'In the car,' he said, letting her hair drift from his fingers.
She put up a hand to brush it back behind her shoulders.
'Are you hungry?' she asked him. 'The bathroom is next door. I'll go down and start supper.'
She walked to the door and Gideon watched her without moving. Turning as she went out, she said, 'Anything you can't eat?'
'Mushrooms,' he said. 'They bring me out in a rash.'
'I'll remember,' she promised, smiling. 'Straw- berries do that to me. One strawberry and I'm scarlet from head to toe.'
Grandie was in the small parlour winding the old marble clock which had belonged to his father. He looked at her over his shoulder.
'All right?' he asked gruffly.
Marina gave him a puzzled look. 'Of course. Grandie, have you ever seen him before? Do you know him?'
He turned his head away, adjusting the clock's position with great care. 'No,' he said after a pause, and she was convinced he lied. She had known Grandie all her life. He did not tell lies easily. Now she saw his ears were red. That was a sure sign.
Going into the kitchen she pulled the door to after her and began to prepare a meal, grilling bacon, slicing tomatoes and breaking eggs. It would be a simple fried meal but it would be filling. She quickly laid the table. They always ate in the kitchen because it was easier. Slicing bread, she got down the butter and put that on the table too. The kettle boiled and she made tea. The bacon was spitting and bubbling cheerfully, exuding a delicious scent. Marina broke eggs into the pan and flicked fat over them. She already had a small rhubarb crumble in the oven. It needed to be reheated, so she switched the oven on, then she walked to the door to call Grandie.
Just as her hand touched the handle she heard Gideon's voice quite clearly in the parlour.
'I know it's a risk. You don't need to tell me that. But it's one I've got to take.'
'I don't like it.' Grandie sounded furious, his voice harsh.
'I'm sorry,' Gideon said, but he sounded angry too. He did not sound apologetic. 'In the last resort it is my business, though.'
'Yours?' Grandie's voice rose angrily.
'Be quiet! Do you want her to hear?' Gideon's voice came closer. 'Is that door shut?'
'What do you mean—yours?' demanded Grandie without answering the last question. 'If Marina suspects
'She doesn't.'
'You had no business coming here.'
'I didn't intend to speak to her. I told you—she was on the edge of the cliff and I thought...' Gideon broke off, breathing thickly.
'I'm sorry. I'm sorry, lad.' Grandie's voice had altered, become softer, filled with kindness. 'It must have shaken you.'
'Shaken me?' Gideon laughed fiercely. 'I've never been so terrified in my life! I thought I wouldn't get to her in time.'
There was a silence. Marina listened, her brow creased. She had been right, then: Grandie did know Gideon and there was something between them, something that made Grandie angry. What?
She caught a sudden fierce splutter from the pan and raced to lift it from the hotplate. The eggs slid out on to the warmed plates. She served the rest of the meal and turned to call Grandie. He came after a moment and she said, 'The food's ready.'
Grandie nodded. 'I'll give Gideon a shout.'
There was no need. Gideon's wide shoulders were already filling the low doorway, his head bent. He inhaled the scent of the bacon.
'I'm starving!'
Marina smiled at him and gestured to a chair. 'Well, sit down and eat it while it's hot.' She picked up the fat brown teapot. 'Do you take sugar and milk?'
'Please,' he said, already beginning to eat.