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‘I’m not sure. I’ve got back-to-back meetings and the like.’
Thea frowned at him. He was sounding like Miles, making work-related excuses for not staying.
‘You work away for two days – right? So you’ll be back on Wednesday?’
‘Er, no – I’m now working in London all week.’
‘All week? Since when?’
Mark didn’t answer that question. ‘Look, I’ve got to dash.’
She said, ‘I can’t stay indefinitely. You will be back at the weekend, won’t you?’
He nodded. ‘Of course.’
She decided not to tell him she had two weeks’ leave.
‘Here’s my mobile number.’ He handed Thea a work card with his phone number on it.
Thea said, ‘I’m sure I’ve still got the phone number of your London flat somewhere.’ She was surprised they’d decided to keep the flat, which belonged to Mark. She’d thought that when they’d moved to Suffolk, he’d intended to sell the flat and work from home permanently – but by the sound of it, that hadn’t happened.
‘I’d prefer it if you contacted me on my mobile number.’
Thea shrugged. ‘Okay.’
He smiled. ‘But I’m sure you won’t have to.’ He grabbed the handle of his suitcase. ‘Look, I’ve got to run. I’ll see you at the weekend.’
Thea stood there with her suitcase and watched him hurry towards the station. She sighed, put her suitcase and bag on the back seat, and sat in the driver’s seat. She couldn’t believe he’d just left her like that without even introducing her to the twins, whom she hadn’t seen for months.
She didn’t even have time to visit Jenna in hospital. It occurred to Thea that she didn’t actually know where her sister was. She assumed she was in Ipswich hospital. Thea still had Mark’s card in her hand. She rang his number.
Mark answered, sounding surprised. He couldn’t mask the tinge of annoyance in his voice when he said, ‘Thea? Why are you ringing me already?’
‘You didn’t tell me which hospital Jenna is in. I’d like to visit tomorrow when the kids are at school.’
She knew that it would mean she could talk to her sister alone. There was something she wanted to ask her. She’d replayed her phone messages on the way there and discovered that Jenna had in fact contacted herbeforethe accident. So, whatever it was that Jenna had contacted her about, it was nothing to do with her accident and needing help with childcare while she was laid up with a broken leg.
‘She’s at the hospital in Aldeburgh, the cottage hospital – it’s not far from where we’re living in Pettistree.’
‘Great.’ Thea was so pleased to hear that her sister wasn’t twenty miles away in Ipswich; it meant she could pop in and see her every day. She started the car and headed for her sister’s house.
As Thea drove, she thought about how it had always been her sister’s dream to move back to Suffolk, where they spent their childhood. Jenna had wanted lots of children, but had been lucky to have twins. It had taken her a long time to become pregnant, and after the twins were born, Thea knew she had tried to get pregnant again, but it just hadn’t happened.
She was looking forward to seeing the large old red-brick cottage which seemed too big for a family of four.There was an old stable block that she knew they had been planning to convert to either a triple garage, or a stable for a pony for the children – her sister and brother-in-law appeared to be at odds a lot of the time regarding what they wanted to do with the property. She wondered how the renovations were coming along.
Jenna always raved about their life in the country, and said to Thea that she didn’t know how she put up with the noise and pollution living in London. Perhaps being older, her sister had more memories of their life in Suffolk before their father had disappeared and they had moved to London.
Thea had been nine when they left their Suffolk life behind and moved into the house in London. It was pretty much all she’d known. She’d never returned to Suffolkuntilher sister and her family had moved out of London nine months earlier.Their mum hadn’t even seen where her eldest daughter had moved too. They’d had a housewarming party, which their mum had been aware of, but she had refused to fly back from Nepal to attend. Thea remembered the email; she hadn’t minced her words. Suffolk wasn’t a place she wanted to revisit. She’d left that life behind.
Thea remembered that her mum and sister had had a huge falling-out over it, and wondered if they’d patched things up. Her sister had been straight on the phone to Thea, telling her how selfish their mum was; Jenna felt that she should be able to put aside her feelings over their dad’s disappearance for once and just return to Suffolk for the party.
Have you ever had your heart broken?Thea had asked her. Jenna had nearly fallen out with her too, saying that Thea always took their mum’s side. But Jenna had undoubtedly had a point when she’d said that it had been years and years since he’d gone, and their mum had moved on with her life; why couldn’t she just be pleased that Jenna was moving on with her life too?
Thea followed the Satnav directions from Wickham Market train station to her sister’s village, Pettistree. It was very pretty, with thatched houses, a village church, a little green, and, adjacent to the church, a pub that served lovely food. There was no village centre, or main street – just a winding road with a handful of large, detached period houses in the middle of countryside, but it was not far from a little market town you could drive or walk to down a winding country lane. Thea liked Wickham Market, a small village with a u-shaped village square around which were several little shops – a butcher’s shop that doubled as a baker’s, a couple of tea shops, a general store, and a charity shop. It was under ten miles from the station, less than a twenty-minute drive through picturesque countryside. Jenna had the best of both worlds. She wasn’t far from the Suffolk Coast and the lovely coastal towns of Orford and Aldeburgh.
She knew her sister preferred Aldeburgh, a twenty-five minute drive from where they lived, with its shops, cafés, restaurants, fish and chip shops, and a cinema. There were more things for her children to do there at the weekend, and they would meet up there with their friends from the local secondary school just ten minutes from Aldeburgh.
She felt like doing a detour to Aldeburgh to visit her sister straight away, but she was anxious to arrive at their house and check on the twins. She hoped they hadn’t invited friends round after being left on their own. Thea was worried she’d turn up and there would be a house full of teenagers and a house party in full swing. How would she deal with that? Thea shook her head. She had no clue about how to deal with teenagers.
