Tina bakes, Roddy sets the table, and they have leaf tea and use their china tea set, which had belonged to Roddy’s maternal grandmother. Even six months after Tina moved in there’s a sense of excitement, as though none of them can quite believe that they are here, like this: that, despite everything, and with no disrespect to what has gone before, they have made a happy ending. Fran has brought a batch of granola. ‘You don’t have to bring things,’ Tina says. ‘Tina,’ Roddy says, ‘don’t say that. She has to bring this.’ Tina laughs. They do get through it at an astonishing rate. At breakfast, Roddy picks out the raisins and puts them into Tina’s bowl. Tina trades him for hazelnuts. Today there are ginger scones and lemon cake, and black olive bread with blue cheese and sun-dried tomatoes to go with it. It’s the first really warm spring day, so they open the French doors and enjoy the warm air, and all of its promise. ‘I’d ask how business is,’ Fred says, ‘but if this is what you’re baking, I don’t think I need to.’ ‘It’s fine,’ Tina says, ‘Angie is doing a great job.’ Her former deputy had taken the promotion with great energy, bubbling with ideas and training up her own assistant with aplomb.
What do You think about The Other Half Of My Heart?
