Chapter 9 #2
‘No, they must have been watching us. Camilla strode past me and out of the entrance with half the lingerie department stuffed up her top, so I learnt my lesson there. No more trips to town with Camilla.’
‘What a bitch!’
Maddie put her head on one side.
‘I think she had a few problems of her own. She disappeared in the end, didn’t she, and was homeschooled?’
Sofia nodded.
‘You’re right. She certainly had a problem keeping her hands in her pockets. She once told me she’d nicked the complete range of Miss Selfridge eye shadows and lipsticks.’
‘Yes, but that’s sad because her parents would probably have bought them for her if she’d asked.’
‘I know you love a lame duck, Mads, but I think she needed professional help. Although … she did have great parties. And a swimming pool. Do you remember her seventeenth? When we all stripped off and dived in?’
Charlotte pursed her lips.
‘Not all of us, Sof.’
Maddie put up her hands.
‘Count me out as well. I was necking with Tony somewhere in the garden.’
‘Just me in my birthday suit then.’
‘Who would have thought it?’ Charlotte’s comment was accompanied by a smile.
‘OK, no need to go on.’ Sofia shifted in her seat. ‘Where was I when all this cooking was going on?’
‘You volunteered for DT and metalwork instead, don’t you remember?’ Charlotte poked her in the arm. ‘You said it would be much better for meeting boys, as hardly any girls would volunteer, and you’d have your pick.’
‘Did I actually say that?’ Sofia sipped her wine. ‘I was a calculating little madam, wasn’t I?’
Charlotte smiled again.
‘You said it—’
‘I mean, it was true. There were only two girls in that class, so it worked a treat. I met my first’—Sofia counted on her fingers—‘second and third boyfriend there.’
‘I’d have been happy with just one boyfriend at that stage.’ Charlotte turned down her mouth.
‘You were far too picky, Char. I think the guys were a bit scared of you. Doug must have worked extremely hard to cut down all those thorns, climb the tower and claim his princess.’
Charlotte ignored her comment completely and carried on talking.
‘Who was that tall, dark, dreamy guy with the black curly hair? He was two years above us and lived right opposite the school. You used to go over there at lunchtimes “for a sandwich”’—Charlotte managed to get all flavours of suggestion into her words—‘while we went down the Chinese to buy spring rolls with our dinner money.’
Sofia trawled her memory banks.
‘Ah yes, Jon. Both his parents were out all day working, which was extremely useful. Believe me, I learnt a lot more in an hour there than I ever did in biology.’
‘I bet you did.’ Maddie looked down at her plate. ‘There was only one boy at school I was interested in, and I think you both know who it was.’
Sofia hoped the food would arrive before Maddie drank anymore and got melancholy.
Her friend had never been a good drunk, and an early experiment with Pernod, which the next morning had her convinced she’d gone blind, had elicited a promise that she’d never try it again.
She’d not experienced Maddie on red wine, so they were in uncharted territory.
‘Lovely Tony.’ Charlotte raised her glass. ‘Your gorgeous, loyal, husband and our wonderful friend.’
Maddie caught Sofia’s eye and raised an eyebrow at Charlotte’s emphasis on the word loyal. Sofia gave a tiny shake of the head.
‘Tony always had time to listen and would give you an honest opinion. He stayed the same generous boy we knew in the sixth form for the rest of his life. He put you first every time, Mads. Whatever you wanted, he made it happen. You even managed to make him leave his beloved Surrey behind and move back up north with you. You had the best, no wonder you’re hurting so badly. ’
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Charlotte saw the confusion on her friends’ faces and regretted her choice of words. She’d let her anger at Doug infect what she’d said and turned things weird. Shutting up now was the best plan, before she started something she couldn’t stop.
‘To Tony!’
Her friends raised their glasses too.
‘Tony!’
Maddie took another large gulp of red wine before she spoke in a voice overlaid with sadness.
‘He was happy to move to Manchester too, Char, honestly. I didn’t force him. There were more job opportunities up there and we thought it was a better place to bring up the kids. My mum had gone back up north years before, and it’s nice to have your mum around when you’ve got small children.’
Charlotte wiped a tear from her eye with the linen napkin. The last thing she wanted was to force Maddie to justify herself.
‘Don’t mind me. I didn’t mean anything by it. Talking about school has brought it all back. I was just trying, very awkwardly it turns out, to say that I miss him too.’
The arrival of the starters stopped the conversation in its tracks, much to Sofia’s relief. She mustn’t drink anymore, or she was liable to lose it as well. The whole meal was going pear-shaped before they’d even started eating, and she still had to say what she needed to say.
The salad Sofia had ordered was a riot of colours, with bright green lettuce and spinach cradling plump black olives and scarlet tomatoes, while strips of seared peppers crisscrossed the plate.
Pomegranate seeds like rubies nestled in the crevices, pine nuts dotted the leaves and shavings of golden cheese drizzled with an olive oil and herb dressing topped the lot.
‘Everything is so fresh here.’ She forked up a mouthful. ‘Mmmm. Even on a ferry we’re getting fantastic food.’
Maddie popped another helping of gavros, the tiny whole fried fish she’d chosen as a starter, into her mouth, stopping only to dip them in the garlic mayonnaise first.
‘Yeah, on a British ferry you’d be faced with a choice between a sweaty sausage roll and a dodgy-looking prawn sandwich, taking your life in your hands as you ate it.’
As the main courses and desserts came and went, Sofia glanced up at the clock on the wall.
She’d barely listened to Maddie and Charlotte’s conversation for the past half hour.
She ripped open one of the packets containing lemon scented hand towels meant for those eating fish and rubbed it all over her hands and up to her wrists.
‘Cleansing your sins?’
Maddie’s voice brought her back round.
‘Sorry?’
‘You’ve been rubbing at the same bit for ages, sweetheart. And you haven’t been listening to a word we’ve been saying.’
The waiter brought over three shot glasses of complimentary raki laced with honey and herbs, the drink they’d first had at the monastery that already seemed to Sofia like months ago, not days.
It was time to tell the truth.
She lifted her glass to the sky.
‘Yamas!’
‘Yamas!’ her friends chorused back, as they all downed in one.
Sofia put her glass back on the table and stared out of the window to calm herself. The setting sun threw its orange rays back into the restaurant and covered her friends with a strange glow, lighting up their anxious faces.
The tears threatened to come even before she’d managed to get a word out.
‘There’s no easy way to say this…’