Page 82 of Where Do We Go From Here?
‘Well, there were other things. Like I say, it was a drip, drip kind of situation.’
‘Tell me.’
‘No, I don’t think that’s… I’ve already said too much. Like you say, they’re still your aunty and uncle.’
‘OK. Fine!’
‘Now, I think we just have to go up here,’ Wendy murmurs, ‘and we’re on the road to Gourdon.’
‘So, how come they never had kids?’
‘Lord, are we back to Neil and Sue again?’ Wendy asks, exasperation leaking out.
‘I only wondered. If you don’t want?—’
‘I just don’t think they wanted any,’ Wendy says, a littlemore sharply than she’d intended. ‘I think kids would have made too much mess.’
‘Sue is ultra tidy,’ Fiona agrees.
‘And Neil is even worse. But seriously? I think they enjoy their lovely lifestyle. Their trips abroad and their gardener and the cleaner and… I don’t know… You know what they’re like. It’s all about the new kitchen and the new sunroom and?—’
‘The new Tesla…’ Fiona offers.
‘Exactly. I think they like their lifestyle too much to go messing it up by having kids. Kids cost a lot of money.’
‘It sounds kind of selfish when you put it like that,’ Fiona says.
‘No comment. Those were your words, sweetie, not mine.’
They drive on in silence for a while.
Wendy is concentrating on the road, looking out for fallen rocks, while Fiona enjoys the views. ‘It is amazing here,’ she says, at one point, swivelling to glance at Wendy before looking back out at the vista.
‘I know. I’m glad you like it too.’
They continue to rise into the hills. The interior of the car feels warm and full of love, more love than Wendy has felt around her for some time. It’s unexpected. She reaches across and gives Fiona’s knee a squeeze. ‘This is nice,’ she says.
‘It is,’ her daughter agrees.
They pass by the village of Gourdon, and as Wendy turns and starts up the final hill towards Caussols, Fiona says again, ‘You know, you really could fix things with Dad if you wanted to.’
Wendy struggles for a moment to reply, opening her mouth repeatedly and then closing it again without a word.
‘Yes,’ she finally manages. ‘You said.’
‘I was thinking about Sue and Neil, that’s all. You’ve kind of been falling out with everyone lately. And I really do thinkit’s all fixable.’
‘Oh,’ Wendy says, devastated that the gentle atmosphere has evaporated so quickly. ‘Well, thanks for your opinion!’
‘But, you know I’m right, right?’
‘And you know that what’s going on with your father is a little more complicated than that.’ She switches on the radio in the hope of curtailing the discussion, but Fiona isn’t going to be intimidated by a mere French love song.
‘Is that it, then?’ she asks, speaking loudly to be heard over the radio. ‘No comment? End of?’
‘Honey…’ Wendy protests, with a sigh. ‘It’s just… things aren’t that simple.Lifeisn’t that simple.’
Fiona reaches out to turn the radio down low. ‘Why not?’ she asks.
