We managed to get seats at a tiny window table amidst the lunchtime crowd at Dominic’s. It felt like a cross between a trip to the headmaster’s office and the Mad Hatter’s tea party. There was dapper, business-like Henry Halliday, tall and imposing, in the chair opposite me. He was far more handsome than his photograph and smelled deliciously of L’Occitane lemon verbena. I felt suddenly quite gauche for bringing him to a place with dangling sparkly Santa Clauses and snowmen suspended from the ceiling and holly-filled milk jugs with red and green ribbons tied round the handles on every available surface. Do They Know it’s Christmas? was wafting almost apologetically through the café’s sound system, as if it knew that most of the shoppers would very soon be fed up of a constant barrage of Christmas songs, but it just couldn’t help itself and it hoped they wouldn’t mind too much. Either that, or the volume knob was stuck on low again.
‘I’ve never been in here before,’ said the man who could report me to the police for squatting and, presumably, theft of electricity and water, glancing surreptitiously around him. Of course I’d never have imagined otherwise – he would probably feel very out of place with a chunky mug of builders’ tea in his hand. Maybe it was a mistake asking him to meet me here when he called me, but it was all I’d been able to think of in my panic – taking him to a crowded café and throwing myself on his mercy. Surely he was far too much of a gentleman to shout at me or have me arrested in such a public place?
‘They do a good all day breakfast,’ I heard myself say and immediately wondered why on earth I’d thought a man who eats in all the posh places he must eat in would possibly care.
‘I suppose you’ve had to rely a lot on places like this lately?’ His expression gave nothing away and I wondered how much his brother had told him. Was he cross? Furious? Disappointed that I’d betrayed his trust so badly? I wouldn’t want to play poker with this man.
‘Well … yes. I suppose I …’
‘Didn’t know how to use my cooker?’
‘No, it wasn’t like that.’
‘Then why don’t you tell me how it was?’ He sounded like a television interviewer or a journalist. Was he going to lull me into a false sense of security with polite, statement of fact type questions and then … Bam! In for the kill?
I was granted a slight reprieve as a waitress arrived at our table with a well-laden tray. Henry Halliday smiled politely at her as she deposited my latte and cheese toastie, his pot of tea for one, jug of milk, crockery, and a couple of warm mince pies with pastry forks on the side on our table. I’d never been offered a pastry fork in here before – didn’t even know they had them. Did they keep them specially for posh-looking customers? That’d explain why I’d never seen one.
‘Thank you,’ he said to her as she turned to walk away. ‘The pies look nice.’ He proffered the plate towards me. I knew they’d be nice – I’d eaten enough of Dominic’s home-made pies while living in Wintertown, coming in with Alex for a coffee on a Saturday morning, or on my work lunch breaks, to know how nice and crumbly the pastry was and how they didn’t stint on the filling, but I didn’t think I could swallow the tiniest bite of it, or my toastie, come to that, not without choking on it, however much my stomach was rumbling. I took it though, to be polite. Maybe I should eat it anyway, or wrap it up and put it in my bag for later – they weren’t likely to be giving out mince pies at the police station. I’d have to eat it before they took me through to the cells or they’d confiscate it, and it might be the last Christmassy thing I’d get to eat this year.
I suddenly noticed he was looking at me patiently, and realised he was waiting for my explanation. Taking a sip of my coffee, I tried to remember all the things I’d planned to say to him, the order I thought I should say them in and where I’d decided I should start.
‘I’m supposed to be in Dubai right now,’ I looked at him, ‘with Alex, my husband.’
‘I didn’t know you were married. But then, there’s no reason why I should, really. What happened? I wouldn’t normally pry, of course, but under the circumstances …’ He raised a questioning eyebrow and waited for me to carry on.
‘He went without me.’ The words sounded so stupid out loud – he went without me – as if he left me behind like a bag of shopping forgotten on a bus.
‘On holiday?’ Henry Halliday looked puzzled. As well he might. I wasn’t explaining myself very well.
‘No. To work.’ I was a bag of forgotten shopping that wasn’t even worth going to the depot to collect. I was a flimsy carrier bag with a hole in the bottom of it, an inch away from shedding its dented tin of economy baked beans, special offer bargain basement washing powder and half price – because it’s reached its sell by date – bread.
‘For how long?’ He was frowning now, probably wondering what type of badly written soap opera-type character he’d been allowing into his home to look after his precious pet. Probably worrying, too, what treasured ornaments I might have helped myself to, to flog down at the market.
‘As far as I know, for good.’ Wasn’t this where the EastEnders theme song was supposed to ring out?
‘I take it this wasn’t a joint decision?’
‘Not unless he made it jointly with somebody else,’ I sighed. ‘We haven’t been married that long. He was offered a job in Dubai and we decided to get married so I could go out there with him. We were living together anyway, so although it was probably a bit too soon, we decided to go for it. And then,’ an unladylike little snort escaped me, ‘without thinking it might be important enough to mention to me, he decided to go it alone.’
‘So, what … he just left without you?’
‘Phoned me from the plane as the announcement for passengers to turn off their mobile phones was being made. I could hear it in the background. Probably timed it to the second so he wouldn’t have to face any awkwardness, like me trying to call him back and argue with him.’ I noticed his mouth open a little in shock. This probably wasn’t how people behaved in his world. ‘Of course,’ I tried not to sound bitter as I added, ‘that was just after the removal company had left the flat with all our furniture and stuff in their van to ship to Dubai.’
‘You mean he literally left you with nothing?’ Henry Halliday shook his head in disbelief.
‘Oh, I had my clothes packed up in the car.’ I took a swig of my coffee. ‘The car I was about to hand back to Davina, what with me having handed in my notice to leave for Dubai. I assume Alex thought a cardboard box in the Sitting Pretty office doorway would do as a bed for the night for me, and that in the morning my bags and I could hitch a ride up to my mum’s in London.’
‘But you didn’t. So where does your mother think you’ve been all this time? Presumably she doesn’t think you’re in Dubai?’
‘God, no! I’ve actually been up to stay with her, the first weekend I wasn’t on duty. I took the coach up on the Friday evening and came back again on the Monday morning. It was really nice and relaxing. We baked and watched our favourite films. She and Alex have never really got on that well, so it was probably the first time we’ve spent that long together since Alex and I became a couple. She knows that Alex has gone to Dubai. I couldn’t bring myself to lie to her and the coward in me couldn’t face telling her the truth. So, while I know how pathetic I’m being, I’ve just sort of been letting her think the same thing I’ve been telling everybody else …’
‘Everybody else?’
‘Well,’ I could feel myself blush. ‘Davina and the girls at work.’
‘And what have you been telling them?’
‘That it was decided it would make more sense for me to stay on here and work for the time being while Alex went on ahead and settled into his job and found a suitable apartment.’
‘And, what is it, a month later? Nobody’s questioning the fact that you’re still here? Where do they all think you’re living?’
‘It’s not been as long as that,’ I felt my face flame. ‘Well … it’s three weeks. I think they’ve all just assumed I’m still at our old flat. And to be honest, Davina doesn’t really give much thought to anything outside of the business, so she’s probably forgotten I was supposed to be going somewhere anyway.’
‘So what put the idea into your head of staying at my place when I was away? And where do you go the weeks when I’m home? Do you alternate between us? Have you put together some kind of rota?’ His expression was inscrutable.
My fingers played with the handle of my mug as I ploughed ahead. ‘Davina called me from the office just minutes after Alex’s call. The girl who was supposed to be replacing me lost control of somebody’s dog and couldn’t go and feed Talisker. I didn’t really know what else to do, so I just got in the car and went round to see to him.’
‘That was conscientious of you, considering what had just happened,’ he nodded, pouring his tea. It was the first time I’d ever seen anyone pour hot tea from one of those individual stainless steel teapots without the spout leaking all over the table, or them burning themselves on the handle.
‘I don’t know if it was conscientious or I was just on autopilot, but while I was there, Talisker was so comforting. I had a lovely cuddle with him on the sofa and it was as if he knew something was wrong and was trying to cheer me up.’ I saw an almost paternal smile creep up his face – only a true pet lover would give credence to such a statement, but it was absolutely true. ‘I went to wash my face as I’d managed to cry mascara everywhere, and I got it all over one of your lovely white towels, so I needed to wash that. I think it was when I sat back down with Talisker again, wondering what else could possibly go wrong that day, and where I was going to spend the night, that the thought came to me that it wouldn’t be doing any harm if I just stayed on your sofa that night and left in the morning. It just seemed so simple at the time – like an extra-long pet sit – and then the next day I’d be gone. No harm done.’ I took a sip of my coffee and carried on. ‘Talisker didn’t leave me all night – we cuddled up on the back room sofa and dozed on and off. My brain must have been in overdrive. I was shocked and upset of course, but I just got angrier and angrier. I’d been prepared to turn my life upside down for Alex and he’d just thrown it back in my face in the most cowardly way possible, apart from doing it by text maybe. By the morning I’d convinced myself that if I could just stay on at Sitting Pretty I could save up enough money to either rent a little flat, or follow him out there …’
‘Follow him out there?’ Henry Halliday looked at me askance. ‘Whatever for?’
‘Closure?’ I shrugged, embarrassed. ‘An explanation to my face …’ I trailed off as a hot flush washed over my face and I realised how utterly stupid and ridiculous I must sound. ‘I thought I could stay on your back room sofa at night, have coffee and biscuits in the office for breakfast, get a hot meal here at lunchtime, then buy sandwiches or salads to eat in the evenings, nothing that needed cooking – I didn’t want to use any more electricity or water than was absolutely necessary – just very quick showers in the morning. If the weather got too cold, I knew you always left the central heating on for Talisker.’
‘I expect he enjoyed the extra company.’
‘Did you know he can open doors?’ I realised I’d interrupted him and felt a little flustered.
‘Oh, he’s a very clever cat. And he can jump really high, so if he wants to get into a room it doesn’t take him long to do a few practice jumps and get enough height to grab at the door handle. Then his weight pulls it downwards. Why? He didn’t burst in on you in the bathroom, did he? That’s one of his favourite tricks.’
I nodded, biting my lip to stop the grin spreading. The words, ‘I was in the bath, actually,’ came out of my mouth before I could stop them. He must think I’d been really making myself at home in his cottage.
‘I hope he didn’t scare you too much.’
‘Well, he did make me jump. But I think I was part scared, part amazed, and part relieved. I mean … I mean …’ I trailed off, feeling my face get hot again, unable to finish that sentence without disparaging this man’s brother.
‘That it wasn’t Marvin?’ Henry Halliday tilted his head to one side. ‘My brother did behave himself whilst you were both there, didn’t he?’
‘Oh God, yes! Yes, of course he did. Yes,’ I stumbled over my words. ‘That wasn’t what I meant at all. No, he …’
‘Maybe you could clear up a little mystery for me,’ he jumped in to my rescue. ‘I notice Talisker’s put on a bit of weight, and yet he hasn’t seemed to be getting through his food as quickly as he usually does …’ That questioning eyebrow went up again.
‘He was always so pleased to see me when I got there in the evenings, I gave him extra biscuits. I bought more, it was the least I could do, and it was the easiest way of giving you something back without you actually knowing about it.’
‘I see,’ he nodded. ‘And when I was home? What did you do then?’
‘I’ve been staying in other client’s homes and doing the same things – buying whatever I can slip in to their existing pet supplies so they won’t notice. One night I went out with the girls from work, for one of their birthdays. They’ve always been in the habit of staying half the weekend at each other’s places if they go out on a Friday night. So there’s always been that option if I’m on duty so I can’t go up to my mum’s. I think they just assume I’m lonely without Alex – they never ask any questions. If I did that, I’d insist on buying them a takeaway or paying for the taxi from wherever we’d been, so I wouldn’t feel too much like I was taking advantage.’
‘But what if you decided to use your wages on a flight to go and have it out with Alex …’ Henry Halliday looked uncomfortable. ‘I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but … wouldn’t you just be in the same boat again when you came back? I mean, how long did you think you’d be able to keep up this extraordinary lifestyle?’
‘I’d already started asking myself that same question. I was actually going to tell Davina this morning and hand in my notice. Then I was going to go up to my mum’s and tell her, and stay with her until after Christmas, then play it by ear.’
‘Play it by ear?’ His exclamation was loud enough, and the Christmas music, at that particular moment, muted enough, to draw attention from Dominic’s other customers.
‘I’ve been really stupid, haven’t I?’ I mumbled, before hiding my still flaming face behind my mug under the pretext of finishing my coffee.
‘Do you know what I think, Beth?’ He lined up his pastry fork with his teaspoon and the handle of his teapot. ‘I think you should eat that toastie before it gets any colder.’