by Jill Mansell
“Yes, Nuala.” Nodding obediently, Maddy wondered if Trash would be as classy as it sounded. “We’ll have a bloody good night.” They would—she’d manage it if it killed her. “What is it we’re celebrating, again?”
“Tiff’s better. My shoulder’s better.” Smugly Nuala waggled her sling-free arm like a ventriloquist who’s forgotten her dummy. “Jake and Juliet together at last, and I haven’t even been the tiniest bit jealous. I mean, it’s all fantastic news, isn’t it?”
Of course it was. Ashamed of herself, Maddy smiled. “Definitely worth celebrating.”
“Great. I’ll just go tell Kate.”
Already planning what she’d wear tonight, Nuala scuttled happily over to the Angel. It was almost three o’clock and the pub would be closing for the afternoon. A group of customers was trailing back to the last remaining car in the parking lot. By the way they were waddling, Nuala guessed they’d had lunch, followed by syrup sponge pudding and custard.
They were American tourists, she discovered, overhearing them as they passed her on the pavement.
“What a double act, those two in there,” drawled the taller of the males. “Like Lucy and Desi all over again.”
“I thought she was going to brain the guy with an ashtray,” said his wife. “Did you notice if they’re married?”
Stifling a smile, Nuala reached the entrance to the Angel. Just wait until she told Kate and Dexter what the Americans were saying about them. Pushing open the door, she entered the pub and exclaimed, “Hey, you two, you’ll never guess—”
That was as far as she got. The rest of the words died before they even reached Nuala’s mouth. Behind the bar Dexter and Kate sprang guiltily apart, but there could be no mistaking what had been going on during those brief seconds before her arrival.
Nuala gaped. Kate and Dexter? Dexter and…and Kate? It was unthinkable, like discovering that Jake had been carrying on a torrid affair with, hell, Princess Anne. In fact, given Jake’s wicked track record, that was actually less unlikely than the scenario she’d just walked in on.
Kate gasped. “God, sorry, Nuala. I meant to—”
“Lock the door?” Nuala tilted her head inquiringly.
“No. Well, yes… I mean…” Kate stammered, her face the picture of guilt.
“Hopeless.” Dexter rolled his eyes. “Can you believe it? This is the girl who isn’t scared of anyone or anything, and look at her now.”
But incredibly, he was saying it in a good-natured rather than an irritated way.
Unable to resist it, Nuala said, “You jumped away from Kate pretty quickly.”
He nodded, acknowledging the dig with a wry smile. “OK, but it’s something you needed to know. Kate was the one who didn’t want to upset you.”
“Upset me?” Nuala echoed in disbelief. “Upset me? Damn right I’m upset!”
Kate was looking even more distraught. Dexter put a protective arm around her. “Now you’re being unfair,” he told Nuala. “It’s nothing to do with—”
“Good grief, I’m not upset about you.” Nuala pulled a face. “I’m upset because I’ve just arranged a girls’ night out for me, Maddy, and Kate so we can go out and meet loads of men, but I don’t suppose Kate will want to come along now.”
“On a manhunt? Poor guys,” said Dexter. “Anyhow, Kate doesn’t need to anymore. She’s got me.”
They actually looked like a proper couple. It took a bit of getting used to, but the more Nuala thought it through, the more sense it made.
“I’m really sorry,” Kate apologized again. “It happened a couple of days ago, took us both completely by surprise, talk about a bolt from the blue…”
“It’s fine,” said Nuala. “Honestly. You don’t have to worry about me.”
Kate looked unconvinced. “But you seemed a bit put out right now.”
“That’s because I thought the three of us could go out tonight and have a great time, then if Maddy got a bit, you know, mopey”—Nuala pulled a Maddy-type face to demonstrate—“we could gang up on her and force her to cheer up. It’s OK. I can still manage it on my own,” she said bravely. “It’s just going to take that bit more effort.”
“Like climbing Everest with a motorbike strapped to your back,” Dexter observed.
“Thanks. That’s a great help.” As she looked at him, Nuala realized she was well and truly cured. In all honesty, she and Dexter had always been hopelessly mismatched.
“I’ll come with you,” Kate said unexpectedly.
“You will?” Not that Maddy was that much of a liability—not really—but Nuala’s heart lifted as if it had been pumped full of helium.
“If it’ll help.” Kate was clearly eager to make up for having gotten together with the ex-boyfriend Nuala was more than happy to be rid of.
“I’d rather you stayed here,” Dexter complained. “You might get chatted up.”
Kate gave his cheek a consoling pat.
“Don’t get stroppy. You don’t just drop your friends when you bag a man. Anyway, it’s my night off. I can go where I like.”
By the sound of it, Nuala was delighted to discover, Dexter had finally met his match.
“You.” He pointed a warning finger at Nuala. “Make sure she doesn’t get up to anything.”
Grinning, discovering that he no longer had the power to scare her, Nuala said chirpily, “You’d have to pay me loads of money to do that.”
* * *
Mustn’t be a killjoy, thought Maddy as they piled out of the taxi and headed across the road to Trash. Mustn’t, mustn’t be a killjoy. Going to have masses of fun, drink loads, chat up heaps of men, and not even think about Ke—thingy, the one I’m not even going to think about.
Easier said than done, maybe, but she owed it to Nuala and Kate. And to herself. So she couldn’t have the man she wanted. So what? Compared with war and famine it was a pretty unimportant reason to go around with a face like, well, the face she’d been going around with for the last fortnight.
Trash was a new club in the center of Bath, hugely popular and a bit trendier than Maddy was truly comfortable with, but Nuala had been longing to come here for ages, ever since reading in a magazine that it was where the city’s movers and shakers went. Nuala, Maddy suspected, was under the impression that this meant everyone would be leaping around, dancing with abandon to Las Ketchup.
Oh well, if she had to join in, she would.
“Cheers,” said Kate, clanking glasses, blissfully unself-conscious of her scars. “I still can’t believe everything that’s happened. This morning I was the tragic victim of a hopelessly broken home. Now Mum’s back, and she and my father are giving it another go. When I left the house, they were being so lovey-dovey together, it’d make you sick.”
“Cheers.” Maddy, who could clank with the best of them, said, “Good for your mum and dad.”
“It may be good for them, canoodling away like teenagers, but what about me? They’re my parents.” Kate grimaced. “It’s embarrassing. They’re too old for all that.”
Too old. Taking a sip of wine, Maddy envisaged herself in fifty years’ time. Marcella, aged ninetysomething and feisty to the last, had just died in a tragic Rollerblading accident. Finally, finally, she and Kerr had a chance to be together. Except she was seventy-seven herself and Kerr was eighty. Gazing dreamily into the distance, Maddy pictured the two of them on their walkers, inching their way across the shabby linoleum floor of the nursing home, dribbling a bit with the effort, peering shortsightedly at each other before she croaked, “Kerr? It’s me, Maddy. I’m free! We can be together at last…”
And Kerr, typical man, would pause, bemused, and say, “Eh? What are you on about, woman? Do I know you?”
Bastard, thought Maddy, outraged.
“Excuse me?”
Oops, maybe she hadn’t just thought it. Perhaps she’d accid
entally said it aloud.
“Sorry.” Turning, Maddy addressed the man behind her. “Just thinking about someone.”
He gave her a sympathetic look. “Ex-boyfriend?”
“You could say that. Anyway, we’re here to have fun.” If she said it often enough, it might come true.
“That’s a coincidence. It’s why we’re here too.” The man beamed down at her. He wasn’t what you’d call drop-dead gorgeous, but he had a friendly, chipmunky face and a decent enough body. “My name’s Dave. Hi.”
Oh well, look where being fussy had gotten her in the past. “Maddy,” said Maddy, resolving not to mind about his teeth. He had friends with him as well. Keen to get started on the moving and shaking, Nuala was already eyeing them up.
“Who wants to dance?” she asked loudly.
Gosh, they were big, thought Maddy. His teeth, not his friends.
An hour later, on the dance floor with Dave, Maddy spotted a face in the crowd that stopped her dead in her tracks. Dave, boogying on regardless, landed on her right foot and leaped off again yelling, “Sorry!”
Maddy didn’t even notice. She was too busy gazing across at the brunette whose features were indelibly imprinted on her mind.
The last time she’d seen her, the girl had been having lunch with Kerr. If they were seeing each other, did that mean he was here too? Bobbing up and down on her toes, Maddy did her best to see over the heads of the clubbers thronging the dance floor, but it was no good. She couldn’t see him. Although actually, surely that was good…
“Hey!” Abandoned midbop, Dave shouted out, “Where are you off to?”
“Um, just to the bathroom.”
The brunette was wearing a pale-green, strappy silk dress with gorgeous lilac high heels and a matching lilac clutch. It was hard to hate someone, Maddy discovered, whose accessories you coveted. Anyway, she might not need to hate her. There was no sign of Kerr. The girl appeared to be with her plumper, blonder friend—ooh, and now she appeared to be on her way to the ladies’. Fantastic.
By the time the brunette emerged from her stall, Maddy had installed herself in front of the sinks and was brushing blusher onto her cheeks. She smiled at the brunette in a friendly fashion, via the mirror in front of them both, and the brunette politely smiled back.
See? That was all it took to show other people you were a nice person.
“Busy tonight,” said Maddy, by way of getting the conversational ball rolling.
“Um, yes.” The brunette squirted liquid soap onto her hands and began washing them.
“Quite hot too. I’m baking!” Maddy beamed and energetically fanned herself. “Good music, though.”
“Absolutely.” Having finished at the sink, the girl gave her hands a good shake and moved over to the hand dryer.
Hmm, not exactly a chatterbox. In desperation, Maddy said, “I just love your shoes. They’re incredible!”
“Uh, thanks.”
“Where did you get them?”
The brunette frowned. “Gosh, I can’t remember. Faith, I think.”
“Well, they’re brilliant.” This was definitely the way to go about it. Since marching up to complete strangers and asking really quite personal questions was generally regarded as impertinent—unless you were Graham Norton—Maddy had decided to go the more subtle route and become the brunette’s friend. Then with a bit of luck, once they were chatting away as if they’d known each other for years, the subject would just naturally crop up. OK, maybe with a bit of a nudge in the right direction, but still. “I bought a great pair of boots in Faith last year,” Maddy said brightly. “Gray denim, with silver studs up the sides. Remember them?”
The brunette frowned. “Remember them? I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“Oh no, I just meant do you remember seeing them in the shop?” Seizing the opportunity, Maddy put down the lipstick she was currently applying and held out her hand. “How rude of me not to introduce myself. My name’s Maddy.”
“Right!” After a moment’s hesitation, the brunette shook hands. “Um, Annalise.”
Annalise. Nice name. Maddy pictured Kerr saying it and had to force herself to smile. Was there a way she could ask yet about boyfriend-type stuff without sounding pushy? How about if—
“Well, bye.” Having hastily gathered up her lilac bag, Annalise made a dash for the door and disappeared.
Chapter 53
“Hi,” Dave exclaimed. “I was beginning to wonder where you’d gotten to!”
“Oh, right.” It was hard to concentrate on Dave when all she could think about was Annalise currently queuing up for drinks at the bar less than six feet away.
“I bought you a glass of wine,” Dave said eagerly, waving it in front of Maddy’s face. “You don’t need to line up.”
“That’s so kind.” Maddy looked suitably grateful. “And I’ll buy you a drink in return, I promise, but could you do me a huge favor and leave me alone for five minutes? It’s just, there’s someone I really want to talk to.”
Dave’s pudgy chipmunk cheeks quivered with disappointment. He held up his paws…hands, in defeat. “Fine, I know when I’m not wanted.”
Feeling terrible, but not that terrible, Maddy said, “You are wanted—”
“But not until the better-looking bloke’s turned you down.” Dave sighed. “Don’t worry. I’m used to it.”
Honestly, life would be so much easier if only she could fall for a nice man who looked like a chipmunk. Ooh, gap in the crowd…
“Hello again!” Having wriggled through, Maddy beamed at Annalise, who was with her blond friend.
“Oh, hello.” This time Annalise’s shoulders visibly stiffened and her tone was wary. Since flattery had seemed to work well last time, Maddy exclaimed, “Gosh, look at your eyelashes!”
Which, in the absence of a mirror, was probably impossible.
Startled, the girl said, “What?”
“Your eyelashes. They’re so long! You lucky thing. How on earth did you get them to grow like that?”
“They’ve, um, always been long.” Annalise was attempting to back away now. “Actually, I don’t think we’ll have that drink. Maybe I’ll ring my boyfriend and ask him to come pick us up.”
Maddy tensed. Why had she deliberately emphasized the word boyfriend? Did she know? Why were she and her friend exchanging significant glances? For heaven’s sake, it wasn’t as if she was a mad ax-woman—why couldn’t she just ask Annalise a few simple questions and find out what she wanted to know?
Then again, nothing ventured…
“What’s your boyfriend’s name?”
Annalise said, “Right, we really should be making a move. Come on, Bren. Let’s go.”
Avoiding her eyes, the two girls slipped away. As they left, Maddy saw Annalise take a cell phone out of her bag. Honestly, why did life have to be so complicated?
And where was Paul McKenna when you needed him? He could have quickly hypnotized Annalise, asked the relevant questions, discovered all he needed to know, then dehypnotized her, leaving her none the wiser.
In fact, why wasn’t Paul McKenna a member of the Special Air Service?
Or was he?
“You’re not dancing!” shouted Kate, materializing, hot and breathless, at her side. “Come on, you’re missing out on all the fun!”
Maddy was touched by her concern. Kate’s eyes were shining. After all her exertions, her foundation was starting to melt, but she clearly wasn’t bothered. Still out on the dance floor, Nuala and Dave and a group of Dave’s friends were having a whale of a time lowering the tone of Bath’s trendiest club and competing with each other to see who could dance in the least cool manner. Tonight was Kate’s first foray into nightclub land since her accident, yet you wouldn’t know it. Belatedly, she was discovering that if you smiled instead of scowled, laughed instead of glared, people were far
more likely to smile back.
At this rate Dexter was going to have his work cut out keeping her under control.
“Bit hot.” Maddy fanned herself by way of apology.
“What?”
“BIT HOT.” Above the noise of the music, Maddy bellowed, “I’m just going outside for a few minutes, to cool down.”
“Then you have to come dance,” shouted Kate.
Maddy nodded. “Definitely. Just give me five minutes. I’ll be back.”
Outside, she made a point of proving she was hot, in case any CCTV cameras were pointed in her direction. Well, it had been tropical inside the club. What could be more natural than wanting to gulp down a few lungfuls of fresh air, unstick your top from your torso, and fan yourself with your hands, Al Jolson–style?
She only had to wait a couple of minutes before Annalise and her friend emerged from the club.
“Oh, hi!” sang Maddy, her Al Jolson hands going into overdrive. “Hot in there! Just came out for a breather.”
“It’s all right,” Annalise murmured out of the corner of her mouth. “He’ll be here any second.” Turning to Maddy, she added, “My boyfriend’s coming to pick us up.”
Well, good, because that’s why I’m out here, thought Maddy. Duh.
Oh dear, was she getting a bit carried away here? If Annalise’s boyfriend did turn out to be Kerr, was she going to be tempted to jump into his car and run away with him? Would she be able to curb the impulse to—
“Look, you’ve made a mistake,” Annalise began to say as a white Volvo drew up, illuminating them in its headlights. Muttering, “Thank God for that,” and visibly relaxing, she returned her attention to Maddy. “I’m very flattered, but the thing is, I’m not…that way.”
Puzzled, Maddy said, “What way?”
“Oh, come on, don’t be offended. You know what I’m trying to say. I’m sure you’re a very nice, um, person,” Annalise said hurriedly, “but I’m straight.”
“Hmm?” Not really concentrating, Maddy was far more interested in confirming that the driver of the white Volvo wasn’t Kerr.
“You’ve got the wrong night,” Annalise’s friend explained kindly as Annalise wrenched open the Volvo’s passenger door. “Wednesday is gay night at Trash.”