Page 43 of A Good Heart is Hard to Find
‘So Gerald’s suspicions have been confirmed?’
‘He searched my desk!’ she exclaimed, aggrievedly. ‘And when he found Clint’s letters he went ballistic. And he simply wouldn’t believe me when I explained that poor Clint had fallen hard for me without the least encouragement, and how I was just tryingto let him down lightly. It was a little difficult, because Clint does get a bit carried away in his letters … but Gerald was absolutely horrible, and said the most wounding things to me.’
‘So you and Clintwerehaving it off, then?’
‘Really, Cassandra!’
‘You were, weren’t you? All those weekends you were supposed to be here with me. And there was I thinking you were the nearest thing to amarried virgin possible!’
Jane looked huffy. ‘I just wanted for once to have a little fun. It’s all right for you, being a mistress with no ties, you can do what you want.’
‘Jane, I’ve been Max’s mistress for over twenty years and I felt just as tied as if I were married to him!’
‘Well, you don’t suppose he’s ever felt the same way, do you?’ she said waspishly. ‘He made a pass atmeonce.’
‘Oh, shut up, Jane! You think everyone fancies you, and I know for a fact that Max likes curvy, tallish, dark-hairedwomen, not skinny blonde runts. You’re just trying to distract me from your Clint.Clintindeed! Really, Jane.’
‘Your bit on the side’s called Jason, isn’t he? I don’t think you’ve got any call to be snide about my lover’s name!’
‘Jason isn’t my boyfriend, just a friend,’ I snapped.‘And at least Jason is a good old name, even if it has been over-used recently, whereas Clint—’
‘I quite like it. And anyway, there’s something about him that makes me forget all that kind of thingorthat he’s years younger than me, when I’m with him. My God, is he young! And strong! He can keep it up all—’
‘Spare me,’ I interrupted hastily. ‘I get the picture – you’ve fallen in love with goodsex.’ And clearly she’d found what Orla had been looking for.
‘I never meant anything serious,’ she explained, ‘and I thought when he finished his year at the university I’d never see him again, only it didn’t turn out that way, and now he wants me to go and live with him at Yurt in Cornwall.’
‘Jane, Yurt isn’t a place.’
‘Yes it is – it’s in his letter.’
I decided not to disillusion her. ‘So,are you going to go?’
‘I wasn’t, of course – I’ve got my job and my writing to consider. But if Gerald’s going to tell everybody … I mean, he must have told the parents, mustn’t he? He was being so unreasonable that I got the doctor to sign me off with stress and came here to sort things out. I thought perhaps I might go down and visit Clint and just see if it would work out, and you can telleveryone I’m resting, and not seeing visitors.’
‘Oh thanks. What will you do if Clintdoesn’twork out?’
‘Come back and smooth things over. No one’s going to believe Gerald anyway, because even the parents will think he’s unhinged once I’ve explained things to them face to face.’
I’d like to see her explain Clint to them if she abandonedGerald in his favour, but somehow I didn’t think hiscottage in Cornwall was quite what she was expecting.
‘Explaining face to face might be difficult from Cornwall,’ I pointed out.
‘Yes, but they won’tknowI’ve been to Cornwall, they’ll think I’m here with you, stunned and traumatized by Gerald’s wildly unfair accusations. That’s what I wrote to them. I said I felt like an outcast, so I was going to live with one until Gerald came to his senses.Though of course, if Clint and I do decide to make a go of it, it isn’t going to matter, because I’ll make a new life down there with him.’
‘Jane, being disowned by Ma and Pa might hit you harder than you expect: I found it hard, and I was the least favourite child!’
She wasn’t listening: ‘Wonder what his cottage in Yurt is like?’
‘Jane—’
‘Driven by my husband’s obsessive jealousy into thearms of Another,’ she murmured soulfully. ‘Looking for a refuge …’
‘That might work for anyone except the parents,’ I said critically. ‘Though it’s so Mills and Boon only you could sell it to your friends and acquaintances.’
‘I don’t know why you think I’m acting a part all the time!’ she snapped.
‘I grew up with you. And don’t think I’m going to tell lies about you being here when you’re offon a have-it-away day to Cornwall.’
