8
NORA WAS SURPRISED how much she was looking forward to the date-with-a-book club meeting. She’d finished reading The Housemaid and was excited about discussing it with whoever she was partnered with.
Hilary had suggested that since it was Nora’s first time at book club, they should go together. She said she remembered being intimidated by the sheer number of people the first time she went and had almost bottled out before Lois had spotted her loitering outside Oliver’s and encouraged her inside.
So, even though it wasn’t far from her house, Nora was using her map app to navigate to Hilary’s house in a part of town she hadn’t discovered yet. The street was a leafy — well, it would be except that it was barely spring — tree-lined avenue with Victorian houses of various sizes on either side of the road. Hilary lived in a substantial semi-detached house which, even from the outside, oozed taste. The pathway to the door was paved with blue bricks and the smart front door was painted navy-blue and had two panes of leaded glass in the top half and a knocker in the shape of a giant pinecone. A pair of standard bay trees stood sentry in pots on either side of the door.
Nora rapped the knocker and waited, desperate to see whether Hilary had the original encaustic tiled floor in her hallway.
‘Come in!’ Hilary said, opening the door and then hurrying back into the kitchen. ‘I am ready. I just need to finish sending an email.’
Nora closed the door and took a moment to look at the floor, which sadly, was a reproduction, but looked the part nevertheless.
‘Oh, I know. Some idiot had ripped the original floor up,’ Hilary said, coming back into the hallway and taking her coat from a cupboard underneath the stairs. ‘You’ll have to come to Toby’s sometime. He’s got an original Minton floor in his hallway. His house is much fancier than mine. Ready?’
‘Your floor still looks amazing. I love your lounge as well. The wallpaper’s beautiful,’ Nora said, glimpsing it through the door to the right as she went out.
‘This house is the first place I’ve ever lived that is just mine. So I did it exactly how I wanted. All the things I’d seen in my years of working with interiors and loved, all of that went into this house. And I loved every minute of it.’
‘My house is a bit of a blank canvas,’ Nora said. ‘I really like it, it’s very cosy but the decor is so bland compared to yours. I think I need some wallpaper.’
‘If you need any advice, I’d love to help,’ Hilary said. ‘As an arty person, you can’t live in a house with white walls.’
‘No, but I think I’ve only just realised that I can have it exactly how I want.’
Hilary laughed. ‘Welcome to the best thing about being single.’
‘You’re not single.’
‘True. Welcome to the best thing about living alone. As much as I love Toby, I don’t ever want to see the end of us having our own places.’
Nora enjoyed the walk to the coffee house, along streets she’d never been down before. This side of town was very different to where she lived, but although it was more built-up, it felt spread out and roomy. They walked around the edge of the park, past Croftwood Cinema, where there were quite a few people queuing.
‘They let you know who your partner is when you get to the door,’ Hilary explained.
‘Do you ever end up with Toby?’
‘We hardly ever read the same book,’ Hilary said. ‘This time, he chose that massive book about the kings and queens. I don’t know how he found the time to finish it.’
As they approached Oliver’s, they could see a couple of people queuing outside, but they’d gone in by the time they’d reached the door.
An older woman with her hair drawn back into a tight bun peered at Nora over her glasses. ‘Name?’
‘Nora Hartford.’
The woman ran her pencil down the list. ‘You’re meeting Constance. She’s the lady over there.’
‘This is Rosemary. She works at the library. Rosemary, Nora has just moved to Elderbrook Lane,’ Hilary said.
‘Welcome to Croftwood,’ Rosemary said. ‘Enjoy your evening. Hilary you’re with Sam.’
Nora headed over to where Rosemary had pointed, where an elegant lady with her hair in a Princess Anne style up do was sitting at a table for two. It seemed they were lucky to have a table to themselves. The place was thronging with people, and chairs were crammed into whatever space was available.
‘Hello there, are you Constance?’
‘I am. You must be…’
‘Nora.’
‘Nora, yes. Do take a seat. I’m desperate to hear what you thought of the book. I’ve never read anything that gripped me like this did.’
Nora sat down opposite Constance, who was absentmindedly rolling the stem of her wineglass in her fingers. Before she could answer, Oliver came over. ‘Coffee or wine?’ he asked.
‘Oat milk chai latte, please.’ Nora tapped her phone on the small card reader he held out to her.
‘Be a couple of minutes,’ he said with a smile before he was off to the next table.
‘He looks after us marvellously,’ Constance said.
‘Do you usually read psychological thrillers?’ Nora asked.
‘No. I’m a romance reader through and through, but this time Lois warned me that the romance book was rather steamy. That was how she put it, and apparently these steamy books are quite different to the racy books I used to enjoy. You know, Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, that sort of thing.’
‘I love those books. I used to sneak them out of my mum’s room and read them when I was a teenager.’
Constance threw her head back and laughed. ‘Wonderful!’ she said. ‘And do you read this new steamy romance?’
‘I’ve come across it,’ Nora said, thinking that Lois was probably right to divert Constance away from anything that might have more than a chapter or two of smut. ‘It actually gets quite boring to read after a while.’
Constance raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, really? In what way?’
Nora took a breath. Was she really going to explain how one novel she read had a blowjob that lasted more than a chapter? ‘Oh, I suppose it just gets a bit samey, hearing about how a man can curl his fingers and hit a G-spot the woman never knew she had.’
‘Good lord! How graphic.’
‘Sorry,’ Nora said, ‘I mean, it gets more graphic than that, so perhaps Lois was right.’
‘Quite. Thank goodness for The Housemaid.’
They had a very enjoyable discussion about the twists and turns of the novel and especially whether either of them had guessed the twist at the end, which they hadn’t.
‘Are you new to the town?’
‘Yes, I moved here just over a month ago from the Bristol area.’
‘Not somewhere I’m familiar with. I grew up in Hampstead before I came here. And what brought you to Croftwood?’
‘I wanted somewhere closer to my work, which is in Staffordshire, but there are great rail links to London from here and that’s handy for visiting my family in Surrey.’ It had been a while since Nora had visited her parents. They were retired teachers who spent most of their time travelling around Europe with their caravan. She made a note to plan something in before they went off on their usual trip to the south of France.
‘Any significant other?’ Constance asked unashamedly.
‘No. Just me.’
‘I have a son about your age,’ she began.
Nora’s heart sank. The last thing she wanted was for this evening to turn into dating after all.
‘He’s been single forever only because he finds it difficult to meet women.’
He sounded like a real catch.
‘I’m very recently out of a long-term relationship,’ said Nora, hoping this would stop the conversation in its tracks.
‘Oh, no. I think best to get back in the saddle at your age. As I said, my son is desperate to meet someone. Perhaps you’d like to come for dinner one evening?’
‘I don’t think that would be a good idea.’
‘No, of course not. Better if I ask him to give you a call?’
Thankfully, at that moment, Hilary came over and there was no need for Nora to tell Constance that in no circumstances was she interested in dating her desperate son.
‘Do you two want to come and join us? We’ve commandeered the big table by the window now that there’s a bit more space.’
‘Yes, lovely,’ Nora said, standing up straight away, hoping that she wasn’t coming across as desperate to get away from Constance as she was.
‘I’m going to sit with Linda. We’ve got some catching up to do about knitting,’ Constance said. ‘Lovely to meet you…’
‘Nora. Lovely to meet you too.’
Nora gave her biggest smile, one of relief, and followed Hilary over to the window. There was no opportunity to milk Hilary for information on Constance or her son because they were drawn into the group conversation as soon as they sat down. Nora happily listened to Hilary introduce her to Patsy, Jess and Penny and by the time they’d all heckled Hilary and interjected with thoughtful anecdotes about each other, she’d forgotten all about Constance’s son.
‘So what’s the best thing about Croftwood so far?’ Patsy asked her, shifting along the bench to make room for Lois who had just arrived.
‘This. The book club, obviously,’ said Lois, accepting a kiss from Oliver as he whizzed past delivering wine to another table.
‘It’s definitely a contender,’ Nora said.
‘The cinema’s the best thing,’ Patsy said. ‘Hey, are you all coming to the fortieth anniversary showing of the Breakfast Club?’
‘I never understood the appeal of that film,’ said Penny, who was in her fifties.
‘Penny! It’s a classic!’ Patsy protested. ‘The Brat Pack films are the best.’
‘Overrated.’ Penny said, emphatically.
‘I loved Andrew McCarthy,’ said Hilary with a sigh. Along with Penny she was the only one of the women around the table who would have been alive forty years ago.
‘If it was Pretty in Pink, I’d be there like a shot,’ said Lois.
‘That’s not forty until next year,’ Patsy said. ‘You’ll have to wait. Anyway, Molly Ringwald is in the Breakfast club, too. What more do you want?’
‘Do we get to dress up like the 190s?’ Jess asked.
‘Yes! And we’re having classic 190s food and drinks.’
‘The only food I remember from the 190s are Alphabites and Findus Crispy Pancakes,’ said Penny.
‘We used to have Mini Mac sausages every night when I was a child,’ said Hilary, making everyone laugh.
‘Well, it won’t be that kind of food,’ Patsy said. ‘But it’ll be amazing. And most importantly, Long Island Iced Tea was all the rage.’
‘I’ll come,’ said Jess. ‘And not just because of the cocktails. I’ve always wanted to dress up as Madonna in her Like a Virgin era.’
‘Madonna wasn’t in the Breakfast Club,’ said Penny.
‘It’s general 190s, not just Breakfast Club-specific dressing up,’ said Patsy.
‘Count me in,’ said Nora, thinking that this was the most fun she’d had in a long time. In fact aside from her group of swimming friends from Clevedon, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a group of friends like this.
‘Yes, Nora!’ Patsy said, smacking her palm on the table and making them all jump. ‘See? Nora’s into it.’
‘We’re all coming, Patsy,’ Lois said, grinning at her friend. ‘The theme nights at the cinema are always a good laugh and I quite fancy seeing Oliver in a long tweed trench coat.’
‘You’re not going to encourage him to go for the Emilio Estevez look and wear a vest top?’ Jess asked.
‘God no,’ Lois said, laughing. ‘Let’s leave that for someone who actually has some muscles to show off.’
By the time Toby joined them and it was time to leave, they’d all settled on who they were going to dress up as, even Penny.
‘I chose the wrong book,’ Toby said, as they strolled back to Hilary’s house. ‘The chap I was talking to was irritated beyond belief that it had an edge of comedy to it. What did he expect when it was written by David Mitchell? He was bitterly disappointed. But honestly, I’d never have got through it if it’d been a dry old boring history book. That’s why I chose it, because it seemed like a good opportunity to finally learn some history but have some fun with it.’
‘Oh, love,’ Hilary said, consoling him. ‘You can’t win them all. Did you tell him you enjoyed it?’
‘I tried. He didn’t want to hear it.’
Hilary and Nora couldn’t help giggling at how glum Toby was about the evening.
‘I know what will cheer you up. We’re going to the fortieth anniversary showing of the Breakfast Club at the cinema. We’re dressing up.’
‘Ha! No I’m not!’ Toby said.
‘Oh, spoilsport. I bet you’d look just like Rob Lowe if you had the right clothes.’
‘No thank you. Presumably I’m allowed to attend in my own clothes?’
‘I don’t know if you are. Isn’t that right, Nora?’
‘Honestly, I’m not sure,’ Nora said, diplomatically, but amused by their banter. ‘But you probably want to avoid anyone thinking you’re dressed up when you’re not.’
Toby laughed. ‘Good point. In which case, I’ll think about it.’
‘I could buy you a Frankie Says Relax t-shirt,’ suggested Hilary.
‘We’ll see.’
’Thanks for a great evening,’ Nora said when they got to Hilary’s and she dug her car keys out of her pocket.
‘Glad you enjoyed it. You did enjoy it, didn’t you?’
Now wasn’t the time to debrief Hilary on the conversation with Constance. She’d save that for another day. ‘It was brilliant. Really good fun.’