‘Shame,’ Mickey replied. ‘It really is a beaut.’
He led the way through the open plan kitchen and down the corridor. Couple by couple, they disappeared into their rooms, and Effie was relieved when Smith continued walking down to the room at the far end of the hallway.
She closed the door to their room behind her and looked at the lilac walls. ‘It’s cute, isn’t it?’
‘I guess, if you’re into this sort of thing,’ Oliver replied, looking doubtfully at the lace-trimmed duvet cover.
She looked at him as he started unpacking his precisely packed bag. Okay, so it wasn’t the Hilton, but she liked it. Mickey had basically offered them a free weekend away, and it was hardly slumming it.
Effie shrugged and unzipped her bag. It might not have been the luxury he was used to, but surely he could do it for one weekend.
Later that evening, she sat at the kitchen table and wiped a finger across her plate, soaking up the last of the heavenly cream sauce.
‘Enjoy it, did you?’ Smith grinned.
‘Divine.’
Effie sucked the tip of her finger and pushed the plate away, wishing she could do the same to Smith. How had they ended up sitting next to each other anyway? He was so close she could see the tiny hairs on the backs of his arms and almost feel his heat. It was some kind of sick, twisted torture being so close to him, doused with his eau de arrogance.
‘Since when did you start liking mussels anyway? You always said you hated them.’
Effie shrugged. ‘Olly convinced me to try them again, and he was right.’
‘Do you remember the time I made that crab pasta thing?’ He laughed and put his elbows on the table. She looked at the hairs on his arm and picked up her glass.
‘I remember you making me sick.’
Some things never change.
‘Oh yeah. I forgot about that,’ he replied, laughing behind a hand.
She put her glass to her lips. ‘Well, you always did have a selective memory.’
She drank her water and looked away, but she had a selective memory too. He might have poisoned her with his dodgy cooking, but he’d looked after her too, almost taking her to A&E when he got concerned about her inability to even hold down a sip of water. She sighed. That was the problem with Smith. He’d do something, screw it up and then somehow manage to win her over by making it up to her.
‘So, Smith. Apparently you were away travelling?’ Oliver said, leaning back in his chair.
Smith nodded. ‘For five months.’
‘Where did you go?’
‘Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. I was meant to make my way to Australia but came back early.’
‘We were in Thailand for our honeymoon. Koh Tao, beautiful place. Did you make it there?’
Smith took a swig of beer. ‘Yeah, but only for a few days.’
Great. Not only had he gatecrashed her wedding, invaded her workplace and tagged along on their weekend away, he’d also stayed on the same island she’d honeymooned on. What next?
‘The views from the lookout point were fantastic,’ Oliver said.
‘Yeah, it was decent.’
Oh, for god’s sake.
‘Maybe we could go to Thailand for our honeymoon,’ Lou said. ‘Or Japan. I’ve always wanted to go there.’
Mickey pulled a face. ‘What honeymoon? Who said anything about getting married?’
‘Well not now, obviously.’ Lou looked at him. ‘I meant in the future.’
‘I thought you weren’t into the whole marriage thing?’
An air of awkwardness settled across the table, and Effie watched the both of them. Mickey looked downright uncomfortable as he avoided eye contact with Lou, and Lou’s face was creeping red. Effie glanced sideways at Smith. He was watching them too, and just when the silence started to reach uncomfortable status, he laughed.
‘Nah, you don’t want to go there. Thailand’s overrated, and as for Koh Tao, it was way too highbrow. Everything was at least twice the price it was anywhere else.’
Smith had broken through the tension, and Lou sulkily looked away, turning her body away from Mickey.
Oliver popped open another bottle of beer. ‘I guess when you’re backpacking, every penny counts.’
‘It makes you rethink your views on money, if that’s what you mean. Have you ever done it?’
‘Christ, no.’ Oliver scrunched up his nose. ‘Sweaty hostels aren’t for me. I prefer to stay in a nice hotel, especially somewhere tropical.’
‘Yeah, I thought so. Nothing less than five star, right?’
Effie kicked his leg under the table. He looked down at her, and she widened her eyes at him. There was no way Oliver could’ve missed the sneer in Smith’s voice.
‘Oh, I don’t know. I love how vintage this place is,’ he said, looking around the room.
Effie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He was singing a very different tune than he had earlier, and while his face was smiling, she couldn’t help interpreting what he’d said to be a bit of an insult, knowing that what he really meant by vintage was that it was old and a bit shabby around the edges. She looked around the table but her friends hadn’t seemed to pick up anything behind what he’d said. Maybe she was imagining it.
‘So, what’s your story anyway?’ Oliver asked. ‘I never heard much about you before the wedding.’
Smith shrugged and looked down at his bottle. ‘Hardly surprising. I used to be a bit of a dick. I did a lot of things I’m not proud of.’
‘Well, we’ve all done that,’ Oliver replied. ‘Making mistakes is part and parcel of life.’
‘It was his life, not part and parcel of it,’ Effie said. ‘He used to be well into the drugs scene, handing out pills like they were Smarties at the raves he DJ’d at. Isn’t that right, Smith?’
‘Not exactly.’ He turned in his chair to look at her. ‘And thanks for blurting that out to a barrister, Eff.’ Smith turned back to Oliver. ‘I hung around with some shady people for a while and got way too heavily into the scene, but I never sold anything to anyone.’
‘And then he shagged the wrong person’s girlfriend, ended up half dead on a roadside somewhere and had to go to the other side of the world to get himself out of trouble,’ Effie added.
She shook her head. Why had she blurted that out? Yes, it was all true, but she hadn’t thought she cared anymore, not really. Smith squirmed a little in his chair next to her, and she had to admit that outing him like she had gave her a small sense of satisfaction. It was nowhere near the humiliation she’d felt when she’d found out about his cheating, but it was close enough.
‘I know, I’m a fuck-up,’ he said in a tone that made it clear he’d heard it all before.
‘Mate, you’re not fucked up,’ Mickey replied. ‘You fucked up, there’s a difference.’
Oliver shrugged, apparently not shocked. ‘Like I said, everyone screws up now and again.’
‘It was dumb,’ Smith said, ‘but I’m not that person anymore.’
Effie flicked her eyes up at the ceiling. Smith was talking like it had all happened years ago, but it had only been a matter of months.
‘Like Effie said, I nearly died and it kind of put things into perspective. She sat there every day in the hospital with me.’ Smith looked around the table. ‘They all did. I had to leave, but now I’m back and I’m on the straight and narrow.’
‘We’re proud of you, man,’ Mickey said, clinking his bottle against Smith’s.
‘What are you doing with yourself now?’ Oliver asked.
‘I’m working for a family friend at his record label.’
‘Ah, you and Effie have something in common.’
Effie looked at Smith as he just about managed to contain the smirk on his face. They had more in common than just a job.
‘Yeah,’ Smith r
eplied. ‘I’m at the same place. A friend of the family owns it.’
‘Oh, yes, that’s right. She did mention it.’
She looked up at Oliver as he swigged his beer. They both knew she’d done no such thing. She hadn’t told him about Smith joining Archive because it seemed like a pointless thing to do. Why bring attention to it?
He put his bottle back down on the table. ‘I must’ve forgotten.’
‘Why don’t you like the cottage?’ Effie said as she lay in bed, watching Oliver as he undressed for bed. He threw his jeans across the arm of the chair standing in the corner and looked back at her.
‘I do.’
She propped herself up on her elbow. ‘But you said it was vintage.’
‘That’s because it is.’
‘Yeah, but the way you said it, it sounded as if you didn’t like it.’
Oliver looked at her with a raised eyebrow. ‘Did it? I didn’t mean it that way.’
He laughed and shook his head as if she was being silly, and Effie shrugged. Maybe she’d taken what he’d said the wrong way after all.
‘Smith’s an interesting one,’ he said, and for a second Effie stopped breathing.
‘What do you mean?’
He climbed into the bed next to her and lay on his back, folding his arms behind his head. ‘“Thailand is overrated. Koh Tao is too highbrow.” He seems a bit of a twat.’
Effie looked at him, stunned. By the way he’d childishly mimicked Smith, if she didn’t know any better, she’d have thought he was jealous. ‘But you were so nice to him.’
‘Well, obviously. I didn’t want to be the guy who acts like a prat around their partner’s ex.’
The stunned look on her face deepened. She hadn’t said anything about her relationship with Smith, and she was more than certain that neither Mickey nor Lou had either.
‘Come on, Effie. It’s obvious, especially when you still have photos of the two of you on Facebook.’ He looked at her and pulled his eyebrows together. ‘I just don’t get what you saw in him. I can’t picture you two together at all.’
Effie lay back down on her side. He might not be able to see it, but she could, and it played out like a montage from a film. The amazing highs, feeling like she was walking on air when they first got together, to the crashing low when Smith left.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you worked together?’
She heaved a silent sigh. She’d known from his reaction at the dinner table that he’d bring it up sooner or later.
‘Well,’ she said, keeping her eyes closed, ‘you heard what he was like. I didn’t want you to think badly of me for having friends who were mixed up in that stuff.’
‘Fair enough. Besides, maybe it’s time to find new friends. Ones who aren’t so caught up in drugs. It’s a bit juvenile.’
She fought to keep the frown from her face at his apparently short-term memory. It was only just on New Year’s Eve that he’d been shovelling cocaine up his nose.
‘But from now on, no secrets, okay?’ Oliver continued.
Effie nodded. Her stomach turned. Smith’s past wasn’t the only reason she’d kept the truth about them working together to herself, but the fact that Smith still somehow seemed to be able to provoke an emotional reaction from her was something she couldn’t bring herself to say. For the first time, she was keeping a secret from Oliver, but something told her that in this case, honesty probably wasn’t the best policy. Still, he’d asked for no secrets, and she promised herself that from that moment on, she wouldn’t hide anything from him.
‘Hopefully, we won’t have to see him so much when we meet up with Lou and Mickey. I mean, it’s a bit uncomfortable for me to have your ex constantly hanging around,’ Oliver said, turning to face her and draping an arm across her waist. ‘Besides, it’s probably a bit weird for him too.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well, you’re not with him now.’
‘Nope.’ Effie sighed and closed her eyes. Even knowing that he was a little jealous of Smith, he was still being considerate, and she loved him for it. ‘I have you.’
The next evening, Effie stood in Lou’s bedroom, with Rihanna belting out a song from the tiny stereo.
‘Why don’t you leave your hair out?’ Lou asked.
‘Because it’s blowing a gale outside and I’ll end up with an Afro,’ Effie replied, standing in front of the mirror as she fixed a hairpin into her quiff.
Lou nudged her out of the way to apply some mascara. ‘Okay, but you look like you’ve just stepped off a catwalk, and I look like I’m showcasing the best of Peckham Market. What are you wearing anyway? Prada?’
‘River Island and Zara, actually.’ Effie sighed and sat on the bed. ‘So, last night was interesting.’
‘I’ll say,’ Lou replied, looking at her through the mirror. ‘You bringing up Keisha was a bit of a shock.’
Effie scowled at the name. Keisha. She was the girl who Smith had cheated on her with and ended up in a whole heap of mess over. ‘I didn’t mean to. It just came out.’
‘I know you said you don’t have feelings for Smith, but I’ve got to tell you, the way you’re acting says different. The way you were with him last night, putting him down, bringing up Keisha . . .’
‘That’s because he makes me angry.’ Effie wiped her clammy hands on her jeans.
‘I’m not saying he doesn’t get under your skin, because he obviously does. We can all see that. But Olly’s not stupid, and it’s not fair on him to see you react like that with Smith. You don’t want him to think something’s going on.’
Effie shook her head and looked in the mirror, smoothing her already perfect hair. ‘He won’t think that, because nothing is going on.’
‘Are you sure? If you promise me that you don’t have any feelings for Smith, then I won’t mention it again.’
Effie took a moment to think about it all. So she hadn’t told Oliver about them working together, and she’d brought up the mess Smith had got himself into last summer, but was it any wonder? She’d been close to Smith, and he’d nearly died out of sheer stupidity, not to mention betraying her. She was allowed to be angry with him for that, and of course she wasn’t going to tell her barrister husband that she was working with a friend who was a one-time criminal. Maybe she did have some feelings for Smith, even if they were mostly bad, but that was natural. She’d been in love with him, and it was impossible to completely switch herself off, but she was sure that eventually she’d be able to look at him and not feel anything at all.
‘I don’t have feelings for Smith.’
Why would she still be in love with Smith when she had everything she ever wanted with Oliver? Oliver had said he couldn’t see what she’d seen in Smith the night before, and the more she thought about it, the more she wondered if he’d been right. He might not have liked Smith, but he’d still been perfectly polite and friendly, whereas Smith had taken digs at Oliver whenever he could. Knowing that he was slightly jealous only made her love Oliver more. Smith had never displayed jealousy when other guys had shown an interest in her. But then again, why would he have? They’d never really been together in the first place.
‘If you say so. I just needed to check. I was worried you were on a road you wouldn’t be able to come back from after last night, but now I’m relieved. That’s one guy that’ll never change, and I’d hate for you to do something stupid.’
‘There’s no danger of that happening,’ Effie replied. ‘I’m happy with Olly. Really happy.’
‘Good. One of us has to be.’ Lou sighed.
Effie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, come on. You saw what happened with Mickey last night. Talk about embarrassing.’
‘I wouldn’t say it was embarrassing exactly,’ Effie replied. It wasn’t really a lie. The situation itself wasn’t embarrassing, but she fel
t it on Lou’s behalf.
Lou sniffed and turned back to the mirror.
‘Are you crying? You never cry.’
‘I’m not crying.’ She sniffed again and dragged a brush through her hair for a few seconds before swearing and throwing it on the bed. ‘What he said last night . . . I felt so stupid.’
‘Why?’
‘Because everything’s changing apart from me. You’re married, Smith’s found himself a good job and a nice flat, and me . . .’
Lou sat next to her and Effie shook her head as she rubbed her best friend’s back. ‘And you?’
‘I’m going nowhere,’ she replied, dropping her hands. ‘I’m in exactly the same place I was in a year ago.’
‘That’s not true.’ Effie shook her head. ‘You’ve got a great job, you’ve got Mickey.’
Lou scoffed. ‘I hate my job, and as for Mickey? You heard what he said.’
‘He said he didn’t think you were into marriage, which is true. Isn’t it?’
‘It used to be. After Mum and Dad divorced, I swore I wouldn’t go through that, but seeing you and Olly on your wedding day made me think differently.’
‘So maybe he just needs time to catch up,’ Effie reasoned.
‘No, he doesn’t.’ A tear rolled down Lou’s cheek. ‘That’s what he likes about me, that I don’t go gaga over wedding dresses and diamond rings. I’ve always insisted I wasn’t bothered about the whole marriage and kids thing because I’m all about fun, fun, fun.’ She waved her hands around her head. ‘I didn’t even mean to say anything about our hypothetical honeymoon – it just slipped out. But now it feels like he’s looking at me as if I’ve duped him, like I’m trying to trap him into something he doesn’t want.’
Effie opened her mouth to reply, but what could she say?
‘I feel like I’m being left behind,’ Lou said in a tiny voice, and her shoulders drooped. ‘I mean, there you are with a guy who bends over backwards to do nice things for you, and here I am with a guy who has to be poked and prodded just to make a cup of tea. I don’t want to simply coast along, but what’s killing me is that I think he does. I don’t think we want the same things anymore.’
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