Page 62 of Meet me at the Seaside Cottages

‘Well, there are big chunks when I’m at home all the time, but she wasn’t crazy about those bits either.’

Janey nods.

‘But she wasn’t working . . . we’d agreed that was okay, that someone could look after Verity. But she wasn’t; she was online all day. And I mean all day.’

He swallows, and suddenly Janey knows what’s coming. She’s seen it before. Many times. He looks at her, and sees her tiny nod, and the relief in his eyes as he realises she already knows what he is going to say is absolutely immense, as if he’s been carrying it for a very long time; as if he can’t believe he is about to be able to put it down.

‘The activism . . . ’ he says.

She nods again. ‘I know.’

He bows his head.

‘There is nothing . . . nothing wrong with being deaf,’ he says. ‘I believe that. I truly do. I truly think Verity is perfect. I wouldn’t change the tiniest bit of her.’

‘I completely agree with you,’ says Janey.

‘But I also don’t think she’s deaf because she got her vaccinations, or I got mine or Thalia got hers, or because they’re deliberately putting stuff in drinking water, or it’s because they chlorinate, or because the one world government is in the pay of pharmaceutical companies . . . She went so fast from completely reasonable questioning, to absolute . . . she believedeverything.She thought having a cochlear implant was Bill Gates putting a control chip in your brain. She absolutely believed that. Believes that. Fervently.’

‘Internet poisoning,’ says Janey. ‘I’ve seen it again and again and again. People come armed with their YouTube videos.’

‘Some of itiscompletely reasonable,’ says Lowell again, desperately trying to defend his wife. ‘But a lot of it is just absolute . . .pish.’

‘You don’t need to tell me,’ says Janey quickly.

He’s running his hands through his hair, very agitated. ‘And she believes all of it! She thinks she can cure deafness with diet!’

‘You can,’ says Janey. ‘If you’ve got carrots stuck in your ears.’

He stares at her for a moment and then, finally, laughs and breaks the tension.

‘Ha,’ he says. ‘You’re funny.’ He rubs his head again. ‘Thanks,’ he says. ‘I’m so sorry. For going on and on about it. You’re such a good listener.’

Good listenerandfunny, thinks Janey to herself. Two of the least sexy female things in the history of the universe. Never mind. Never mind.

‘That’s okay,’ she says.

‘I’ve stopped now,’ he says. ‘I’m really sorry. I don’t talk about it much. It’s no excuse. Can we change the subject? What do you like?’

I like you, thinks Janey, suddenly terribly sad. At everything and everyone that has passed her by. But you are a million miles away, thinking about your ex-wife and worrying about your daughter, and you are not remotely, not even nearly, anywhere near that space, even if you saw me as something other than a frumpy clinician-stroke-dog-pee-specialist.

‘Actually,’ says Janey gently, ‘it’s getting late.’

‘Oh, God, I’m so sorry. “Man Yammers On” shocker.’

‘It’s not that,’ says Janey. ‘It isn’t, not at all. But I have work tomorrow. And you’re about to be very busy.’

‘Of course,’ he said, sitting back, more businesslike. ‘So, how long are these puppies going to stay? What do I have to do?’

‘Another three weeks?’ says Janey. ‘That’s assuming you find homes for them all. I think Dwight wants one.’

‘Okay, wow,’ says Lowell. ‘But I have to work. And I’ll need to go and visit Verity.’

‘Didn’t you say she was coming here for Easter?’

‘Well, I hope so, but Thalia isn’t keen . . . says this place has bad . . . there’s a 5G mast somewhere around here.’

‘There is,’ says Janey. ‘I strongly recommend not looking up what the local Facebook group had to say about it. But surely once Verity hears about the pups . . . Anyway, you know, I’m sure Essie would pop in and help. For cash, probably. Just to make sure they’re all okay, feed them, take them out in the run . . . ’

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