Page 102 of Kate and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop
‘I think I had every right toleavethe pub when I did.’
‘Explain to me how having two friends – actually, make that three – care enough about you that they want to protect you gives you the right to a childish tantrum?’
‘Well, if you hadn’t treated me like a child maybe I wouldn’t have to behave like one.’
‘I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about Joel. Anita and I had a long discussion about whether to or not after Julian left us. We thought it was best. You trust Anita’s judgement, don’t you?’
‘Yes, but—’
‘I think she was thinking of Molly as much as anything. I understand she was the reason why Joel knew your whereabouts. I think Anita was protecting her too. Molly would have felt terrible if she knew she was the reason Joel showed up.’
Jack was right, of course. Molly would feel awful. Especially now she knows the real reason why Joel and I broke up.
‘You still could have told me though,’ I reply, not giving in. ‘I had the right to know.’
‘Yes, I agree. In hindsight perhaps I should have been a little stronger with Anita, but sometimes we make decisions on the spur of the moment that aren’t always the right ones.’
We’ve reached the brow of the hill now. I could take the narrow dirt footpath up to the little chapel that stands at the very top, but Jack wouldn’t be able to make it in his chair so this is as far as we’re going.
‘I’m sorry again, Kate,’ Jack says, as I stop at the edge of the hill and look out over the sea. ‘I only wanted to protect you.’
‘Yes, you’ve said that, but I don’t need protecting.’
Jack is silent for a moment as we both look out at the vast ocean in front of us.
‘Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I didn’t just do this for you, I did it for me too,’ Jack says quietly.
‘What do you mean?’ I ask, turning to him.
‘How do you think I felt when I saw Joel in your shop and saw a visibly upset Anita trying to deal with him? The old me would have gone in there and marched him straight out, whether he wanted to go or not. Instead I had to call for back-up to do something I should have been able to do myself.’
I hadn’t thought about it like that.
‘So perhaps protecting you and Molly from hearing about what had happened might have been a selfish, if stupid, move on my part to make myself feel a little better about once again finding myself lacking.’
‘You’re not lacking in anything, Jack,’ I tell him. ‘Really, you’re not. I keep trying to tell you.’
‘Why were you at Julian’s house?’ Jack asks suddenly, trying to make it sound like it’s a casual question.
This again.
‘Don’t be coy, Jack,’ I tell him, feeling myself getting annoyed again moments after I’ve calmed down. ‘Just come right out and say it. What you mean is: Why were you at Julian’s houseundressed? I thought we explained all that in the pub, but you still don’t trust me, do you?’
‘There are very few reasons why a woman would get undressed in a man’s house in my experience. I may be disabled in the body, but I’m not in my head.’
Jack stares out to sea again, irritatingly avoiding my gaze.
‘Don’t you dare pull the disabled card twice on me!’ I tell him, stomping around in front of his wheelchair so he has to look at me properly. ‘Not after all the times you’ve moaned at me for mentioning it.’
‘You’re in my way,’ he says. ‘I can’t see the view.’
‘Why are you so obsessed with the view today? I’m not moving until you listen. Whatever you choose to think of me, Jack, I do not cheat when I’m in a relationship. I do not sleep around and Ineverlie.’
‘Is that last part a dig at me again?’ Jack asks.
‘Theonlyreason I left my vest top in Julian’s tumble-drier was because I got wet in the rain after I left your shop that day. I went to look at Freddie’s old house – the one we’d seen in the pictures together. I didn’t know then that was the house Julian owned in St Felix or that he was staying there. He saw me outside soaking wet and invited me in, and then he offered to dry my clothes. I wore a dressing gown while my clothes were in the drier, we had hot chocolate and we talked about his dad. That is all, and then I left. I must have missed my vest in the drier and just worn my shirt and jeans back to the shop. I did leave in a bit of a hurry.’
‘Why did you leave in a hurry?’ Jack asks, keen to know the answer.
