Chapter Seven
‘Are you sure I have to come?’ asked Xander, when they were waiting for Nick to pick them up to go to the quiz (he’d insisted). ‘Mum often leaves me in the house on my own. I’m always fine.’
‘You’re not coming for your sake, but for the team. A young person is always a huge asset, so my friend Rose tells me. Besides, you might have a good time.’
‘I wish Luke was coming.’
‘Why’s that?’ Hattie felt the same but didn’t really know why. She didn’t think he was a natural quizzer.
‘I like him. He’s cool.’
‘You know there’s a film called Cool Hand Luke?’
‘Is it good?’
‘I’ve never seen it. I’m no good at film or pop music.’
‘Pop music!’ said Xander disgustedly. ‘Who listens to that?’
Luckily Nick drove up before Hattie could expose herself to even more ridicule.
They were early, which meant they could still find space in a car park which was rapidly filling up.
‘There are obviously lots of people coming,’ said Nick. ‘Your friend will be pleased.’
‘I just hope she managed to get enough people. I’ve only rounded up five and she wanted two teams of six.’
‘It’s not your job to provide people for her teams,’ said Nick, possibly realising that Hattie felt responsible. ‘You’re only doing it out of kindness.’
‘Of course. Let’s go in.’
Sheila’s name was on a couple of tables, so Hattie claimed one of them. ‘I wonder if she’s got a sixth person for us?’ she said, knowing she was going to wangle it to be Fiona if she possibly could.
‘Glass of wine?’ asked Nick. ‘You may as well. And, Xander, what about you? Coke OK?’
As Xander nodded, Hattie replied, ‘One glass then. Red, please.’
‘I hope it’s drinkable,’ said Nick, and set off to the bar, which was a table covered with a cloth and various bottles of wine. Fiona had told her that Lance had donated six bottles. He had an excellent palate, apparently. With luck, she’d get a glass of the wine he had chosen.
Nick came back with the drinks. ‘I gathered from the women running the bar that Mrs Anstruther-Jones, who’s in charge, will fill up any teams with fewer than six members with random people who aren’t already on a team.
Which is a bit like Russian roulette – they may be brilliant or they may not be. ’
‘It will be more fun to have people we know,’ said Hattie, determined not to miss an opportunity for Nick and Fiona to meet.
‘Though maybe someone who’s a cricket expert could be useful.’
‘Maybe,’ said Hattie.
Rose and Sam arrived shortly after and Hattie made the introductions. She was pleased and relieved to see that Nick, who had seemed fairly grumpy when she first knew him, was being pleasant. He was brisk, yes, but not without charm.
Xander managed to make ‘hello’ noises and Rose and Sam kindly didn’t press him for more. Hattie could tell Rose was sizing Nick up. She was always trying to get Hattie paired up – she reckoned she owed her, and she wasn’t far wrong.
Everyone sat down to sip their drinks and nibble on the snacks, while looking at their watches.
‘I want to nab one of Sheila’s party,’ said Hattie. ‘But where are they? It’s nearly time to start.’
At that moment the door of the hall opened and a group of people came in, Sheila leading the pack. Hattie ran over.
‘Hi!’ she said enthusiastically. ‘Can I bag Fiona for our team? Luke couldn’t come unfortunately, so we’re one short.’
‘Fiona’s not really known for her general knowledge, is she?’ said Lance, giving his fiancée a squeeze. ‘So you’re welcome to her.’
‘Do you mind, Fiona? We’d be so grateful. That leaves you one short, I see, but Mrs Very Long Name will assign you someone at random.’
Lance laughed. ‘You’d probably do better with one of them than with my lovely Fifi here.’
Hattie hooked her arm through Fiona’s and was about lead her to her team when her eye was caught. ‘Oh!’ she said to Sheila’s friend. ‘What a pretty scarf!’
The woman put her hand up to touch it. ‘Isn’t it? Sheila lent it to me. I suddenly remembered how cold village halls can be, even in summer, so Sheila produced this. I really like it.’
So did Hattie, but for different reasons. ‘It goes well with your top. Now come along, Fiona,’ she said, leading the way to her table.
‘I’m quite glad not to be with Lance and Daddy, they’re so confident they’re going to win and won’t let me give any answers anyway,’ said Fiona when the introductions had been made.
‘Oh, that’s a shame for them,’ said Nick with a smile. ‘Because we’re going to win.’
‘Well said!’ Rose patted his arm encouragingly. ‘I’m afraid I can get awfully competitive, although as there are such huge gaps in my knowledge, I’m very willing to let other people give answers.’
‘Can I get you a drink?’ Nick asked Fiona.
‘Don’t worry. We’re just about to start,’ she replied, obviously not wanting to be a nuisance.
‘There’s plenty of time,’ said Nick calmly. ‘What would you like?’
‘I don’t suppose they’ve got any Prosecco?’ she said.
‘I think they have. What would you like otherwise? Nick said.
‘Something not too – you know – alcoholic.’
‘He’s very nice,’ she said, when Nick had gone.
‘Yes, he is,’ said Rose, trying to catch Hattie’s eye.
Mrs Anstruther-Jones scraped her chair back and the hall quietened.
She announced that because in past years there’d been the implication that teams marking each other’s papers was not perhaps a method to be entirely trusted, the papers would now be marked by the committee.
‘The raffle will be drawn while the marking is being done so it won’t be a late night.
A list of prizes is on the back of the leaflets. ’
‘Ooh, a week away in a Paris apartment,’ said Rose, reading the list. ‘That would be amazing. Have we bought raffle tickets?’ Sam knew his cue and dutifully approached the bar for tickets.
At last the quiz began. The first question was asked, and heads drew together.
Although Hattie could be a keen quizzer, tonight she was intent on studying Nick and Fiona for signs of chemistry. He was very courteous to her, that was certain, but he was being very polite generally. It was hard to know.
‘We seem to be doing quite well,’ said Rose. ‘Xander, your knowledge of computer games is encyclopaedic.’
‘That’s not what my mum would call it,’ he said, but was apparently pleased with the compliment in a quiet way.
Once Fiona realised that her answers were given the same weight as everyone else’s, she started to make more suggestions. But only Nick said much during the round on flags. It was the last one before the interval.
Lance came over. ‘How are you doing? We’re pretty well spot on apart from that last round,’ he said.
‘Even the ladies made a contribution when we had to recognise celebrities. Who says reading Hello! is a waste of time!’ He laughed in the way of a man who definitely thought reading Hello! was a waste of time.
‘Fiona was good on the birds round, wasn’t she?’ said Rose.
‘Oh, yes. Sheila was good on those too,’ Lance acknowledged. ‘And I suppose you had the computer games round licked,’ he said to Xander.
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘He was also good on the film round,’ said Rose. ‘He was the only one among us who knew anything about Francis Ford Coppola. I just about knew he’d directed The Godfather—’
‘Oh,’ said Lance, still patronising, ‘that was a tough one, wasn’t it? No shame for not getting that. We did, of course.’
‘The Conversation,’ said Xander. ‘So did we.’
‘Oh,’ said Lance again, deflated. ‘Does anyone need a drink? What have you got there, Fiona? Prosecco? I didn’t know they had that.’
‘It was under the counter,’ said Nick. ‘Very nice red, Lance. I gather we have you to thank.’
The conversation then went on to wine and most of the group tuned out.
‘I don’t know if I want Lance’s team to win or not,’ said Fiona, obviously forgetting that, officially, it was her mother’s team. ‘He’ll be so… grumpy if they don’t.’
Hattie and Rose found themselves exchanging glances. ‘Well, there’s not much we can do about the results,’ said Rose.
‘And people need to learn how to be good sports,’ said Sam. ‘I think we’re doing rather well. More raffle tickets. How much are they again?’
Everyone was very generous in their buying of raffle tickets. ‘Mummy’s offering to take someone to the opera in that stately home,’ said Fiona.
‘What a very generous prize!’ said Nick.
‘Do you think so? Lance said that no one wanted to go to the opera in a muddy field, even if there was a picnic. Luckily Mum wasn’t in earshot when he said it!’ Fiona laughed.
Hattie realised that she quite often laughed when she was telling stories about Lance, as if they were actually funny, and didn’t reveal him to be utterly vile. She wondered if, deep down, Fiona knew what her fiancé was like.
The second half of the quiz began. Xander, who’d lost all his shyness by now, was very active in some quite rarified questions.
‘Mummy said people travel for miles to come to this quiz because the prizes are good and the questions are hard. Apparently pub teams like the challenge.’
‘So Lance will be up against some stiff competition,’ said Rose.
‘And so will we!’ said Hattie.
As far as she could tell, her team was doing very well. Her knowledge of history and literature had been used up and now it was mostly Nick, Xander and Sam who were coming up with the answers in the geography round. Fiona’s knowledge of the Kardashians had proven pretty useful too.
‘They’ll wish they had you on their team,’ said Hattie. ‘Lance has been sending longing looks in this direction.’
‘That may be because he’s missing you,’ said Rose.
Fiona laughed. ‘Maybe! I think the wedding is making him very stressed.’
‘It’s because he’s paying too much attention to detail,’ said Hattie.
The last question was answered, papers were gathered in. Both of Sheila’s teams stood up and went to visit each other.
‘That was so difficult!’ said Sheila. ‘No wonder Rachel finds it hard to get people. Although I was able to get the Dartford warbler question. We needed you, sweetie, for the popular culture although Camille was very good.’
Sheila’s old friend, Camille, still wearing the scarf that Hattie had seen in her vision of Nick, brushed away the praise. ‘It was Lance. He knew everything! You’re marrying a very clever young man, Fiona.’
‘I know,’ said Fiona proudly. ‘I’m so lucky he chose a goofball like me.’
‘Being good at quizzes isn’t very high up on the list of reasons to pick a husband,’ said Rose.
‘Although intelligence is,’ said Hattie. She agreed with Rose wholeheartedly but didn’t want to antagonise Lance.
Xander suddenly yawned. He could have been bored by the conversation going on around him or he could have been tired. Hattie looked at Nick, catching his eye.
‘Do you need to go?’ he said. ‘I’m busy first thing too. If you’re ready, I’ll take you.’
‘But you won’t know who won!’ said Fiona.
‘You can text me,’ said Hattie.
‘You might have won a raffle prize,’ said Sheila.
‘You can tell me about that too,’ said Hattie.
She suddenly felt uncomfortable and she couldn’t tell if there was an atmosphere or if she was just tired and bored, but either way, she wanted to leave.
‘I think we did really well!’ she said, when she and Xander were settled in Nick’s car and on the way home. ‘You really are good at quizzes, both of you. Although we may not have beaten Lance’s team.’
‘I should bloody well hope we have,’ said Nick. ‘I don’t think he knows as much as he thinks he does.’
‘Fiona was good too,’ said Xander, to Hattie’s surprise. ‘It was a good quiz.’
‘She was,’ Nick agreed. He paused. ‘So – er – I gather Fiona is spoken for?’
‘Yes, she’s engaged to Lance,’ said Hattie.
‘Shame,’ muttered Nick, to Hattie’s huge satisfaction.
To gloss over the slightly awkward silence, Hattie went on, ‘I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself, Xander. I know I dragged you along against your will but you were really useful.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Nick. ‘You must have really pissed off Lance with that film question.’
He said this in a way that made Hattie feel there was a very good reason for Nick’s obvious aversion to a man he’d only just met. But with the wedding only a week away, was it too late to get Fiona and Nick together?
Hattie had a text from Fiona, sent at past midnight. ‘We won! Lance is not happy. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have played for your team.’
Hattie resolved to do all she could to help Fiona see sense in the next week.