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That’s not fair.
You didn’t believe I loved Graham. But I did. I do.
I don’t want to talk about that now, Carrie thought, wanting to shake her head to get her sister’s voice out of it all of a sudden.
‘Carrie? Are you all right?’ Rory was looking at her curiously.
‘Yeah. I’m fine.’ Carrie chewed the inside of her cheek, hoping she hadn’t looked like a crazy person just then. ‘What were we saying?’
‘I need to run you through some of the provenance for these things.’ Rory fanned out some other pieces of paper he was holding on the counter containing more of his scrawled notes. ‘What’s this?’ He picked up Maud’s diary, still in its zip-lock bag. ‘Did I leave this here?’ He pulled the diary out of the bag before Carrie had a chance to say anything. ‘Oh. Wait. Sorry, I thought this was one of my notebooks, but—’
‘It’s mine.’ Carrie held out her hand for the diary and Rory handed it to her. ‘Well, I should say, it belonged to my great-aunt. Dotty found it in Myrtle’s things after she passed away, and she gave it to me when she realised I was Maud’s great-niece.’
‘Oh. Sorry, I just assumed, because I leave notebooks everywhere…’ Rory trailed off. ‘Though I don’t usually put them in zip-lock bags. That’s actually a great idea.’
‘You’re welcome to use the patented Book in Bag formula.’ Carrie gave him a shy smile.
‘So, anything good in there? Maybe some old recipes?’
‘No recipes yet. I’ll let you know if there are. Some fairly scandalous detail about my great-aunt’s sex life, though.’ Carrie pulled an awkward face. ‘Fascinating but also slightly uncomfortable.’
‘I can imagine. How interesting, though!’ Rory looked thoughtfully at the diary in Carrie’s hands. ‘I’d love to have a look sometime.’
‘Well, I’ll show you later, if you like.’ Carrie shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t have thought anyone would be that interested.’
‘Well, it’s a story, isn’t it? Bit of local history.’ Rory grinned.
‘He just wants to hear about the sex part, I bet,’ Kathy chuckled.
‘Not true. I’m into local history,’ Rory protested.
‘Smutty history,’ Kathy corrected him.
‘I think you’re talking about yourself there.’ Rory one-upped her again.
Carrie wondered if there was anything going on between them; she’d assumed that their vibe was like brother and sister, but maybe she was wrong. Kathy was good-looking and obviously very intelligent and funny.
‘As if. Come on, let’s do the provenance.’ Kathy winked at Carrie. ‘Leave Carrie’s auntie’s innermost thoughts alone for now.’
SEVENTEEN
‘So, go on, then. Tell me about this diary.’ Rory hoisted himself up onto the edge of the stainless-steel worktop and handed Carrie a spoon for her strawberry cranachan: luckily, there had been a few left that evening, after a quieter than usual service.
Kathy had already had hers and hurried home: she had a chapter to finish for her PhD supervisor. She had confided in Carrie that she was way behind on her deadline.
‘Oh. You don’t have to be polite, really.’ Carrie laughed a little nervously. ‘It’s just some family stuff.’
‘You said it was saucy.’ Rory pointed his spoon at her. ‘Don’t hold out on me. I’m invested.’
‘Okay. Well, to give you some background, Maud was my great-aunt. Me and my sister and our parents used to come up and visit when Claire and I were kids. She was great.’ Carrie smiled for a moment, remembering. ‘I always thought she was single. But it would seem that she had an affair with a married man in the village.’
‘Wow. Secret lives. I love it.’ Rory spooned more dessert into his mouth.
‘Yeah. Though I kind of feel a little as though I’m spying on Maud’s most intimate thoughts – well, I am, really. But I’m kind of obsessed with Maud and William and their secret relationship.’
‘That’s the guy? William?’
‘Yeah. They were at school together and she didn’t think anything of him, then he married this local girl, Clara, but then she got ill and basically he and Maud got together. That’s where I am.’
