The Things We Need to Say by Rachel Burton

Author:Rachel Burton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2018-04-20T04:00:00+00:00

Elizabeth

‘I’m surprised you’ve taken on this extra teaching,’ Elizabeth says to Fran as she stands next to her at the bar after dinner. Fran is glowing with happiness but underneath it she seems exhausted. ‘I’d have thought you’d be eager to get home, get back to Will.’

Fran shrugs. ‘I could do with some time alone,’ she says, noncommittally.

‘Fair enough, but you and Will always seem so close.’

‘Not everything is as simple as it looks.’

Elizabeth looks at Fran and thinks about what Constance said on the first day of the retreat about Fran not coping as well as she seemed to be, and about what Fran said at dinner on Molly’s birthday about how she and Will were struggling.

‘Is everything all right?’ she asks.

She watches as Fran bites her lip and her eyes dart from side to side as though she’s trying to make a decision. Elizabeth senses Fran wants to say something but doesn’t know if she should.

‘He cheated on me,’ she says. The words come out quietly but in a rush as though she’s hoping they won’t be heard. ‘Will slept with someone else,’ she goes on, her head bowed.

Elizabeth takes a step back, surprised by what Fran has said, but more surprised that she has confided in her at all. She has always felt that she wanted to be friends with Fran, to be a mother figure in her life, more than Fran wanted her to be.

So Constance was right after all, she thinks. She usually is.

‘Let’s go for a walk,’ Elizabeth says eventually.

The two women walk onto the beach in silence, neither of them really knowing what to say. They slide off their sandals and walk barefoot on the sand.

As they walk, Fran begins to speak. ‘It was someone in our village,’ she says, looking down at her feet. ‘She works in the local pub. I don’t know her really. He says it was over by Christmas, but I only found out the day before we came here. Will wanted me to cancel, to stay at home and see if we could work things out but I needed to get away, away from the village, away from the memories.’ She stops. ‘I just don’t feel like I can go back yet,’ she says. ‘I know I have to, I know I have to face it all eventually, I know Will and I have to talk about it. But not yet – I can’t face it yet.’

Elizabeth still doesn’t know what to say so they keep walking and Fran keeps talking. Fran tells Elizabeth everything – about the cold, rainy night in October, about the argument she had with Will, about what he did before he walked out on her.

‘He wanted to talk about Oscar,’ Fran says. ‘He tried all the time to talk to me about what had happened and I just cut him off. I think he felt as though he’d lost everything that night.’

Elizabeth sucks in air between her teeth. ‘You can’t blame yourself for his behaviour,’ she says.

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