Sargent and Tina Roche (and yours truly counts herself as one of their closest friends and most devoted fans)” – smarmy cow! – “will be saddened to hear that all is not well, with rumours rife of a split after Tina fled the house in Tuscany where the couple were staying just weeks before her birthday. Friends were already starting to descend on Florence for what promised to be the party of the year. Earlier in the week Tina had joined Will at the beautiful villa in the Tuscan countryside, to which he had decamped for the summer with Walking Wounded, but she made a hurried departure from the house in the early hours of this morning in an obvious state of distress and it appears she will not be joining Will in England for his father’s funeral.
‘“News of Sir Philip’s death came as a great shock…” blah, blah, blah. She goes on about Philip Sargent for a while.’
