After a busy day, Sophie headed home. She was intending to go and visit Lily that evening, so she didn’t want to hang about at home too long. She needed to talk to her mother, too, who was determined to visit Lily. Sophie realised that having Jane back in Little Somerby might be the answer to the logistical problem of the Royal West Country Show. If she could convince her mother to come and stay for the duration of the show, Lily would have someone to keep an eye on her while Sophie was away. She hoped that her mother would go for it. Despite the fact that Jane Henderson had been widowed over a quarter of a century ago, she still adored her former mother-in-law, and was concerned about her since the fall. Dumping her handbag on the kitchen table, Sophie went to freshen up before heading out to the hospital, resolving to contact her mother when she got back. Just as she was pulling a brush through her hair, the doorbell chimed.
‘I’ll be down in a sec,’ she called through her open bedroom window. She couldn’t see who was there, as they’d obviously stepped into the shade of the porch, and they didn’t reply. Hoping whoever it was would be brief, Sophie hurried down to the door. Her heart sank as she opened it, and for the umpteenth time she wished she’d replaced the old, solid, windowless front door with something a little more transparent.
‘What do you want?’ Sophie asked as Mark Simpson took a step towards her.
‘To talk.’
‘You’ve got a bloody nerve coming here!’ Sophie went to close the door, but Mark put out a hand and prevented her.
‘Please, Soph, will you at least let me explain?’
‘Explain what?’ Sophie felt her temper flare, much as she tried not to let it. ‘How you and your bloody dog landed my grandmother in the hospital?’
‘Sophie.’ Mark tried to cajole his way in, but Sophie stood in the doorway. She gave him nothing in height, unlike Alex, who was a good four inches taller than her. ‘It was a stupid thing that happened. Come on, open the door before your neighbours start to talk.’
‘You’ve got five minutes. And then I’m going to see my grandmother, who is in Weston General Hospital because of you.’
‘I know you’re angry with me.’ Mark strolled through the cool hallway and took himself into the lounge, almost as if he owned the place. Sophie supposed he knew it well enough to do that, even though it rankled. They’d been together for a long time, after all. ‘And if I was in your position, I’d be angry, too. But I’ve made a lot of mistakes, Soph, and this accident with Jimmy was just the last in a long line of them.’
‘Mistakes?’ Sophie echoed. ‘My grandmother is lying in a hospital bed because of you. And I’d hardly call screwing your admin assistant behind my back a mistake. A cliché, maybe, but a whole lot more than a mistake.’
‘I’m really sorry about what happened with your gran. The dogs were both out of control and Jimbo doesn’t like big dogs.’
‘Oh, and that makes it OK, does it?’ Sophie’s temper flared up. ‘She’s got a hairline fracture of her hip, Mark, which could potentially put her out of action for months. And you’re sorry. It’s not bloody good enough.’ She started to pace the floor. ‘So now you’ve apologised, you can bloody well get out. And keep that stupid dog away from Barney.’
‘I want to talk to you about us, too, Soph.’
‘There is no us,’ Sophie spat. ‘Especially not now.’
‘Oh, come on. You and I both know that thing with Jenna wasn’t serious. She knew it, I knew it, and if you admit it to yourself, then you know it too.’ He shrugged. ‘I made a mistake.’ Mark plonked himself down on the comfy patchwork fabric sofa that took up most of the lounge. The sofa that Alex had held her on the other night, and made her feel so safe. She didn’t want that memory to be tainted by this one, though, so she remained standing. ‘I miss you, Soph.’
‘So that’s it?’ Sophie said, despite her determination not to engage with him. ‘After all these months, that’s all you have to say?’
Mark looked up at her, his blue eyes so clear and unblinking that she instinctively knew he had another agenda. ‘Not exactly,’ he admitted.
‘What is it, then?’
‘I came to warn you about that bloke you’ve been working with. I understand you’ve been seeing him a bit outside work, too.’
‘What’s that got to do with you?’ The words shot out of Sophie’s mouth like a bullet.
‘Alex, isn’t it? That one who came over for the Carter’s internship.’
‘So, what if it is?’ Sophie snapped. ‘It’s no business of yours.’
‘Sophie, listen to me.’ Mark’s expression was serious. ‘I don’t think he’s who he says he is.’
‘Oh, really?’ Sophie snapped. ‘I thought you had the monopoly on lying round here.’
‘Soph, I’m serious.’ Mark stood back up from the sofa and came towards her. ‘He’s been hanging around Jonathan Carter’s house, you know, the cottage that his dad, Jack, used to live in before he died, and the other night in the pub he was asking Vern and Emma Leadbetter a lot of questions about the Carter family. He seems to have a bit of an obsession going on, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was up to some kind of industrial espionage. That he’s not a cider farmer after all, or he works for the competition or something.’
‘And what is it to you?’ Sophie was really riled now. ‘You couldn’t care less about me, if your little performance with Jenna was anything to go by.’
‘I just don’t want to see you get into trouble,’ Mark said. ‘I mean, what if, when your back was turned one day, he dumped something into the vats? Or he’s just looking to gain your trust to take the firm down from the inside? Have you thought about that?’
‘I think you’ve been watching too much Netflix,’ Sophie said. ‘Alex is one of the most honest and honourable people I’ve ever met. And what I get up to in my private life is absolutely none of your business. You negated the right to pass comment on my life, private or otherwise, when you went behind my back. So, I’ll thank you to fuck off and leave me alone.’
‘Just think about it, Soph,’ Mark persisted. ‘I know I’m not your favourite person right now, but I’m saying this because I still care about you. Promise me you’ll be careful, all right?’
‘Get out, Mark.’
Finally getting the message, Mark walked back to the front door. ‘I really am sorry, Sophie,’ he said as he crossed the threshold of the door she’d opened for him. ‘For everything. But please, think about what I’ve told you.’
Sophie watched him leave without a word. The nerve of him astounded her. He’d cheated on her and he had the front to turn up on her doorstep and moralise about who she should and shouldn’t be seeing. Not to mention his bloody dog putting Lily in hospital. If Alex had heard the conversation, she thought, he’d have laughed his head off. Picking up her phone where she’d left it in the hall when she went to open the door, she saw that she had a text from him. Smiling, she texted an answer to his question. Yes, after she went to see Lily, she was going to be free tonight. Smiling as the message pinged off her screen, she went to change her top before she headed to the hospital.