They left the B & B right after breakfast, which wasn’t much; no full English. Josh only poked at his food with a fork anyway. He didn’t eat.

‘We’re out of bacon,’ said the podgy wife of the irritable man serving as mine host, as she slapped their plates – cold plates – down in front of them. On each plate was a couple of spoonfuls of baked beans, a thin sliver of black pudding and that was it.

‘You out of bleeding eggs too?’ asked Shauna, thinking that they should have swerved the breakfast and driven on to a transport café instead.

The woman only shrugged. ‘And you’re not married, are you, the pair of you?’ she accused, glaring at Shauna’s naked ring finger. ‘Bloody disgusting, I call that.’

‘Oh shut your fat yap,’ said Shauna.

‘Get out of my house!’ ordered the woman.

They piled back into the Zephyr and sat there on the driveway.

‘Where you reckon Claire’s gone?’ asked Josh.

Who gives a shit?

‘She’ll be fine,’ said Shauna. ‘She’s off feeling bad about blowing you out and cheating everyone of the big wedding party, that’s all. Christ knows what Eva and Pally had to go and start calling the police out for. That’s mad.’

‘They were worried about her,’ said Josh.

‘What, enough to call the muskras?’ Shauna laughed. ‘That’s not the way we do things. You know that. They’ve taken leave of what little sense they’ve got.’

Shauna was looking at Josh. He was big and tough and handsome as hell. He was born to be a champion and that was going to keep them both in style. But at the centre he was soft as shit. She was going to have to get him out of that little habit of being too caring, too considerate.

‘Let’s go,’ she said, and Josh started the car.

‘First I’m going back to see if Claire’s shown up,’ said Josh.

Shauna let out a sigh, but thought better of arguing. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘But you’re wasting your time.’

Let him get that cow out of his system, once and for all.

Then they could move on.

21

21

Josh parked the car out on the lane and turned to Shauna, who’d been quiet on the drive back to the campsite.

‘Coming then?’ he asked.

Shauna looked at him. ‘No, I’m not bloody coming. I told you. I’m done with this place.’

‘You don’t even want to tell your folks what’s going on?’

‘I’ll send them a fucking postcard,’ said Shauna.

Josh got out of the car. ‘I won’t be long,’ he told her, and slammed the door closed.