The Barn on Half Moon Hill (11 page)

Gaynor stood up.

‘Well, if you've all decided behind my back that I'm a bore and you're all on flaming
de Niro
's side, I'll go.'

‘Gaynor, don't be daft.'

‘Oh don't, Gaynor.'

Protests ensued but Gaynor wouldn't be placated.

‘I'll show myself out.' She strode out on her long, pin-thin legs and the others knew they had no choice but to let her go when she was in that stubborn mood of hers. They
exchanged cringes and shrugged.

‘No wonder she's on her own,' piped up Iris.

‘
Mum
,' objected Linda.

‘We-ell,' said Iris, waving away her daughter's indignation. ‘It might do her good to know that everyone thinks she's in the wrong. You've to be cruel to be
kind sometimes. She's in a rut and she wants booting out of it.'

‘Iris is right,' replied Caro. She hated that there was distance between them and wished they could get back onto a normal footing. The trouble was that the more rain that fell on
Gaynor recently, the more the heavens seemed to shine on Caro. If Caro could have stemmed the tide of her good fortune and diverted it to Gaynor, she wouldn't have hesitated to give her
friend a break.

‘She'll come round,' said Stel, watching Gaynor strut down the road through the window. ‘Let her stew for a bit. She knows we are on her side.'

‘I worry that Mick will start playing funny beggars,' said Linda. ‘Guilt's made him offer a generous divorce settlement, but if she keeps on refusing to cooperate he
might start getting as bolshie as she is. I'd hate for her to lose out financially.'

Linda hadn't known Mick that well but she'd been surprised when he'd left Gaynor. He'd seemed such a quiet man, easy-going and settled, even a bit boring. Gaynor had
idolised him; and despite her believing that she and Mick had been together for so long that she knew him inside out, she had been the last to discover that he'd been messing around behind
her back. The split had hit her hard, but she hadn't yet worked her way through the natural grieving process that might have healed her. Instead she had stuck fast on the ‘anger'
setting. Gaynor wanted Mick back, and as far as she could see it, clinging on until she had worn down his resistance was her only option.

Linda suddenly leaped to her feet and headed for the bar area in the corner, returning with a bottle of Prosecco and some glasses.

‘Bugger tea, let's have a glass and wish Viv well. I didn't know she was that fond of animals, Stel, that she'd want to up and go work in an animal sanctuary.'

‘She's based in their office, not actually hands-on with the animals,' explained Stel. ‘She wanted a bit of experience working with people in a small business doing
accounts and suchlike.'

Linda handed round the Prosecco and poured her mother a Tia Maria, as she didn't drink wine of any description. Iris insisted that all wine tasted of feet, and firmly believed every grape
had been trodden by some bloke with verrucas.

‘
To Viv
. Here's hoping she enjoys her new home and her new job.'

‘To Viv.'

Four glasses were raised in the air. And Stel Blackbird smiled, though inside her heart was breaking because she suspected the real reason why her daughter had taken up that post had nothing to
do with getting experience of a small business at all.