The Way We Were_ A Novel - Marcia Willett [43]
Caroline sat down at the opposite end and looked around Liv's small living space. The sofa, at the opposite end from the kitchen, was built in beneath the huge window so that you could sit sideways and look across Port Isaac bay. At one end of the sofa, the portable television lived on a small trolley, which Liv wheeled out when she wanted to watch; at the other, the gate-leg table stood against the wall. One leaf was extended holding a laptop, several books and a jar of wild flowers. The atmosphere was one of comfortable, busy warmth, the bright spots of colour – a rack of splashily hand-painted plates, a framed photograph of sunflowers, the blue-glazed jar on the table – picked out by the sunlight that shone in through the kitchen window, which faced into the courtyard.
Sipping her coffee, Caroline watched Liv with affection. How did she manage it; to sit so light to things? To remain unaffected by bad atmosphere and people's moods? Her own non-confrontational character made it difficult for her to remain indifferent to unpleasantness.
‘It must be worse for you with Chris and Val being married,’ she said, ‘than, say, being in an office. More personal. Doesn't it get you down?’
‘Sometimes. Quite often, actually. It could be so much fun but just lately she's making it a real drag. The problem is that she needs for us to see how hard it is for her. If we jolly her along she thinks it's because we can't feel her pain,’ Liv accentuated the words, made a dramatic face, ‘and then she gets stroppy.’
Caroline chuckled. ‘Sounds a bit wearing.’
‘Oh, it is. Chris and I take turns for time off. He goes and stares at the sea while he drags on a ciggie, and I chat with Myra and Debs. That pisses her off too. It's odd, isn't it? You don't know anyone properly until you see them under stress. I think it's been a bit of an epiphany for Chris.’
‘Seriously? That could be a bit worrying, couldn't it?’
Liv shrugged. ‘It could but it's a bit late in the day for her to start throwing hissy fits. They're committed financially to making Penharrow work and that means all of us doing our bit. The trouble is that our Val is a bit of a control freak. Well, we all knew that but we didn't realize how much of one she is until now. Never mind all that. How are you? You look great.’
‘I feel great. All the morning sickness bit is over and I feel really well. I'm loving it, actually. And it's great to have Zack home.’
Caroline paused, drank some more coffee and wondered how to phrase her anxiety about Zack. From the first meeting with Liv she'd felt she'd made a friend; she was so direct and easy. Gradually she'd become Caroline's confidante.
‘But… ?’ Liv was saying now, watching her quizzically. ‘Why do I think there's a “but” coming next?’
‘Probably because there is. Zack's having a bit of a downer. Not much of one but he's a bit low and I think it's to do with the baby.’
‘I thought that might happen,’ said Liv, resigned but unfazed – as if it were perfectly reasonable – and Caroline felt an instant lightening of heart. ‘It's always been the same. Whenever he's facing something new he loses confidence, wonders if he'll be able to cope. He told me once that it's because he's afraid that there might be some negative gene he's inherited that will suddenly manifest itself. It's crazy, really; after all, that could be the same for any of us, couldn't it? But that's Zack for you. He's probably panicking about what sort of father he'll be. He's got nothing to go on, has he? He doesn't know what kind of fist Tiggy and Tom would have made of being parents.’
‘It's odd the way he talks about Tom and Tiggy’ Caroline said. ‘As if they were friends or something. Did Tiggy want him to be called Zack?’
‘Family myth has it that Tiggy was quite sure she was going to have a daughter and that she'd decided to call her Claerwen, Clare for short. I think it means “clear white”, or something like that. It was her grandmother's name and Tiggy loved her grandmother. They were very close; the only family Tiggy had, apparently. Anyway, as you know, she