Disclaimer: Sally Wainwright owns Last Tango in Halifax. I am not her.
Caroline Elliot bit her lip. The sun was setting dimly over the school gardens, another day finished, another chapter closed. That was that, then. The sun had set on the day, just as it had done on her marriage. Twenty-six hours since her loving, dependable, honest, heartless bastard of a husband had left her, and everything seemed still, as if the whole world were in limbo. The bridge between the endurable and the totally agonising. An eerie calmness had descended upon her. She didn't trust it, though, knowing it would melt away when she needed it most; as soon as she let her guard down. Sighing, she turned away from the window, pulling her coat down from the rack. She'd put it off long enough now. She had hung around at the school for as long as she possibly could after the pupils had left. Time to face the inevitable, detestable house. She could delay the pain, but she couldn't eliminate it altogether.
As she passed through the empty corridors, a door opened ahead of her, and Kate McKenzie stepped out, looking as pretty as ever. Oh, God, no, not people. Not now. Please, God, don't let her have to be friendly, not now, when it was all she could do to hold herself upright. The language teacher smiled, gently. Oh, no, here it came. Caroline tried to smile back, but it seemed to come out as more of a grimace. Oh, well, that would have to do.
"Doctor Elliot, I'm so sorry," Kate shook her head, not having to explain her concern. Caroline was touched. She'd called a brief meeting in the staff room earlier, not having been able to see a way out of telling them what had happened, and run straight back to her office once she'd finished, terrified that someone might make a joke, or, even worse, be sympathetic. As Kate was being now. She blinked, and then again, and bit her lip once more, harder this time. Stop it, she told herself, you will not cry.
"Thank you," she nodded, and made another attempt at a smile. Apparently, it hadn't worked, because Kate frowned, before saying, "Oh, dear. You look like you could do with a drink." Caroline blanched. They had always got on well, and Caroline might almost have called Kate her friend, but they'd only ever seen each other at work. Anything more would have felt...well, inappropriate. Unprofessional. Oh, but she wanted to say "yes". She really wanted to. And what was so wrong with that, anyway, she challenged herself? It would only be two work friends sitting in a pub. It was no different from them sitting in the staff room, or her office, or a classroom. Not really. Except...well, except that it was, and she knew it.
"I probably could," she admitted, in spite of herself, and Kate visibly relaxed. Was she really that scary, the headmistress couldn't help wondering, or...or had she been nervous for a different reason? Inwardly, she kicked herself. No. None of those sorts of thoughts, thank you. Especially not now, but not ever, either, because that way madness lay. If experience had taught her one thing, it was that.
"Come on," the younger woman grinned, silently adding "we'll sort you out, don't you worry." One day she'd be brave enough to make a remark like that. Maybe. But that day wasn't today. It was too soon, anyway, and Caroline took her proffered arm, with a distracted "I'll have to ring the boys..."
It was William that answered the phone, flatly. His manner was almost enough to dissaude her, but when she voiced her worry, he urged her to go, promising that he and Laurence would be fine. Whether this was true, or her thoughtful son was simply more mindful of her welfare than his own, she couldn't tell. She went with Kate, regardless, and maybe she was wrong to do it, but perhaps it was about time she started being a little bit selfish. She was always putting herself last for John. She would have given anything to make their marriage work, and look where it had got her.
And so she went with Kate. And after that, nothing was quite the same again.
