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‘She said, “Ah, yes, that’s right. He’s gone to see his wife.” I suppose that slipped your mind on Thursday night, did it? That you had a wife...’ She turned away from him in disgust.
‘Sam, wait. Maya didn’t tell you—’
‘Enough, Euan. There’s nothing more to say.’ She got the door open, and would probably have slammed it in his face if he hadn’t caught it and pulled it closed before she had a chance to get through it. Imprisoning her between his arms, one on either side of her, planted against the door, he took a chance on the belief that she wouldn’t try to lash out at him and do any permanent damage.
‘She’s my ex-wife, Sam. We haven’t lived together for fourteen years. We divorced ten years ago.’
‘So why did Maya tell me she was your wife?’ She faced him defiantly. ‘Not a particularly easy mistake to make, I would have thought.’
‘No, it’s not. She was probably trying to be tactful. Said one thing instead of another and didn’t correct herself, because she didn’t want to elaborate too much.’
‘And why wouldn’t Maya want to elaborate?’
‘Because my ex-wife’s in prison. That’s where I went yesterday.’
She stared at him, her face starting to redden. ‘But Maya said...’
‘I know. You already told me what Maya said. You want to listen to the facts now?’
The expression on her face made it very clear that she thought there was some kind of catch to this. All the same, she nodded.
‘Okay. I married Marie when I was twenty-one. I was still in medical school and she was studying for her PhD in fine arts. It didn’t last a year.’
The tearing, nagging guilt took hold of him. Then he looked into Sam’s eyes. If she could face her demons, then he could face this. ‘She was an addict. She hid it from me, but I found out that she’d cleaned our bank account out to buy drugs. She’d been getting them in other ways, too.’
‘Wh—?’ Understanding dawned in her eyes and she lay her hand on his arm. ‘You mean...’
‘Yeah. When she didn’t have money for drugs, she traded favours. I was humiliated and hurt, and I confronted her about it. We argued, and she left. Just walked away.’ Suddenly he felt as if the life had been drained out of him and he took a step back, leaning against the wall.
‘And then?’ Sam was done trying to run away from him, and now compassion showed in her face. Perhaps she was about to tell him the same thing that he’d told her, that he was beating himself up over other people’s actions. She couldn’t be more wrong.
‘I let her go. Didn’t try to look for her. You’ve heard me say that we don’t give up on anyone at Driftwood.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, I was the one who suggested that rule, because I know just how easy it is to give up on drug abusers. I finished my studies and got a divorce. I tried to put it behind me, but I couldn’t, and I ended up at a meeting.’ He gave a short, grim laugh. ‘When I suggested to you that talking about it would help, that came from first-hand experience.’
‘But you’re back in contact now.’ She laid her hand on his arm, her fingers trembling.
‘Yeah. A couple of years back she got in touch with her parents. I’d kept in touch with them, and they called me and said she’d been picked up by the police on charges of fraud and theft.’
‘Did she do it?’
‘She did it. A habit like hers isn’t cheap to maintain. She was sent to prison, and yesterday she was released.’
Sam looked around, as if Marie had followed him home and was going to suddenly appear somewhere. ‘Her parents have organised a flat for her, close to where they live, in Northumberland. I picked her up, took her there, and we all had tea and cake. Then I drove back home.’
‘Will she be okay?’
‘I hope so. She had counselling in prison and she’s clean now. We’ve organised for her to have ongoing support and she’s got some part-time voluntary work at a local community farm.’ Euan shook his head. It was all too little and too late. He’d let Marie down, been too blind to see what must surely have been obvious to any husband. He was bad news when it came to relationships, and he should have remembered that before he’d kissed Sam.
The weight of that knowledge seemed to bear down on him, and his back slid down against the wall. He hit the floor with a bump, and it was a few moments before he realised that Sam was still there, sitting next to him in the hallway.
‘Do you...still love her?’ She was looking straight ahead, as if afraid of what his face might tell her.
‘No.’ The answer
came without any hesitation. ‘Not for a long time. I care about her, and I’ll do what I can to help her be healthy and happy. I don’t love her, though.’ It wasn’t Marie that stood between them. It was his own shortcomings.
