‘I said…’ Viola faltered. The man looked pale, vulnerable. ‘I said, she’s your girlfriend.’

Viola expected him to deny it, to shift their conversation back to the funeral or her stupid act on the harbour’s edge, but instead there was a palpable shift in him – a lifting of the chest.

‘How do you know that?’ he asked. He was trying out a certain swagger, a boyish smile playing at the corners of his mouth. It was touching, almost sad.

Viola took a breath to speak.

I saw you chasing the woman once or twice, heard her telling you to go away, so I sent a boy to spy on you, by accident really, as a distraction for him, and he came to the conclusion that you two are definitely doing it, which is odd because it seems to me she’s definitely doing it with that man at the funeral today.

Viola couldn’t say that. She knew how it felt to be hopeful, and how it felt to be lonely, to be crushed. She liked Saul. She wanted him to be happy, and that was likely within her powers, now that she knew how strong they were. It could be as simple as driving a nail into the softness of a heart.

‘I know she’s your girlfriend,’ was what Viola said to Saul, ‘because Leah told me herself.’

The Book of Leah

THE BOOK OF LEAH

I needed a back-up, a witness, perhaps even a lucky charm. The voice of two women equals the voice of one man – that is what I had been brought up to believe. It couldn’t be the girls themselves, nor their mothers; they were too close, too vested. It amused me, I suppose, to speak for our island in the company of a coycrock redhead.

It was exactly as it had been the last time I visited the Reunyon Farmstead: she was ready with her defences. As soon as my feet crunched the gravel, she came thundering down the steps of the porch, spilling out a plea for vindication. Nothing to do with livestock this time, or the behaviour of her dog; she wanted to justify something she’d said.

‘I felt under pressure and I didn’t know what to say and I felt sorry for him and –’

‘Felt sorry for who?’ I cut in.

Her mouth clamped shut. She realised that she had done it again – spoken too soon. We looked one another up and down.