Page 67 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
‘Yes, but,’ he said now, ‘you could both go somewhere else. Somewhere that suitsyoubetter, no?’
Peggy flinched. She couldn’t help silently reiterating the question she had asked herself before, and to which she had no answer:If I said I wasn’t happy, that I couldn’t live in the bay, would Ted come with me to another place?She contemplated him dismantling all that he’d achieved with Henri, the community of friends who loved him, in a place he truly loved, and doubted he would ever leave. Doubted she could even ask him to. She didn’t reply to her son.
30
Peggy and Liam ate a delicious curried cauliflower and potato pasty– with mango chutney on the side– and shared a bottle of fizzy elderflower at a little café overlooking the harbour. It was cramped and hot in there, and they moved on for ice cream and coffee further down the street, where they could sit outside in the fresh air and sunshine.
Neither brought up the previous conversation as they chatted for a long time about family matters: Peggy’s brother Tom in his croft on Iona– she still hadn’t written to him. Dan and Max’s relationship and whether Dan would last at the gallery. Nisha and the chance of Liam making a success of their liaison this time– Liam had his doubts, but insisted, ‘I think we’re kinda soulmates, Mum,’ with which she couldn’t argue. It felt good to catch up on these things, which were usually only alluded to, somewhat unsatisfactorily, in the frequent message threads they exchanged during the year.
But she knew, even as they talked, that the elephant remained solidly in the room. In the back of her mind the whole time she was with her son was the problem of Ted.He didn’t feel he could talk to me. That really hurt. She knew just how upset he would be to have his beloved business trashed. But he didn’t trust her with his feelings. Instead, he’d run to Lindy, toldherabout the slew of bad reviews– which she still hadn’t had a chance to check on Tripadvisor,what with the visit to Quentin and meeting Liam. He’d allowedherto fix the problem for him– a woman Peggy was now beginning to accept was behind those vicious emails. Who might also be– for whatever reason– blackening her son-in-law’s name.
What was he even doing visiting her this morning?It couldn’t have been a plan, because he’d asked Peggy to have breakfast with him. But he’d rushed out of the house like a bullet from a gun. Was Ted and Lindy’s friendship stronger than she’d realized? Had their chats together– the obvious esteem they felt for each other– spilled over into something more intimate, as Liam had suggested? Ted had a lot of explaining to do, and she wasn’t relishing the prospect of him doing so in earshot of Liam.
These conundrums leaped centre-stage in Peggy’s brain as she and Liam walked slowly back to catch the ferry home, stopping at various shops selling pottery or local crafts for a poke around, Liam buying for his mum a pretty blue mug that Peggy had admired. The sky had clouded over now and it was cold on the boat, not that she noticed much. Liam, too, had fallen silent, huddled over as if he also was deep in his own thoughts. He had a lot to worry about, of course, and she was sad she hadn’t been more of a support to him while he was there. But at least they had bonded again. She’d also been reminded of how much she loved both boys, and how much they cared for her.
‘Think I’ll stop off at the pub,’ Liam said, when they got back to the village. ‘Gen said she might be around after work.’ When he saw her frown, he added quickly, ‘Nothing dodgy going on, Mum, she’s just a friend.’
Peggy wondered how committed Liam really was to theprospect of getting back together with Nisha– however much of a ‘soulmate’ he considered her. ‘Will you be home for supper?’
‘Count me out. I’ll pick up chips if I’m hungry.’
She kissed Liam goodbye and walked slowly up the hill towards home, dragging her heels at the thought of the potential row brewing with Ted. As she walked she finally accessed the review site for Henri on her phone. The bad reviews still sat there malevolently. They were so unfair– so patently ridiculous to anyone who knew the stall– and her heart broke for Ted. Lindy’s mates with the five stars had obviously not made their way through the system yet. But the recollection of Lindy’s complacent smile that morning, as she sped off to save Ted’s business, sent a wave of annoyance up through her body. By the time she reached the house and opened the front door, her face, she could feel, was brick red and pulsing with angry heat.
Bolt raced up to greet her, licking her hand in welcome. Ted was home. He was cooking supper, calmly chopping cucumber to put into a salad. Peggy tried to catch her breath, but seeing him standing there as if nothing in the world had happened, while all day long she’d lived with this debilitating turmoil in her brain, was almost too much. She knew she had to get a hold of herself or she would just blow the whole house apart with her rage.
He turned as she came in. His look said it all.Guilty.Peggy didn’t know where to start, so she didn’t. She just went over to the kitchen table and sat down, her back to him. The sun had come out again and it was a beautiful June evening, the doors to the garden wide open, the breeze carrying in the jasmine-sweet scent of honeysucklefrom the bush along the far wall.This should be so lovely, she thought sadly.
‘Pegs?’ Ted was close, sliding down onto the chair next to her.
She inhaled slowly, giving him a searching look, but still said nothing. She was almost more interested than annoyed now, as to how he was going to wriggle out of this one.
‘Go on,’ she said.
He looked flustered. ‘Look, about this morning. Lindy told me she bumped into you…’
Peggy swallowed hard, blinked. ‘Such an important thing, Ted. And you ran toher. Told her what you should have toldme.’
Ted’s face crumpled and he leaned over and pulled her into a fierce embrace. ‘Oh, God, Peggy. It wasn’t like that.Please.You have to believe me.’
‘Not sure I do,’ she said, pushing him off.
He looked, fleetingly, as if he didn’t understand, his face a mask of confusion. ‘This morning… the whisky… we kept rowing…’ He stopped, perhaps seeing from her expression that he wasn’t getting through. ‘I’m not good at articulating things like you are, Pegs. I couldn’t get my thoughts in order and it felt as if my head was about to burst open. I knew if I said anything else, that would have been wrong, too.’ He sighed heavily. ‘But I suppose, to be truthful, I was frightened of telling you what I heard in the pub, nervous about how you’d react. So I just ran.’ He gave her a sad smile. ‘Like I always do.’
Peggy understood that side of her partner, the need for some sort of action, even if it was running away. But she also sensed there was something more to this than Tedwas telling her. His pleading seemed so uncharacteristically intense, so… remorseful. ‘Fine, I get that. But did I have to hear about it fromLindy? Randomly. In the street. The last to know in the entire village, probably.’ She realized the futility of it all. She was exhausted physically as well, her morning swim light years away. ‘I felt humiliated,’ she said softly, no anger left.
Ted looked wretched. ‘I honestly didn’t plan to see her, Pegs. I wanted breakfast with you. But you’d eaten with Paul and I was walking past. I thought I should check on her, after yesterday.’
‘So how was she?’ Peggy asked a little tersely.
He glanced away. She noted a flush cross his tanned cheek with surprise. ‘Ted?’
He turned a pained gaze on her. ‘Umm, yeah… She was holding up, I suppose.’ He looked away. Almost to himself, he added, ‘She was so supportive… about the reviews.’
To Peggy, he sounded perplexed, although she didn’t understand why. ‘You didn’t thinkIwould be supportive?’
Ted didn’t reply at once. ‘I’ve tried to explain,’ he said, as he stood abruptly and walked back to the island, began tearing open a packet of feta cheese, which he then crumbled into the salad.
She stared after him. Ted was behaving so oddly, for a man who could normally be read like an open book. ‘I saw Quentin earlier,’ she said. ‘He remembered Lindy used to work for one of the companies Liam traced to the Albanian hacker.’
