‘Julia married this Darren, who broke her heart, lost her money and her home and then left her a widow in the most unpleasant circumstances – and yet nobody in this village feels any sympathy for her?’
‘Well,’ Evie shrugged. ‘She ain’t likeable, is she? Aloof and snooty, thinks she’s better than us.’
‘Yet a gambling, womanising – piece of worthless rubbish – is mourned here. Never has my challenge in this parish been more starkly illustrated.’
‘I reckon that’s life,’ said Evie.
‘Yes. Yes, you’re right. And thank heaven for the one that follows this and is to come. If it weren’t for that, why should any of us behave decently?’
‘See, you’re angry now. Don’t shoot the messenger. I just told you what happened. I bet she’d’ve kept it close. You’d never have heard it from her.’
‘It’s her private business.’ Adam felt intensely defensive of Julia, despite her alarming behaviour at the seaside. Or perhaps because of it. He couldn’t really explain it himself.
‘Don’t you get mixed up in it,’ warned Evie. ‘Stay with them as cares about you.’
Adam stared. ‘And who might they be? Nobody in this village, as far as I can make out.’
‘I do, Adam. I care about you.’
‘Then why, Evie, why do you … Oh.’ He threw up his hands, waiting for another pert answer. But this time it didn’t come.
Evie was silent for a while, and she seemed to be struggling with something – was it tears?
When she spoke, her voice was low.
‘I’ll never be able to explain to you why I act as I do, Adam. But I’m asking you to believe that there is a reason, and it ain’t just my nature. Though I do love to love, and be loved – that’s like breathing to me. There’s other forces at work behind it, and I just want you to – I dunno – look out for me. Is that too much to ask?’
‘Forces? At work?’ Adam’s mission of salvation rushed back to his emotional foreground, all thoughts of Julia’s plight pushed behind it. It was true. Evie did not want to spread her legs for every oaf who winked at her. She needed him.
His body burned as if in fever at her admission.
‘I can’t tell you,’ she said, and a tear fell.
He made a dive forward, snatching at his handkerchief to wipe it away. With one hand gripping the back of her chair, he crouched close beside her, breathing in her rich, animal scent, mingled with some cheap musky perfume from the supermarket. All his blood rushed to his cock.
‘Evie, let me help you. I just want to protect you.’
‘I wish you could. But the time ain’t right. I have to wait. Wait for me, lover.’
What had she just called him?
‘Oh my darling,’ he breathed. ‘How long? How long must I wait? I don’t think I can.’
‘I’ve got things to finish this summer. Things I can’t let drift. But when the harvest moon comes round, then I’ll be free.’
‘And you will come to me?’
‘I will come to you. I promise it.’
‘Oh Evie.’ He took her face in his hands and swooped forward, but she turned her head swiftly.
‘Not yet. You mustn’t kiss me. Not yet.’
‘How can you say these things and ask me not to kiss you?’ Adam was in agony, and yet ecstasy was laced through it at every point.
‘Don’t question me. It’s how it has to be. And now I should go, before …’
‘Before?’ He swiped at the empty air where she had been sitting.