The smell of Lancashire hotpot brought Sarah away from her packing, and back to the kitchen where Al was mashing up potatoes. It was the kind of domestic scene that Sarah hadn’t experienced since her parents had died; she and Millie had tended to live on takeaways or basic pasta or salad dishes.  Al turned to her and smiled; putting the masher back in the saucepan, and giving her a hug.

“How’s it going?”

“Not quite finished.  All the clothes are hung up and put away, but the smell of dinner distracted me.  I’ve changed into something more comfortable than my boring work clothes.”

Al looked her up and down; her old Uni sweatshirt was so long and loose that it was more like a dress.

“I like it.  You look like a student, but it feels very – huggable?”

“Good.  That’s exactly the effect I was going for.  Can I do anything once you’ve had enough hugs?”

“I’m not sure that I can ever get enough.  You aren’t talking about rationing again, are you?”

“Not a chance.  My guru Jude says that you and I have lots of time to make up for.”

“Erm, do you tell Jude everything?” Al was beginning to blush in that endearing fashion that Sarah adored.

“Pretty much.  Does that embarrass you?”

“I’ll tell you when I get to meet Jude and Dan properly.  You can lay up the table if you like; plates and cutlery are over there in the dresser, I opened a bottle of red, but then I remembered that you aren’t supposed to drink with those tablets.”

“That was the first forty-eight hours; I wasn’t supposed to drive or operate heavy machinery either. I’m glad that I drove here though. My car has always been a symbol of my independence; once I bought it, I knew I could escape from Andy whenever I needed to. Before you say anything, there is nothing about you that I want to escape from.  I need to stop comparing though; I don’t even know what your ex-wife’s name is.”

“Sonia. I don’t talk about her much; I understand that if I hadn’t been so wrapped up in my job, we might possibly have worked through the issues between us. I kept putting it off though, and by the time I’d left the force, there was nothing more to keep us together, except for the boys.  They were old enough to make up their own minds by then, and made it quite clear that living with two hostile parents was unacceptable.  Sonia found somebody else, so I moved out. The divorce went through very quickly, and the boys live with their mother but they keep in touch, well my eldest does anyway.”

“If all my stuff is in the spare room there won’t be anywhere for them to sleep!”

“True.  The third bedroom only needs decorating and finishing off though.”

“If the show gets cancelled, I’d like to help you rather than just being a kept woman. Until I went over to Maggie’s, I’d never done anything like that. Millie’s flat didn’t need anything doing and Andy refused to make any changes.  I was so tempted to rip the pine cladding off the walls and ceilings, and as for the orange and brown tiles in the kitchen- I never want to think of them again! I didn’t do too badly at Maggie’s, did I?”

“You did very well, my love.  You mucked in and did what you were asked to do.  Some women might have been more worried about their nail varnish, or whether they got their clothes dirty.  So, what would you change about this house then?”

“I love this house, Al.  I felt comfortable in it from the moment I sat down and started reading your books.  It’s more than just a house.  It’s a home.  Your home.”

“And yours too now, I hope.”

“Much more of this and I shall be crying into my hotpot – which is gorgeous by the way.  Your Maggie really knows how to cook.”

“I can cook too,” said Al in a tone of mock offence.  “I’m just never here long enough to cook from scratch during the week, and I usually get an invite to lunch on Sundays.”

“Andy didn’t like my cooking. He said it was basic student grub and didn’t fit in with his healthy lifestyle.  My Dad never seemed to object to my cooking though; he liked to sit in the kitchen and chat.  Said it reminded him of when I was younger and my Mum was alive.  Oh no! Waterworks again. I seem to be developing a habit of bursting into tears these days.  The only time I cried about Andy was the day that he told me he had put the house up for sale, and was doing a bunk to Thailand. Even then I was crying about my situation rather than Andy leaving.”

Al got up and took the plates, stacking them in the dishwasher in a far less orderly manner than Andy ever did.  That made Sarah smile through the tears.  He handed her a box of tissues and sat down next to her.

“Physician heal thyself,” he said kissing her very gently on the undamaged cheek.  “After ten years with Andy, your life has changed drastically in the last few months.  For the better I hope, although Oliver counts as a major source of aggravation, and being attacked by two mad women hasn’t helped.  Let it out.  There are plenty of tissues, and your dressing needs changing anyway.”

Filling a bowl with some warm water, Al gathered up the cotton wool and clean dressings, and sat back down next to her.  Sarah turned to face him, and he very carefully took the dressing off.  The cut still looked clean and healthy. Using some damp cotton wool, Al wiped the cut and looked at his handiwork closely.

“They really did do a good job here you know.  There’s hardly any puckering at all, which means that the scar shouldn’t be too obvious.”

Al tilted Sarah’s face towards him and kissed her very carefully. “Do you feel ready to look at it now, or are you happy for me to put a new dressing on?”

“I should look at it, shouldn’t I.  There’s no point pretending it isn’t there.  Will you take some pictures on my phone please?  I can look at them then, and send them on to Millie and Jude.”

Sarah handed Al her mobile and sat very still while he took a number of pictures. Handing Sarah her mobile, he watched while she examined them.

“I hadn’t realised how long the cut was,” she said.  “It’s very close to my eye and my chin, isn’t it?”

“I think that Marta just slashed you to impress Natasha and scare you. If she really meant to cause permanent damage or kill you, there are other places she could have aimed for. Shall I put the dressing on now, or do you want to let the air get to the cut for a while?”

“Put a new dressing on please?  I know it sounds silly but I feel safer with it covered up.”

“Okay.  Are you still hungry?  I don’t have much in the way of pudding.  Maggie tends to concentrate on main courses.  There, all done.  If it’s any consolation, the dressing is getting smaller now.  Does it hurt much?”

“A little but I can take some painkillers now.  I’m too full for pudding anyway; can we just sit down in front of the TV and finish off this wine?”

“You go on in and get comfortable; I’ll top up the glasses and bring your tablets in.  The remote control is on the coffee table, and all I ask is that you put on something that will make us both happy.”

Sitting together on the sofa; Sarah’s legs over the top of Al’s, his arms around her and his head so close to hers that his laughter rippled through her whole body, as they watched an old comedy game show.

This was what happy was about.

 Being slightly tipsy on red wine, snuggled together and knowing that the rest of the night would be spent loving each other, and falling into that deep and very sweet sleep.