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‘Ah, I thought that might be the case.’
At least it was only one tooth. Alice would need to take Marley back to her own vet when she returned home in case he needed further treatment. The appointment with the vet had cost quite a bit – not that she begrudged paying for the treatment, but it was something she hadn’t budgeted for when she had turned up at the hotel. In fact, she hadn’t budgeted for anything. She had the card to the joint savings account she had with Jeffrey, and that was where her trip was going to be paid from. Unless Jeffrey froze the bank account. Could he do that? Alice didn’t want to think about that either. She knew she should phone and tell him where she was but didn’t feel like doing it that day. She’d save that little pleasure for the morning.
‘And how was the taxi service?’ Emily asked, smiling as Joss walked over and joined them.
Alice turned to Joss. ‘The taxi was splendid.’As was the driver, she thought. There had been no awkward silences on the car journey; something Alice couldn’t abide. They had chatted about the beautiful Suffolk Coast and the family-run guest house. She had talked a little of herself and the impending sale of her house, although she noticed the conversation never touched on why he was there. She suspected that Joss wasn’t ready to share his story – just yet.
He had talked about Emily and her family, though, which didn’t surprise Alice, considering his obvious affection for Emily. She hadn’t let on that she knew how long he’d been staying at the guest house. He’d mentioned that Emily’s mum had bought the place soon after losing her first husband, intent on running it as a bed-and-breakfast even though she had two young children. Emily had come along when she’d met and married Gerald.
‘Alice?’ Emily called as she was making her way up the stairs with the cat carrier.
She turned on the stairs. ‘Yes?’
‘Will you be still dining in with us this evening?’
Alice nodded. She glanced at the phone on the reception desk, feeling guilty that she still hadn’t phoned Jeffrey or Freya and let them know where she was and that she was okay. But she had left that note for Theo to give to Jeffrey. Although she hadn’t specified where she’d gone for a break, she had taken the pets, which meant they’d soon realise she hadn’t flown abroad or anything like that.
She would have loved to stay with her best friend for a few days, but unless she was prepared to ditch her pets and fly thousands of miles to the Far East, where Jane was on holiday in Thailand, which was out of the question, here she was. Besides, she wouldn’t want to intrude on Jane’s holiday, even if she was desperate to see her. That left – among the dwindling possibilities of where Jeffrey might think she had gone – her mother’s house.
Alice shuddered at the thought. She wouldn’t go there. Jeffrey knew that. They’d hardly spoken in twenty-five years, apart from acknowledging each other at her father’s funeral seven years earlier. There had been a very awkward conversation with the then teenage Freya, who had rarely seen her maternal grandparents. She had wanted to know the reason they were estranged.
Alice had always expected that Freya would pass them on the street, and one time she had, shortly before her grandfather passed away. Alice only knew about this because Freya had returned home from her shopping trip to Cambridge with her school friends and burst into tears. She’d made the mistake of approaching them. They’d told her to stop harassing them, telling her they didn’t know who she was even though they knew very well that she was their grandchild.
She didn’t know why that episode had come to mind. She’d rather it hadn’t. She’d rather it had never happened. Especially when Freya had discovered she’d been lying to her all those years. She’d told Freya that her maternal grandparents lived miles away when, in fact, they had lived down the road – minutes from their house by car, or a fifteen-minute walk – in the lovely village of Grantchester, a very picturesque little place where tourists, writers and artists flocked; a country setting but virtually on their doorstep. Freya could have walked or cycled to see them most weekends.
‘Here, let me help you up with that,’ offered Joss, noticing that Alice had stopped halfway up the stairs. However, her brief rest stop wasn’t to do with carrying the cat carrier. The house reminded her of where she’d grown up – the three-storey Victorian property in Grantchester with large bay windows and a little turret in the roof. However, there was one difference; it hadn’t had the sea views or the sound of the waves gently lapping up the shingle beach, or the cries of seagulls outside the windows.
Losing her parents was the price Alice had paid to have Freya; she just wished she’d never told them her secret. Alice recalled feeling bitterly disappointed that they were not open-minded and remained stuck in the Victorian era, believing appearances were everything, as though their neighbours and friends would find out the shameful truth.
Alice had told them once that it was their loss, the decision to have no involvement with Freya. But their choice not to be part of her life wasn’t about Freya herself, but about Alice and the decision they’d said she’d live to regret.
‘The truth will out,’ her mother had told her once when she’d confided to her what she’d done. She’d thought her mother, of all people, would be understanding. She had been under the illusion that she could do no wrong in her mother’s eyes. However, their relationship had quickly soured after that, although they’d remained on good terms with Jeffrey.
Alice frowned, thinking of those envelopes and card with her husband’s name on. It might turn out that he was no angel either. She still wanted to get to the bottom of whether he’d had an affair.
‘Alice?’
‘Oh, yes – right. Heisa little heavy.’
‘Do you want me to call for my dad to help?’
On the stairs, standing behind Alice, Joss glanced over his shoulder at Emily. ‘No, don’t worry, I’ve got this.’
At the top of the stairs, Alice turned to her left and walked along the corridor, Joss following. ‘My room is along here too,’ he commented. When she stopped outside the door, he added, ‘Hey, we’re next-door neighbours.’
Alice smiled at him. Her smile faded when she realised who Joss reminded her of – her husband when he was young.
Alice opened the door, turned around and said on the spur of the moment, ‘Will you have dinner with me?’ She frowned when she realised what that sounded like; asking a young man to have dinner with her.
‘I’m sorry, that’s really kind of you but—’
She shook her head. ‘Don’t be sorry. I know it’s a bit weird, an older woman asking you to dinner. I just thought, if we are both dining alone, why sit at separate tables? Sorry, didn’t want you to get the wrong impression.’ The colour rose in her cheeks, making her feel even more embarrassed.
Joss grinned, shaking his head. ‘I wasn’t turning you down because I thought you were, well, hitting on me, as the Americans like to say. Rein check until tomorrow evening?’
Alice smiled. ‘Of course. Going anywhere special this evening?’ What she really wanted to ask was,Who is the lucky lady?She hoped it was Emily.
‘I’m going out with Emily.’
