Page 43 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
While Peggy had always sympathized– and believed in– Lindy’s distress, this wasn’t the first time she’d questioned the reason behind it. She had found the whole thing puzzling, right from the off. But it was the first time she beganseriouslyto entertain the notion that Lindy was not seeing things right, somehow misinterpreting Felix’s behaviour. She was clearly very disturbed about something, but her heinous accusations just didn’t seem to match the amiable man to whom Peggy had just been chatting– who also turned out to be her son’s good friend. She sighed, wondering if she was being swayed by Liam’s obvious liking for the man.
Now she pushed her confusing thoughts aside, keen to enjoy the unexpected treat of having Liam at her side. They spent a very pleasant morning in the sea. The water was chilly but invigorating, once you were used to it. They swam lazily around the blue pontoon and further out into the bay, sometimes chatting, sometimes lying on their backsin silence, enjoying the rocking of the waves, the spring sunshine warm on their faces. It was a while until they made their way back to the beach, where they flopped on the towels Peggy had brought and sipped from the sodas they’d cadged from Ted’s van. She loved every minute.
That evening, as Ted chopped the onions for the ragout he was making, Peggy, a glass of white wine in her hand, sat on the other side of the kitchen island and told him what Liam had said about Felix.
‘What do you make of it?’ she asked, when she’d finished the story. She’d had a lovely day with her son, but she was relieved he was out tonight– Liam and Ted’s relationship might benefit from being broken in gently.
Ted shrugged. ‘We don’t know how accurate this Fitz’s story is, though, do we? Felix might have spun him a yarn, passed off the blame.’
‘Well, Fitz was actually there. He works for the same bank.’
Ted frowned, but didn’t address her remark. ‘Lindy came up to the van this afternoon, by the way, but I was too busy to talk to her beyond a quick chat.’
‘How did she seem?’
‘Tense, as usual. They’ve been to Paris, apparently. She wanted to show Ada the Louvre.’
Peggy said, ‘Things can’t be too bad, can they, if they managed a trip to Paris together?’
‘You’d think not. But I suppose you can bully someone anywhere.’ Ted paused. ‘She asked to meet tomorrow for coffee… said she had something really important to tell me. But I said I was taking the day off and we had plans.’He looked uneasy at the memory. ‘I felt bad. But I’m trying to create some distance. It was getting a bit too intense, as you pointed out.’
‘So you’re taking tomorrow off?’ Peggy was thrilled. She could cook a Sunday lunch for them all. Not something she’d done in a long while.
‘Shona said she’d step in– she needs the shifts, apparently. I thought, what with all that’s gone on this week, we could do with a quiet day together.’
She smiled and reached up to kiss him. ‘Thank you.’
She watched Ted as he slid the onions into the saucepan and opened the packet of mince. ‘I didn’t tell you. Sienna’s got some geek friend of Paul’s looking into the email.’
Ted looked up from the pan. ‘That’s great, sweetheart.’
She nodded, really appreciating Sienna’s efforts on her behalf– there was no need for her to go to all that trouble. But although Peggy wanted desperately to know who the sender was, she couldn’t help wondering what they would do if they did find out… and knew for sure who would do this cruel thing.
‘Would you take Liam running?’ she asked later, as she and Ted sat on the terrace after supper with mint tea and mini bars of Kernow chocolate. The sun was going down in a cloudy sky and it was getting chilly, but neither wanted to make the move inside. The early-summer evenings were so precious.
He frowned. ‘Does he run?’
‘I don’t know. But you could ask. He looks so wasted– he needs to get his health back, get into shape again. Liam’s always been sporty.’
‘Okay.’ He sounded reluctant.
‘Ted, please. Make an effort.’
‘I said okay.’ He sounded irritated. When he saw her look, he softened. ‘I’m sorry, Peggy, of course I’ll ask him. It’s just been hard getting through to him and Dan.’ After a brief pause, he added, ‘How long do you think he’ll stay?’
Peggy’s nerves were generally frayed by the last couple of days, and she found herself snapping, ‘I’ve no idea. But he’smy son, Ted. He should be allowed to stay as long as he wants, don’t you think?’
Ted’s handsome face stiffened but he didn’t speak.
‘Sorry for snapping,’ she said, only marginally contrite. Ted nodded, but the atmosphere of the evening was ruined and they went to bed with nothing more than polite exchanges.
Peggy knocked on the door of Liam’s room at around midday on Sunday morning. There was no response. When she gingerly opened the door, she saw the bed was empty and unslept in.
She texted him:Where are you? Doing Sunday lunch. Pls ring x
There was no immediate reply.
‘He didn’t come home last night,’ she said, when she was back in the kitchen, where Ted was reading the paper with a cup of coffee. ‘And he’s not answered my text yet.’
