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done and that the linguine was a little beyond
al dente
they had the very good sense to keep quiet about it.
    Tom and Janet took on the waiting duties, with wee Jonathan, cheered up after apologising for swearing and being reprieved, helping out by setting the table. That left me free to have a drink with Conrad on the terrace, and to update him on Duncan’s triumphant phone call.
    ‘He thinks he can buy me, does he?’ he mused, when I told him about his pay rise. ‘He can stick that up his fundament. I’m very well paid as it is, and Audrey and I already have a bonus in place, in the form of share options in the Gantry Group. Susie’s thinking is if we help her run the company profitably, we should share in it. Don’t worry, though, I’ll stay, for her sake and the kids, but also to make sure he doesn’t try to make good on that threat.’
    ‘But what can you do about it if he does?’
    He took a swig of his Saaz beer, straight from the bottle. ‘Whatever I reckon is necessary.’ His eyes went somewhere, but just when I thought he was lost in thought, he started humming an old Rod Stewart tune. (Sorry, let me rephrase that in case you thought I was being ageist; an old song by Rod Stewart.)
    All the way through dinner we could hear fireworks exploding, but since San Juan is the summer solstice celebration, I knew that the real action wouldn’t begin until it began to grow properly dark, and so we didn’t have to rush. The sun was pretty much down by the time we were finished, and when I led everyone, including our Charlie, who is a brave, if slightly dim-witted, dog, upstairs to the top floor and through my bedroom to the terrace. It was something of a treat for the crew; my suite is the only part of the house that really is mine alone. The days when Tom could come crashing in are over. Now, he and I have an agreement that he knocks on my door and I knock on his.
    The terrace offers a panoramic view of the entire bay, from L’Escala all the way round to Ampuriabrava, Santa Margarita and Rosas, so we were able to watch four firework displays, simultaneously, most of them far enough away for the sound to reach us a few seconds after we’d seen the multicoloured lights.
    The kids loved it all. I’d have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been preoccupied with the shock of Susie’s new husband, and I’m sure that Conrad felt the same. By that time my greatest worry wasn’t Culshaw, or Susie; as far as I was concerned she’d made the mistake and she’d have to live with it. No, I was worried about how Janet and wee Jonathan were going to take it, and how it might affect my son’s relationship with them. With that guy as the official consort in Monaco, and him having history with Tom, I would worry about him every minute he was there. As for the others, I knew already that wee Jonathan hated his new stepfather, and as for Janet … in the brief time I’d spent at Susie’s when he was there, I’d picked up vibes from him that I didn’t like, the sort that would make me careful not to leave any adolescent daughter of mine alone with the man.
    The pyrotechnics carried on unabated past eleven o’clock, as Tom had said they would. I called a halt around the half-hour. It was curfew time for the youngest member, and also I could see that they were getting ready for action under the floodlights that lit up the concert platform near the old Greek wall. Wee Jonathan didn’t protest; he was tired and, also, he knew he’d used up all that day’s leeway.
    I stuck a metaphorical finger up to assess the weather, and decided that the temperature would not drop much during the night. Tom and Janet had both donned T-shirt and jeans for dinner and I decided that they’d be fine like that. ‘Come on,’ I told them when we were back downstairs, and after Tom had fed Charlie, ‘let’s go … unless you’ve changed your minds, that is.’ They both looked at me as if I was dafter than the dog.
    As we left the house, I