CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

Before Dunballan:

Distance had always been a feature of Sally and David’s relationship, both physically and emotionally. In the ten years they’d been together they’d never lived in the same property, not until they moved to Dunballan. When they were in London they lived in separate flats in totally different parts of the city, at least half an hour’s bus ride from one another.

They weren’t the sort of people who made connections easily and neither of them had a large circle of friends. Sally had only had two other lovers and David assured her he hadn’t had many more. He refused to be more specific than that, and Sally had learned not to press him.

They were comfortable with their remoteness, neither of them wanting to cling to the other or make any demands. Sally had been fiercely independent since she was a child, and she hated to be dependent on anyone or have anyone depend on her. Several days could go by without Sally or David contacting the other, and it wouldn’t worry them in the slightest. They were happy being self-contained, and their relationship seemed stronger because of it.

Or it did in the beginning.

Looking back on their last year in London, Sally couldn’t help but see a certain inevitability to the way they drifted apart. The one thing they’d seen as the biggest strength of their relationship was ultimately its undoing. They spent so long ensuring they didn’t need each other too much that they came to wonder if they needed each other at all.

David’s depression had been getting steadily worse for quite some time. When he was made redundant he went into a sharp decline. His firm gave him a generous settlement. He didn’t have any monetary problems, but he depended on work to keep his black moods at bay. He needed to remain active and stay one step ahead of them.

In the past, David liked having Sally around when he got down, just knowing she was there had helped, but this time he found her presence a torment. He froze her out and went weeks without seeing her. Sally began to blame herself—she must be lacking in some way or David wouldn’t treat her like this. Every time she reached out to him, he pulled further away. She began to despair of having any connection with him at all.

Just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, David received news that changed everything. An elderly uncle died and left his entire estate to him. Sally knew his family were once well-to-do, but she hadn’t known David was the sole heir. The inheritance came with one major stipulation, in order to claim the estate, David would have to go and live in his ancestral home.

Sally felt sure this would be the end of their relationship, so she was shocked when David called, out of the blue, to invite her out to dinner. He took her to an Italian restaurant she really liked in Islington, and ordered an expensive bottle of wine.

“So,” he said, as they waited for their main course. “I had the estate agents round today. They think they can get me a pretty good price for the flat.”

“Oh really?” she said, and suddenly her appetite disappeared. She was used to David’s insensitivity, but this was a bit much even for him. She knew she was going to lose him, and she was trying to prepare herself for this, but he didn’t have to start bragging about how much money he was going to make from the move.

“The thing is, they have an office in your neck of the woods and, when I mentioned your place to them, they sounded quite interested.”

“I don’t think I can afford to move, not with stamp duty and everything, and I’d probably end up with somewhere smaller than I’ve got now.”

“Not if you moved out of London, you wouldn’t.”

“Why on earth would I want to move out of London?”

“Well, you’d have to if you were going to move in with me. I mean, if you wanted to, in my cottage in the Highlands, that is. There aren’t too many mod cons, but it’s quite roomy.”

Sally put down her glass in shock. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“If you want to, I mean we have been together for quite a while now. It does seem like the logical thing to do.”

This was the last thing she’d expected David to say. Sally didn’t know how she felt about it. Or to be more exact, she was feeling so many things at once her emotions had gotten caught in a log jam, and she had no idea whether she was anxious or elated, flattered or stunned.

Sally was quite a deliberate person, and she didn’t make snap decisions. Being put on the spot like this usually sent her into a tailspin of indecision. So she was completely caught off guard to hear a calm, clear voice say, “I’d love to.” And even more caught off guard when she realised it was her own.

With hindsight, Sally wondered if her voice would have been quite so clear or calm if she’d known exactly what would happen when they did move.