Page 69 of The Winter of Second Chances
‘But I don’t love you anymore. And if you loved me, you wouldn’t have slept with Ellie.’
Max’s eyes welled with tears.
‘Don’t say that!’ he pleaded. ‘I can make you love me again.’
‘I don’t want to love you again!’ Annie shouted in exasperation. ‘Loving you is exhausting. It’s too hard.’
‘Is it that man?’
‘What man?’ Annie asked. A picture of John Granger bloomed behind her eyes and she shook it away quickly.
‘The man whose house you spent the night at the other week.’
Jeez!she thought.Paul!
‘No,’ Annie replied. ‘It isn’t him, it isn’t anyone. Or at least if it is someone else, it’s Ellie and the long list of women that went before her.’
Max looked stung but Annie found herself untouched.
‘Please, Max,’ she went on. ‘Save us both a lot of pain and give it up now. We made two great kids, we built a great business and now it’s over. I’m going to file for a divorce.’
‘I’ll never agree to one,’ said Max, dashing the tears from his eyes.
‘I’m going to file for one anyway. And if you don’t get me access to my bank accounts ASAP, I’ll be speaking to my solicitor about that too. I might even have a case for suing you.’
Max stood up. Annie stayed where she was. He picked up the boombox and Annie watched him walk dejectedly to his car. He slammed the door shut and revved the engine too loudly before pulling away, the shingle jumping out from beneath his wheels.
‘It’ll be such a shame if this place gets flattened,’ Gemma lamented. ‘I love our book club evenings and having a cafe down here. And Annie, this is your business, not to mention your home. You can’t want to see it bulldozed!’
They were supposed to be discussingThe Mezzotintby M. R. James. Annie had purposely not switched on the lamps for this, their Halloween book club, so that the room was lit only by candlelight. Their figures, huddled around the table, cast long shadows on the walls. The wind whistled through the shuttered windows and caused the candles to flicker. M. R. James’s was the last of their short stories to be discussed, although keeping the book club on track was like trying to race ants, each one going off on its own tangent. As usual, the fate of Saltwater Nook and John’s part in its demise was a hot topic.
‘No,’ said Annie. ‘I certainly don’t. I mean, he’s not my favourite person and obviously I don’t agree with his plans.’ She waved her arm around to encompass the cafe. ‘But I have to grudgingly admit that I think John’s intentions are well meant, if a little skewed.’
‘Blimey,’ said Sally.
‘Well, that’s a turn-up,’ added Maeve.
Gemma clutched her heart and said, ‘You know what this would be like, don’t you? It would be like inYou’ve Got Mail, when Tom Hanks’s character puts Meg Ryan’s character out of business but they fall in love anyway!’
‘It would be nothing at all like that,’ said Annie.
‘But you’re warming to him,’ observed Maeve.
‘I will admit that he might not be quite as bad as I first thought,’ Annie said.
Gemma clapped her hands.
‘But I generally feel the same about smear tests,’ Annie added.
‘As tolerable as a smear test,’ Sally said dryly. ‘High praise indeed. Why can’t they sell the place as it is? You know, rather than knocking it down. Seems to me that would please everyone.’
‘They tried,’ said Maeve. ‘But let’s face it, Saltwater Nook is a doer-upper. No disrespect to Mari but the place needs work, even with the bits John does here and there. People won’t pay top whack for a project. The land is worth more without the Nook on it.’
‘What about the rentals market? Airbnb and that sort of thing?’ asked Sally.
‘Again, it’s seasonal. And at the moment it would only sleep two. John doesn’t have the kind of money required to convert the downstairs and there we are back again to where we were a moment ago.’
‘Then, of course, there’s Emily and the historical brigade,’ said Annie.
