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‘No. I’m not all right!’ she snapped. ‘I’ve been sitting here waiting for two hours for a pint of milk to make a simple cup of tea and all you’re worried about is your money.’
‘I’ll make the tea for you,’ Liv said, although all she wanted to do was get out of here.
‘And you can pick up what I owe you for the shopping from Eddie. I’ll let him have it when I’m feeling a little stronger,’ she said weakly, although from what Liv could see, there wasn’t a lot wrong with Barbara. ‘I might take some toast as well,’ she said then, ‘not too brown, just slightly golden all the way round.’
‘Now,’ Liv said when she’d popped the tea and toast before Barbara. ‘I’d better get going; my mum needs me back at the farm. I was only meant to be gone for half an hour.’ It was a lie, but it was her only chance of getting out before Barbara had her doing a spring clean of the entire house. She had already given two broad hints about the fact that her vacuum cleaner was broken and she really couldn’t see her way to going down on her hands and knees in the sitting room to pick up the crisps Eddie had accidentally spilled the previous evening. ‘Don’t worry; I’ll pick up the shopping money from Eddie,’ she confirmed gaily as she left Barbara chewing thoughtfully on a slice of toast.
She knew she wouldn’t of course, not unless Barbara actually thought of handing the cash to Eddie and then, Eddie actually thought of handing it to Liv. That was the problem with artists. Eddie was so wrapped up creating beautiful things that the microeconomics of the real world never really occurred to him.
‘Ah, so you’re doing house calls now?’ she heard a voice call to her as she made her way back to the car. She looked up to see Pete making his way along the road. Liv felt her heart lift when she spotted him.
‘Yes, next stop the maternity ward!’
‘Seriously?’ He looked confused.
‘No, of course not. I’m headed home to check on the newborn lambs.’ She enjoyed teasing him. ‘It feels as if I’ve met everyone in the village except for you since we got back.’ She reached out and touched his arm.
‘Actually, I’m glad I ran into you. I’ve been trying to call you, only I just…’ He looked up and down the road now, as if checking to see if anyone was watching them.
‘How have you been? Well, the word is out about you and Anya.’
‘It seems the whole village has heard about me and Anya, but they’ve only heard half the story. I think I’ve had a lucky escape actually.’
‘Well, as long as you’re both doing okay.’ Liv couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed on his behalf. Perhaps it was because he’d seemed to be so besotted by Anya, certainly at the beginning at least.
‘I have a feeling that Anya will always bedoing okay,’ he said wryly.
‘She was worried about the café and the apartment,’ Liv started. ‘I met her at the football match…’
‘Look, I know everyone probably thinks that I’m just walking away from this, but really, I’ve no intention of dropping her in it with the coffee shop. We were having problems for some time. She…’ He stopped and looked up and down the street. ‘Finding out she was having a fling behind my back was the final straw, maybe just what I needed to know that things weren’t ever going to be right…’
‘Still, it doesn’t make it easy, for either of you.’
‘Strangely enough, in the end, it made it very easy for me.’ He smiled now and she supposed it was probably a relief to be free of the relationship if it was making him miserable.
‘And this other guy… will she stay with him now?’ She wanted to add,asking for a friend,because it seemed much more realistic that Anya would move in with her new boyfriend than expect to move in with her and Eddie. She didn’t say that, of course, because what was the point in adding any stress to Pete – he’d probably already had enough.
‘I doubt it; otherwise, she’d probably have left months ago.’ He shook his head, wiser but surprisingly chipper. ‘I think he’s probably married or with someone else. Right up to the end she was denying there was anything going on, but when you know, you know, right?’
‘I suppose so,’ Liv said and she looked at him now, properly looked at him. He’d changed – she hadn’t noticed in the dark of Christmas morning when he’d driven her home. He’d lost weight, but maybe it suited him. He looked more like he had when they were younger, apart from the designer glasses and expensive casual clothes. Of course, Pete had neverreallychanged. He might look more polished than he had at school – sometimes Liv caught herself looking at him and wondering when he’d turned into such an attractive man – but underneath, he was still good old Pete. She knew that some people – well, the Barbara Quirke set at least, thought he was aloof, that his success had gone to his head. He might look uber confident, but he was actually quite shy and very funny, when you got to know him. ‘It’s just good to see you’re doing okay,’ she repeated.
‘To be honest,’ he said, leaning into the jeep, ‘it’s a big bloody relief. Who wants to live the rest of their life with someone who only wants to bleed them dry and treat them like second best?’ He held her eye for a fraction too long.
‘Who indeed?’ she said. But those words resonated with her later as she started the engine before she drove back out of the village, her thoughts far more tangled than she could understand why.
*
‘We’ll be throwing him out today,’ Morgan said when she made her way up to ICU on her first break.
‘Well, that’s good news.’ Liv looked down at Finn who had just woken. Estelle was sitting next to him, in the most luscious green velvet coat, perfectly poised, groomed and wafting expensive, suffocating perfume. It seemed to Liv that the frightened girl she’d met that first evening had been transformed into a woman who might have strode from a centre spread ofCosmopolitan. She made Liv feel so dowdy by comparison with her hair scraped back and wearing her polyester uniform and sensible rubber-soled shoes.
‘You’re awake, darling?’ She bent over him and kissed him lightly on his forehead, rather than causing any pain where he was bruised along his cheek and jaw.
‘Yes, yes, oh…’ He stopped, surprised perhaps to see Liv standing once again at the end of his bed. ‘No need to worry. They’ve said there’s no concussion and no lasting damage,’ he said cheerfully, although Liv knew that from the bruising and the bashing he’d gotten, he must be in some discomfort.
‘Yes, well, your consultant will likely transfer you to a general ward and they might just keep you in for another day, to be sure,’ Morgan said carefully, because there was no telling with a head injury.
‘It’d be nice to get home though; it is Christmas, after all,’ Finn said.
