Chapter Thirty-Six
Zennor was so exhausted yet so wound up she thought sleep would be impossible, but it did come eventually. Still, she woke at dawn after a night filled with disturbing dreams involving Matt, Trev, Sybil and fire. In one of them, she couldn’t find Matt and woke up with her face wet with tears.
What could Sybil possibly need to tell her so desperately? She’d run through so many scenarios in which Sybil could be some kind of villain but none of them seemed remotely feasible. As to how Matt was involved and why he could possibly know a dark secret that Zennor didn’t … none of it made sense.
Why, if this secret was so upsetting and important, had no one told her? Anger stirred again but she suppressed it. She’d spent quite a lot of the past few years feeling angry and she was determined not to waste any more time on toxic regrets, no matter what Sybil had to say.
As for Matt: she’d told him how she felt and, based on that kiss on the beach, she was in no doubt about how he felt.
Nothing could be so awful that it would threaten that new bond now, surely?
Taking a strong coffee on to the balcony, she looked over the lichen-covered rooftops of the town to the beach in front of the Surf Club and the abandoned marquee and stage.
The large, blackened area on the sand looked like a giant scar.
Contractors were already clearing away the burned tent and barriers.
Hearing a squawk, she glanced at the lamppost opposite but there was no Eric staring at her and she welled up. She missed him, which was ridiculous. She hadn’t even been sure he was an Eric and not an Erica.
With a sigh, she messaged her mother to let her know what had happened. There was always the chance that the Sea Fever fire would make it to national news and her mum might link it with Zennor.
Her mother called back before Zennor had finished her coffee.
‘Poor Sybil. Poor Sybil …’ she kept saying.
‘I can’t believe she was prepared to risk her own life to save you.
Then again, it sounds exactly like Sybil.
’ She hesitated and then declared, ‘I must come and see her. I must come and see you. It’s been far too long …
Yes, Sybil and I have had our differences but I can never thank her enough for what she was willing to do for you. ’
Zennor was about to downplay the incident but she knew her mum wouldn’t be fooled, so she said, ‘Me neither.’
‘In fact, I’m not going to wait a moment longer. I’m taking the holiday that’s owed me and I’ll be with you very soon. Love you, Zenny. I can’t wait to see you.’
It was only after her mother had rung off that Zennor gave in to the tears she could no longer hold back. Whatever was to come, she was alive, and so were Sybil and Matt. That was all that mattered.
With Sybil on the mend and Matt and Zennor offering to stay with her, she was released from the hospital later in the afternoon. They took both cars and Zennor drove her home with Matt following behind.
It was a beautiful afternoon, the breeze stirring the agapanthus and the distant sea a deep ultramarine. Looking out on this, no one could imagine the drama that had unfolded less than twenty-four hours previously.
‘Can we sit in the garden?’ Sybil asked, her voice still hoarse. Despite the fact she must have felt pretty awful, she’d pinned up her hair and put on some make-up. It was almost as if she were readying for battle.
‘Of course,’ Zennor said. ‘Shall I fetch you a glass of water?’
‘I’ll get it,’ Matt said, a little too eager to be out of the way, in Zennor’s opinion.
‘Thanks. You know, some actors would pay a fortune for a husky rasp like this.’
Zennor tried to smile but was too apprehensive about what was to come.
‘I needed to be out here in the fresh air. I don’t want to be in a confined space. Not after yesterday.’ Sybil shuddered.
‘I don’t blame you. It must have been horrific to be so close to the flames.’
‘You should know. Matt tells me you rushed in to try to save me. You are far more of a heroine than I will ever be.’
Matt returned with a tray and three glasses. ‘Here you go.’
‘Thank you.’
He remained standing. ‘Do you want me to go?’
‘No, stay,’ Sybil said. ‘Please.’
Matt exchanged a glance with Zennor.
‘If Sybil’s happy about it, I think you’d better,’ Zennor said.
‘The first thing you need to know is that Matt is blameless in all of this. He’s a victim of people trying to keep secrets. So you must promise me, Zennor, that you won’t hold what I’m going to say against him.’
Matt sat at the table. ‘I’m not blameless. I did have a choice.’
‘Please, just tell me,’ Zennor pleaded, feeling sick with apprehension.
Sybil took a breath and lifted her chin as if preparing to walk on stage. ‘Have you ever wondered why I wasn’t at your wedding?’
Zennor frowned and her stomach churned. ‘Because you had an acting job in London. You were working that day.’
‘That much is true but I was so keen to have that job precisely because I didn’t think I should be at the wedding – or rather, because I knew I wouldn’t have been welcome.’
‘What? I told Mum and Trev how disappointed I was.’
‘And what did she say?’ Sybil asked.
‘I – can’t remember. Not much. I—’
‘Be honest.’
‘Oh, I don’t know. “Typical Sybil” or something. I thought she was annoyed that you were missing it even if you couldn’t help it.’ Zennor had been surprised that her mother was quite brusque about Sybil’s absence.
‘And Trev?’ Sybil went on. ‘How did he take it? Remember we’re being brutally honest now. All of us.’
‘I don’t remember him saying anything,’ Zennor said truthfully. She hadn’t been surprised about that because Trev didn’t care. He’d never been a fan of Sybil. ‘So why are you saying you wouldn’t have been welcome at the wedding?’
‘Because … your mum and dad would really rather I hadn’t gone. Trev, too, but your parents weren’t aware of that beyond his general dislike of me. If I’d turned up, it would have been awkward and upsetting for them. Most of all, I stayed away because I didn’t want to spoil your special day.’
She glanced over to Matt.
‘I managed that all on my own,’ he murmured.
Suppressing a shudder, Zennor said, ‘I don’t understand.’
Sybil coughed and sipped her water. ‘A few weeks before the wedding, and I am so sorry to tell you this, my dear girl, I was at a hotel and I saw Trev with a young woman.’
‘A few weeks,’ Zennor echoed. That would have been while she and Trev were engaged. Her stomach knotted into a tight ball. ‘And when you say he was “with” a young woman …’
‘I saw this young woman coming out of his room at the hotel at midnight. For the avoidance of doubt, she kissed him – not in a platonic way – on the threshold and said she was gutted to have to leave but she had to get back to her husband.’
Zennor almost choked. Trev had been sleeping with another woman even as he was preparing to marry her.
‘I am sorry, my love …’ Sybil murmured.
Zennor glanced at Matt, whose fists were clenched tightly in his lap, looking at the ground.
‘Was it the waitress?’ Zennor said.
Matt shook his head. ‘No. It was his PA from work. Though Sybil didn’t know that at the time.’
‘I heard him say her name: Tara. She was tall with red hair and a Scouse accent.’
Zennor covered her mouth with her hand. ‘Of course it was her. I often wondered why he kept her on for so long because they always seemed to be at loggerheads. He told me he’d sacked her but …
it was all a smokescreen. The absolute bastard!
’ Pausing for breath, she turned to Matt.
‘And the waitress at our wedding. He wasn’t fighting her off, was he? ’
‘Not exactly,’ Matt muttered.
‘Argh! I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Twice. Oh, I’m so bloody na?ve.
I am so—’ She broke off and swept them both up in a look.
‘There’s something I don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?
Either of you? Were you worried that I’d break it off with Trev? Because I would have!’
‘I wanted to tell you …’ Matt murmured.
‘I had the right to know.’
Sybil cut in. ‘You did, and Matt wanted you to, but I stopped him.’
Zennor’s emotions were at boiling point. ‘Why?’
Sybil spoke in a monotone, as if she were trying to distance herself from the actual words coming out of her mouth.
‘Because I was at the hotel too and Trev also saw me. I’d arranged to meet someone – special.
We’d chosen that hotel because it’s out of the way.
Perhaps for the very same reasons that Trev had.
’ She stopped for a breath. ‘Please understand I have regretted this every day since. But I – The man I was meeting was the man I’d been in love with since your mother introduced us one evening at university.
I was at the hotel in a room with your father. ’