Chapter 13 A visit from Jill

'I see she's back then.' This was the welcome that Anna got when she went into the shop the next morning.

'Here we go again,' she thought, 'more gossip. Still I'd better try to be polite if we're going to live here.' The woman would be a bad enemy to have.

'Who's that, Mrs Lennox. Who's back?' Anna asked.

'Tristan's friend - Jill. I saw her coming down the hill early this morning. Went to his house, she did.' Mrs Lennox looked carefully at Anna to see what she thought of this news. Anna tried to show nothing on her face.

'That's nice. I'm sure he'll be pleased to see her,' she managed to say.

She then had a quick conversation with Mrs Lennox about whether to buy brown bread or white, and what the weather was going to be like for the weekend.

Outside, she decided not to take the direct way back to the cottage, but to go round the harbour. She needed to calm down. The news of Jill's arrival had shaken her. She'd felt over the past week or so that she could control her feelings for Tristan. OK, she liked him, but her feelings for

Stephen were stronger and deeper and she'd really felt there wouldn't be any difficulty between the three of them. Now she felt mixed up again. All sorts of things were going through her head. Had Tristan known Jill was coming and hadn't said anything? How long was she staying? Would she get the chance to meet her? Did this make a difference to their plans?

When she got back, Anna told Stephen what Mrs Lennox had said, without mentioning her own feelings. What she did say was 'It'll be interesting to meet her.'

'You don't think she wants to move back into Dolphin Cottage, do you?' Stephen said in a worried voice. 'Oh God! This house-buying business is complicated!'

They sat drinking coffee in silence. Down in the harbor they saw Tristan arrive and with him was a tall woman with short, dark hair. She was wearing shorts and looking completely at home. Anna and Stephen watched them both get on board Wave Dancer and Jill, if it was her, helped get everyone else on board for the trip. There was no Gary today, only Tristan and Jill. Anna looked through the binoculars at them; Tristan said something to the woman, who laughed happily. He didn't look up at the cottage as he usually did.

Luckily, Anna had already arranged to go and look around the main county hospital that morning so she didn't have time to think about things too much. She drove there with Stephen who was going to visit the public library in the town to find out what he could about advertising companies in the area. Anna liked the hospital; it was the medical centre for the whole region so they saw a wide range of patients and problems. They told her they were usually short of nurses so she'd be welcome to apply for a job. But she might have to wait some time before she got a job at the same level as her one in London.

When they got back, they found a note on the kitchen table from Tristan.

Sorry to miss you. If you're back in time, we'll be in the

Fisherman's from 5.

Tristan

'Mmm, we'll be in the Fisherman's. Interesting. Let's go,' said Stephen. 'We'd better find out if we're still buying the cottage.'

Anna quickly changed into her jeans and they went off to the pub. As they reached it, she saw Tristan and Jill sitting close together and chatting happily. Stephen took hold of Anna's hand as they went over. 'Hi, Tristan. We got your note. Here we are.'

They sat down at the same table and ordered coffee. Jill was introduced and she started talking about Dolphin Cottage. 'You've got the best view in the whole of Polreath from there, haven't you? I used to sit in the front garden watching everything in the harbour.'

'So do we,' said Anna. She tried hard not to stare at the attractive woman sitting opposite her.

'It's a lovely old place. Does the cold tap in the bathroom still make a funny noise when you turn it on? It used to drive me mad, but the owner never came to fix it.' And she gave Tristan a kiss.

Stephen said, 'I've mended it. It doesn't make a noise now.' Everybody seemed to be looking at everyone else - Jill at Tristan, Tristan at Anna, Anna and Stephen at Jill.

'Oh well, that's good,' she laughed. 'You sound the perfect people to buy it.'

Anna smiled at Stephen and thought, 'So he's told her, and it doesn't sound as if she's planning to move back in. Good, that's one thing less to worry about.'

'I've been in touch with my lawyer,' said Tristan. 'There doesn't seem to be a problem. He's going to get things started. He needs the name of your lawyer, by the way. But we can do all that tomorrow, can't we?'

'Fine,' said Stephen. 'Anyone want another coffee?'

'Me, please,' said Anna, and Stephen went over to the

bar. 'Did you have a good trip this morning?' Anna asked

Tristan. 'We saw you both going out.'

And Jill answered, 'Yes, it was great. Just like old times, wasn't it?'

'Mm, yes. And you still can't tie a boat up properly,' Tristan smiled at her.

When Stephen came back with Anna's coffee, Tristan said,

'Come on Jill. We'd better go. We're going over to St Leven for the evening.'

A drive in the 'fishy' car and dinner at Gino's I bet, thought Anna, and felt terrible. Why did he say that? He didn't need to tell us where they were going. What's he doing? Is he trying to make me jealous?

'I'll come round tomorrow mid-morning, if that's all right,' Tristan continued. 'I'm glad everything seems to be working out well - with the cottage and everything.'

Later that night, for the first time in a long time, Anna turned away from Stephen when he wanted to make love.

***

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 721