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‘Thanks.’ Cathy stared at the phone for a moment as if she were afraid it was going to bite her, then she put it to her ear. ‘Max?’
‘Where was he?’ Alex asked Mrs Mills as they retreated to the kitchen.
‘Out jogging, apparently. He hadn’t told anyone and he hadn’t taken his phone. Does she want to take Nicky?’
Alex hesitated. ‘I don’t think so. I think she seriously wants to do what’s best for Nicky. She’s also just lost her mother so she’s pretty fragile.’
Mrs Mills heaved a heartfelt sigh. ‘They were good together, you know. Maybe they hid their warring side from the staff—’ she made a small moue ‘—which is not to say they didn’t have the odd disagreement, but if they both want what’s best for Nicky now, perhaps they’ll tie the knot, who knows? It’s what they should do.’
If I hear that once more, Alex thought with a feeling of suppressed savagery that took her completely by surprise, I’ll scream. If they were so good together how did it all descend into this and how on earth could a marriage survive all this?
But she immediately took herself to task again. It was what they should do. Surely it wasn’t too much to ask that they reshape their relationship for Nicky’s sake? Not only that, they were different now, they had to be. Cathy was alone and bereft—
‘Alex?’
She looked over her shoulder to see that Cathy had come into the kitchen and was holding the phone out to her.
‘Max wants to talk to you.’
And if that isn’t just the last straw, I don’t know what is, was Alex’s next thought as she took the phone with a completely deadpan expression. ‘Hello.’
‘Alex …’ he paused ‘… how are you?’
‘Fine. Thank you.’
‘Alex, Cathy is going to stay for a few days while we sort things out. I’ll be down this afternoon and—’
‘Mr Goodwin,’ she broke in, ‘in that case may I go home? You won’t need me and I’d really like to—to have a bit of time to myself.’
He hesitated, then he said abruptly, ‘All right. Put me on to Mrs Mills and I’ll organize it. I’ll keep in touch—and, Alex?’
‘Yes?’
‘Thanks for everything.’
‘That’s—that’s OK,’ she said awkwardly, and handed the phone to Mrs Mills.
‘Nicky,’ Alex said half an hour later, just after she’d heard the boy stirring in the next room, ‘how do you feel?’
‘Good.’ He sat up. ‘What are we going to do today?’
‘Well, I’m going home for—’
‘Why? Please don’t, Alex! Pretty please! Nemo doesn’t want you to go either.’
Alex smiled through the lump in her throat as she watched the boy and dog. ‘Nicky, I would love to stay,’ she said honestly, ‘but I have to go. And, anyway, I have a surprise for you, it’s someone you really, really—’
‘My dad’s home! Yippee!’ He and Nemo jumped up and down on the bed.
Alex flinched inwardly as she wondered what Cathy Spencer, standing just beyond the inter-leading door, would make of this—she’d agreed to Alex’s request that she say goodbye to Nicky first.
‘He will be later, Nicky,’ she said. ‘Actually, it’s your mum—see?’ She turned to the doorway and Cathy came through. There was utter silence, then, like a whirlwind, Nicky flew into his mother’s arms.
It wasn’t Stan who drove her home—was Max concerned that Cathy might succumb to an urge to flee with Nicky so Stan needed to stay on at the Tuscan villa just in case? she wondered.
Whatever, a Goodwin Minerals’ driver picked her up not much later, and, after exchanging pleasantries, once again she was left to her thoughts as she travelled the Pacific Motorway north to Brisbane on another grey day with dark, swollen clouds above.
But her thoughts were curiously paralysed, she found. She could think of Nicky and his mother, she could think of the breakfast they’d eaten together, she could picture them waving goodbye to her as she’d been driven away. She could think of Mrs Mills’ surprisingly emotional farewell … You’re a dear, dear girl, Alex …
