The First Time I Said Goodbye (41 page)

She had a point. No bride
-
to
-
be would want to walk in on this. T
his was not what anyone needed when they were contemplating their Big Day – a rather pale and shaking wedding
-
dress salesperson screaming into her iPhone for her husband to talk to her.

I nodded and watched as Rose left the garden to go and lock the door while I stared at my phone and willed it to burst into life. There was still time for this to be okay.

“
A cup of tea will do the trick,
”
Rose said, bustling back through towards me.
“
I
’
ll just go upstairs and put the kettle on.
”

A cup of tea sounded nice. It sounded soothing, even
,
so I followed Rose up the stairs and through the office into our kitchen – clutching my phone to me as I went and I sat down and watched as Rose boiled a kettle and put two mugs out, making her tea.

Rose was like that – an oasis of calm. Nothing phased her. She was the kind of person who
,
if she developed a slight case of spontaneous combustion
,
would simply douse herself with some cold water and mutter
“
Ah well, never mind
”
before getting on with her day.

“
Mark wasn
’
t at work
,”
I said, as she mixed milk into the china mug and stirred it gently.

“
Yes,
”
she nodded.
“
Custard cream?
”
She reached for our biscuit jar and offered it to me.

“
He hasn
’
t been at work in a week
,”
I said, raising an eyebrow and challenging her to look
surprised.
“
And he hasn
’
t told me. He hasn
’
t mentioned it to me at all.
”

She looked at me and bit on a custard cream before taking a sip from her mug.

“
The receptionist had to tell me,
”
I said, willing her to agree with me that it was a Very Big Deal Indeed.

She nodded, and polished off her biscuit.

“
And he
’
s not answering his phone. I
’
ve tried, seven or eight times. He left a week ago
but he
’
s been getting dressed every morning and heading out as usual and coming home his usual grumpy self.
”

She nodded again.

I fought the urge to snatch the biscuit from her mouth and give her a good shake.
“
When I say
‘
left
’
I don
’
t mean just, you know, left. I mean he doesn
’
t work there any
more. I phoned and the receptionist said, very clearly, that Mark Shanahan doesn
’
t work there any
more
.”

Rose sipped from her tea before setting her mug, slowly and carefully, back on the worktop.

“
I
’
m not sure I like the sound of that,
”
she said. Which was bad. Rose saying she didn
’
t like the sound of something was akin to us mere mortals running around screaming hysterically that we were all doomed, doomed
,
I tells ya.