“I need to see you,” Tim said.
Clara took a deep breath. “Need all you want. Either talk to me over the phone or fuck off.”
“OK, I didn’t expect you to welcome me with open arms but, Clara, remember what we had together. I miss you.”
“Really? What a shame.”
“I need to see you. Look, we can start over. If you don’t want me to leave my wife I won’t, but I want to be with you. Remember how good it was.”
Clara was fuming. She did not remember how good it was at all, she remembered how awful, degrading and humiliating it had been. As she clutched the telephone to her ear, she thought back to the last time they’d had sex, how Tim had forced it, and she felt sick at the memory. “It can’t start up again, Tim. I don’t want you. You got me sacked, you ruined my life, you can’t walk back in and expect me to forgive you.” She tried to sound calm but she wasn’t.
“Can’t I? No, of course I can’t. But can we meet? Just to talk?” Clara wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but she thought about the plan and she didn’t know what she should do. She needed help. The only people she could ask were Virginia and Ella.
“Tim, I need time to think. I’ll call you.” She hung up before he could say any more.
Clara was furious. “How dare the little fucker call me?” she asked herself repeatedly. She had no answers. She picked up the telephone.
“Ella? It’s Clara. I need you to come over, please. I don’t know what to do.” She burst into tears.
“Clara, what’s happened?” She was answered in sobs. “Is it Josh?”
“No.” Clara gulped. “It’s Tim.”
“Tim?” Ella almost shouted.
“He called me. Please come. Bring Virginia.” She put the telephone down, still sobbing.
Ella called Virginia and went over to pick her up. Then she drove as fast as the London traffic would allow to Clara’s flat. Clara opened the door with red eyes and tissue stuck to her face.
“Shit, Clara, sit down. Tell me what happened,” Ella commanded. Virginia hesitated by the door of the sitting room.
“He called. He told me he missed me and he said we could start again.”
“What a wanker. What did you say?”
“That he ruined my life and we couldn’t start again. Then he asked if we could meet and I said I’d think about it.”
Virginia sat down. “Why didn’t you tell him to piss off?” she asked.
“Because although I wanted to, I thought the plan for him might be easier if we were in contact. Although I never, ever want to see him again. I don’t have to, do I?” She looked at Ella.
“No, you don’t. Christ what a prick. Clara, don’t let him upset you.”
“He didn’t,” Clara said.
“You seem upset to me.”
“I am, but it just hit me. Talking to him made me finally realise what’s happened. I lost my job, I screwed around and I screwed up. I miss it – I miss the City, I really do.” She started crying again.
“So do we, Clara. Virginia and I were saying last night how much we missed it.”
“It was amazing. Walking across the trading floor, hearing the buzz, almost feeling the money being made. I loved it,” Clara said.
“So did we,” Virginia said, and she started crying too. For a while they all sat there in silence, apart from the odd sob from Virginia and Clara.
After a while, Ella spoke. “Well, I guess now we all have something in common.”
They sat together for ages until Ella could stand it no more. “Look, as we have no more planning to do today, why don’t we get drunk?”
“I’ll drink to that.” Clara giggled.
“Oh, God, I feel another hangover coming on,” Virginia said, and they all started laughing.
“I’ve got just the thing,” Clara said, getting up and walking to what looked like a cupboard but was really her drinks stash. She came back with a bottle of tequila and three shot glasses.
“I have never known anyone to keep so much alcohol in their flat,” Ella said.
“I’m not sure I can drink tequila,” Virginia said.
“You’ll be fine. If you pass out you can use one of my spare rooms.” Clara poured the first shot. “I should really get lemon and salt, but I can’t be bothered.” They all downed it.
Virginia nearly choked. “That’s strong,” she said.
“It gets easier, just like sex.” Clara refilled their glasses. “I know. We’ll ask each other questions and we have to give honest answers. Like truth or dare, without the option of dares.”
“I’m not sure.” Ella felt hesitant.
“Ella, I know you have secrets and I intend to find them out.” Clara waggled her finger at Ella. “First, I need the bathroom.” She made one of her routine trips. When she returned, she said, “OK, boyfriends. Each of us has to talk about our most serious boyfriend.”
“You start, Clara, it’s your game,” Ella said, downing the second drink. The others followed suit.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had one. When I was at school I was with a number of boys, but always more than one at a time. Then I went to finishing-school and graduated to ski instructors. When I came back I was with Josh, and then I went back to seeing a number of men, none of whom can count as boyfriends. Then Tim.”
“So you’ve never had a boyfriend,” Ella said.
“Wow, I guess I haven’t. Even now Josh isn’t really my boyfriend because I’ve only seen him twice and I’m making him sleep with Isabelle. That doesn’t really count as a boyfriend, does it?”
“No,” Ella said. “Virginia, you next.”
“You know about mine. Noel the Bible basher, as Clara calls him. He was my first boyfriend and my last. We were together for one year and I worshipped the ground he walked on.”
“Did you?” Clara asked. “Why?”
“I don’t know. Because he kissed me, I suppose. No one had wanted to kiss me before – or since.” Virginia looked sad.
“They will,” Ella said.
“Sure they will. You’re not bad-looking even if you should be arrested by the fashion police.”
“Clara ...” Ella said, sternly.
“No, really. She’s pretty. You have great eyes, you’re tall and slim. With a bit of makeup, your hair restyled and a new wardrobe you could look stunning.”
“Do you really think so?” Virginia asked.
“Yes, I do. Now, Ella, what about you?”
“I was engaged.”
“Wow,” Virginia said.
“Yeah, I was. In Manchester where I grew up. I dated this man when I was seventeen, we were engaged when I was twenty and I left when I was twenty-two. That’s when I moved to London.”
“When did you start working at SFH?” Virginia asked.
“When I was twenty-three. I’d been there for years.”
“But what about the guy? Why did you leave him?” Clara asked.
“That’s not the question. Another drink?” Ella poured the third drink and refused to say any more.
“OK, another question. Virginia, ask a question.” Clara said.
Virginia’s mind went blank. She wished she could think of a great question, but she couldn’t. “Um. I don’t know. Did you go out with anyone at SFH?” It was the best she could do.
“Well, you know I went out with Tim, but I also slept with this guy called Toby on my desk. It was my sex addiction, you know.”
“Well, I didn’t,” Ella said.
“Me neither,” Virginia blushed.
“Oh, great question, Virginia. Ella, your turn.” Clara poured more drinks.
“Let me think. Has anyone here slept with a woman?” Ella giggled.
“I have,” Clara said.
“Who?” Virginia’s eyes were wide.
“At boarding-school. Everyone was experimenting. Have you, Virginia?” Clara smiled at her, knowing the answer.
“No.”
“I did, someone in London, but that’s a
ll you’re getting out of me,” Ella said.
“Fuck, Ella, you are full of surprises. Engaged, then a lesbian tryst. Wow.” Clara went to the bathroom again. Ella didn’t know why she had told them that. She had slept with another waitress from Jackie’s restaurant, only once and that was out of loneliness. She had found out that she definitely preferred men.
When Clara returned she brought a wrap with her. “Now, you know I take cocaine, so I don’t need to keep going to the bathroom. Would anyone else care for some?” Ella shook her head, much to Virginia’s relief.
“This drink is really strong,” Virginia said, after their next shot.
“You already said that,” Clara pointed out.
“Sorry. I don’t drink much usually.”
“Virginia, do you have any friends in London?” Clara asked.
“No.”
“Me neither. I mean, I have James, my brother, who is the person I love most in the world, and I have a number of men I can call on to take me out, but I don’t really have any friends. Not one good girlfriend anyway.”
“I’ve got a friend called Jackie who’s brilliant,” Ella said.
“Is she the one you slept with?” Clara asked.
“No, she’s someone I talk to, laugh with, shop with, you know.”
“No,” Clara said, and they laughed.
“You all have more people than me. I have no one,” Virginia said.
“Oh, Virginia, there must be someone,” Clara said, and Ella added that if she had a friend, then Virginia was bound to have someone.
“I have a pen friend.”
Clara spluttered. “A pen friend? Isn’t that what you have when you’re a kid?”
“Yes, but we’re still in touch. She lives in Canada. I’d love to go and see her someday.”
“You are a sad flick,” Clara said.
“Clara ...” Ella said.
“Sorry, but you are. You sound like a teenager, you drink like a teenager and you even dress like a teenager. Virginia, you need to get a life.”
Virginia burst into tears. She always seemed to be crying these days, she thought through her misery. “I know all this, but I don’t know how I can. It’s all right for you, you’re pretty, rich and surrounded by men, but I have no one. Not one person.”
“OK, Virginia, calm down,” Ella said, and glared at Clara.
“Virginia, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. But you know, you could be someone and you’re not,” Clara said.
“I couldn’t. I never will be.”
“You will,” Ella said. “Now have another drink.”
“Virginia, I’m really sorry.” Clara actually looked guilty as she lined up two rows of cocaine.
“It’s OK,” Virginia said. But she knew she was sounding more of a wimp than ever. She wanted to take Clara on, to show her she was made of stronger stuff. She just didn’t know that she was. They drank some more, the game abandoned. They made small-talk and Virginia felt safer. Clara took more cocaine.
“Are you sure you don’t have a habit with that stuff?” Ella asked. Virginia was thinking the same but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“God, Ella, are you turning into Miss Tight-knickers over there?” Clara waved a hand at Virginia.
Virginia felt anger well up inside her. “I may have tight knickers but at least I’m not a drug addict. Perhaps you should try rehab.” Ella was astounded by Virginia’s outburst, which didn’t seem to rile Clara.
“What a jolly good idea.” Clara snorted a line of coke, drank another shot of tequila and lit a cigarette. ‘”Do you think that if I tell them I’m addicted to cocaine and sex they’ll give me a discount at the Priory?”
“Don’t forget alcohol, I’m sure you’re addicted to that too,” Ella said.
“Maybe I’ll give them a call.”
“I don’t think it’s funny.” Virginia was bold suddenly.
“Have a line, Virginia. Maybe we can get you a vice or two.” Clara offered Virginia a rolled-up note.
“I don’t need it,” Virginia said.
“Au contraire, you do need it. If you don’t do something exciting soon your personality is going to die of boredom. Not to mention us.” Clara chortled at her own joke.
“Clara ...” Ella gave her another warning look.
“I hate you. I can’t wait until this sodding thing is over and I never have to see you again, Clara.” Virginia cursed herself. Until then she had been standing up to Clara, but now she sounded like a child again.
“Ella, I do believe that Miss Tight-knickers nearly swore.”
“Stop it! Stop being such a bitch,” Ella shouted.
“OK. Sorry, Virginia. I wonder if the Priory is open now.”
“If it is then add being a bitch to your huge list of problems,” Virginia suggested, and as they realised it was the first funny thing she had said, they all burst out laughing.
“Virginia, I knew you could do it,” Clara said, and squeezed her shoulder.
“Oh, my God, I feel sick.” Virginia stood up. The others jumped up and rushed her to the bathroom.
“It’s a good job she has short hair,” Clara said, to the sound of retching.
“Why?” Ella asked.
“At least we don’t have to hold her hair for her. When I was at boarding-school and someone was being sick, we drew straws to see who had to be the hair-holder.”
“God, your parents really got their money’s worth at your school, didn’t they?” Despite herself Ella giggled.
“Urn, well, I guess they did. Virginia, have you finished?” Clara moved closer.
“Yes,” Virginia said.
“Come with me.” Clara led her to the kitchen. “You know, this is good for you. It’s all part of being a teenager.” She and Ella gave Virginia some water then put her to bed in one of Clara’s spare rooms.
Ella called a cab and had another drink and a cigarette while she waited. “You should lay off her, you know,” she said.
“I know, but I can’t help it. She’s almost showing a personality. If I rile her some more, who knows? She may be a likeable person.”
“What about you?” Ella asked.
“One day you may find out that I can be quite likeable too I’m not always a bitch.” They smiled at each other as the doorbell rang and Ella got up.
“Ella, before you go, what should I do about Tim?” Clara asked.
Ella looked thoughtful as she put on her coat. “Keep him hanging for now. Don’t see him – I don’t want you putting yourself through that – but keep him guessing. Maybe we can use this when we get him.”
“OK. But I really can’t cope with seeing him.”
“You won’t have to,” Ella replied as she left to get her cab.
***
When Virginia woke the next day she thought she was in hospital. Then, as she stared worriedly at the white walls, the white duvet and the white curtains, memory flooded back. The tequila, being sick, the arguments. She remembered everything. And she had the worst headache of her life. She did something she’d never done before; she went back to sleep.
***
Clara woke and remembered that Virginia was in her flat. She groaned at the thought but she got out of bed, showered and put on some clothes. She had to pull herself together and get Virginia out. She had to call Josh, and she had a million other things to do. Tomorrow their plan would be put into action. If it worked, and she had no doubt that it would, Tim would be in the firing line soon. She wanted to be the one who pulled the trigger.
***
Ella woke up and felt old. She felt she was now mothering two messed-up, individuals, and she was as messed up as they were. She went out to get the papers and looked at the stock price for JF Technologies. It was very low for a firm that had floated only six months before, typical of the IT start-up companies that had flooded the world. Companies that were barely scraping by floated for huge amounts of money when they weren’t even showing a profit. In fact, many showed
huge losses. The public had been lulled into believing that these companies would make them rich. The shares were released at a high price, and then they plummeted. Some companies made it, many did not. This one showed all the signs of one that wouldn’t. If Ella were still trading she would keep well clear of. It would be perfect for setting up Isabelle. Then it would only be a matter of time before Johnny got what he deserved.
PART FIVE
JUST DESSERTS
Chapter Twenty-two
On Friday, Ella met Josh at Clara’s flat. Virginia was already there, as was he.
“Ella, you’re late,” Clara said accusingly.
“I’m not. You said five,” Ella replied.
“Oh, did I? Well, then, you two were early.” She glared at Josh and Virginia.
“I’m always early.” Virginia shrugged. After the other night, she had discovered something about herself: she was stronger than she had thought and Clara couldn’t hurt her any more.
“Clara, I know you’re a bit nervous, but I think you should calm down,” Josh said. “Hello, Ella, I’m sorry Clara failed to introduce us, but I’m Josh.” He shook her hand.
Ella thought he was absolutely gorgeous. He also seemed charming and genuine. She thought Clara must be mad to send him to anyone else. Ella would have kept him for herself.
“Hello, Josh. Nice to meet you. Thanks for doing this by the way.” She smiled.
“I didn’t have a choice. Shall we go?”
“Now, Josh, don’t forget what I told you,” Clara said.
“I never forget anything you tell me.” Josh kissed her and he and Ella left the flat.
“And call us as soon as it’s done,” Clara shouted after them.
“We will. Relax,” Josh said.
They stood in the lift in silence.
“Ella, I’ve got my car here. I’ll drive, shall I?” They got into Josh’s Porsche and set off. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes, but nervous too. I can’t figure out if we’re mad to do this or if we’re doing the right thing.”
“Neither can I. Did Clara tell you about us?”
“A bit.”
“What did she say?”
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