‘So, tell me,’ Alice reluctantly demanded, once they were tucked away in the corner of the restaurant with two over-sized menus in front of them and a bottle of white wine on the way.
‘I’m sorry if I said something you would rather not have heard,’ Gabriel told her roughly. ‘This wasn’t a long, soul-searching conversation with your mother, Alice. She mentioned in passing that there was a man interested in her, someone she had started seeing recently, and then she laughed nervously and told me that she was working up the courage to tell you about him.’
Alice felt the sting of hurt prick the back of her eyes. She was lost for words. Her mother had given no indication of any boyfriend lurking backstage but then again, she thought with painful honesty, when was the last time she had encouraged confidences of that nature? No, she had held forth on men and the need to be careful with them; she had talked long and hard about them both learning from experience; she had bitterly and often harked back to her feckless father as a learning curve her mother should never forget...
That had never been fertile ground for her mother to tell her that she was involved with a man.
‘I see.’ Her face was stiff with the effort of trying not to cry. She wished he wouldn’t be gentle with her. She wished he would just be the single-minded bastard who only wanted one thing, whatever the cost. She stiffened as he reached across the table and laid his hand over hers.
‘I told her that I was sure you would be delighted to know that she had found someone, a companion...’ Because, for all her assertiveness, her spikiness, her boundless ability to speak whatever was on her mind and suffer the consequences, she had a big heart.
How did he know that? He just did.
‘Maybe I wouldn’t have been that delighted.’ She pulled her hand out from under his, instantly missing the warmth that had passed between them, and smiled at the waiter as he dribbled wine into Gabriel’s glass and went through the performance of asking whether it was all right.
As soon as her glass had been poured, she drank it and looked to Gabriel for a refill.
‘What do you mean?’
Alice threw the last of her privacy through the window. He had made so many inroads into her life that there didn’t seem much point hanging on to it. Fortified by the wine, she sighed and traced a little pattern on her empty white plate. Then she looked at him.
‘I’m afraid my childhood wasn’t a happy one,’ she said heavily. ‘My father was...a bully and a philanderer. I grew up having to deal with the effect that had on Mum. You’re right—she’s not like me. She’s always been frail. You know...?’ She darted a quick look at him, watching to see if he was repelled at what she was telling him, and then melting because his expression was so sympathetic. ‘I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I...I’m not usually the sort of person who confides.’
‘You’ve grown up being strong for the sake of your mother.’ Gabriel sipped his wine and impatiently brushed aside the waiter who was approaching them for their order.
So this was what it felt like, he thought, to involve yourself in someone else’s life story. His lifetime had been spent as a solitary figure, forging his own destiny, never needing input from anyone else because experience had taught him that other people’s input was always largely self-serving. He had grown up fighting his own battles single-handed and then, when the battles had been fought, reaping the reward without bothering to search any deeper. It was a formula that had always worked for him.
And still did, he reminded himself a little too vigorously, before he allowed pointless sentimentality to cloud the issue.
‘When my father died, my mother was free to build a life of her own, but she had been damaged by years of having to put up with his selfishness. She became more and more anxious and now...’ Alice shrugged her shoulders expressively. ‘Over time she became fearful of leaving the house. It’s been quite bad. In fact, I’ve had to hire a therapist to try and work some magic...and it’s working. She’s been out more in the last few months than ever before. Small steps. But I guess I’ve been guilty of laying it on thick about not getting involved with another man. I never said so out loud...’ But she had given that impression. ‘Who is this guy, anyway?’
‘I don’t know the details, Alice. Like I said, it was a fleeting conversation.’
‘Whilst you were busy charming her, you mean.’ Her retort was half-hearted. ‘I wondered how she knew about this restaurant. I guess they must have come here, which is terrific, because it means she’s getting out of the house, beginning to build a normal life for herself.’