kind of ghastly summer flu that was sweeping the elementary schools of Massachusetts?
“Can I get you anything?” Daniel knocks on the door and comes in.
“No thank you, Daniel,” she says, with a smile that is trying to be as luminous as always. Ten minutes later Daniel reappears with a cup of tea.
“You are a love,” she says. “Now where is Michael? Have you seen him?” She pats her bed, inviting Daniel to perch on the edge.
“He and Daff have taken out those ancient bikes to go exploring.”
“Oh good,” Nan says, “I hope they have fun. I have a sense that there could be a romance between them. Is that awful of me to say? You mustn’t say anything.”
“I won’t.” Daniel smiles. “And I feel the same thing. Michael invited me along but I graciously declined. I thought that the two of them ought to be alone somehow.”
“Good for you,” Nan says. “So what are you up to today?”
“I do have to work. I’m off into town. Are you sure I can’t get you anything else? Do you need me to call a doctor or anything?”
“Good heavens, no! I’m not truly sick, just feeling a little under the weather. I’m fine. I don’t believe in doctors anyway. I only ever believed in Dr. Grover, who used to patch up all the local kids when they tore themselves up. But not for us adults. Quite unnecessary, I think.”
“You’re sure?”
“Quite sure.” And with a smile she waves him out of the room.
“Are you certain you’re okay?” Michael keeps stopping on his bike, way ahead of Daff, waiting for her to catch up, which she does eventually, puffing away like a lunatic.
“Absolutely,” she says, forcing a smile and trying not to show quite how out of shape she is. “It looks a damn sight more fun than it is, though,” she says wryly, and Michael laughs.
“When did you say you last exercised?”
“I didn’t.” She puts on a fake scowl. “In between working, being a single mother, and running my life and that of a truculent teenager, I haven’t quite been able to fit in those good old Pilates classes.”
“Let’s take a break,” Michael says, climbing off his bike and sinking down onto the grass. “We can sit for a while. So . . . your life sounds busy. Is your ex involved?”
“With me or my daughter?” She raises an eyebrow.
“Your daughter’s with him now, isn’t she? So that’s a given.”
“True. I have to say, I think we get on fine. I thought at the time that I would never get over the pain, but I came to see that there was a reason he looked outside the marriage, that if it had been as good and as perfect as I thought, he would never have looked elsewhere.”
“I’m sorry,” Michael says. “I didn’t realize.”
“That’s okay. I didn’t tell you. But yes, I am that clichéd woman who discovers her husband is having an affair.”
“And you didn’t want to give him a second chance?” Michael cannot help himself, he is thinking of Jordana, of what would happen if Jackson found out.
“I always thought I would. I mean, in those conversations where you imagine the worst and you wonder how you’d react, I think I always thought that I might be able to forgive an affair, that infidelity doesn’t have to be the ultimate destroyer of a marriage, but Richard couldn’t choose, and that’s what I couldn’t forgive.” She sighs. “That’s enough about me. What’s your story?”
“Me? I don’t have a story.” Michael grins.
“Forty . . . what? Three? Four?”
“Close. Two.”
“Ever been married?”
“Nope.”
“There’s a story right there.”
“Maybe, but it isn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds. I think I just chose badly. I had a couple of long-term relationships with women who were great in many ways, but who weren’t great for me. I never found peace in a relationship, and now I thank my lucky stars I didn’t end up marrying them because it wouldn’t have ended well.” He pauses. “And then there was my latest unfortunate incident.”
“Oh yes?”
“I hate even admitting it, particularly when your husband had an affair, and I’m not proud of it at all . . .”
“You had an affair with a married woman?”
Michael nods, and when he looks up he sees Daff’s eyes are gentle. Despite what has happened to her, he is not being judged.
“Was that the crazy ringing of the phone last night?” She raises a knowing eyebrow.