‘Yes, bye.’ He replaced his phone in his jacket and turned to me. ‘Sorry,’ he said.
I shook my head and smiled. ‘I’m fine. I mean, it’s fine,’ I corrected. ‘All sorted with Suzanna?’
‘Yes. She was booking her train for next week and just needed a few timings confirming.’
‘I see.’ I picked up my wine glass, and drank the last mouthful. ‘Will she be staying the weekend?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’ll be nice. And Stephen’s just texted to suggest going away over summer,’ I added. ‘I’m pleased about that because I was starting to wonder what I’d do. Will you be going away?’
‘I hope so.’ He pointed at my wine glass and the now empty bowl of chips. ‘Some more of everything? Or would you like to go somewhere for dinner?’
I smiled, pleased not to have been presented with going home as an option. ‘Well, you know I’m more than happy with chips. What would you like to do?’
Never one to make a hurried decision, he took a moment to consider our options. ‘I think,’ he said eventually, turning and looking at me in a way which prompted a fleeting, but distinct, internal ache, ‘it’s easier if we just stay as we are.’
I smiled, took an extra little steadying breath and then nodded. ‘I agree,’ I said quietly. ‘That’s definitely the most sensible option.’
He looked at me for a moment and I thought he might be about to say more. But instead he simply returned my smile, rose to his feet and headed for the bar.
Chapter 39
‘I’m jealous,’ said Stephen.
‘You’re jealous?’ I responded incredulously. ‘You’re in the south of France!’
‘I’m in an office, sitting in front of a computer.’
‘In the south of France,’ I repeated. ‘And besides, won’t you be off out to dinner soon?’
‘I’d just rather be there,’ he said, ‘coming to your book group dinner with you. I haven’t seen you in weeks.’
‘Twelve days. And you’re here next weekend,’ I said, ‘for dinner with Jon and Suzanna.’
‘I just hope nothing crops up and gets in the way.’
‘Why should it?’ I smiled into the phone. ‘And if you get stuck in Solihull, we’ll cancel dinner and I’ll come there.’
‘I couldn’t let you do that,’ he said. ‘I’m packing everything up. It’d be like camping.’
I laughed. ‘I have been camping before, you know.’
‘But still,’ he said. ‘I don’t want your first experience of staying in my home to be one of sleeping amongst boxes. Anyway,’ he said, ‘I’d better let you go. What time are you eating?’
‘Drinks at seven-thirty, dinner at eight. Hugh and I are being picked up by Greg. He’s got a seven-seater.’
‘It’ll be a lot of fun.’ He sounded flat.
‘You’ll have a great evening too,’ I said. ‘And I’ll text you as soon as I’m home.’
‘I’ll look forward to it,’ he said. ‘Enjoy.’
‘I will, bye.’
‘Bye.’
I hung up and then turned to my computer, with a view to logging out.
‘All well?’ asked Sophie.
‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘He’s just not having the best time.’
‘Is he missing you?’
‘I think he would like to be coming tonight,’ I said.
She turned off her computer and leaned back in her chair.
‘Of course,’ I said.
‘How often do you phone him?’
‘We speak every day,’ I said absently. ‘Often more than once.’ I reached down for my bag.
‘Does he phone you or do you phone him?’
I straightened up and looked at her.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘You’re interrogating me,’ I said. ‘And you don’t do that without purpose. So spit it out.’
‘OK,’ she said, before continuing in typically direct fashion. ‘I was just wondering if he’s a little more into you than you are into him.’ She held up a hand. ‘Which, let me just say, is a very good thing in my book.’ She smiled. ‘I just wondered if maybe you felt that too.’
‘I like him very much,’ I said. ‘Let’s just see where it goes.’
‘Absolutely. See where it goes,’ she said.
‘Talking of which,’ I rested my arms on the desk and leaned towards her. ‘Any men on your horizon?’
She smiled and ran a hand through her hair. ‘I think I probably need a little break from men actually.’
I was about to ask why, but she anticipated the question.
‘Not sure why,’ she said, ‘although, of course, my sister does a pretty good job of putting me off them.’ She smiled ruefully.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘you’re going out with a lovely man tonight.’
She looked at me for a moment, then got up from her desk, came round to mine, leaned over and enveloped me in an unexpected hug. ‘You’re brilliant, you know that?’ she said.
I hugged her back. ‘Ditto,’ I said.
She straightened up and I realised that she was a little emotional.
‘You OK?’ I asked.
She cleared her throat. ‘Yeah, yeah. I’m just going to go and get changed,’ she said, looking towards David’s office.
I checked the clock on the mantelpiece. ‘What’s your plan?’
‘Frock’s there, of course,’ she pointed towards a suit bag hanging from the hat-stand. ‘I’m just going to pop that on and apply a bit of slap, while David finishes off, and then we’re off out for pre-drink drinks.’
‘Sounds like fun.’
‘Doesn’t it just,’ she said. ‘Right.’ She walked to the hat-stand, unhooked the bag and began to make her way to the bathroom. ‘I shall see Uhu there,’ she said.
‘Uhu?’
‘You and Hugh,’ she explained, pausing for a moment, before continuing on her way. ‘It’s my new mono-name for the pair of you. I’m quite proud of it,’ she called. ‘It’s like Samneric.’
The bathroom door clicked shut behind her.
‘Samneric?’ I echoed questioningly.
‘It’s a reference to Lord of the Flies,’ said David, appearing in the open doorway of his office. ‘The twins.’
‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘Anyway,’ I stood up, ‘I shall leave the pair of you to swap literary references over cocktails and see you a little later.’ I looked at David. He was now staring at the floor, hands in pockets. ‘Everything OK?’ I asked. ‘No project problems?’
‘What?’ He appeared momentarily bemused.
‘You look a little pensive,’ I said. ‘I was just wondering whether everything is OK?’
‘Oh, yes,’ he said smiling. ‘I was just reflecting on… on a thing. A work thing. Not a personal thing.’
‘Anything you want to bounce off me?’ I asked.
‘OK,’ I said, beginning to make my way to the door. ‘In that case, I shall run home, fill in the cracks and then see you at seven-thirty.’
‘That’s right,’ he said, ‘seven-thirty. I cannot wait.’
I turned to offer him a final wave, but he had already resumed his study of the carpet and now had the appearance, somewhat ironically, of a man who just might be prepared to wait his entire life. ‘David,’ I said, jolting him out of his reverie.
‘Oh yes, Alice. I’m sorry. Goodbye,’ he said, smiling and removing a hand from his pocket to return the wave.
‘Bye, Sophie!’ I called. I waited a moment but received no response, which was unsurprising as she had just started singing ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ very loudly indeed, punctuating her vocals with enthusiastic da-na-nas, in lieu of a guitar.
I sighed and headed off down the stairs, smiling to myself at the eclectic mix of characters the book group anniversary dinner always threw together and wondering, with a str
ange mixture of excitement and, for some reason, slight trepidation, what the evening might hold for us all.
Chapter 40
An additional advantage of being chauffeured to dinner by Greg was, I thought, as I squeezed into the Sharan next to Romy and Miriam, that Hugh would meet my friends in small waves, rather than as a single, potentially overwhelming, social tsunami. By the time we arrived at the restaurant, the journey would have halved the number of necessary introductions.
He settled himself into the front seat next to Greg and held out his hand for the latter to shake.
‘Hello, I’m Hugh,’ he said.
‘Pleased to meet you, Hugh,’ said Greg amiably. ‘I’m Greg. You’ve been dragged along by Alice, have you? Well you’re a brave man, that’s all I can say. She is trouble, with a capital T.’
‘Oh dear,’ sighed Connie quietly from the back row of seats, before clearing her throat in preparation for speech. ‘Now, Greg, Hugh does not know you and your sense of humour as yet and—’
Greg laughed loudly. ‘Oops, there I go again, Hugh. In trouble with the wife already and we haven’t even reached the restaurant yet. But you know I’m joking, don’t you? Alice is more muddle than trouble, aren’t you, Alice?’
I forced a laugh for Connie’s sake and then decided to press on with the introductions. ‘Hugh,’ I said, twisting in my seat ‘meet Connie, Miriam and Romy.’
Hugh reached round awkwardly, in an attempt to shake their hands.
‘Not to worry, Hugh,’ said Miriam from her window seat behind Greg. ‘I’ll settle for a wave. I wouldn’t want you dislocating anything.’
‘Me too,’ said Connie, waving.
Hugh raised a hand. ‘Hello,’ he said.
Romy unbuckled her seatbelt and edged forward, adjusting her turquoise, embroidered shift dress as she did so. ‘Hello, Hugh,’ she said, extending a hand. ‘I’m Romy. I’m not a member of the book group and I’ve never been to one of their dinners before either. I’m here as Miriam’s guest. We can be newbies together.’
Hugh smiled and, whilst he remained unspeaking, I saw for the first time what Sophie and Miriam had meant; he was actually, I had to admit, a rather handsome man. He shook Romy’s hand. ‘Thank you, Romy,’ he said, ‘for that welcome. I believe you were at university with Abigail, were you not?’
She nodded. ‘That’s right. She’s so lovely and I didn’t manage to see her last time I was in Bristol, so that will be an additional treat for me this evening.’
‘I very much enjoy catching up with old friends,’ said Hugh, his attractiveness maintained, enhanced even, by his deep Edinburgh tones. ‘And I also enjoy making new ones. Maybe over dinner you could tell me a little about your personal history and interests.’
And, with that, he became about as sexy as a dead fish once more.
Miriam threw me a sidelong glance, whilst Romy, in typically saintly fashion, managed to appear thrilled at the prospect of sharing her personal history and interests with Hugh, as if it was the very thing for which she had been creating a personal history and developing interests over the past twenty-nine years.
‘I’d love to, Hugh,’ she said and then as she sat back in her seat and re-buckled her belt, we headed for the restaurant.
* * *
We arrived at Primrose in less than ten minutes and the length of the journey would have left me with some guilt over not walking, were it not for the fact that Hugh had chatted happily all the way, having discovered shared passions for mountain climbing with Romy, and for all things chemical with Greg. I was delighted to see him at ease so early in the evening.
On arrival, Romy and Miriam detoured to the ladies, while the rest of us made our way upstairs to the room Abs had booked for us. Approximately two thirds of the space was taken up by two heavy wooden oblong tables, pushed together to form a single square and laid for twelve. Because the evening was warm, the French doors onto the terrace were open and we discovered Abs, Jon and Suzanna already outside, each holding a glass of the pink Cava which sat in ice buckets on a small table in one corner of the dining room.
‘Alice and Hugh!’ cried Abs, as we stepped out onto the terrace. ‘Oh and Greg and Connie too! Brilliant!’ Effusive at the best of times, she seemed this evening to be beside herself with excitement. ‘Oh, gosh, look at Alice and Connie! Connie, that blue dress matches your eyes perfectly,’ she said, reaching out and gently touching Connie’s arm, as the latter smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment. ‘And you look positively radiant, Alice,’ she continued, turning her attention to me. ‘Doesn’t she, everyone? Don’t they both look gorgeous?’ She turned to Jon and Suzanna, each of whom responded with polite nods.
‘Looking dressed to kill, even when you’re not on the hunt eh, Alice?’ laughed Greg, elbowing me hard. ‘Grrrr…’ he clawed the air.
I laughed, finding the joke funnier now than I had the first time; presumably because I now heard it from the security of a relationship, rather than as a needy single woman who had just thanked all her friends, in writing, for offering to set her up with men. I looked down at the purple, patterned sheath dress, which I had excitedly purchased a week earlier. ‘Thank you. It is a new dress actually.’
There were murmurs of approval, following which Jon turned to Suzanna and smiled.
‘Well, everybody,’ he said, ‘this is Suzanna. She has—’ At that point, whatever he was about to say was cut short, as Greg lunged forward, grabbed Suzanna’s hand and began to pump it vigorously up and down. ‘Ah, yes,’ he beamed. ‘We’ve been looking forward to meeting you, haven’t we, Connie?’ Connie nodded her agreement and as Greg rambled on, I looked from Suzanna to Jon. It was the first time I had seen him since our drinks in The Neath and I had thought little in the busy intervening days about my sudden urge to kiss him that night. But I recalled it now, and was unsettled to once again find myself appreciating his appearance, and his mouth in particular, in a way which didn’t sit comfortably within the bounds of friendship.
He had just turned to look at me with a puzzled smile, when my thoughts were suddenly, but thankfully, interrupted by a gentle nudge from Hugh. ‘You look beautiful,’ he said quietly. I turned and looked up at him in surprise.
‘My sister told me to say that to say that to every woman in the room,’ he murmured.
‘Great advice,’ I whispered.
‘I’m joking,’ he said, without cracking a smile.
I laughed. There was hope for him yet.
‘Oh look!’ said Abs. ‘There’s Romy!’ She dipped inside the room to welcome the newcomers who had paused on entry to pour themselves some wine.
‘I’ll go and get us some drinks,’ said Hugh. ‘You stay here.’
‘OK.’ I turned to Suzanna, as Jon distracted Greg with a business enquiry. ‘It’s lovely to see you again,’ I said. ‘I’ll introduce you to Hugh when he gets back.’
‘Abigail has just been telling me all about him. He sounds quite fascinating,’ she said.
I laughed. ‘Abs has a tendency to make us all sound fascinating. But yes, Hugh does have a lot of strings to his bow.’
‘It’s lovely to meet him, but I thought you’d be with Stephen,’ she continued. ‘Jon says he’s away.’
‘Yes, in France.’
‘And whisper on the wind,’ said Greg, suddenly listening-in, ‘is that things are going very well indeed with Stephen, Alice. And I think I’d like to take a little bit of the credit for that. Cash’ll be just fine.’
Connie turned from her conversation with Jon and looked anxiously first at me, then at Greg. ‘Now, Greg,’ she said quietly, ‘let’s not discuss Alice’s personal life at a party.’
Greg rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t know, Connie, you tell me off for discussing business at parties and now I’m not allowed to discuss personal matters.’ He looked at Jon and laughed. ‘Women, eh?’
I stifled a sigh, Connie didn’t bother to stifle hers and I noticed Suzanna frown slightly.
Jon smiled and pla
ced an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him fondly. I was grateful for Hugh’s return with my drink.
‘Thanks,’ I said, taking it from him. ‘Now Hugh, this is Jon and his partner, Suzanna.’ Hugh nodded and transferred his glass to his left hand, making his right hand available for shakes.
‘Lovely to meet you, Hugh,’ said Suzanna, taking his extended hand. ‘I’m actually—’
‘At last!’ Abs’ excited screech reached us through the French doors. ‘A full house!’
I turned to see David and Sophie entering the upper room. David was smiling broadly, and looking very relaxed, and Sophie appeared equally serene in a thin, slightly shimmering blue dress. Her arm was through David’s and they looked, at that moment, picture perfect. I smiled at the thought of two such contrasting personalities, so at home in each other’s company and felt suddenly sentimental regarding my riotously harmonious place of work and my colleagues who were also my friends.
‘You know, I hardly feel as if introductions are necessary,’ said Hugh, following my gaze. ‘Abigail has told me so much about everyone.
‘Did she tell you how fascinating they all are?’ I asked.
‘She did.’
‘Yes, well, she told me that about you and…’ I pulled a face and looked him up and down disparagingly.
He remained stony-faced. ‘You’re being amusing again, aren’t you?’ he said.
‘She’s attempting it,’ said Jon.
‘I’m learning to spot it,’ sighed Hugh. ‘I’m also learning to laugh along.’
‘That’s easily the best approach,’ said Jon. ‘If you don’t laugh along, she just tries harder, and that’s not great.’
Greg laughed loudly and slapped me hard on the back, as if we were navvies sharing a joke on the railway. ‘Are they teasing you, Alice? Well, don’t you worry, it’s a sign of affection.’
Hugh turned to me and smiled and Jon raised his glass in salute.
‘Where’s Pete?’ asked Hugh, looking around. ‘Has he made it this evening?’
‘Dear Pete,’ said Abs, returning to the terrace, with Miriam trailing. ‘He’s been looking forward to this for weeks. Like a child waiting for Christmas. I didn’t think he was ever going to get to sleep last night.’