Page 31 of Coming Home to Roseford Villas
As she got to the French windows, she could see an attractive blonde sitting at one of the tables that looked out onto the garden. She was sipping a cup of coffee and reading something on an iPad that was propped up in front of her. Rory paused at the door, wondering if this was Corinne. She certainly looked the part – she could have walked straight off the set ofNeighbours.In fact, she was a dead ringer for Margot Robbie. Rory felt a distinct prickle of jealousy as she dithered at the door.
The woman, obviously sensing she was being watched, glanced up from the iPad and set clear blue eyes on Rory. She gave a brief, polite smile before turning her head back towards the interior door of the dining room, and Rory heard her call out, ‘Leo, there’s someone on the patio. Should I let them in?’
Leo came bustling through from the direction of the kitchen and his face registered a mixture of emotions as he came into view. Rory struggled to read them.
‘Rory, hi!’ His voice was unnaturally hearty as he crossed the dining room and pushed open the French windows, which had, for the first time since Rory had been staying at Roseford Villas, been locked. ‘What can I do for you?’
Something about the formality of the question threw Rory off even further, as did the way that he took a step back from her as he opened the doors, as if he needed to put some space between them.
‘Er, well,’ Rory stammered, trying to get some sense of equilibrium back. ‘I, er, just wondered what you were doing today. Did you want to, er, meet for a coffee or something?’ Her face burned as the feelings of gaucheness crept over her. Something about the coolly curious eyes that Corinne was regarding her with was throwing her off balance.
Leo, looking like a cornered hare, glanced from Rory to Corinne and then back again. ‘Sure, sure,’ he said quickly. ‘Look, I’ve got a couple of things to sort out here, but why don’t I pop over to the chalet sometime this afternoon? I’ll, er, text you.’
Rory wondered if the ‘couple of things to sort out’ included explaining to his wife just what he’d been up to over the past few weeks, and how Rory herself fitted into the picture. She felt her anger and jealousy starting to rise, taking over from the early confusion.
‘Of course,’ she said stiffly. She glanced back at Corinne, who was still staring, transfixed, at their exchange. ‘I’ll look forward to hearing all about those things later.’ Pausing for a moment longer, she added, in an undertone so that only Leo could hear, ‘And hopefully, you and your wife will have sorted out “the future”. Wasn’t that what you said? Do let me know as soon as it’s convenient to talk about ours as well.’
Rory turned on her heel and strode back across the garden, steeling herself not to give Leo a second glance.
‘Rory, wait!’ Leo’s voice, and the sound of his hasty footsteps, caught up with her when she was halfway down the path. ‘Let me explain…’
Rory stopped, took a deep breath and plastered the most confident smile she could on her face. She was damned if she’d let Leo see how upset she really was. ‘What would you like to explain?’
Leo shook his head. ‘I don’t know what you think you know, but believe me, it’s not what you think.’
‘Really?’ Rory’s voice, in contrast to her smile, was flat. ‘And what is it you think I’m thinking?’
The ridiculousness of her words wasn’t lost on Rory, but at this point she couldn’t focus on being more creative. She watched as Leo shook his head. ‘Look, I really need to get a few things sorted out, but please, please don’t get the wrong end of the stick. I need to talk to you, badly, about what’s going on. Can you promise me you’ll give me a chance to do that?’
Rory felt the twin sensations of wanting to walk away with the moral high ground and desperately wanting to hear what Leo had to say. In the end, her heart won.
‘All right,’ she said softly. ‘I’ll see you later.’
She went to move, but Leo’s gentle hand on her arm stopped her. ‘I promise you, there’s nothing for you to worry about.’
Rory gave a brief smile. ‘I hope not,’ she said. But as Leo let go of her arm, she felt as though a connection between them had been severed.
34
‘So that was the infamous Rory Henderson?’ Corinne’s voice broke into Leo’s troubled thoughts as he walked back to the dining room door. ‘I have to say, she’s not what I imagined.’ Leo watched her calmly filling up her cup from the cafetière on the table and taking another sip. ‘She certainly seemed to put you in your place just now, though, I’ll give her that.’
Leo felt the familiar irritation rising. Corinne knew just how to push his buttons, after a decade of working out just how much pressure to apply, and the time apart from her had done nothing to temper that skill, it seemed. ‘Oh, just leave it, Corinne,’ he said wearily. ‘I don’t want to talk about Rory.’
‘Well, I do!’ Corinne knocked back the rest of the coffee and stood up abruptly from the table. ‘How long has this little affair been going on? Have you been in touch with her all this time? Rather coincidental, isn’t it, that the summer you come back to the UK, there she is, living in a shed at the bottom of the garden. How very quaint.’
Feeling frustration adding to irritation, Leo tried to force it back down again. Getting angry wouldn’t help. He’d been used to Corinne’s nitpicking jealousy all the time they’d been married:now they were on the last leg of divorce, he wasn’t going to allow himself to get drawn into it again. There had been too many spirals in the past for that, drenched in booze and recrimination.
‘You know that’s not the case,’ he said carefully. ‘Rory being here was just a huge coincidence. They do happen, you know.’
Corinne’s raised eyebrow suggested that she rather thought they didn’t. Leo, not wanting to be drawn, began to clear away her breakfast dishes.
‘So, this is what you’re going to do with the rest of your life, is it?’ Corinne mocked as he did so. ‘Playing host in the family’s B&B and wondering where it all went wrong?’
Leo, who hadn’t yet mentioned the London job, stayed silent. He didn’t want to get into it with Corinne and didn’t see why he should.
‘Maybe,’ he said carefully. ‘Maybe not.’ He placed the cafetière back down again on the table. ‘But whatever I do, it’s my decision now, Corinne. I don’t have to consult you, or anyone else. And after all these years, and everything I’ve been through, I think I deserve that, don’t you?’
He wasn’t too late to see the flash of guilt in her eyes. It was a low blow, to make a reference to the car accident, but he just wanted this to be over, and for Corinne to be back on a plane, as soon as possible.
