Chapter 46
Yan has organised a food tasting with his catering mate, Jamie. Tig liked him when they met at the Greek Food Fair, but he was there helping someone else, and she wants to taste his own food before she signs on the dotted line.
‘Not that she’s rolling in other options,’ mutters Yan when he recounts the story.
I’ve come, too, because Jamie was asking about me. He was at college with Yan, so I must have met him, but the name’s not familiar.
We’re meeting in his café in Palmer’s Green, which initially made Tig turn up her nose.
‘A caff in north London?’ she’d exclaimed in horror.
Yan had to patiently explain – again – that we were a week from the wedding and good luck finding someone else if Jamie didn’t meet her exacting standards.
Turns out, Jamie’s place is more deli than café and wouldn’t look out of place on the Kings Road.
Tig’s eyes light up when we walk in. Jamie’s laid out a table with samples of lots of dishes. ‘Oh my God, look at all that Serrano ham. I love Serrano ham. It didn’t occur to me we could do cold starters … and wow, is that an olive tapenade with rosemary crostini?’
She gives Yan a massive hug. ‘Thank you so much.’
Yan gives her a quizzical look. ‘You do realise I didn’t prepare any of this.’
When she pulls back, she’s got tears in her eyes. ‘I know, but you’ve gone out of your way to set this up. I’ve been so stressed about it, but I knew I couldn’t kick up a fuss because I was the one adamant we could get a wedding organised in under three weeks.’
I feel bad that Yan and I were bitching about her before we got here.
She hugs Yan again, and I wrap my arms around both of them, leaving Theo standing to the side awkwardly, unsure what to do with himself.
‘Hello, Praxitelises,’ says a man behind me. ‘Or is the plural Praxiteli?’
I recognise the voice and freeze. Even before I turn round I know exactly who it is, except I thought his name was Jack or Jake when we met fifteen years ago at Yan’s fateful black-out party.
He shakes Theo’s hand, kisses Tig’s cheek, then envelops me in a huge hug. ‘Nella, darling!’
‘Hi, Jamie,’ I say shyly.
He’s dressed in chef’s whites and checkerboard pants.
I hold my breath, praying he doesn’t mention the last time we saw each other, specifically what I was doing and who I was doing it with.
‘I suggest we crack on before the mains get cold,’ he says, giving me a final air kiss.
I hang back while Tig and Theo follow him into the kitchen.
Yan and I sit at the deli counter while Jamie’s helper, Tony, offers us a drink. I hadn’t planned on drinking tonight, but I gratefully accept a glass of pale rosé.
Three glasses and an hour later, things seem to have gone very well for my picky sister and her less picky fiancé.
‘I think she’s happy,’ says Yan drily, after the umpteenth time Tig exclaims, ‘That is proper lush.’
‘Just the cake left,’ announces Jamie, sending Tony to the kitchen to wheel out a three-tiered show-stopper glazed with pink icing and decorated with fresh fruit.
Jamie brings a slice for me and Yan, then pulls out a stool to sit with us.
‘I’m sorry we didn’t get to say hello at the Food Festival.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ I reassure him. ‘You must have been rushed off your feet.’
‘I saw you from a distance with your boyfriend, but you didn’t see me.’
I half-smile, suddenly unable to swallow the perfectly baked sponge because my mouth feels as dry as sawdust.
Yan frowns. ‘I’m not sure who you saw Nella with, but it wasn’t her boyfriend.’ He turns to me: ‘Rich didn’t randomly turn up, did he?’
Is there a way I can spin this and tell him it was Rich?
Then Yan spots the obvious flaw in his assumption. ‘Although I’m not sure how you’d know what her boyfriend looks like.’
‘It was the same boyfriend I saw you with at Yan’s party that time.’
‘Jamie,’ says Yan gently. ‘Leo died years ago. It couldn’t have been him.’
‘You probably saw me talking to one of my cousins,’ I add.
‘I don’t think so, hon. Not the way the two of you were standing. I’m obviously wrong – it can’t be the same person. But whoever you were with was the spitting image of the raven-haired stud that made the Earth move for you that night.’
Yan looks at me sharply. ‘Raven-haired stud?’
I might be able to convince him it was too dark for Jamie to have properly seen the colour of Leo’s hair that night. The smoking gun, though, is the descriptor ‘stud’.
No one would have used that word for Leo. But it fits Mark like a glove.
It’s all a blur leaving Jamie’s place, not that Tig, Theo or Jamie notice my distracted state.
I try to walk fast, to get to the tube before Yan, but he easily catches me and pulls me aside.
He looks angry. ‘We need to talk.’ He nods to a pub in front of us. ‘We’re stopping for a drink.’
‘What about Theo and Tig?’
‘I’m going to tell them I spotted a mate in there.’
I nervously play with the stem of my wine glass while I wait for Yan’s interrogation to start.
‘First things first,’ he says, his voice tense. ‘Did he make you do anything you didn’t want to do? Because if he did, I’m going to strangle that fucker in his sleep with cheese wire.’
I recoil in shock. ‘Calm down, Sweeney Todd, it wasn’t like that.’
‘Are you sure? Because he listens to Spanish lessons in his AirPods while he’s trying to sleep. He won’t hear me coming.’
‘I promise you, he didn’t pressure me. Please put that out of your mind.’
His chest rises and falls. He’s obviously relieved to hear this.
‘Then how did it happen?’
I let out a nervous laugh. ‘Is it so hard to believe that a girl might find Mark attractive?’
‘No, of course not. But not you, Nell. You were always so unimpressed by him.’
‘I can’t explain it. All I know is I’d never even contemplated it until just before it happened. In an instant, I knew, there and then, I was going to kiss him.’
‘You made the first move?’
I nod. ‘It shocked the hell out of him. But after a few moments he responded and after that …’ I pause to lower my voice.
‘We didn’t have sex. We kissed, there was some touching, and he got me off.
And it was one-sided, I should add.’ I try to find a way to tell Yan what happened without getting graphic.
‘His trousers stayed on the whole time.’
‘And was it like Jamie said …’ He looks embarrassed. ‘A good experience?’
‘The whole story is exactly as Jamie told it – with one minor detail changed.’
‘It was Mark and not Leo.’
I nod. ‘The guilt was horrendous. I kept finding reasons to avoid Leo or to be annoyed with him. It went on for a couple of weeks until, eventually, he asked me point blank if I wanted to break up, and I told him yes. Then, a couple of weeks after that, he got ill and then … Well, you know what happened after that. And why it affected me so badly.’
Yan squeezes my arm. ‘I wish you’d told me sooner. You shouldn’t have carried this alone for so long.’
‘I couldn’t bear the idea of anyone knowing.’
‘You were a kid. No one would have blamed you.’
I take a large gulp of wine. ‘Could I have picked a worse person to cheat on Leo with? I should be happy Rich didn’t cop off with Tig or you, and instead, had the common decency to choose someone I wasn’t related to.’
‘All this Leo stuff coming to the surface, now, when you’re going through so much with Rich. I’m so sorry.’
I let out a long breath. ‘I’m okay.’
‘I can see now why you were so tense around Mark. But in Cyprus, especially towards the end, you seemed to be getting on well.’
‘We talked about it. It was useful and helped to clear the air.’
‘Well, that’s something, I guess.’
I nod.
‘So, there won’t be some massive EastEnders-type scene at the wedding?’ he asks, smiling.
‘No, you can relax about that.’
‘Although Tig wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on. She’s the one who chose to get married now, to a man who’s best mates with Leo’s brother.’
I clink my glass against his. ‘Your logic is faultless.’
‘So, the cheese wire stays in the drawer tonight?’
‘Yes, definitely.’