Ellie, but thought you and I might fix up to have lunch some time, if you’re at a loose end. Because I certainly am,’ Tom said, with a sheepish grin.
He indicated the wine bar right behind them.
‘It’s a bit early for lunch yet, but do you fancy a cup of coffee if you’ve nothing better to do?’
* * *
Tom was genuinely pleased to see Leo. Since Lucy had left the evening before the house had felt empty, so he’d done his usual trick of coming for a walk to the village. Tomorrow he was going to start phoning around because until the right job came up, the least he could do would be to offer his services for training or mentoring, and if that failed he would look up a few charities where he could help out. He wanted to be around people. He was fast realising that solitude didn’t suit him.
He admired Leo’s casual look, which was perfect for an English summer’s day. He had the feeling that she only ever wore black with a splash of white, but with that dark red lipstick and the sunglasses, she instantly stood out from the crowd. Her black cotton skirt finished just above her knees, showing her lightly tanned legs to perfection, and she was wearing a short, loose, black and white sleeveless top.
He felt a bit scruffy in his jeans and T-shirt. He hadn’t even bothered to shave this morning. He needed to get his act together, or he would become a complete slob if he didn’t watch it. Leo didn’t seem too worried though as they took their seats at a table just inside the wide-open sliding doors. Believe it or not, the sun was too hot to sit outside, which made a change from the incessant rain they had been enjoying this summer.
They ordered their coffee, and Tom turned to Leo.
‘You were miles away when I saw you,’ he said. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’ve been laying some demons to rest, that’s all,’ Leo answered, with a satisfied smile.
‘Demons? In Little Melham? You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Tom said.
‘I wish I was,’ Leo said. ‘Anyway, never mind me. How did yesterday go with Lucy? Did she love the cottage now that it’s finished?’
‘She did, although her mother was a bit scathing. But then that’s only what I expected. She chose to live in what I would consider to be a modern, charmless box, so I had no expectation of raptures over my choice.’
Leo didn’t speak, and just looked at him with her head to one side, as if she were waiting for him to say more.
‘We’ve been divorced for quite a while. We’ve gone our separate ways but we get on with each other for Lucy’s sake.’
Tom didn’t want to talk about the breakup of his marriage. Male pride meant he wanted to avoid telling all and sundry that his wife had left him for another man, but on the other hand he didn’t want everybody to think that he was the type of bastard who cheated on women. Best to say nothing, on the whole, and let them draw their own conclusions.
‘It’s a pity you didn’t get to meet her. I gather you and Ellie went off on some shopping spree or other.’
‘We did. I think Ellie needed to get out of the house. A bit of an escape after the night before. It was a weird party, though. Everybody was behaving as if they were totally deranged, I thought. What did you make of it?’ Leo asked.
‘I enjoyed it. Of course, I didn’t know anybody until that evening, so I didn’t know what was normal and what wasn’t.’
Leo raised her eyebrows.
‘You’re being polite Tom. Very diplomatic, I would say. You must have detected some ripples under the smooth surface though. Come on - you can tell me. They’re not my friends particularly, although I’ve known most of them for ages.’
‘There were one or two signs of strain that I noticed, but I’ve been to dinner parties where there have been stand up arguments or people bursting into tears at the table before now, so it was fairly mild by comparison.’
Tom wasn’t exaggerating either. Being a policeman had lots of pluses and he loved the job, but he could quite understand that being a policeman’s wife was not always that easy. And when you get a load of coppers and their partners together, there was nearly always one couple that was temporarily or even permanently coming to the