it?’
‘Right,’ he agreed, not seeing the trap she’d opened up at his feet.
‘And that’s what really matters, isn’t it?’ she challenged him. ‘Control.’
‘Sometimes it’s important to be in control of things. In fact, it’s always important.’
‘Just things? Or people. Why did your wife really leave you?’
He flashed her a look of pure hatred. ‘I guess I didn’t pay enough,’ he snapped.
Before she could answer he walked out of the room and slammed the door.
Evie was left silently cursing herself.
I had no right to say that about his wife. She sighed. Why do I keep losing my temper? Now I’ll have to find him and apologise. Oh, hell! Why don’t I grow up?
Hearing him outside the door, she braced herself for the worst, but his manner, when he entered, was quieter.
‘Shall we start again?’ he asked mildly.
‘That would be a good idea. Please forget that last question. I had no right—’
‘It’s over,’ he said hastily. ‘Besides, all the worst you think of me is probably true, and you’d be the first person to say so if you hadn’t decided it was wiser to be tactful.’
She let out a long breath at his insight. ‘Touché,’ she said at last.
He gave her an ironic look. ‘It’s good for my pride if I win the odd point or two.’
‘I don’t think the worst of you,’ she said. ‘I think you’re just floundering.’
‘That’s true. I don’t know what to say to Mark, what to do for him. We don’t speak the same language. What you say about moving house may be right, but I meant it for the best.’
‘I wish I could help—’ she sighed ‘—but I’m not even going to be here much longer. I leave when term’s over. But I’ll stay in touch with Mark, if you like, from anywhere in the world.’
‘I’d appreciate that.’
‘Now I’ll go up and see him, because I promised.’
‘Thank you. Then I’ll take you home.’
‘There’s no need. I can call a cab.’
‘Miss Wharton, I will take you home,’ he said firmly.
He came upstairs with her and they stopped outside Mark’s door. Evie raised her hand to knock, then thought better of it and opened the door a crack.
‘I’m awake,’ came Mark’s voice at once.
Laughing, she slipped inside and went to sit on the bed, giving him a hug.
‘I’m going now,’ she said. ‘I just came to say goodnight. And thank you for the pictures. I’ll give you back the memory stick at school.’
‘You will be there?’
‘For a bit longer.’ She kissed his cheek. ‘Bye!’
He flung his arms about her neck. ‘Bye!’
Then he saw his father standing in the doorway and removed his arms.
‘Hallo, Dad,’ he said politely.
‘I’m going to drive Miss Wharton home, son.’
‘Goodnight.’
If only he would smile at his father, Evie thought. Or at least stop being so woodenly polite. But Mark didn’t say another word as she and Justin left the room.
Downstairs, Justin stopped for a word with Lily before leading Evie out to his car.
‘Where to?’
She gave him her address and he swung out on to the road. As he drove he said, ‘I’m sorry about your ruined evening with your boyfriend.’
‘I’ll call him when I get in.’
‘What will you tell him?’
‘The truth. What else?’
‘Might he not misunderstand?’
‘He won’t, as long as I stick to the facts.’
‘Are you one of those terrifyingly honest people who always tell the truth about everything?’
She laughed. ‘No, I’m not as bad as that. And honesty really has nothing to do with it. It’s just that lies have a habit of backfiring on you. I learned that when I was ten.’
In the darkness of the car she just sensed him grinning.
‘I learned a lot earlier than that,’ he said.
‘I even think that honesty can sometimes be an overrated virtue.’
‘Heresy!’
‘No, just that sometimes you have to choose between honesty and kindness, and kindness is usually better. My home is just up ahead, in that apartment block.’
‘How do you manage with the motorbike?’
‘I park it in the basement garage. If you drop me on the kerb here—’
‘Actually, I was hoping to come in and talk to you for a while.’
Before she could answer her mobile phone rang.
‘I guess that’s Andrew,’ Justin said. ‘You might still save your evening with him. OK, I’ll drop you here. Goodnight.’
It wasn’t the moment she would have chosen for Andrew to call, but she had no choice but to get out of the car. Justin closed the door behind her and sped away into the darkness, leaving her to answer the phone call, which turned out to be a wrong number.
Evie looked for Mark at school on the following Monday, but there was no sign of him, and Debra said that his father had called to say he had a cold and would be off for a few days.
She’d brought the memory stick in to return to him, but now she wrote him a little note saying that the pictures were lovely, and including her email address and sent the whole thing off in a package.
The following evening his reply was waiting on her computer, with some attached pictures of the puppies. She thanked him, and they settled into an amiable gossip that lasted for the next few days until she wrote at last:
If I don’t see you before I go, I promise to email you from all over the place. I’m off to my seaside cottage now. I’ll send you some pics of it, taken with my digital camera. If you can work yours I’m sure I can learn to work mine.
She
