Some Like it Hot

by Amanda Brobyn

  Anna nodded at the room, counting on her fingers, ‘One, Two, Three,’ she mouthed.

  “Surprise!”

  Jude’s ears almost burst as the voices penetrated. A single word echoed harmoniously making her jaw drop as she took in the sound of familar voices. She heard her mother call out her name. She heard Kath’s raucous laughter and recognised Sophie’s loud shriek which amplified above the other sounds of people cheering and yelling congratulations.

  Clive kept Jude facing forward as he ordered the room to absolute silence and Hattie wiped a tear from her face as she looked at Clive who lovingly held the hand of her daughter.

  “You’re not allowed to look just yet, hence the blindfold, sorry, darling. But let me tell you for now . . . there are lots of lovely people who have turned out to celebrate your birthday.”

  He grinned at Sophie who already had her tissues out. Sophie was such a wuss lately. Karl’s arm was draped around her. He pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head.

  “Ladies and Gentleman, thank you for coming out to celebrate the birthday of a wonderful wife, mother, daughter and friend.”

  The room went into an uproar led by Kath who wolf-whistled at a blushing Jude. Her cheeks flamed from beneath the black bandana which Anna used as a headband.

  “What do you get for the woman who has it all?” he teased, offering her a perfectly wrapped small square box. He lifted her hand, dropping the package into it and Jude gasped as she touched it.

  “A divorce!” Kath heckled.

  “Trust you!” Clive winked at her, grinning. “Go on, Jude, open it!”

  “But I can’t see what it is.” Jude had no idea what was happening to her. It felt weird and she was a little unsure how to react.

  Laughter filled the room as she began to pull at the thick paper, her world in darkness. Everyone there knew the exact reason for the blindfold and it was adding to the fun of the event. A thick smog of frenzy was simply waiting to burst out.

  “Just open it as best you can, Jude, and then we might let you in on the secret . . . What’d you think, guys?”

  “Ye-a-h!” they yelled back and Clive’s eyes danced with excitement, his smile reaching from ear to ear as he nodded eagerly, willing Jude to lift the lid of the red-and-gold Cartier box, its luxury wrapping now disgarded on the floor. Jude felt the smooth box – it was like satin beneath her touch. She felt a ridge brush against the palm of her hand, her fingers advancing past it until she was sure she could feel what could only be a lid. She pulled at it until it opened. She couldn’t hear it but she could sense its upward motion and the breakout of clapping corroborated her accurate train of thought. The audience gasped. The lid of the box was piped elegantly with a gold endorsement and sitting in it was a handmade platinum J-shaped keyring encrusted with diamonds. A genuine, bespoke gift from Cartier, Paris.

  Clive knew it was time to let his wife in on the secret. She would only look down at the gift for the next few seconds. Her curiosity would get the better of her in the short term, he was sure of it.

  Standing behind her, Clive gently untied the double knot Anna had secured so well and the black cloth slid down past Jude’s face. He grabbed the material, whipping it away, passing it to Anna who was standing beside him.

  Jude looked down immediately, caught in the suspense of the gift above everything else, which was unlike Jude, but she knew she must be holding onto something very special for Clive to behave in the covert manner he was definitely behaving that evening.

  “Oh, oh, my goodness, Clive, it’s incredible!” She lifted the keyring delicately from the box, amazed at its weight. The diamonds sparkled, joyous at their escape and flickers of small, brilliant light dotted across Jude’s gasping face. “Thank you so, so much.”

  “Don’t look up yet!” said Clive, standing close in front of her. He held her head gently, keeping it tilted forward and downward. He needed to make sure her vision was blinkered as he talked to her. Any moment now she would understand why.

  He was nervous now. Extremely nervous.

  “That’s only part of your present, my darling, darling wife. You can look up now, Jude . . . turn around,” he whispered in her ear, ignoring his welling eyes and allowing the light grip of his hands to slip from holding her head.

  Jude turned around slowly, the bright lights sending her eyes into kaleidoscopic overdrive.

  “Dah nah!” Anna shrieked, pointing to the wall behind her.

  It was only then Jude recognised where she was.

  “What?” She stared at the unrecognisable steel words above the recognisable reception desk and then back at Clive, shaking her head in utter bewilderment. “I don’t understand what’s going on . . .”

  Clive grabbed a set of keys from his pocket, lifting her hand and placing them in the centre of it.

  “The rent and rates are paid for the first year, Jude. The rest is up to you, darling. Don’t forget to attach your keys to the keyring – I thought it might stop you losing them, what with an expensive keyring weighing them down.” Clive closed her hand over the keys, squeezing it a little too hard and Jude winced, bringing her out of the state of disbelief she was in.

  “I still don’t get it, Clive. I – I –”

  Clive kissed his wife on the lips. He didn’t care who was watching. “Happy birthday, Jude.” He stroked her flawless face. “Welcome to Westbury Interior Design, everyone!”

  “Thank you,” she replied softly as the penny dropped. She had never been so slow at understanding anything in her life but this, this had all come as such a shock that she could barely believe it. Still. “Thank you.”

  She watched the actions of those around her – anything to understand what the hell had just happened and Jude shook her head as the children scrunched up the sheets of paper which had been covering the sign to the place she had been working on for some weeks now. The sign must have only gone up that day because she didn’t leave Alderley Avenue until early evening the day before.

  She had been designing the upstairs of Sophie’s salon for someone else – in her own mind at least. Sophie had told her, ‘Go ahead and do it exactly as you would for yourself, Jude’ but at the time Jude had thought nothing of it. Nothing at all, until now.

  Hattie could wait no longer. She flung herself at her only child, clutching at her with maternal pride. She had watched her daughter’s reaction as the papered veil was unfolded and she saw the disbelief on her face. Hattie knew her daughter needed her right now.

  “Westbury Interior Design, Jude! Who’d have thought it?”

  Jude didn’t answer Hattie. She could do nothing but continue to stare at the illuminated chrome lettering which was displayed behind the curved reception area with its steel counter and glass front, but not at all sterile against the bright fuschia walls and floor-to-ceiling glass windows which sucked in the light just the way she imagined it would.

  Jude took her mother’s hands. Her faced contorted with ongoing confusion.

  “But . . . the other day, Mum . . . you made it clear what you thought about me working . . . you said –”

  Hattie chuckled affably. “I know what I said, sweetheart. It was mostly a cover-up.” Her chest puffed out as she demonstrated her important role in the family operation. “I’m not going to lie to you, Jude, my traditional values haven’t changed . . . some of what I said was true, but I saw something different about you . . . a newness that I hadn’t seen since you were a kid. Something that neither I nor Clive want to be taken away from you. Ever.”

  A single tear rolled down Jude’s face as she held her mother tightly. “Thank you, Mum. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

  Hattie beckoned to her friends to come over.

  “Thank young Sophie here, not me.”

  Jude embraced each of her friends one by one as they lined up to offer multiple congratulations. She stopped at Sophie Kane who was chatting away to Karl who now appeared to be a permanent fixture at her side.

  “You,” Jude dr
ew in a deep breath, “you had it planned all along, didn’t you?”

  Sophie gave an appreciative nod, sinking deeper into Karl’s loving hold. “Actually, not all along. I did originally plan to lease it to the beautician girl but she messed me around so much that I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of her let alone share a building with her.”

  Helena prodded Sophie. “As patient as ever, I see.”

  “I have my moments . . . Helena.”

  Helena had been duly silenced and Jude, Kath and Roni swapped inquisitive glances.

  “Go on,” Jude urged, smoothing down her silk dress over her perfectly toned stomach. Her blonde tousled hair fell loosely down her back.

  “I put my idea to Clive . . . who was reluctant at first . . .”

  “Aren’t they all!” piped Roni and the women laughed. “You have to let them think they’re the ones behind all the big decisions. I’ve been doing it to Peter for years now.”

  “Roni, get you!” Kath was amazed. Manipulating anything or anyone was not in her nature. That gene had escaped her.

  “You’d know all about that, Helena . . . with all your psychology training, I suppose.”

  Helena glanced across at Sophie and then back to Roni.

  “I suppose I should do, Roni, but I’ve decided that the subject doesn’t hold much interest for me anymore.” Helena curled her straight lanky hair around her slender fingers. She was nervous. She hadn’t even told Sophie what her future plans were. “I handed in my notice at the bank today . . . I’ve had enough. I’m going travelling around the world for a year,” she laughed meekly, “to find myself, as they say. I spent too long with Nathan and too long without anything else and all I know right now is what I don’t want out of life . . . but I haven’t a clue what I do want.”

  A black-and-white-clad waitress headed towards the ladies, carrying a tray of champagne and Roni recognised her immediately. It was the supervisor who worked for her from the catering company. Roni beamed at her, a full-on smile with affectionate eyes and pearly white teeth and she smiled back sheepishly. It was clear to see that she’d expected to be ignored. She was a servant to people like Veronica Smyth, that was all.

  “Thanks so much,” Roni whispered to her as she grabbed two glasses of champagne. “Good to see you, Nancy,” she added, glancing down at her name badge.

  The woman smiled at her, pleased, and Roni smiled back, then turned to Helena.

  “Dearest Helena,” she said with confidence as she handed one of the glasses to her, “here’s to you finding whatever it is you’re looking for!”

  Sophie and Jude smirked at each other as they took in the stranger who stood in front of them, thinner by the day and a transformation of the edgy, volatile woman they had first met.

  “Cheers, ladies!”

  Clive watched as the five woman raised their glasses high, chinking them against each other.

  “Oh my God! I forgot to tell you this.” Kath downed her glass in one, grabbing another from a different, passing waitress who was manning the room attentively. “James’ family sent a letter – a proper handwritten letter saying they want to re-unite – as a family.” She almost choked on her words, she spoke them so quickly in between greedy gulps. “She’s only been dead two minutes and they want him back.”

  Jude sensed her exhilaration and her nerves and she glanced over at James who was at ease, laughing without a care in the world. He looked years younger.

  “What are you going to do about it, Kath?”

  Kath watched the honest, hard-working man she had loved her entire married life. He was her first love and would be her last love. Her soul mate. “We’re going to meet up next month for lunch, take it from there I guess. The boys are sceptical about getting hurt again but they want a family so they’re willing to give it a shot. They’ve a lot of ground to cover with their cousins . . . they don’t even know them.”

  Helena held her glass high. “All’s well that ends well.”

  “Here, here!” Sophie saluted and once more the slender flutes were raised high. Some higher than others as had been the metaphor for the lives of the women – yet they touched each other, chinked together without spilling a drop just like the tightness of the bond the club had sewn around them.

  Sophie turned to Karl, kissing him unexpectedly on the lips. She lingered for as long as was socially acceptable given the size of the crowd. He swept her blonde hair from her eyes, cupping her face as he kissed her back.

  Sophie knew that she was over the pain which had held on to her for so long. It didn’t hurt her anymore when she thought about it. The Curry Club had been one of the strangest thing she had experienced bar her short-lived marriage to Ricky. She had used the ladies for her own judiciousness to begin with – to benefit her as she watched and learned from them and by them – but in the end it was her they turned to for help when they needed it and it was she who had served what she had learned from them right back with a generous helping. She had resurrected Jude, rescued Jason and repaid Helena’s debts, and her deep-rooted altruism had compensated her with a dependable, stoic man who helped her lay her ghosts to rest. She could love again and she could trust again.

  Roni pulled Kath to one side. Her floaty skirt swished as she moved closer to Roni, puzzled at why her friend needed to speak with her in private.

  “What’s up, Ron?”

  “I wanted to do something for you, Kath, you know . . . with all that you’ve been through and stuff.” Roni’s eyes were alive with kindness. It was bursting through. “I found this the other day when the gym was being cleared out. I thought I’d lost it but it had fallen behind one of the machines.”

  Roni took hold of Kath’s arm and secured the watch around her wrist, pushing down on the security clasp.

  Kath gasped as she held her wrist close to her face. “Roni, this is a Cartier watch . . . I can’t take it . . . it –”

  Roni stood at full height, a look of assertion across her face. “You can and you will, Kath. You do so much for others and yet you have so little for yourself . . . when was the last time you even had a holiday?”

  Kath shrugged her shoulders. She could find no words to say as she stared at the most expensive piece of ‘anything’ she’d ever possessed.

  “There you go then . . . sell it for all I care, Kath. I won’t be offended, I swear. Do with it what you wish as long as you and your lovely family get the benefit of it. You all need a break.”

  Kath launched herself at Roni, gripping her tightly. What had happened to her? She was a new woman, a woman of substance and a woman of rare compassion. Kath had always considered her a friend, but right now she was considered more than a friend. Kath could see that her kind mercies were meant to be an offering with no hidden agenda and no rebound.

  “Thank you, Roni, love. Thank you so much for this beautiful gift . . . I’ll take it because you want me to.”

  “I do.”

  As they joined the rest of the group, Tom called to his mother.

  “Mum, look at this.” He pointed to the poster he had so carefully designed, identical to the party invitations upon which he had created a caricature of his mother shackled to a ball and chain in the kitchen. Jude laughed as his boyish humour.

  “Now look at this!”

  He flipped the poster around, smiling proudly at his father.

  “Do you like it, Mum? The design of it?”

  “Tom, it’s exactly what I would have designed for myself,” she told him proudly, taking in the luminous pink and grey swirls on the rear of the A3 sheet. There was a bright boldness to the pink shades which combined with grounded earthy grey tones worked perfectly. It was both traditional and contemporary at the same time and the damask-style printed weaving added character and chic.

  “Good. I’m glad you like it because that’s the design of your business cards!” he chuckled, throwing a small square parcel in her direction. “Only these ones have actually got the company name on. Sorry, Mum, your com
pany name.”

  Jude caught the parcel, ripping at the paper, letting it drop the floor as the excitment took over her. Twice now she had unwrapped gifts and she couldn’t think straight.

  “Westbury Interior Design – Director – Jude Westbury,” she read aloud, oblivious to the claps and cheers of her friends as they celebrated her new venture.

  “I wanted to check you liked the prototype first, Mum. If you hadn’t I’d have been stuck. I wouldn’t have been able to give you a birthday present!” Tom laughed, advancing towards his mother.

  “Thank you, darling – you’re such a clever boy, Tom. You know, you’re showing real skill already – I mean that – this design is amazing work for someone so young.”

  Tom, holding a glass of Coke in his hand, chinked it against his mother’s thin-lipped champagne flute.

  “I had a good teacher,” he told her. “The best around.”

  Sophie snatched the batch of cards from Jude abruptly, thrusting her glass at Karl.

  “What are you doing, Sophie?” Jude frowned as she watched her friend manhandling the small squares of card on which her life’s ambition was imprinted.

  Sophie turned to face her, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly before she broke into a massive smile. “You’ve got a business to run. I’m giving your cards out while there’s so many people here.” She wagged her finger at Jude. “Never ever waste a PR oportunity, Jude!”

  Sophie disappeared among the reams of people and Karl stood alone, holding two glasses.

  “Some people never change,” he grinned.

  “Well, I for one wouldn’t want her any other way,” said Roni.

  “Veronica Smyth! What has happened to you?” Helena watched in amazement as Roni smoothed down her sleek bob. Her arms were free from precious metals and her hands carried only her wedding rings.

  “I’m learning and I’m living, Helena, that’s what I’m doing . . . because on some people, life is wasted, wasted on the living and I won’t be one of those,” she declared boldly. “And part of learning means you have to take people as what they are. You guys accepted me for what I am – was – and I now need to do the same for everyone who crosses my path.”