Chapter 3
Three
I ARRIVED AT HALF ten. I’d not been to the house since our first week of term.
Was this the right one? I looked at the engraved slate.
Lamia. I lowered my face to the intercom and announced myself.
After a moment, the gate clunked to life, sliding open to reveal the Parker family pile in all its glory.
I gazed up at the house. Despite its obvious charm, the higgledy-piggledy Victorian red-brick and climbing cirrus of ivy, the place had a fuck-you solidity to it, a sort of insouciant confidence that it would outlast the trivial lives of those that dwelled within.
I crunched along the gravel path and climbed the steps.
Moths fluttered about the porch lantern.
Before I could ring the bell, the door swung open to reveal Victoria standing in the hall, wearing a white shirt dress, her hair trying to escape from a messy braid down one shoulder.
‘Sweetheart, you made it.’ She kissed me once on each cheek and pulled me inside.
The house was much the same: high ceilings, cream panelled walls, a bowl of blue lilies and tastefully arranged objets to draw the eye.
Victoria led me through into the kitchen where Obi, Stefano and Jolly were already gathered.
The three of them laughed as Stefano delivered the punchline to some lewd joke.
Jolly caught my eye just as a man in his mid-thirties emerged from the pantry cradling a bag of Doritos.
‘Darling, this is Terrence. Terrence, Shannon.’
He was wearing a rumpled pinstripe suit, like he’d come straight from the office. I smiled and the man raised his beer. He had grey hollows beneath his eyes, a pattern of stubble along his jawline, and an obvious nick from where he’d cut himself shaving.
‘Terrence got fired yesterday and has been drinking for twenty-four hours straight,’ Jolly said, announcing this to the room like it was the funniest thing in the world.
‘It’s true.’ The man pulled Jolly into a headlock and kissed him on the temple. ‘I’m fucked.’
I smiled uncertainly.
‘Drink, Shan?’ Victoria asked.
I glanced around at the discarded bottles of Peroni.
‘A beer, please.’
Victoria opened the fridge, briefly revealing two pristine rows of champagne, their foil tips gleaming like the pistons of an organ. She handed me the beer and I sat down at the marble kitchen island.
A bell chimed.
‘One sec.’ She hurried away, her feet slapping the rustic stone floor. I heard a chorus of voices. More people.
‘So, Terrence,’ I said, ‘what is it you do?’
‘Jesus, Shannon,’ Jolly said, tearing into the crisps. ‘He got fired yesterday.’
‘No, right, of course,’ I stammered, blushing. ‘I meant, what did you do before – before you got—?’
‘Recruitment,’ the man barked. ‘Boring as hell. Don’t try it. You lot are right to stick to the stage.’ Jolly smiled and nuzzled the man’s stubble. ‘I should never have quit,’ he added.
‘You were an actor, then?’ Obi said.
‘Yep. For ten years. Tough fucking business.’
‘Where did you train?’
‘The Reading Conservatoire. Had the time of my life. They were a good bunch. Not the teachers mind, the students. The faculty were clinically insane.’
‘So, why did you quit?’ Stefano asked.
‘Because there was no work and I had bills to pay.’ He took another swig of his drink and swilled the contents around his mouth.
‘And then, well, I suppose I got into a bit of a sticky situation in Northampton. Uncle Vanya. Assistant director took a dislike to me. Closeted little fuck. Started spreading muck around. Anyway, shit sticks. My agent dropped me. They said they were offloading some clients, but I knew. I suppose you’d say I was blacklisted or something like that.
Whatever happened, the work dried up at least.’ He blinked rapidly and knocked back the last of his beer.
‘Anyway, all that? It’s a young man’s game.
’ He cleared his throat. ‘Frankly, I don’t have the energy. ’
‘Well, I’ll never quit. I’ll be a star for the both of us,’ Jolly said, circling his arms around Terrence’s neck and planting a kiss on his lips.
‘Guys, this is Emi, Sebastian and Kit,’ Victoria said, leading more people inside. She gestured in our direction. ‘Jolly, Obi, Stefano, Terrence and Shannon.’
The new people said their hellos, mixed themselves drinks, then wandered through the French doors and out onto the lawn.
The bell chimed again. Victoria hopped to her feet.
‘Jesus, V,’ Jolly said. ‘I thought you said it was just us. How many people have you invited to this thing?’
Victoria bit her lip and smiled. ‘Oh, just a few.’