Page 25 of The Girlfriend

S ATURDAY WAS A MUGGY, HAZY DAY AND THE DUST FROM THE BUILDING work next door hung in the air.

The builders were due to finish at lunchtime, thankfully, but for the moment, tiny particles managed to lodge themselves on the skin and in the mouth, leaving a nasty, bitter taste.

Laura was undaunted. She sprayed the entire garden with the hose and looked in satisfaction at the plants and lawn, glowing as green as on a fresh spring day.

Howard had been dispatched to the butcher to pick up the meat; Daniel was currently placing bottles of wine in the large fridge in the den.

He’d been a little cool toward her since yesterday, but she’d made herself be bright and enthusiastic.

After all, this was his leaving-home party and she wanted them both to remember it as a happy time.

The first guests to arrive were Isabella and Brigitte, just back from France.

“How was the rest of your stay?” asked Daniel.

“Wonderful,” sighed Isabella. “We only came back because Richard was complaining he never saw us.”

“Charming.”

“And to come to your BBQ, darling boy,” she said, patting his cheek .

The back garden began to fill up: some of Daniel’s friends from school, now grown up, and their parents, friends of Laura and Howard’s.

It wasn’t a large crowd, perhaps twenty or so, and everyone knew each other well.

Howard lit the BBQ, and once the smoke had gotten in everyone’s eyes, it finally died down enough to start cooking the homemade burgers and marinated chicken he’d bought from the butcher’s.

Just after six, Laura noticed Daniel looking at his phone, then disappearing back into the house.

Ten minutes later, he reappeared with Cherry.

Introductions were made and Cherry demurely made her way around the garden.

Laura watched from the sidelines as Cherry met each of the invited friends.

Everyone was polite and smiling and delighted to meet the girl Daniel was clearly very smitten with.

She wondered when would be a good time to speak to her.

She wanted to get it over and done with; hopefully, there would be some sort of reasonable explanation.

Cherry was pleased at the way Daniel introduced her. He spoke her name proudly and his fingers were entwined with hers. She was aware that she hadn’t yet spoken to Laura, and she noticed that Daniel and his mother weren’t quite so joined at the hip as they usually were.

“Everything okay with you and your mum?” she said.

“Sure.”

She could tell it wasn’t, not exactly, and Cherry was intrigued . . . and pleased. She wondered what the division could be about.

Laura went to fill Izzy’s glass.

“Thanks, darling. By the way, I have a bit of a surprise for you. Your birthday. I’ve got you a booking at the Bazaar. For Saturday the twenty-third itself!”

“How did you manage that?”

“I told them you were Head of ITV Drama.”

“You didn’t!”

“Only way to get you a table.”

“You’ll get me fired.” She hugged her. “Thanks.”

It was a Michelin-starred Persian restaurant that Laura had been dying to try, but when she’d phoned, she had been told they were fully booked up for six months.

Isabella was friends with friends of the owners and said she’d try to get her in.

It had to be that day, as she had a long tradition of celebrating her birthday by going out to dinner, ever since Daniel was born.

Even as a baby, he’d sit in a high chair, playing with spaghetti, trying to get the slippery strands into his mouth, sometimes just the two of them if Howard was at work.

She always had a cake too, knowing this would delight Daniel and each would take turns blowing out the candles.

Birthdays were the one day of the year when Laura determinedly put aside whatever problems might be in her life (her marriage notably) and holed them up so they were unable to escape for the entire waking day, and she always, always made sure she went out for dinner.

“How’s it feel to have him fly the nest?”

“It’s not the first time.”

“Ah, now I know you’re being brave. This is the real one, though, isn’t it?”

Laura smiled. “I’m lucky. He’ll only be around the corner.”

“True. In his own pad. Able to do and see what he wants. Good job you brought him up so well.”

Izzy was teasing, she knew, but it suddenly occurred to Laura that Cherry might be spending quite a lot of time at Daniel’s new flat, and the thoughts that had been troubling her rose up again.

“Iz . . . something weird happened on holiday.”

“Oh yes?”

“I, er . . . was tidying up in Daniel and Cher—”

“Speaking of which, here he is.” Izzy grabbed Daniel’s arm as he and Cherry walked past. “Hey, guess what your clever auntie Izzy’s managed. You and your mum are going to have this year’s birthday dinner at none other than the Bazaar.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, you poor, hopeless boy.”

“Hello, Laura,” said Cherry. “Nice to see you again.”

“You too,” she said politely .

“It’s Persian,” said Izzy. “It’s set for Saturday, the twenty-third of August. I had to get on my knees and beg.”

“Still a date?” Laura said to Daniel, and was relieved and pleased when he nodded.

“Can’t wait.”

“Oh . . . ,” started Cherry softly, before withdrawing.

Daniel saw the look of disappointment on her face. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on, what were you going to say?”

“I . . .” She looked at him reluctantly. “I’ve . . . It was going to be a surprise . . . but I can always cancel it.”

He smiled. “Cancel what?”

Cherry looked awkward. “I’ve booked a white-water-rafting trip for us—you—I wanted to take you away.”

Laura’s mouth dropped open.

“You did?” He kissed her. “But”—Daniel looked toward his mum—“it’s Mum’s birthday.”

“Really?” said Laura. She couldn’t quite keep the incredulity out of her voice. “That same weekend?”

Daniel laughed quickly. “I don’t think Cherry meant to, Mum.”

“No, I’m sure . . .” She fought down the irritation. It would be childish to insist. “It’s okay. We can rearrange.”

“But the reservation . . .” Daniel pointed out.

Laura shrugged. “We can go anywhere.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. You two go away.”

Daniel smiled and she knew she’d done something to make up for the day before.

“Hey, need a top-up?” he said, seeing Cherry’s glass was empty. So was the bottle Laura had been carrying around. “I’ll just get a fresh one from the ice bucket,” said Daniel, and he headed off toward the BBQ area.

“Darling, I must just catch up with Diana. She’s told me about the most wonderful yoga teacher,” said Isabella, and then it was just Laura and Cherry.

* * *

They looked at each other for a moment, smiling with nothing to say. It’s now or never, thought Laura.

“Would you mind giving me a hand getting some more wine from the cellar?”

She saw Cherry look around for Daniel and her drink, but he’d been caught up in conversation with his friend Will, and by the way they were laughing, he wasn’t going to come to her rescue anytime soon.

“Course,” she said, and Laura led her back into the house.

They didn’t speak on the way to the elevator, and the journey down was silent too, except for the whirr of the motors.

When the door opened, Cherry was invited to go first. It felt odd to be entering a twilight room after the brightness of outside and she stepped out warily.

There was just a glimmer of light coming in from the window high up on the ceiling, and even though it was still light outside, the window’s opaqueness and distance did nothing more than give a sensation of the fluidity of the water.

The pool tiles were such a dark blue, the water had an odd impression of being deep, like the sea when you couldn’t see the bottom.

Then Laura switched on the lights and the sound echoed in the vast space.

Cherry gasped; it was beautiful. The water was lit up now from the bottom and its inky blue radiated out from the lights like piercing sapphires caught in the sun.

She saw she was standing on white marble, which continued up the walls, carved to look like Jali screens.

She followed them up to the flickering reflections on the ceiling.

Laura led the way through the pool room and Cherry looked up at the opaque glass ceiling block, which muted the dazzle of the sun. Although she could see moving shadows as people stepped around it, no one actually stepped on it.

“It’s always the same,” said Laura with a smile, “it’s as if they’re afraid it might give way or something.”

They headed to the wine cellar and Laura took a few bottles from the fridge. “Just a couple each of white and rosé,” she said, handing some to Cherry.

As they walked back into the pool room, once again Cherry glanced up at the ceiling, but she could hear nothing. Down in the basement, she and Laura remained in an otherworldly silence, just the sound of their footsteps.

“So, how’s it been back at work?” asked Laura.

“Fine.”

“They always fade so fast, don’t they? Holidays.”

Cherry said nothing, just smiled.

“Look . . . this is potentially a bit awkward, but . . . there’s something.

. . a couple of things I wanted to ask you.

” Laura glanced across at Cherry, but she was inscrutable.

“The time you took off—was it really because you had so much leave to use up?” She deliberately kept a friendly air, wanting Cherry to confide in her.

“That’s what I said.”

“Only . . . I . . . Did you tell your boss your grandmother had died? And you needed to go to the funeral in France?”

Cherry stopped walking. “Who told you that?”

Laura gave an evasive smile and was thinking of a way to dodge the question, when she was suddenly distracted by a crack in the marble tiles on the wall.

She looked at it, dismayed. It must be from the excavation next door and she made a mental note to talk to the builders and get them to check it out.

“What else?”

“Pardon?”

“You said there were a ‘couple of things.’ What was the other thing?”

Laura took her eyes from the tiling. “Oh yes. Well, it was more of an apology, really. I didn’t think .

. . when I invited you to come. I know the airlines put their prices up really high for last-minute tickets.

” She waited a moment, but Cherry said nothing.

“It was thoughtless of me. Not to have considered that. And I just wanted to say, next time I’ll check.

. . .” She laughed. “They can be extortionate, can’t they!

Six hundred pounds sometimes. Just to get to France and back!

” She looked concerned, as if she’d put Cherry under undue pressure.

“Oh, goodness, it wasn’t as much as that, was it? ”

Cherry watched her. It was pathetic, the way she was fishing for information.

She noticed Laura stood under a spotlight and it lit her head with a halo effect.

It also highlighted her forehead and threw shadows under her cheekbones, and she was intrigued to see that she could almost see the shape of her skull.

“That was exactly how much it cost,” Cherry said.

“Really?”

“Did Daniel not tell you? He paid.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Why are you so interested?”

Laura managed a baffled laugh. “I’m not!”

“You seem to be asking me a lot about it. As if you think there’s something I’m not telling you.”

“No! No—”

They were suddenly plunged into darkness; then there was a scream and the sound of glass smashing, followed by a loud splash. The strong smell of wine permeated the air and the splashing was joined by heaving gulps. Then the emergency lights switched on.

* * *

“I’m not exactly sure what happened,” said Cherry cautiously, standing dripping in the garden, a towel wrapped around her.

“There was a power cut and neither of us could see much. . . .” She looked at Laura strangely.

“I think Laura stumbled . . . maybe because of the dark . . . and knocked against me.”

Laura stopped midway with the glass of wine she was pouring for Cherry and looked up, bemused. “Sorry? I don’t think I did.”

Cherry shivered, snuggling into Daniel. “I don’t know what to say. . . .” She looked up at Daniel apologetically, gave an awkward shrug. “You did,” she said in a low voice.

“Cherry, I was nowhere near you.”

“Oh, God, this is a bit embarrassing. I didn’t just fall into the pool, you know,” she murmured.

“You’re not suggesting . . .” Laura gave a small, incredulous laugh, shaking her head. “I don’t think so.”

“I’m sorry I spoiled your birthday dinner.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, this has nothing to do with that,” said Laura, irritated .

“I didn’t know, okay, I didn’t know it was your birthday. If I’d known, I would’ve picked a different weekend.”

“It all sounds like a bit of an accident or something,” said Daniel quickly.

Laura was aware of feeling like a villain at her own party.

What had happened down there? The only explanation she could come up with was that Cherry had thrown herself into the pool deliberately, but that was so manipulative, so extreme .

. . and then in a rush, she remembered the painting and was brought up short.

Did Cherry damage it herself? Just to cast doubts on me ?

She looked around and saw that people were watching, noses in glasses of wine. She saw awkward faces and embarrassed glances, people who weren’t sure what to believe. When she turned to Isabella for support, she got a puzzled smile.

“Daniel, any chance I could have a word? In the house?” Laura asked.

“I’m afraid she thinks I’m a gold digger,” blurted out Cherry, her voice cracking.

“No!” Laura tried to keep it light, gave a small laugh of disbelief.

Cherry turned her big brown eyes up to Daniel and tears sprang. “She thinks I’m after your money.”

“Daniel, please could we go inside?” insisted Laura.

“See. You’re not denying it,” said Cherry, dejected.

Everyone was looking at her. Daniel had a face like thunder and Laura felt two little hot spots at the top of her cheeks.

“I think that’s enough,” she said quietly. “It might be time for you to go inside and sort yourself out.”

“I’m taking Cherry home, Mum,” said Daniel, and at her crestfallen face, he added, “She hasn’t got any clothes. I’ll have to.”

As they turned back toward the house, Laura knew that they would go to his car and drive to Cherry’s flat, and she probably wouldn’t see her son for a day or so, perhaps not until Monday, when he would come to collect his things to move into the new flat .

“Anyone for a sausage?” asked Howard.

Isabella sidled up. “Darling, what was all that about? I thought you liked her.”

Laura didn’t answer, just watched them leave, feeling deeply unsettled.