“So you see, he doesn’t mean to be unkind. I think he gets it from his father.”
The type of man who’d cut your throat over dinner and continue eating, I’d always thought. “Stephen scared the hell out of me, but Tris?” I pulled a face. “A prankster who sometimes takes things too far but—”
Her eyes welled with tears again. “You don’t believe me.”
“Oh, Edie, of course, I believe you. I’m—well, taken aback.”
“It was only the once he hit me.”
We were sitting in an Italian eatery off the Crowngate, where they don’t mind if you take five years to drink a coffee.
I put a hand on either side of my temples. What went on behind closed doors was anyone’s guess, but this was so far from left field, I couldn’t take it in. The Chancer I knew was a laugh, could be a little bit cruel verbally, but never in the way Edie described. Besides, I was still digesting the events of the morning.
“He was drunk.” She said it as if this were a mitigating factor.
I swallowed, thought of my sister, nodded as if I understood. What was strange, Edie didn’t slag him off. I would have run out of expletives by now. “Last time I saw Chancer, he—”
“When?” Edie bolted forward, salivating for news.
She doesn’t want to split up, I realised. No way. If someone hit me: THAT. WOULD. BE. IT. “I don’t remember exactly. Not long ago. At Zach’s.”
Her eyebrows drew together in concern. “How is he?”
Terrific question. Evasive, shifty and detached would make the perfect answer. “He’s dealing with it. Obviously, Nate, too, feels a terrible sense of loss.” In his very own special way, I thought cynically. “We all do.”
“Sorry,” she flashed an embarrassed smile. “I meant Tris.”
“Oh, um—” Confounded, I said, “Would you like another Americano?”
“Can’t. Makes me dizzy.”
I was feeling fairly dizzy myself. Had I stumbled through a time warp into soap opera land? She was so bloody self-obsessed, I could scream. Edie’s wet eyes stared at me, in anticipation.
“Chancer was his usual effervescent self.” Mean of me but it was, at least, the truth.
Dejected, Edie ran long fingers through her hair, twisting and turning, pulling and tugging, the very picture of a wronged woman. “No offence,” she said, but I think he always cared more about Zach than me.”
“That’s silly.”
“Is it? Zach came first, I suppose.”
“They’ve known each for a very long time and, as you know, Chancer always stood by Zach, which was really good of him. My brother has been through a lot, Edie.”
“And so have I.” She snivelled, stifling a dry sob.
I forced my best sympathetic smile. I had coffee breath and the beginnings of a headache. When couples split it was usually a fifty-fifty affair. I didn’t want to be dragged into this.
“Edie, I have to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“Who called time on the marriage?” I knew what Chancer told me, but I wanted to hear what Edie had to say.
She bit her lip. The tip of her nose glowed red. Equally weak and vulnerable, she reminded me of a newborn bunny.
“It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No,” she said, with a level look. “You have every right. Tris filed for a divorce.”
“Right,” I said, perplexed.
Her face twisted in sudden anger. “Said I was a needy bitch.”
Had Chancer stolen the epithet from my brother? ‘Needy Edie.’ It seemed unnecessarily cruel.
“Problem is,” she said, blowing her nose. “I’d take him back in a heartbeat. Despite everything, I love him, Molly.”
“Can’t you go to counselling, or something?”
I was stumbling around, out of my depth. I was also mindful of the clock ticking, the need to pick up my car, get home and cook a fabulous dinner for Rocco.
“That’s what Zach suggested.” Really? I didn’t think my brother would be that perceptive. “Mediation forms the initial part of proceedings,” Edie continued. “I thought it would help but Tris views it as a formality.”
“Surely, it’s not a done deal?” Although why she would want to stay with a man who thumped her escaped me, and that forced a big question: could Edie be lying?
“You really think so?” Her eyes swam with hope and gratitude. If I wasn’t careful, she’d latch on to me and never let go.
I made my excuses to leave. Edie scraped back her chair. “We’ll stay in touch, yeah?”
“Great,” I lied.
Walking back up through town and past the Guildhall, I wondered if Scarlet had fought to save her marriage to Nate.
Driving home, my mobile rang: Mum. Immediately, I thought of the previous evening.
“Hi,” I said warily. “I’m on the road.”
She caught her breath. “Hands free?”
“Yup.”
Her sigh of relief was audible. “Everything all right?”
Nothing was all right. I pushed the sun visor down.
“You still there?”
“I am.”
“Were you at ours last night?”
So I’d been spotted. Had to be my dad. He never missed a thing. “Briefly.”
“Why didn’t you come in?”
I was thinking how to lie and got the distinct impression that my mother was thinking how to tell the truth. “You had company. Who was it, incidentally?” I’d aimed for a breezy tone and missed it by a mile.
“The man I told you about.”
“Dad’s old colleague, Mallis?”
“He didn’t stay long.”
“Right.”
“You’d have been welcome.”
Impenetrable silence filled the car. I could hardly make out that my visit was fleeting if I expressed concern for what I’d witnessed.
“As long as you’re coping.” My mother tailed off clumsily.
I assured her I was. When I said goodbye, I knew that enquiring about the state of my health wasn’t the reason she’d called.
I was in strange waters and it frightened me.