pain is so intense that the only way people can move on is by making a clean break.’
‘Do you think I’ll ever meet anyone else?’ Gillian asked after a moment.
‘Do you mean a man?’ inquired Evi, surprised. ‘A boyfriend?’
‘Yes. Is it possible, do you think, to find someone that I have feelings for? Who might, you know, look after me.’
Had she met someone already? It might account for the clean hair and clothes, for the interest in the future. Someone at the AA meetings?
‘I think it’s quite likely you will,’ said Evi. ‘You’re still young and you’re very pretty. But relationships take a lot of emotional energy. We need to concentrate on getting you strong again.’
‘I’d look for someone different to Pete, next time,’ said Gillian. ‘Maybe someone older. I wouldn’t worry so much about how he looked. Just so long as he was nice.’
This girl wasn’t looking; she thought she’d already found him.
‘Nice is a good quality in a man,’ said Evi. ‘How are you finding the other people at the AA meetings?’
‘They’re OK. Is it too soon, do you think, for me to have met someone?’
‘Have you met someone?’ asked Evi.
The girl was actually blushing. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Maybe. You’d think I was mad if I told you.’
‘Why would I think you mad?’
‘Well, it’s like, he’s so not my type. He was just really nice. And then, the next day, he came to see me. He stayed for nearly two hours, just chatting. There was, like, a chemistry, do you know what I’m saying?’
Evi was starting to smile too, in spite of her reservations. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I know about chemistry.’
All the textbooks would say the girl wasn’t ready for a new relationship but, hey, sometimes you just had to go with the flow. And she knew something herself about the difference a chance meeting could make to a life. How suddenly the darkness that was a woman’s future could let in a beam of sunlight.
‘But Christ, I mean, a vicar. It’s just so not me.’
‘A what?’
‘He’s a vicar. Can you believe it? I’d have to stop swearing, for one thing. And church every week. I’m not sure I could hack it.’
Evi’s smile was starting to hurt. She allowed the muscles around her mouth to relax and concentrated on keeping her expression interested and friendly. ‘You’ve met a vicar?’ she asked.
‘I know, I know. But there was just something about him. And he’s young and he wears normal clothes and, actually, I think you might know him, I saw you …’
Gillian was gabbling on and Evi was no longer listening. Oh yes, there was something about him all right.
‘We’re going to have to stop now, Gillian,’ she said, although there were still four minutes to go on the clock. ‘I’m delighted to see how well you’re doing.’
Gillian left the room smiling. A few weeks ago her life had been in tatters. Now she was smiling. Evi picked up the phone. Was there any possible way? None that she could see. She dialled a number and thanked the God she didn’t believe in when she got Harry’s answer machine.
16
26 September
A AAH-LAY-OH!
The cry came echoing up the street. A man’s voice, loud and strong. A second later lots of voices answered him.
Aah-lay-oh, aah-lay-oh, aah-lay-oh!
Silence. Joe looked at his brother, his eyes round as saucers. Tom gave a little shrug and tried to look as if he’d heard it all before.
Aaah-lay-oh! One voice again, coming from somewhere down the hill. Two beats of silence and then the cry struck up again. Aaaylay-oh, aah-lay-oh, getting louder and faster like a drumbeat. It sounded as though a hundred men were just around the corner.
And then, just when Tom thought they couldn’t possibly get any louder, it all stopped. There was a second of peace and then an almighty crash of metal against stone. Then another and another. Crash! Crash! Footsteps coming up the hill. Tom moved a little closer to his dad, just a small step, too tiny for anyone to notice.
The Fletchers were standing in the driveway and it was seven o’clock in the evening. It was Joe and Millie’s bedtime, not far off Tom’s, but tonight was the Cutting of the Neck. A very old ritual, Mr Renshaw had explained when he’d come round to invite the Fletchers, one that dated back hundreds of years. The Cutting of the Neck. At the time it had sounded cool, and Tom could tell his mum was pleased to be asked. But listening to