Chapter Thirteen

Ten years earlier, Stuart spends frequent afternoons at the White Swan with Jessamine, timing his half-pints to match her vodkas. He studies her moods, noting how engaging she is early on and how bitterness surfaces after more drinks, which reveals pain beneath her bravado.

Over drinks, Jessamine shares that she and her daughter, Daisy, live with her difficult mother in a detached cottage on the edge of Hampstead Heath. When Stuart asks about Daisy’s father, Jessamine says he disappeared a decade earlier and refuses to dwell on him, exposing her anger and hurt.

During the school holidays, Jessamine stops coming to the pub, and Stuart wonders about her life at home and whether Hugo is being walked. After Christmas, buoyed by family time and drink, Stuart decides to visit, bringing a regifted champagne bottle, a card, and discounted dog treats.

Stuart wanders through the Vale of Health on a bleak, rainy day, noting the surreal, postcard-like houses. As dusk falls and streetlights flicker on, he finds a shabby yellow cottage behind gates, with a neglected car, an old army jeep, a damaged trampoline, and faint Christmas decorations.

Hearing Hugo’s furious barking and Jessamine telling the dog to be quiet because “there’s nobody there,” Stuart reaches the side gate, sees Jessamine at a small window, and rings the doorbell, signaling his intention to cross from pub acquaintance into her private world.