Tessa was loading equipment into her car when Mary reached the hall on Wednesday. A bag of bibs lay on the pavement, and a ball was slowly escaping towards the road.
Mary stopped it with her foot.
“That's how they do it, isn't it?” she asked.
“In a different sport.”
Tessa took the ball and pushed it into the bag. Mary lifted the bibs, then hesitated beside the open boot.
“June said you'd be here.”
“Only until I get all this in.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Tessa looked at her face. “About Adam?”
Mary nodded.
“I've got a few minutes.”
Mary passed her the bibs. She had come hoping to hear that Nina was wrong, and had spent the walk pretending she wanted only to ask a question.
“We've had a row,” she said.
Tessa waited.
“He didn't want me speaking to Nina on my own.”
“Did you?”
“Yesterday.”
Tessa set the bag down in the boot. “So what do you need from me?”
Mary looked away. The painted entrance sign was visible beyond Tessa's shoulder. They'd hung it a month ago. She remembered Adam bowing on the ladder and her own ridiculous happiness.
“I don't know.”
“Did you want to know if he did that with me?”
“Yes. Maybe.”
“We had different problems.”
Tessa didn't begin listing them. Mary was grateful and disappointed.
She pointed to the car instead. “June said you'd been having trouble with that.”
“It's behaving this week.” Tessa patted its side. “It died outside the supermarket last month. Adam helped me get it to the garage. He waited while I dealt with them, then drove me home.”
“You were already split up.”
“Long split up.”
Tessa leaned into the car and moved a folded net beneath the other equipment.
“He was kind to me,” she said. “Lots of times. It wasn't enough to make us want the same things.”
“Do you think he's different now?”
Tessa stood upright. “I've seen you together about twice. How would I know?”
Mary pressed a hand against the cold edge of the boot.
Tessa closed the boot. It caught the strap of a bag, and she opened it again, tugging the strap inside. Mary watched her do it and knew she was asking for more time than Tessa had offered.
“I've got a session starting,” Tessa said. “The girls will be waiting.”
“Could we have coffee later?”
“Not tonight.”
Mary's face grew hot. She hadn't meant to become another task for someone else to finish.
Tessa softened her voice. “I'm not trying to get rid of you. But I can't keep looking at what he does now and telling you which old Adam it matches.”
“Right.”
“He told you not to go. You went. What does he do with that?”
“We've not properly talked yet.”
“Then that's the thing you've actually got in front of you.”
She took her keys out, and Mary stepped back so she could open the driver's door.
“Thank you,” Mary said.
“I'm sorry it isn't easier.”
“You don't have to be.”
Tessa drove away to her session. Mary stayed on the pavement for a moment, then went into the hall to find June. The office was empty. June had left a note about a delivery, not for Mary, and the tea she'd made was still cooling beside the keyboard.
Mary took out her phone to leave a message, then put it away.
She walked back to her flat. At a shop window she stopped to look at a plain cream dress. It wasn't a bridal shop. It might not be right for a wedding at all. She liked the sleeves.
She went closer to see the price. The shop was still open.
When she got home, she told Adam she could meet him in the morning. He replied with a time and asked whether she wanted him to bring breakfast.
Mary said no, she'd eat first.
He said all right.