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and Woody was a total star, but I can see now that I wasn’t ready for guests.’

‘But we did everything we planned, didn’t we?’ Thea automatically reached for the notepad she kept in her bag. ‘Did someone mention something that we need to be better prepared for?’

Tina waved away the suggestion. ‘Not the retreat, me. I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t stopped to think about how Sam would be when he was with former squaddies.’

‘Ah, I see.’ Thea laid her pen down. ‘You did say you were uncomfortable with the teasing nature of their camaraderie.’

‘I shouldn’t have been though. Everyone knows what forces folk are like. Woody explained it best when he said it was a survival thing. That all the nicknames and stuff cover over the cracks, protecting them from some of what they’ve experienced.’

Topping up Tina’s coffee cup, Thea said nothing as she listened.

‘Sam hardly ever speaks about his time in the forces. I respect that.’ She blew across the top of her coffee to help cool it. ‘Yet there’s so much else about his past he could share, but doesn’t.’

As Tina lapsed into silence, Thea ventured, ‘You feel cut out?’

‘I’m in love with a man I don’t know.’ Tina smeared some escaped butter around her plate with her finger. ‘He told Bert he was nervous about going to see his parents, but he only admitted the same to me when I confronted him. I don’t want to have to argue with him in order to extract every bit of information, whether it’s about his past or our future.’

‘Especially as you aren’t the arguing kind…’ Thea pulled a face. ‘I’d love to be able to throw some wisdom your way.’

Tina grinned. ‘You used to consult the Goddess Minerva about such things.’

‘So I did. These days I ask the chickens!’ Thea laughed as she remembered how she’d always turned to the statue of the Roman goddess she’d kept in her office in the Roman Baths. ‘It’s Minerva’s fault I came to Mill Grange in the first place.’

‘I’m glad you did.’ Tina stirred some milk into her cup. ‘So, what were you going to say about Shaun and Sophie?’

‘I’m not sure it’s anything.’ Thea grimaced. ‘But I’ve got this nagging feeling about her.’

‘Why?’

‘You know when you fancy someone you say their name a lot. You don’t notice you’re doing it. Like subconscious name-dropping.’

‘Shaun’s been doing that?’ Tina frowned. ‘Mentioning Sophie’s name more often than he would just in passing?’

Thea nodded. ‘I’m probably being terribly unfair. I know nothing about her, except she’s blonde, pretty, good at her job and Shaun thinks a lot of her as an archaeologist, even though she’s still a student. He even asked if I thought he should give her one-to-one tuition.’

‘Ah. I take it you told him it wasn’t a good idea?’

‘I told him it would use time he didn’t have.’

‘Which is true.’ Tina was about to comment further, when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye.

Her childish hope that Helen hadn’t spotted them quickly proved pointless, as Thea leant forward. ‘Helen’s across the road. I think we should invite her to join us before she spots us. Unless you really hate the idea, but I’m sure you’d like her if you got to know her.’

‘No problem.’ Hearing the words come out of her mouth, Tina cursed her inability to put herself first, as Thea called across the street, waving for Helen to join them.

*

Thea’s heart sank as the atmosphere in the pub garden clouded over.

Sitting down, Helen had explained she often walked before breakfast, hence being in Upwich at eight in the morning. Not wanting Helen to feel left out in the same way Tina had, Thea told her in return that she and Tina had so little time for non-work chatter that they’d snuck out early.

‘It’s very kind of you to invite me to join you.’ Helen turned to Tina. ‘I hope Sam’s okay today.’

‘He was asleep when I left him.’

Helen smiled. ‘I feel I owe you an apology.’

Tina sighed. ‘Not really, I—’

Helen shook her head as she interrupted, ‘It isn’t only you I owe an apology to. It’s Thea as well.’

‘Me?’ Thea paused in the act of having a sneaky suck on a sugar cube.

‘I lied. Seeing the fortlet wasn’t why I came here. Nor had I decided to have a holiday before you asked me about the fortlet.’ As Thea and Tina looked at her, Helen took a sustaining gulp of caffeine. ‘I’ve been a bit unhappy for a while. Stuck in a rut, like I said when we were in the tea rooms, Thea.’

‘About being nearly forty and stuff?’

‘You’re never nearly forty?’ Tina sounded so surprised, that Helen couldn’t help but laugh.

‘I am. I kept finding myself thinking about how empty my life is and I panicked. Then Thea called to get my opinion on the fortlet. As soon as I put the phone down, I called my boss, took some leave and booked to come here before I had time to think about what I was doing.’ Helen raised her cup to Tina with a smile. ‘I didn’t come to steal Thea from you or to get in the way. I came because, suddenly, I hated my life.’

Tina didn’t know what to say as Thea gave Helen a hug.

‘I suppose, when it comes down to it, even if it was only for a week, I ran away.’

*

Their early breakfast morphed into mid-morning coffee when Thea, Helen and Tina upped sticks and walked across the road to Sybil’s, taking a table in the furthest reaches of her garden.

As the birds sang contentedly around them, the scones they didn’t need, but enjoyed anyway, were consumed with speed. Thea dabbed a few crumbs off her plate. ‘So what you’re both saying is that I’ve got to ask Shaun outright about Sophie.’

‘The simplest approach is usually the best.’ Helen nodded. ‘I doubt you have any reason to worry. He hasn’t stopped calling or anything, has he?’

‘True.’ Thea smiled

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