34

When Stella woke from a fitful snooze that Sunday afternoon, feeling the after-effects of too much wine and aware of her body bruised and stiffening from the tumble in the japonica, she lay thinking for a few moments. The decision she came to was this: I must avoid Jack at all costs.

As soon as Eric was back, she would go home. There would be times when Stella would have to see Jack – Eve would insist on family lunches, etc., especially around the new baby’s birth – but not in the concentrated way of this summer. And when, eventually, she and Iain found somewhere in the area, it would be months down the line and the tension between them would have passed. Nobody need ever know.

Stella felt calmer as she pulled herself out of bed and tidied herself before going downstairs. She could hear Eve on the phone as she walked to the bathroom, and the tinny electronic roar of Arthur’s transforming dinosaur – his pride and joy at the moment, much to his mother’s despair.

Her daughter was just finishing the call when Stella arrived in the kitchen. ‘That was Morag,’ she said. Morag was Eric’s mother. ‘They want to come and stay, after the baby’s born.’ She pulled a face. ‘They’re lovely, but a bit of an effort. Still, family’s important, eh?’ Eve heaved herself up from the table. ‘It’s going to be great when you and Iain are down here, Mum. We’ll be quite a gang!’

Stella nodded but didn’t reply. She was touched that her daughter thought of them all as a ‘gang’. It was what Stella herself had glimpsed yesterday, with Eve’s thoughtfulness over Jonny’s birthday cake and the new ease she felt in Jack’s company – a real sense of family. Until … Now was not the time to tell her daughter that she didn’t want to hang out with Jack any more than was absolutely necessary.

‘So, tell me more about last night, Mum. What did you get up to, after the rose garden?’ She grinned. ‘Apart from breaking and entering and getting drunk, that is.’

Stella gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘Oh, we just went back to Jack’s and had a pizza, talked a lot about Jonny. And yes, drank too much Rioja.’

‘Where was Lisa?’

‘Working. She’s coming down today.’

Eve nodded. ‘It must be so strange, hanging out with Dad again. Do you think you can be friends now?’

With Jack’s kisses still almost tangible on her lips, Stella was horrified to feel heat creeping slowly across her cheeks.

‘Friends?’ she squeaked, turning and randomly grabbing the jar of strawberry jam sitting on the side and removing the sticky knife balanced on the rim. When she glanced round, Eve was frowning.

‘I just thought, now you don’t have the tension between you about Jonny …’

Stella tried to pull herself together, but she didn’t know what to say. How could she be friends with Jack now? Eve was still waiting for her to answer, hands in the small of her back and arching her stiff, overburdened body.

‘Friends,’ she repeated helplessly.

‘You and Dad didn’t have a fight, did you?’ Eve asked, a worried expression on her face.

‘No! God, no. We had a wonderful evening, Evie. It was absolutely magical.’ She knew she had unconsciously allowed the pleasure she’d felt in Jack’s company to break through her subsequent guilt, because Eve’s face relaxed and she gave Stella a grin.

‘Great. That’s such good news, Mum.’