with a jumble of flower-arranging paraphernalia in the back. In the driver’s seat sat a middle-aged woman in spectacles writing absorbedly in a notebook. When she heard the sound of Laura’s feet on the gravel, she wound the car window down.
‘Thought that’s what you’d be doing, walking the dogs—’
‘Wendy,’ Laura said.
‘I was perfectly happy, sitting here. Gave me a chance to do the hospital-volunteer transport rota. How are you?’
‘I don’t know,’ Laura said.
Wendy opened her car door, and got out.
‘Time to make me a cup of tea?’
‘Oh yes—’
Wendy looked at the dogs. They were positioned by the back door, poised to dash inside.
‘It’s probably good for you, having to cope with them. Domestic routine has its uses.’
Laura put a key into the back door and opened it. The dogs shot inside, leaving damp footprints along the passage floor, and vanished into the kitchen to find welcoming presents for Wendy.
‘It’s kind of you to come,’ Laura said.
Wendy looked at her sharply through her spectacles. They had blue frames and gilt sidepieces.
‘My dear Laura,’ she said, ‘there, but for the grace of God, go
any
of us. Forty years of marriage.
Forty
. Do you think any of us went up that aisle forty years agoand thought about where we’d be forty years later? I didn’t, for one. I’d have died of fright.’
Laura went ahead into the kitchen. The dogs had found a tea towel and an oven glove and were wagging round the table with these, as offerings for Wendy.
‘Bloody fools,’ she said.
Laura ran water into the kettle.
‘I was very nervous about marrying Guy,’ she said. ‘But I thought that was normal. Everyone said it’s normal to be nervous when you marry.’
‘Roger fainted,’ Wendy said, ‘in the vestry when we were supposed to be signing the register. Not a wonderful omen, if you think about it. He’s never fainted since.’
‘And you still have him—’
‘I do,’ Wendy said, ‘but only after some pretty close shaves.’
Laura put tea bags in a teapot.
‘Would you marry him again?’
‘Given half a chance,’ Wendy said, ‘I wouldn’t marry anybody. Except to have children.’ She glanced at Laura. ‘How are the children taking this?’
Laura took mugs out of the cupboard and put them on the table.
‘As you would expect. Simon perfectly sweet and very sympathetic, and Alan making me feel that as this sort of thing happens all the time I shouldn’t make a fuss but just get on with the consequences.’
‘Oh Laura,’ Wendy said, taking her spectacles off and buffing the lenses up against her cardigan, ‘he doesn’t mean that. Alan’s a sweetie.’
Laura put the teapot on the table and sat down.
‘He makes me feel he thinks Guy has a point.’
‘Laura dear, Guy is his
father—
‘
‘Who has been betraying me for the last seven years and has now walked out.’
Wendy put her glasses back on.
‘I have, since I heard, rather wondered what I’d do if Roger walked out.’
‘And?’
‘I think I’d go and live in Cornwall and run a b-and-b and grow prize fuchsias.’
‘You only think that because you don’t have to do it.’
‘Laura,’ Wendy said, ‘are you very, very sure you weren’t actually rather
tired
of being married to Guy?’
Laura stopped pouring tea.
‘What do you mean?’
‘That it’s insulting and upsetting and frightening to be left like this, but that it just might be a chance to start again on your own terms?’
‘At sixty-one?’
‘At eighty-one, if needs be. No milk, thank you.’
‘I don’t think,’ Laura said, bending over her mug, ‘that you understand at all.’
‘Ah,’ Wendy said.
‘I have never been able quite to live up to Guy, you see. I’ve never quite been able to be what he wanted me to be, what he made it very plain he wanted me to be. The things I’m good at are the things he can’t see the point of. I am a private person. He is a public person. He made me feel that the
‘Thought that’s what you’d be doing, walking the dogs—’
‘Wendy,’ Laura said.
‘I was perfectly happy, sitting here. Gave me a chance to do the hospital-volunteer transport rota. How are you?’
‘I don’t know,’ Laura said.
Wendy opened her car door, and got out.
‘Time to make me a cup of tea?’
‘Oh yes—’
Wendy looked at the dogs. They were positioned by the back door, poised to dash inside.
‘It’s probably good for you, having to cope with them. Domestic routine has its uses.’
Laura put a key into the back door and opened it. The dogs shot inside, leaving damp footprints along the passage floor, and vanished into the kitchen to find welcoming presents for Wendy.
‘It’s kind of you to come,’ Laura said.
Wendy looked at her sharply through her spectacles. They had blue frames and gilt sidepieces.
‘My dear Laura,’ she said, ‘there, but for the grace of God, go
any
of us. Forty years of marriage.
Forty
. Do you think any of us went up that aisle forty years agoand thought about where we’d be forty years later? I didn’t, for one. I’d have died of fright.’
Laura went ahead into the kitchen. The dogs had found a tea towel and an oven glove and were wagging round the table with these, as offerings for Wendy.
‘Bloody fools,’ she said.
Laura ran water into the kettle.
‘I was very nervous about marrying Guy,’ she said. ‘But I thought that was normal. Everyone said it’s normal to be nervous when you marry.’
‘Roger fainted,’ Wendy said, ‘in the vestry when we were supposed to be signing the register. Not a wonderful omen, if you think about it. He’s never fainted since.’
‘And you still have him—’
‘I do,’ Wendy said, ‘but only after some pretty close shaves.’
Laura put tea bags in a teapot.
‘Would you marry him again?’
‘Given half a chance,’ Wendy said, ‘I wouldn’t marry anybody. Except to have children.’ She glanced at Laura. ‘How are the children taking this?’
Laura took mugs out of the cupboard and put them on the table.
‘As you would expect. Simon perfectly sweet and very sympathetic, and Alan making me feel that as this sort of thing happens all the time I shouldn’t make a fuss but just get on with the consequences.’
‘Oh Laura,’ Wendy said, taking her spectacles off and buffing the lenses up against her cardigan, ‘he doesn’t mean that. Alan’s a sweetie.’
Laura put the teapot on the table and sat down.
‘He makes me feel he thinks Guy has a point.’
‘Laura dear, Guy is his
father—
‘
‘Who has been betraying me for the last seven years and has now walked out.’
Wendy put her glasses back on.
‘I have, since I heard, rather wondered what I’d do if Roger walked out.’
‘And?’
‘I think I’d go and live in Cornwall and run a b-and-b and grow prize fuchsias.’
‘You only think that because you don’t have to do it.’
‘Laura,’ Wendy said, ‘are you very, very sure you weren’t actually rather
tired
of being married to Guy?’
Laura stopped pouring tea.
‘What do you mean?’
‘That it’s insulting and upsetting and frightening to be left like this, but that it just might be a chance to start again on your own terms?’
‘At sixty-one?’
‘At eighty-one, if needs be. No milk, thank you.’
‘I don’t think,’ Laura said, bending over her mug, ‘that you understand at all.’
‘Ah,’ Wendy said.
‘I have never been able quite to live up to Guy, you see. I’ve never quite been able to be what he wanted me to be, what he made it very plain he wanted me to be. The things I’m good at are the things he can’t see the point of. I am a private person. He is a public person. He made me feel that the
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