earth is Max doing now?’ Leo asked as Ellie joined her on the bench.
‘He’s spraying the roses. According to Gary - who actually does know quite a lot about plants if not much about people - our yellow roses are suffering from some kind of fungus. He cut one - one of my favourites, as it happens – on the night of the party and sneaked it into the dining room to show me that it was diseased. He said he didn’t want to embarrass me in front of our guests.’ Ellie gave a snort of derision. As if diseased flowers mattered in the overall scheme of things.
Leo smiled. ‘I remember that now. He came looking for you in the kitchen.’
‘It was all very peculiar. It’s a mystery to me how a man who cares so passionately about the perfection of plants can be such a pig to his wife. I’d like Max to dig the whole bed up if I’m honest. They’ve always been my favourites, but Sean was forever leaving me yellow roses - even one in the fridge on the night of the party.’
‘Bloody hell - was he in John Lewis on Sunday too?’
‘Yep - that’s why I was so freaked out. And he’d left one on the doorstep the night you arrived. It was so creepy.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me - I wouldn’t have judged you,’ Leo said, giving Ellie a sad smile.
Ellie was spared the necessity of answering as her glance strayed above Leo’s head to the path that led to the front of the house. Another visitor.
‘Hi. I thought I’d find you all out in the garden. Is it okay if I come in?’
‘Hi Tom,’ Max called. ‘Perfect timing. My excuse to stop this job and go and get another couple of glasses.’
‘I don’t want to interrupt - I just came to see how everybody was, and I wondered if I could persuade the walking wounded to have dinner with me,’ he said, making his way towards the bench and resting his hand lightly on Leo’s shoulder.
‘Only if you’re prepared to cut my food up for me,’ was Leo’s less than ecstatic response. But Tom had clearly got her measure.
‘Of course. It will be like taking Lucy out when she was little, although I doubt if the standard of behaviour will be as high.’ He grinned at Leo.
‘Do I need to get changed? It’s such a faff with this arm.’
‘No - I can cope with you looking scruffy. Come on - we’ll walk back to mine and we can travel in style, seeing as how I no longer have a beat up wreck to take you out in.’
‘Thank God for that,’ said Leo. ‘I’ll get my bag, then.’
* * *
Tom looked at Leo as she returned to the garden ten minutes later, and smiled his appreciation. Contrary to her previous remarks, it was clear that she had gone to some effort to look good, but he knew better than to comment. She gave him a typically Leo defiant glance.
He stood up and walked towards her, casually dropping his arm around her shoulders. He felt her tense for a moment, and then she surprised him by relaxing.
‘I’ve been telling Tom about Fiona and Charles and their rediscovered lurve,’ Ellie said. ‘It’s great that something good has come out of all this.’
Leo was less kindly disposed towards Fiona’s new found harmony.
‘If you say so, although I’m not sure that they deserve it given that she was prepared to have a relationship with Penny’s husband. I thought she was up to something because she got a phone call when we met for lunch, and she went all coy for a moment.’ Leo paused. ‘By the way, Ellie, I’ve been meaning to ask - what is Fiona’s big secret? She told me she’d had her heart broken, and Mrs Talbot says she was pregnant. What’s the big mystery?’
‘Oh, bloody Doreen Talbot ought to learn the art of discretion,’ Ellie said. ‘I’ve kept this secret for so many years, but I’m sure it’s not a problem telling you now, especially as Charles has finally been told the whole story. It happened when we were about seventeen. Fiona was always quite secretive, you know. Still is, it would appear. I knew she was seeing somebody, but I didn’t know who and she wouldn’t tell me. They used to meet in the woods, by the back road. All I knew was that he was older than her - and I suspected