‘I’ll get it,’ Annabel sang, and boogied her way out of the room. ‘Meredith! Claire!’ Grace heard her cry, and she felt her lightheartedness vanish.
‘You two look like you’re having fun,’ Meredith said, coming into the lounge. Annabel was behind her, swinging her hips and clicking her fingers, pulling an amused face at Grace. Claire followed at the back of the group, smiling, yet from Meredith’s expression, Grace felt like a child caught out doing something she shouldn’t. She went over and switched the music off. ‘It’s lovely to see you both. Would you like a drink?’
‘No thanks,’ Meredith replied. ‘We won’t stop if you’re busy.’
‘We came to let you both know about the ball at Freeborough Hall on Christmas Eve,’ Claire explained. ‘It’s a bit of a local event and we thought you might enjoy it.’
‘Sounds great,’ Annabel replied, going across to a countertop to replenish her wine glass, and returning with the bottle in her other hand. She poured more into Grace’s glass as she added, ‘We’d love to.’
‘I don’t think we can actually,’ Grace demurred. ‘Because of Millie …’
‘Didn’t Emma volunteer to babysit for you?’ Annabel demanded.
‘Yes, but …’
‘But nothing, Grace. You need a break now and again. Let’s ask her, and if she’s free then we’d love to come.’
‘Okay then.’ Meredith took hold of Claire’s arm and made to leave. ‘We won’t keep you. Just let us know if you want tickets – I’m on the committee so it won’t be a problem.’ She stopped in the doorway. ‘They look like Rachel’s clothes, you know,’ she said, staring hard at Grace before she left the room. Claire raised her hand affably, then followed her mother.
Annabel saw them to the door, then returned and looked perplexedly at Grace. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘there’s a woman who knows how to kill a mood. And who the hell is Rachel?’
‘Adam’s mum.’ Grace threw herself into one of the armchairs. Now she felt awful about prancing around in a dead woman’s clothes, as though she were dancing on her grave. Maybe she did need Meredith to help her sort through these things.
‘Oh, I see.’ Annabel went across to the sofa and sat down. ‘Well, don’t feel bad. I’m sure Rachel would rather we were dancing in her clothes than they lay festering and moth-bitten in a dusty old attic.’
Grace smiled at her sister and tried to rouse her spirits. She went to put her pyjamas on, and when she returned, Annabel had changed the CD and was back in her own clothes. Together they emptied another box onto the floor.
‘So tell me about Ben,’ Annabel said a little while later, as she sorted through a pile of linen.
Grace kept her eyes down as she replied. ‘I’m not sure I can. I don’t know much about him other than the fact he knows how to knock a wall down. You got more out of him today than I’ve managed to in a week.’
‘He lives alone in the house at the top of the hill?’
‘Yes, I think so.’ However, as she spoke, Grace remembered the woman she’d seen leaving early one morning. She opened her mouth to tell Annabel about the red-head, then closed it again, deciding not to. ‘He’s house-sitting, and he said he’s an architect, but other than that he keeps himself to himself.’ In fact, she thought, he was particularly good at answering her questions without actually telling her anything.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll find out all about him when he takes me out,’ Annabel said confidently.
‘Well, good luck. He’s painfully difficult to talk to.’
Annabel laughed. ‘God, I’m used to that in my line of work.’ She put the last of the linen into another charity box. ‘Can we call it a night now?’
‘Let’s just do this one,’ Grace suggested, and moved to a small box in the corner, pulling out what looked like a photo album. She opened it, and her breath caught painfully in her throat.
It was Grace and Adam’s wedding day. She had looked at their official photos many times, but she’d never seen these before. They were simple snapshots. Adam waiting outside the church. Adam with his arms around his grandparents. Then Adam and Grace at the church after they’d been married. She turned the pages – to see Adam and Grace with his grandparents; Adam and Grace with her parents; with Annabel; with her extended family; with their friends. Adam and Grace …