Kala said, “I’ll need their names and addresses.”
“I thought you might and wrote them down. I left the paper upstairs in the study with a recent photo. I’ll go get them.”
Rouleau sipped his tea after she’d gone, then lowered his cup, “What do you think?”
“That she’s very worried.”
“I wonder why. Her husband hasn’t been gone a full day yet.”
“Sometimes women know. They have a sense when their partner’s in trouble.”
“Well as far as I can see, no crime has been committed yet and it’s too early to tell. He might be on a bender or gone somewhere and forgotten to call.”
“As you say,” Kala’s voice trailed away and she lifted her teacup. She lowered it without drinking and pushed herself to her feet, then crossed the floor to squat down next to Charlotte, resting back on her heels as she murmured something that caught the child’s attention. Charlotte responded and Kala picked up the picture, leaning close and talking into Charlotte’s ear until the child laughed and took the picture back.
By the time Laurel returned with the list of names, Kala was standing next to Rouleau. They left the kitchen without another word to the child.
Rouleau dropped Kala at the station and continued on to the Royal Oak, crossing the Pretoria Bridge over the Canal to where the pub sat on the corner of Echo Drive, directly across from the waterway. He was a few minutes late and felt the familiar tightening in his stomach that had been the norm at the end of his marriage whenever he’d stood up Frances for work. Luckily, she was just hanging up her coat inside the doorway when he arrived. She turned and smiled at him without the anger that had punctuated the final months when she’d begun freezing him out. They hugged lightly before a waitress led them to a table near the gas fireplace in the corner of the room.
Rouleau scanned the room as he walked behind Frances. The same oak decor and flowered seat cushions, a little more frayed and faded, with Irish music playing from overhead speakers — The Irish Rovers’ rendition of “Danny Boy.” Time really could stand still. The place was proof. They sat next to the window. He ordered a tall Keith’s for himself and gin and tonic for Frances, suddenly not hungry for food.
“It was good to hear your voice after all this time,” he said, leaning back. The lines had deepened around her eyes and the pale pink blouse washed out the colour in her face. She’d always had pale skin but it seemed more translucent somehow. Her hair was cropped shorter than he’d ever seen. When he complimented her on it, she absent-mindedly lifted a hand to touch the exposed nape of her neck.
“I know this must seem awkward, Jacques, after all this time.”
“Your call was unexpected, yes.” He took a long drink from his glass. “But expected at the same time. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to hear from you. When you didn’t answer my emails, I figured it was in your court. That you would contact me when you were ready.”
“I’m sorry. I should have been in touch before now.” She lowered her head to study her hands clasped together on the table.
He hadn’t meant to put her on the defensive, but normal conversation was eluding him. Just how did you greet an ex-wife when it had ended badly? What was the trick for pretending they hadn’t been intimate and best friends for sixteen years?
“So what have you been up to? Have you had a good year?” he asked. Have you left Gordon?
Frances picked up her glass and drank. “Time was I’d be lighting a cigarette to go with this G and T,” she said wistfully. “Those were the days.” She set the glass down carefully on a clover-shaped green coaster. “Remember that day in grade twelve when we skipped school and you borrowed your father’s car and we spent the afternoon at Constance Bay?”
“Do I? My father gave me royal hell when I got home after dark, but it was worth every minute. It was the first time we ever …”
“That’s the memory I’ve kept coming back to,” she smiled. “That first time and how young and free we were back then. If only we could go back.”
Rouleau found her eyes and wouldn’t let her look away. “What’s wrong then, Fran? Why did you call me here after all this time?”
“Am I that obvious? I was planning to have a pleasant catch up over drinks and tell you my sad news as we got ready to leave. You know, when I went through all those rounds of chemo, I kept thinking that it wasn’t so long ago I was happy. I mean really happy. I can’t believe how quickly it all went away.”
His stomach lurched like a hand had reached inside and squeezed his large intestine. “Cancer?”
She nodded. “It began in my breast and I thought it was nothing serious. You know, just a benign cyst or something easily explained away. The doctor said I was very unlucky.” Her gaze didn’t falter. “I have a few months they think. Maybe as many as six. I wanted you to hear it from me.”
“God, no. Are they sure? Can’t anything be done? There are so many new treatments. Have you tried another doctor?” He heard his voice rising and struggled to bring it down to normal pitch.
“God hasn’t had much to do with this, I’m afraid. No miracles or answering of prayers. He’s been strangely silent as I contemplate the final chapter.”
He reached across the table and placed his hand on hers. She turned her hand over and twined her fingers through his. “Is there anything I can do? Anything you need?”
This time, she shook her head. “It’s under control. Gordon took it badly at first, but he’s stepping up.” She laughed. “He wants to marry me. Can you believe it?”
“In a heartbeat.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m so sorry, Jacques.” Her voice was a whisper. “I screwed up our lives. I’m trying very hard not to screw up my death.”
He reached across the table and took her hand between both of his. Her skin was cool to the touch, her palm papery dry. “I’m as much to blame for what happened to us as you are. More so, in fact. I’m still here for you, Fran. Anytime, anywhere. You’ve got to know that.”
She gently squeezed his hand before withdrawing hers. “Thank you, Jacques. It’s good to know that we’re still friends. That’s something anyway.” She folded her hands in her lap and lowered her head.
He looked at the bony curve of her jaw and her eyes nearly black in the dim light of the bar. She’d lost a lot of weight. “I think you should marry Gordon.”
She lifted her head and studied him, her eyes amused. “Really? You wouldn’t mind too much?”
The familiar smile on her lips twisted his heart. He swallowed before speaking. “No. Do what feels right, what makes you happy.”
“I don’t know quite what that would be anymore. A call from the hospital saying that they’d gotten it all wrong. It was a screw-up in the lab and my real test results were hiding in somebody’s else’s file.” She tilted her head and shrugged as if dismissing the possibility. “But maybe for Gordon, getting married would mean something.”
“Then
