Читать книгу The Little Cottage in the Country - Lottie Phillips - Страница 13

Marigolds and Marmoset(ters)

The twins hadn’t stirred and Anna could still hear Diane snoring next door. She looked out of the master-bedroom window at the distant hills and startling pink and purple sky as the sun made its way up. She was revelling in how calm the world appeared in contrast to the twenty-four-hour bustle of London when she heard an almighty scream from above.

Anna ran up the stairs, two at a time, to find that Freddie and Antonia were, in fact, awake and now pinned up against their bedroom wall, their eyes round as saucers, fixed on the something in the centre of the room. Anna’s eyes darted across the floor and she, too, froze.

A mouse stood stock-still on the rug. These were the moments she desperately wished she wasn’t a single mother. Wasn’t this a job for men? Diane’s reprimanding voice filled her thoughts. ‘There’s no such thing as jobs for men and jobs for women. We can all do everything, only women can do more.’

Diane snored on and Anna refused to call out in distress. But, Anna thought, this woman couldn’t catch a mouse and was likely to have a heart attack if she tried.

This was where Anna knew she was meant to turn into a superhero mum who would say, ‘Guys, it’s only a mouse. He’s cute and furry and not going to hurt you.’ Only she didn’t. Instead, having eyed a light sabre leaning against the wall, she said, ‘OK, you two sneak very carefully along the wall and onto the landing. We don’t want him to run at us.’

Could a mouse run at them? She acknowledged that, perhaps, the little rodent was no bull, but it was everything she hated in rodents and insects: erratic. A bull, she figured, would be easier to deal with, surely. A bull made it pretty obvious when it was ready to come for you: steam out of its nose, pawing at the ground with its front hoof. A mouse didn’t offer these clues.

They nodded and Anna watched her children creep with their backs along the wall towards the door, until Freddie, out of nowhere, leapt at the mouse, sending their new furry friend scuttling in Anna’s direction. Her suspicions confirmed, she fled, almost as quickly as Usain Bolt, out the door.

‘Freddie!’ she called from the landing. ‘Are you two OK?’

Diane emerged from her bedroom, panda-eyes and still a trace of yesterday’s fangs. ‘What the hell is going on? Thought it was meant to be quiet in the country.’

Anna could hear Antonia crying in the bedroom and knew she had to attend to her children. She snuck back in and whispered, ‘Where is it?’

Freddie, with a glint in his eyes, announced it had gone and pointed at a crack in the skirting board. ‘It’s gone, Mummy.’ He smiled. ‘You’re a scaredy-cat.’

There was no denying it. ‘All right, Ninja, breakfast time,’ she said and led her brave little soldier into the bathroom to find Antonia.

‘I hate mouses,’ Antonia said, sitting on the loo seat.

Anna picked them up, one twin under each arm and made their way down stairs. Once they were settled in their chairs, she grabbed the juice and milk from the fridge, plucking some sugar-rush-inducing cereal off the side.

‘Sugar Puffs,’ she read aloud. ‘Why do I think this can only end badly?’ She put the box on the table.

Diane had removed the black rings from around her eyes and joined them. ‘Coffee, be a love.’

Anna sighed. ‘What did your last slave die of?’

‘I figure if I’m to be your slave today, then the least you can do is make me a coffee.’

‘OK.’ Anna filled the hob kettle. ‘You guys hear that? You are my witnesses that Diane Johnson hereby declares she will be my slave today.’

Diane smiled. ‘Yeah, well, I’ll even clean the toilets if it means you join me in the pub tonight.’

‘I can’t just leave the children,’ Anna pointed out.

‘I’ve sorted that.’

‘What?’ Anna turned. ‘Sorted how?’ she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Diane looked at the twins. ‘Do you guys mind if you get a babysitter this evening?’

Freddie shook his head. ‘Only if she has stickers.’

‘Oh, she’ll have stickers and I’ve heard she’s going to bring…’

Anna put a firm hand on Diane’s shoulder and nodded towards the door. Once in the front room, Anna said, ‘Who the hell is this babysitter? They’re my children, Dee. You can’t just arrange stuff like this without coming to me first. You know, I like to know who’s looking after my children.’ She nodded. ‘It’s not a game.’

Diane let out a belly laugh. ‘Yes, I know. That’s why I phoned your mum.’

‘What?’ Anna raised her voice. ‘My mother? She doesn’t even like them. I mean…’ She shook her head. ‘That’s not strictly true. She thinks they’re like accessories.’

‘No,’ Diane said quickly, ‘that’s in your head. She adores them. She told me so. In fact, we had a nice chat.’

‘When was this?’

‘After you went to bed last night.’ She grinned. ‘We both agreed that if you got out more you’d realise it’s not normal to be in bed by nine.’

‘It is if you’re bringing up children and now live with a home-wrecking nightmare of a best friend.’

Diane put her hands up in defeat. ‘OK, I’ll ring her and tell her we’re not going any more. That she’s not needed. That we’re just going to stay in and self-medicate instead. Anyway, didn’t you promise Barry?’

Anna stared into her friend’s big, pitiful eyes and smiled. ‘Fine. You win.’ She walked back to the kitchen, muttering, ‘My mother? Seriously?’

The twins looked at her and she felt she had to be upfront. ‘It’s Grandma. She’s coming to look after you tonight.’ Anna injected some cheeriness into her voice. ‘You remember last time how much fun you had?’ They stared at her, blankly. ‘I mean, you loved marking her latest purchases out of ten, didn’t you?’

She could have cried and all because Diane had got some hare-brained idea into her head that she was going to find a man in her local watering hole. It was time to don the marigolds and forget about this evening. Primrose Cottage wouldn’t clean itself but, more importantly, Anna realised, the sooner she cleaned the house, the quicker she could get down to reading her aunt’s diary, which sat invitingly on the side.

Six hours later, the cottage looked like an entirely different place. Diane had cleaned the toilets, but not without complaint.

‘I mean, seriously, Anna? This is probably against the law. I mean, isn’t there, like, a group that protects people like me from having to scrub out other people’s…’

‘Dee, language,’ Anna interjected from the other room where she was removing thick layers of dust off the furniture.

‘No, I mean, come on. We’re talking layers and I think I’m going to die of bleach poisoning. You know, come to think of it, I do feel light-headed and there is a skull and crossbones on here…’

‘Yeah, you’ll die if you drink it, not clean with it.’

‘I beg to differ and you know what else, Anna? I mean, you’re living in the middle of the countryside. How do you know you don’t have a septic tank? Do you want to be chucking this stuff down the toilet?’

Anna entered the bathroom and stared incredulously at Diane, who sat on the toilet seat, earphones stuffed in her ears, eating handfuls of the twins’ Sugar Puffs cereal and reading the back of the bleach bottle.

‘You haven’t even got the cap off,’ Anna said drily.

Diane looked up, unabashed. ‘Better I warn you now than after I’ve done it.’

Anna crossed her arms, realising she was, sadly, probably right. ‘Clean the shower instead then.’

Diane huffed. ‘God, such a taskmaster.’

Anna told Diane about Aunt Flo’s diary.

‘Oooh, how exciting,’ Diane breathed.

Anna nodded. ‘In her letter, she said it was really important to her that I read it.’

She wondered what on earth her aunt could have kept a secret all these years? As she cleaned, she daydreamed and, by the end of the day, she was convinced her aunt must have been a lesser-known member of the royal family or a spy. She couldn’t wait to sit down, in a private corner, away from the children and Diane, and find out.

Diane moaned all day, but the twins, on the other hand, threw themselves into their chores. Freddie was shown how to mop the floor and, when Anna returned, she found him bottom first inside the bucket and Antonia skidding around the soapy ice rink that was the front-room floor.

At five o’clock, Anna declared it the end of the day and settled down on the sofa with a cup of tea and her aunt’s diary.

At Anna’s proposal they stop, Diane, feet up on the sofa, put down her magazine and lay back in the cushion. ‘Thank God for that.’

Anna was pleased with the shimmer and shine they had created: the wood burner glass sparkled, the cottage windows reflected their faces and the furniture gleamed. Of course, there was the outside to come, but that would have to wait for another day.

Diane looked at her watch. ‘By my reckoning, your mother’s going to be here in half an hour and we’re due at the pub at six-thirty.’

‘Six-thirty?’ Anna pulled a face. ‘That’s a bit early.’

‘Not when you’ve told the landlord we’re journalists and he wants us to take pictures of the pub.’

‘Oh, yes, I forgot, we weren’t aiming for a perfectly timed late entrance. Why give everyone the wrong idea?’

‘Exactly.’ Diane grinned. ‘I’m off to have a bath.’

‘You can’t. The children need to go in there with half their plastic toys.’

‘Right, I’m off to put more perfume on then. French style.’ She wafted from the room dramatically and Anna sat, momentarily, until Diane returned. ‘You won’t turn into a princess sitting there. Come on.’

‘Let me just read a little of this.’ She indicated the notebook and flipped open to the middle.

Today I went up to Ridley Manor. Frank told me the house was mine. A present to keep me in the village. He said, however, not to tell anyone he had bought it for me. As if I would! I know that what we have needs to be kept secret, for everyone’s sake.

Anna read more quickly now, her breath catching. Horatio’s words circling her head. Maybe Horatio had been right; the cottage wasn’t hers after all. She felt as if she had been punched in the stomach.

The sound of Antonia wailing cut through her thoughts and, feeling confused, she stuffed the diary into a drawer of the bureau.

Anna heaved her weary limbs up the stairs and found Freddie and Antonia fighting over a rubber duck. She disentangled them both and told them they could watch some Teletubbies – still one of their favourites – for a bit. She propped them up on her bed and fetched her phone. They were soon enthralled by the strange, hallucinatory world of colourful, furry animal-humans.

Diane had music blaring from speakers attached to her laptop. She bounced in, her cheeks glowing. ‘It’s Katy Perry. I love this song.’ She held a glass of rum and coke. ‘This is like being students or something.’

Anna looked at her clothes. What was she meant to wear to a speed-dating event at a pub? She had a black cocktail dress but it was short, really short, and, at the other extreme, she had a Laura Ashley tartan dress her mother had picked up for her from a charity shop. Diane hovered in the doorway in black trousers, stretched tightly over her bottom, and a velvet, cleavage-busting camisole.

‘What are you thinking?’ Diane did a twirl. ‘Sexy vamp is where my head’s at.’

Anna nodded. ‘All the way, girlfriend.’

‘What you going to wear?’

‘I’ve got this?’ Anna held up the cocktail dress. ‘Or, to play it safe, this…’ She picked up the tartan dress.

‘Jesus, Anna. You wear that and people will think you’ve come as Maid sodding Marian.’

‘Well, this is too short.’ She indicated the cocktail dress. ‘And other than that, I’ve got jeans and a ski suit.’

Diane sat heavily on her bed, sending the pile of clothes towards the middle. ‘Yep, definitely, the dress. That is hot.’

‘I don’t think men at the Rose and Crown in Trumpsey Blazey are necessarily looking for…’

‘You have no idea what the men in Trumpsey Blazey are looking for,’ Diane pointed out, glugging back an alarming amount of her drink. ‘Have some and then you might actually relax and realise you’re gorgeous.’

Anna took the glass reluctantly and swigged. ‘My children need to be bathed and their mother is trying to choose an outfit that doesn’t scream slut while she downs what tastes like pure rum.’

‘It’s got a dash of coke in it. Anyway, they’ll respect you for it.’ Diane looked at her in earnest.

When a knock sounded at the front door, Anna handed the bottle back to Diane, flushing with guilt.

‘Ah, Linda has arrived.’

‘Joy,’ Anna said.

‘I’ll keep her happy.’ Diane skipped out of the room, drink in hand, and Anna waited for her mother’s presence to be made known to the entire village and beyond.

‘Dee-Dee,’ came the booming voice that was her mother’s. ‘Cocktails! How wonderful.’ She paused. ‘I’m so glad you phoned!’

Diane’s voice, by comparison, was surprisingly soft and Anna sighed, heading in to the twins. They were growing sleepy and she undressed them and soon had them submerged in bubbles. She watched as a full-blown attack took place whereby Freddie’s Transformers head-dunked Antonia’s My Little Ponies.

‘OK, you two, Grandma’s here. You’re going to be good for Grandma, aren’t you?’ She just hoped Grandma would be good for them.

Anna plucked them out of the bath and wrapped them each in huge, freshly laundered bath sheets before hugging the sweet-smelling, damp, fluffy cocoons that were now her children. ‘I love you both and…’ Sometimes this happened and it was always when she was least expecting it; her heart wrung with sadness at the lack of a father figure in their lives. She wondered if they would grow up resenting her for not chasing after Simon; and if she was, in fact, enough for them.

‘Mummy, you’re crying,’ Freddie said, wiping a tear from her cheek.

‘You silly bean,’ Antonia said and hugged her, setting Anna off again.

‘Mummy,’ Freddie said, earnestly, ‘how long we stay in this home?’

‘Well,’ she paused, looking into his big blue eyes, ‘for as long as we can.’ She thought about Horatio’s words regarding the house and how much she had risked moving here. Irritation fizzled in the pit of her stomach. She wouldn’t just give the cottage up. She couldn’t. Her heart twisted at the thought of having to go back to London already. She needed it to work. She needed her children to be happy. ‘Do you like it here?’

He appeared to be thinking deeply. ‘I just want to play with friends.’

Anna nodded, a fresh tide of guilt sweeping over her. ‘Yes, and you’ll both make lots of new friends at your new school.’ She smiled encouragingly. ‘And they can come and play here whenever you like. OK?’

‘OK,’ he said and they both nodded.

‘Annnnnnaaaaaaaaaa.’

The moment was broken by her mother singing her name and she took the children into her room, found their favourite PJs and dressed them.

‘You go down and see Grandma, OK?’

They nodded and walked to the top of the stairs, sitting down on their bottoms so they could slither safely to the ground floor. The stairs were steep and Anna had decided this would be the best option.

‘My dearest children,’ her mother called to them, ‘you’ll get dirty botties.’

‘Mum.’ Anna crouched down at the top of the landing, so she could be seen by her mother, and smiled. ‘Hi.’

‘Bananna.’ Her father’s nickname for her growing up had stuck with her mother, despite the fact it had to be pronounced funnily because ‘banana’ didn’t even rhyme with her actual name. ‘Why are your children coming down the stairs like strange, snake-like things?’

‘Because I told them it was safer. There’s no rail and, until I get one put in, I don’t want them falling down.’

‘It’s unhygienic,’ her mother announced.

‘We cleaned today.’

Luckily, Diane arrived and broke up the impending argument on stair hygiene and safety by offering Linda a cup of tea.

‘Only if you put a wee bit of that in it.’ Linda swept off in the direction of the kitchen. ‘My stepsister always had a strange affection for this place. Never could see it myself.’

Diane flashed Anna an apologetic look. ‘I’ll set up a DVD on my laptop for the kids.’

Anna headed back to her bedroom and grabbed the far-too-short black dress, slipping into it. With no full-length mirror, she had no way of checking on her appearance before she quickly brushed her hair out, applied some mascara and lip gloss and headed down the stairs.

Diane let out a low wolf-whistle and nodded approvingly; her mother, however, gave her that look, the one that said I did not bring you up to dress like a tart, and sipped her tea. Anna thought she might have got away with it when her mother opened her mouth and said, ‘I think you’d suit the tartan dress I gave you better.’

‘Right.’ Anna ignored her. ‘So what do you think you might play with the children?’

‘Ah, I thought we could watch Sex and the City reruns.’

‘Uh, Mum…’ Anna started panicking. ‘They’re not really old enough to be watching them. Just yet.’ She thought of Mr Big and the drinking and the talk about… ‘No, Mum, you can’t.’

Her mother pouted. ‘Fine.’

Diane whisked Anna towards the door, clearly sensing an imminent crisis. They put on their coats and Anna blew the twins kisses before stepping out into the October chill.

‘You know, I’m not sure this is such a good idea.’ Anna looked back at the closed front door. ‘I mean, Mum, she’s a bit off with the fairies.’

Diane linked arms with Anna, propelling her forward. ‘How old is she again?’

‘Sixty.’

‘Wow. She’s very…’

‘Full-on? Sexual? Bonkers?’ Anna shrugged. ‘Your choice.

‘All of the above.’

In heels, the walk to the pub was a good fifteen minutes longer than they had anticipated. Half an hour later, with feet that suggested frostbite and jaws truly locked into place, they breathed an audible sigh of relief at the light streaming from the pub window.

Anna had a quick look inside and, as yet, it appeared no one else had arrived. ‘It’s very quiet,’ she said, trying to hide her relief. They could just have a quick drink and head home.

‘Yeah, but it’ll fill up. Come on.’ Diane dragged her inside.

They tottered through the door and looked around. The pub was decked out in oak panelling, photos of Trumpsey Blazey through the ages adorned the walls, and a roaring fire brought welcome warmth to the women. However, one thing was missing: punters.

A balding man with a stomach that met them first came through a door on the other side and waddled up to the bar.

‘Can I help you?’

Diane started, ‘Yeah, we, um, thought there was some sort of event here tonight. Only, there’s no one here.’

‘Wrong,’ the man said. ‘I’m here and, if you look past the beam, here’s Nigel.’

Anna and Diane swayed, in sync, to have a closer look and, sure enough, an old man sat at the bar, staring into the depths of his bitter.

‘Right,’ Anna waded in. ‘It’s just that we booked our places for the speed-dating event.’

‘Speed dating? Here?’

‘Yes,’ Diane said, indignant, ‘I booked our places on the phone. I spoke to someone called Chris. He’s waiting for us. We’re journalists.’

‘You’ve got the wrong Rose and Crown. I think you must’ve rang Little Bury.’ He burst into laughter, his paunch moving up and down, his excess flesh having a field day and his plethoric face flushing with amusement. ‘Anyway, it’s no problem,’ he winked. ‘I can think of plenty of guys who’d like to chat to you pretty ladies.’ He headed out back momentarily before returning to the bar. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

Diane nodded. ‘Might as well, seeing as we’re here now.’

‘What’ll you be having?’ The landlord readied himself.

Diane spoke on their behalf. ‘We’ll have a bottle of dry white. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?’

‘John.’ He bent down to the undercounter fridge.

She smiled at him and indicated Anna. ‘Seeing as Anna, here, didn’t even want to come out, and now I’ve dragged her to the wrong pub, the least I can do is buy a bottle.’

Anna was relieved in actual fact. ‘No, it’s fine.’

Anna pulled her dress down as it steadily rode further up her thighs like a piece of unruly clingfilm. Soon they were ensconced at a table in the corner, by the fire, and Anna almost forgot why they had come in the first place. She felt herself relaxing and her limbs thawing. Diane sat facing the door, her eyes darting towards it every time she heard any notion of a sound outside.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Don’t want to miss any hot totty.’

‘Can’t imagine, that’s going to happen,’ Anna said, scanning the empty pub, her eyes resting on Nigel sinking his third pint.

‘Hope there aren’t, like, loads of good-looking women around here. Hate competition.’

Anna smiled. ‘There won’t be because said good-looking women will have been snapped up by all the good-looking men, leaving us with…’

‘Oh, come on. A girl’s gotta dream…’

Diane didn’t get to finish her sentence because the pub door flew open and in marched a group of six or so men, all good-looking, all exuding youth and testosterone. Diane breathed in excitedly. ‘I’ll be damned if heaven hasn’t just walked through that door.’

Anna had to admit the pub suddenly looked like the set for a men’s outdoor clothing ad, and she thought the evening might prove to be more exciting than she had first imagined. But just as quickly as she had conjured up this new, positive way of thinking, in walked Horatio. He spotted her and came over, that same irritating, self-satisfied smirk on his face.

‘Hi,’ he said to Anna and then introduced himself to Diane. ‘I’m Horatio. We haven’t met.’

Diane, in full flirting mode, fluttered her eyelashes and shook his hand. ‘Diane. Anna’s bestie.’

‘Bestie?’ he said.

Diane smiled sweetly. ‘Yeah, you know, best friend.’

‘Ah, silly me.’ He looked at Diane and then his eyes ran the length of Anna’s body. ‘You both look wonderful. Going somewhere special?’

This is what he does, Anna thought. This is his way of making everyone around him feel about two inches tall. He knew they were on the pull, and yet he liked to watch women squirm.

Diane, missing this subtlety, fondled her necklace and announced, ‘We were here for the speed dating.’

‘Ah, the speed dating. Up there with potato planting, heh, Anna?’ She scowled. ‘I didn’t know there was speed dating here.’

‘There’s not,’ Diane said, grinning. ‘John says it’s at the other Rose and Crown, in Little Bury.’ She paused and slapped her own hand. ‘My bad.’

‘Oh?’ Horatio looked mildly amused. ‘But why should two such beautiful women need to go speed dating?’

‘Because,’ Diane explained, ‘if you can believe it, we’re not taken.’

‘More fool my species.’ Horatio nodded. ‘Lovely to see you both and hope you have a good evening.’ He met Anna’s eye. ‘I’m sorry about what I said to you… About the house… I’m looking into it as soon as I can find the papers. But I’m sure you’re quite right and I’ll do everything I can to ensure you keep it, despite your reservations about staying there.’

‘I did not have reservations,’ she lied.

‘Well, your car driving itself into the chicken hut wasn’t a great start for anyone.’

Diane looked at her and snorted. ‘Really?’

‘No, what’s not a nice start is being told you don’t own the house you’ve moved to, despite having seen the evidence that your aunt left it to you.’

‘Oh,’ Diane breathed as she realised who exactly Horatio was. ‘You’re that man.’

‘Have a nice evening, Mr Horatio.’

He opened his mouth and shut it again before moving off.

‘Are you sure he’s so bad because he seems quite luverly,’ Diane gushed. ‘I mean, really nice.’

‘He’s a twerp.’

‘Oh, come on. He said he’s sorry and even if he thinks he owns the house, let him.’ Diane fluttered her eyelashes. ‘Bet he’s loaded.’

‘Well, for a start, don’t get too excited because he’s married.’ Diane’s smile faded. ‘Second, he’s supercilious, has about a million names and owns a horse called Taittinger.’

‘Anything good?’

‘Yeah, you’re right, he’s loaded. Lives up at Ridley Manor.’ Anna leant in. ‘Also, he’s a Spencerville. You know, my aunt warned me about them, in her letter. Well, he’s one of them. Would explain why he thinks he owns my house.’

‘Well, he seemed nice enough, but yeah, sure, that would rile me too.’ She frowned. ‘I’m going to get us another bottle.’

‘But we’ve barely started this one.’

‘I know, but I need an excuse to find out who the chocolate-box selection of men are.’

Anna watched Diane totter up to the bar. ‘John…’ She spoke as if she was a regular. ‘Can we get another bottle?’

He beamed. ‘Sure thing.’ He gestured to the men. ‘And here are the men.’

‘I can see that,’ Diane purred. ‘But, tell me, who are these delightful creatures?’

‘I rang Tom at the back there to round them up.’ He smiled. ‘They’re here for you.’

‘Right,’ Diane nodded, ‘just us two women and these six guys? That could be, um, awkward.’ Then she quickly changed her mind. ‘Fun.’

‘John phoned us to fill in,’ piped up the shorter one at the front.

‘We do not need your charity. Thank you very much.’ Anna came up behind Diane, her fists twitching with anger. ‘Come on, Dee, let’s go. I don’t need to be patronised. We’re both better than that.’

‘I’d say,’ agreed the young man at the back.

Anna caught Horatio’s eye. He was sitting at the far end of the bar, nursing a glass of red and laughing. He was always laughing at her. ‘Come on, Dee, I don’t have time for this.’

‘Aw, come on, John wasn’t trying to be funny. I’m Tom, by the way.’ The tallest of the group thrust his hand forward and Anna obligingly shook it. ‘Let’s all just have a few drinks. No harm in that, is there?’

John had gone pink. ‘Sorry, I thought you’d like that, ladies.’

Anna sighed and smiled. ‘It was a nice thought.’

‘Look,’ John said, ‘to make amends, first round is on the house.’

They ordered their drinks and then all piled into one of the booths. Anna and Diane sat opposite each other and, as they grew increasingly tipsy, Anna was no longer sure if she was nudging her friend’s leg to get Diane’s attention, or if she was playing footsy with one of the men.

Diane had taken a real liking to the youngest.

‘Twenty-three, you say,’ Diane said, moving her face closer to the man on her left. ‘Your name’s Larry? Wonderful,’ she gushed as if he had just told her he performed surgery on the poor up desolate mountains. ‘I love the name Larry.’

Anna, meanwhile, chatted to Lee, a farmhand on Richard’s farm. However, while she was desperate to get more information on Richard, Lee was more interested in passing on all his knowledge about marmosets.

‘What? As in the monkey?’ She laughed. ‘That’s your passion?’

‘Yeah, love ‘em.’

‘Right, well, does Richard talk to you about marmosets?’ She would discuss anything with Richard and even marmosets appealed.

‘No, he doesn’t get it.’

That was the first thing Richard and Anna had in common. She imagined Lee delivering a speech at their wedding. ‘Richard and Anna often laughed at my love of marmosets and I’d like to think that’s what drove them together.’