by Davina Stone
“Okay sounds very beige. Are you up for a quick drink?”
“I have my watercolour class, but—”
“Even more beige. Skip it. Come out for a drink instead.”
I—oh—” They were going to learn how to “bloom” different colours tonight, but Pippa sounded so excited her phone almost vibrated. Blooming would have to wait.
“I’ve never known you to be so keen to see me,” Judith remarked. “What’s going on?”
“Can’t I want to spend time with my big sis?”
Judith laughed. “Of course you can.”
Truth be told, if it had been Carts asking, she’d happily have skipped every art class under the sun, but although she’d toyed with her phone several times since the weekend, she hadn’t plucked up the courage to message and say how about we meet before Friday. Images of her failed seduction attempt rotated through her head, a cocktail of confused emotions.
Part of the problem was that the subject of sex had never been discussed in her family. Ever. It wasn’t that sex was wrong as such; it was more like it just didn’t exist. Dad and Mum never touched, other than a kiss on the cheek, as far as she’d seen. Apparently the three Mellors babies had morphed out of thin air.
And then after Pippa was born, Mum had morphed into thin air too. And when she came back Judith knew she had to be very good and very quiet and never make a fuss or Mum might disappear again.
Love, like sex, was something you had to tread very carefully with.
“Are you still there?” Pippa asked.
“Yes, sorry, I got momentarily distracted.”
“Where do you want to meet?”
She thought about the Shamrock and immediately dismissed it. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said airily. “You choose.”
“You know that new place by the Surf Club, Zara’s?”
“Oh, yes, that’s right next door to where I go to yoga.” It seemed there was no way she could escape reminders of Carts.
“I’m meeting someone there around eight,” Pippa continued. “So we could get together beforehand.”
“Is this a special someone?” Judith loaded her voice with nuance.
Pippa merely laughed, rapped out a time and said, “See you there.”
So that’s how Judith found herself perched on a stool looking out across the manicured lawns of Zara’s towards the beach. The Indian Ocean had turned purple as the sun sank onto the horizon like a giant glowing beach ball. Families with sandy feet and happy smiles came up the steps from the beach, joggers ran determinedly along the boardwalk, dogs walked their owners, and cyclists miraculously weaved in between them all without incident.
A young couple sitting on a bench leaned in and kissed. As they got up, the guy flung his arm around the girl’s shoulders, the girl reached up and kissed him and they shared a lingering smile before they strolled off.
A bucket of sadness threatened to dump its contents over Judith’s head.
How easy love looked. For other people. But before she could start feeling seriously sorry for herself an arm came around her and hugged her hard. “Hey there.”
It was Pippa, looking very schmaltzy. She was wearing orange lipstick, and mascara framed her eyes. Pippa in make-up was an almost unseen phenomenon, except for family weddings. That wasn’t where it ended either. Her red hair had been cut into a really cute style and she was donned in a silky emerald-green shirt and white slacks.
“You look fantastic,” Judith enthused.
“Aw, thanks.” Pippa shrugged it off, sat her butt down and reached for her purse.
“What can I get you?”
She seems a little edgy, Judith thought. Edgy, wearing make-up and a funky new hairstyle. Interesting.
“A lemonade…” Heck, she could be more daring than that. “Actually, a glass of bubbles would be great.”
“Good one.” Pippa jumped up and beelined for the bar. Judith followed her with her eyes. Something unusual was definitely going down here.
A short while later they sat at a table in the window and Pippa asked, “Any news on the money?”
Judith took a deep breath. “I went over to his place on Monday night and confronted him.”
“And?”
“He owned up to—” she made air quotes, “‘borrowing it’.”
“Selfish prick.”
“I’ve given him one month to put it back in my account.”
“Oh yeah, right. Watch this space. Did he have the grace to tell you why he took it?”
“Not really. He says he’s working on some gaming-related project.” Even now a warped sense of loyalty stopped her from telling Pippa the whole story, or at least what she knew of it.
“There’s all these ways the gaming industry get you to spend more money,” Pippa said. “Like paying out for loot boxes that give you an advantage over other players. People can spend thousands on it. It’s crazy addictive. I saw a documentary on it the other night. I bet that’s what’s happened.”
“Perhaps.” She didn’t want to dwell on the possibility he was lying to her as well as stealing from her. His gaming obsession had turned Mark into a shadow person.
“I’m so happy you’re out of that relationship.”
“So am I.”
“And if he doesn’t give it back, I’ll send the team round.”
Judith laughed. The idea of Mark cowering in the corner as The Badassgirls, as Pippa’s netball team called themselves, stood over him was quite appealing.
“Thanks Pip. I’ll keep you posted.” She took another sip of bubbles. “So, what’s the new look in aid of?”
“I dunno. I felt like a change.” By now Pippa had put most of her lipstick round the rim of the glass and rubbed one eye, which had smudged the mascara.
Judith leaned forward and wiped the mark off Pippa’s cheek with a finger. Pippa grinned and slapped her hand away. “Don’t,” she exclaimed laughingly. Goodness, Pippa was actually blushing!
Judith grinned gleefully. “You have got a date tonight, haven’t you?”
Pippa shrugged. “Just meeting a friend.”
“You’ve never gone to this trouble for a friend. C’mon, who is it?” Judith wheedled. “One of the footie guys you treat, I bet.”
“Don’t be daft, you know I can’t date patients.”
“Ex-patients are okay. Is he hunky?”
Pippa sculled her drink, turning a shade of tomato. “Not saying.”
“I’m going to sit here until he arrives.”
Pippa shrugged. “Wait as long as you like.”
“Aw, stop being so secretive. You’re meeting him here, right?”
“Not exactly.”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll follow you.”
You—are so—frigging—annoying.” Pippa started to look flustered. “Maybe we’re meeting here. Yes. Happy now?”
Judith snickered and took a mouthful of bubbles, revelling in having the upper hand for once. It didn’t happen often, but tonight she really felt like she’d turned the tables on Pippa.
“I’m going to watch through the window and make guesses every time a guy walks past.”
She craned her neck. “Is this him…?” She waved her glass towards a man around their age striding towards the entrance. “He’s kind of cute.”
Pippa thwacked her arm. “Stop it.”
But Judith was on a roll. “Oh… this one getting out of his car… look at those shoulders, I bet he plays rugby.”
She glanced back at Pippa, who was chewing her lip, her whole face now deep red. “Okay,” Pippa huffed, “I guess I’ve been meaning to t—”
But something else had caught Judith’s eye. A group of people who’d clearly just left a yoga session at the surf club, rolled-up mats under their arms as they walked to their cars.
And one, easily a head taller than the rest, tossing dark hair out of his eyes, all loose rangy limbs and angular shoulders, made her heart pound against her ribcage.
Judith’s champagne glass hit the table so
hard it crashed into a bowl of peanuts, sending them skittering like tiny bullets across the floor.
“Hold that thought,” she spluttered. “I’ll be straight back.” And with that, she flew out the door and after Carts’ departing figure.
Chapter 10
“Hi, there.”
At his car, wrangling his yoga mat into the back seat, Carts turned and there was Judith, a vision of loveliness, if a little out of breath.
She waved a hand back in the direction she’d come. “I saw you—leaving the surf club.” Had she run after him? “I’m not stalking you,” pant, “I’m at Zara’s next door with my sister.”
“Hi, this is a nice surprise.” He was quite pleased at how calm he sounded. And when he met her gaze and smiled, it felt like it came straight from his heart chakra.
“I didn’t know you did yoga on Wednesdays.”
“I don’t usually.” If Judith looked up the timetable, she’d see that he’d been to a Tantra session, but what the heck, maybe that would go in his favour. “It was a rather stressful day at work, I really needed it.”
“Well, I’m glad,” she said. “Because I got to see you. Though I’d better just let Pippa know where I am. I kind of dashed off without telling her where I was going.” A pause. “You could come and meet her? Would you like to?”
“I’d love to. Will she cope with the yogic vibe?” They both glanced down at his purple yoga pants.
Judith beamed. “Pippa can cope with anything. We’re sitting at one of the window tables.”
When they entered the restaurant, Judith pointed to a muscular girl with red hair and very bright orange lipstick that almost matched her hair. As he drew closer Carts saw they shared the same ingenuous grey eyes, the only obvious resemblance.
When Judith introduced him, Pippa’s face immediately lit up. “Oh, Carts. I’ve heard all about you.”
Judith squealed, “Pip!” then turned to him. “I haven’t been gossiping about you, I promise.” “I’d quite like it if you had.”
Pippa gave him a cheeky grin. “She hasn’t said anything, honest. Just hinted there was this guy she had the screaming hots for.” He could feel Judith squirm next to him. “She needs a decent boyfriend. The last one was a complete shit.”
“Pip-pa! We are not—”
“Payback, sis.” Pippa rolled her eyes at Carts. “She’s been taking the piss out of me for wearing lippy.”
“Only because you never do,” Judith pointed out. “Oooh, and I see you’ve reapplied it.”
“Shut it.” Pippa’s foot came out and gave Judith a playful kick. Judith stepped back, laughing.
“My sister teases me too,” Carts said.
“Younger or older?” Pippa asked.
“Younger, by fourteen years. And a complete pain in the butt at the moment.”
Pippa cocked an eyebrow. “Does she need any tips on how to be an even better pain in the butt?”
“No way!”
“Pip’s waiting for her date,” Judith said. “And she’s being all coy about it.”
Pippa shook her head and sculled the rest of her drink.
And then a whole lot of things happened in quick succession. And Carts, having spent the last hour and a half focusing on his five senses, took in every detail. The slender girl with dark hair falling in waves to her shoulders, her lively features brimming with excitement as she scanned the busy restaurant…
The way her eyes lit up when they landed on Pippa.
How Pippa jumped up with an exclamation of “Oh, there’s Shaz!” and weaved her way eagerly between the tables.
The way the two women greeted each other, their foreheads almost touching, their smiles sublimely happy… and, of course, he knew.
At his side, he heard Judith draw in a sharp breath. She stood, transfixed, eyes wide and unblinking. “Pippa was trying to tell me something earlier,” she said after a moment. “And now I get it was really, really important.”
“I feel so awful.”
Carts had slowed his step to prolong the walk to their cars when Judith’s words made him glance at her. A tight little frown knitted her brow. “How could I not know? She’s my sister.”
“Sometimes things hide in plain sight,” he said. “Even more so, I reckon, when we’re close to someone.”
“That’s so true.” Her lips quirked ruefully. “They look so perfect together. And so happy. I can’t believe I didn’t twig, Pippa always talked about this girl in the netball team, how amazing a player she is. I thought that was just Pip, she’s so enthusiastic. I missed the signs. I’ve missed them for years.”
“Like what?”
“Like how she’d change the subject whenever I asked about boyfriends. And she always refers to guys as knuckleheads and douchebags.”
“She’s right. We are.” Carts thought about the countless nights wiping himself out at the pub with Aaron and Dan. Yep. Utter douchebags.
“I just assumed she hadn’t met the right guy… like, how one-eyed can you get?” She groaned and tapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Here I am thinking I’m this cool woke person and I just assumed… urkkkk, I am so ashamed of myself.”
He laughed gently. “You’re just like me.”
“In what way?”
“You take too much responsibility for other people’s happiness.”
“Oh, you do that?” A moment’s pause. “It feels like I’ve really let her down, that she couldn’t talk to me…”
“Maybe she wasn’t ready to.”
“Maybe…” They’d reached her little red hatchback and she turned and leaned her back against the door, smiling up at him. “And thanks.”
“For what?”
“Listening to me angsting. And being so cool and calm about the whole thing.”
He gave her a perplexed look. “Why would I be any other way?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know. Except… Mark was always so judgemental, I guess. He has a tolerance quota that’s—” she squeezed her forefinger and thumb almost together, “this big.”
Carts decided Pippa’s summation was right. He did sound like an A-grade prick.
“I’ve been too forgiving over the years,” Judith continued on a sigh. “His dad left when he was small and his mum brought him up and worked three jobs to keep them afloat. I always make excuses for that… he wouldn’t be like this if blah blah hadn’t happened.”
“Everyone has tough things happen in their past.” He felt a prickle of envy that she should still care enough about this guy’s feelings to defend him. “Eventually we all have to accept we’re an adult and take responsibility for our actions.”
She sighed. “I get that more than you can imagine.” She leaned her back against the door of her car and the evening breeze whipped gossamer tendrils across her face. She peeled them back, strand by strand, with her fingers. How he loved all the tiny details of her. Precious, and committed to memory.
“Talking to you has really helped. I’d have gone home and kept beating myself up about this, but now… I feel easier.”
His scalp prickled with the compliment. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you. I really like that we’re getting to know each other better, you know, at a deeper level.”
“Me too.” It was impossible not to notice how enticing her lips were, even though he was really focused on her mind right now. “Guess I’ll see you Friday evening at yoga, then.”
“Yes, of course.” She rummaged in her bag for her keys. He kept his distance; he couldn’t risk another chin to head bump. She found them and then lifted her face. Suddenly he was drowning in the misty softness of her eyes. The messages from his chakras scrambled into one hot mess somewhere in the region of his groin. He tried to move the energy higher, into his heart, not his freakin’ dick, but his body had other ideas. Should he kiss her, not kiss her? Cheek? Lips? Shite.
Then Judith said, “Would you like to come to dinner tomorrow night?”
“That’s Thursday?”<
br />
“Yes, tomorrow is Thursday.” She cocked her head. “Unless you have something else on?”
“You mean, just me and you?” Expectations crammed into his head. His breathing went haywire.
Her lips quirked. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“No!” It came out way too loud. “Nada. Zilch.” Now she looked puzzled, and he rushed on. “As in, no problem.” he took a breath. Slow down, man. “What I meant is, I’d love to.”
“Great, because I bought this Ottolenghi recipe book a while back… at the Book Genie actually.”
“What?”
“Ottolenghi. He’s a famous chef in London. No-one in my family likes trying new recipes much, so… Do you like Turkish-influenced food?”
“Er, you mean kebabs?”
She laughed. “How about babaganoush?”
“Baba-gan-do anything for you,” he said jauntily, then grimaced. “Sorry, that was a crap line. What is it?”
“It’s a baked eggplant dip. I thought I’d make it as part of a meze platter.”
He hadn’t got a clue what that was either, but after his last atrocious line, he’d play it safe. “I’m salivating already.”
Judith beamed; he was sure she guessed he was way out of his depth when it came to culinary issues.
“I’ll text you my address. Around sevenish?”
“Perfect.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, so swiftly he had no time to react.
“And for the record, I really love your bad jokes.”
Chapter 11
Whoever said women were great at multi-tasking was a liar, Judith thought as she dashed from the bathroom towards the smell of burning eggplant. She’d decided after work that following the recipe by oven baking them would take way too long. So she’d pan-fried them instead.
All very well, until you forgot you’d left the heat on high while washing your hair.
She flicked off the gas, and after twisting a towel tightly round her head, flipped the eggplant slices out of the pan with a spatula. They were salvageable. After all, wasn’t babaganoush meant to taste smoky?
Smoky, not burnt to a cinder.