14. Secret agent Ursula Fry – 1979
Ursula had one eye on the clock and one on the fabric she was running through the machine.
It was only an interface so it didn’t matter if the stitch line wasn’t absolutely perfect, although Wanda would not be happy if she caught her.
The clock ticked over to twelve-thirty, just as she was finishing off and almost together, she and Andi said: ‘Lunchtime.’
When they reached New Street she looked up to Anton’s office, knowing that he would be in the window watching for her. She waved to him. It was a little habit they’d got into whenever she wasn’t meeting him. Andi waved too but she also stuck out her tongue. ‘That man is obsessed with you.’
‘No he isn’t. He just loves me.’
‘He’s still obsessed with you.’
Ursula tutted. ‘You sound like my mum. I need to go to Lewis’s food hall. I’m buying cakes.’
‘Why are you buying cakes? I didn’t forget your birthday, did I?’
‘Do you really not know? And there was me thinking you were my mate. It’s my one-year anniversary as your work colleague and best friend.’
‘Work colleague? Is that what Anton calls us wage slaves? Hang on. A year? You’re kidding me. Where has that time gone? I feel so old.’
‘Well, you are a year older than me, so I can see why.’
Andi pretended to wince. ‘Oh how bitchy. I’m not sure I want to be your best friend for another year if that’s what I’ve got to look forward to. Shall we go out and celebrate tonight?’
‘Can’t. I’m going out with Anton. Anyway, I thought you were going out with that fella tonight. What was his name again?’
‘No point reminding you because I’ve already dumped him.
Too boring.’ Andi got through so many boyfriends.
She had a very low boredom threshold. Ursula was always surprised that she herself hadn’t breached that threshold yet.
Especially since she’d been going out with Anton who Andi swore was the dullest person she’d ever met.
He was a bit dull, but Ursula didn’t mind that.
She didn’t want to go out with someone showy and over the top.
Someone like her dad. Besides, she had enough excitement in her life with Andi.
When they were together, it mostly non-stop laughs.
They shared secrets, anger, and sadness too, but mostly it was music and dancing and laughs.
Being with Anton was a much calmer experience.
They never larked about, or danced in sweaty nightclubs.
They went out for dinner and drank in sophisticated bars.
It was like she led two separate lives. Secret agent Ursula Fry, the girl with a double life.
Perhaps that’s what kept her under Andi’s boredom threshold.
‘Are we still going to the Holy City Zoo on Saturday?’ said Andi.
‘Yeah. If I can finish the dress I’m making, I’m gonna wear it. D’you know what you’re wearing?’
‘Probably something I’ve already got. I could do with some new stuff really. I should make something but it just gets in the way at home. Too many people and not enough space, especially since my sister fell out with her bloke and moved back in.’
‘Come to mine. You can stay over the weekend. Come straight from work on Saturday. We can get ready together and spend all day Sunday in the sewing room.’
‘You have a sewing room?’
‘It’s my mum’s but she won’t mind. She’s been telling me to invite you over.’
‘God, okay. In that case, we’d better go up to the haberdashery before we buy the cakes. Don’t you see Anton on Sundays then?’
‘No. He works on his passion project.’ She rolled her eyes before Andi did. ‘He’s found somewhere to build his house.’
‘How do I look?’ Ursula stood in between her mum and the TV.
‘Like you’re going to a funeral. Where did you get that dress?’
‘Anton bought it for me.’
Her mum felt the fabric. ‘Well he has impeccable taste, I’ll give him that. You look beautiful. A very beautiful mourner. Where’s he taking you?’
‘Dunno. A posh restaurant in town, I think.’
The doorbell rang. ‘That might be him.’ Ursula ran back to her room to get her bag.
Her mum looked at the time. ‘It’s exactly seven-thirty. Of course it’s him. Shall I go?’
‘No, I’m ready now. Don’t wait up. Oh, I nearly forgot, Andi’s coming to stay for the weekend. We’re going to use the sewing room. That’s okay, isn’t it?’
‘Of course it is. Have a good time, love. And don’t go anywhere near a funeral directors. You might get mistaken for one of them.’
‘Ha ha. Hilarious. You should be on the telly.’ Ursula opened the door to Anton and saw that he was wearing a black polo shirt and black trousers. They were both in head to toe black. Maybe her mum had a point.
He frowned. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Nothing. Just having a joke with Mum. Let’s go.’
They stepped into the lift. The doors closed and he turned to look her over. ‘You wore the dress.’
‘Yes, well I thought that was why you bought it for me.’
He leaned forward and kissed her. ‘Stunning.’
It was the most romantic thing he’d said or done to her in all the time they’d been going out and it caught her off guard. The lift doors opened but she held on to him, not wanting the moment to end. He tugged her hand. ‘We must go.’
She didn’t bother to ask him where they were going. She liked the not knowing. It added some excitement to the evening.
It turned out to be an Italian restaurant called Lorenzo’s. There were some faces in there that she recognised from TV. She pointed them out to Anton but he said he hardly ever watched TV. ‘Well then what do you do in the evenings?’ she asked.
He shrugged. ‘I work, I read. I go out with you. Or I think about you.’
She hadn’t expected that last bit. It made her feel quite pleased with herself. ‘You think about me? All the time, some of the time, or most of the time?’
‘Most of the time.’ He smiled that awkward, shy smile of his, the one that snapped at her heartstrings like they were elastic bands.
‘Do you think about me when you’re in bed?’
‘Sometimes.’
‘Do you wish I was there with you?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Sometimes. You’re joking with me now, Ursula. You’re in a very jokey mood tonight.’
Maybe she was joking with him a little, but there was a good reason for her asking.
They’d been going out for months and he’d never once tried anything more than a kiss with her.
‘No, I just wondered what we’ve been waiting for.
I mean, it’s not as if we don’t have somewhere to go, is it?
There’s your flat. And I’m on the pill.’
‘You’re on the pill?’
‘Of course I am. Don’t look so shocked, Anton. It is 1979 for God’s sake.’
He looked around and lowered his voice. ‘I just assumed you were…’
‘What, a virgin? Are you?’
‘No.’
‘Well then.’
‘Are you sleeping with anyone at the moment?’ he said, his voice still low.
‘Well my boyfriend isn’t interested and I’m not a two-timer, so no.’
‘I am interested. I was just waiting for the right moment.’
‘When do you think that will be?’
‘Soon.’
It seemed wrong that she should be the one pushing him into sex.
It wasn’t as if she was that bothered about it, or even that she was experienced.
She’d only slept with two boys so far and neither of them were good enough to make her desperate to try again.
It was just that she was beginning to think there was something wrong with her and Anton. Or maybe it was just Anton.
‘I have to go to Sweden for a while. I don’t know how long I’ll be away for. It’s family business.’
Now it was Ursula’s turn to be surprised. He never spoke about his family. If she ever asked about them, he said very little. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘I don’t know. But when I come back, things will be different. I promise.’