‘I’m not sure. He was a bit vague. He broke up with Sam a couple of months ago, and I don’t think he’s seeing anyone else.’
‘So, you’re from Dublin, Claire?’ Emma asked her.
‘Yes. I’m just over for the weekend.’
‘You’re staying with Mark?’ she asked, smiling knowingly at him.
‘Um… yes.’
‘Well, you’re a dark horse, Mark,’ Jamie said. ‘You never told us you were having an international fling. All those business trips are starting to make sense now.’
‘Theywerebusiness trips,’ Mark said. ‘Claire and I have only just started seeing each other. And it’s not a fling, by the way.’
‘Ooh!’ Jamie and Patrick chorused childishly.
Claire suddenly felt self-conscious, as if she was on trial with his friends and they were all sizing her up. She got the feeling these people were very important to him, and she wanted them to like her.
‘Don’t mind them,’ Mark said to her. ‘They’re such children.’
‘Sorry,’ Emma said to Claire. ‘We’re being silly – toomuch wine and no food. Where’s bloody Andy?’ she shouted to the table at large.
Right on cue, the doorbell rang. ‘That’ll be him now,’ Olivia said, getting up and leaving the room.
‘Thank God for that,’ Patrick said. ‘At last we can eat.’
‘What are we having anyway?’ Diane asked. ‘Does anyone know?’
‘Knowing Olivia, it’ll probably be some vile invention of hers.’
They were all chatting and giggling about Olivia’s cooking when she came striding back into the room. Claire was surprised that she was rather stoney-faced – and was she imagining it or had she glanced warily at Mark?
‘Andy’s here,’ she said tightly, ‘and he’s brought someone.’ She was followed into the room by a tall, dark-haired man and a ravishingly pretty girl with thick waves of strawberry blonde hair tumbling down her back.
Everyone fell silent, and all eyes flew to Mark.
‘Hi, you guys,’ the blonde said, smiling. Either she was oblivious to the atmosphere in the room or she was choosing to ignore it. Patrick and Diane were obviously stunned, Jamie looked cross, and Emma appeared downright hostile as they greeted her in turn. They all kept darting furtive glances at Mark, as if they were expecting him to explode.
‘Sophie.’ Mark finally nodded in acknowledgement.
‘And who’s this?’ Sophie asked, her eyes settling on Claire.
‘This is Claire,’ Mark introduced her. ‘Claire – Sophie and Andy.’
Sophie extended a heavily braceleted hand. ‘Nice to meet you, Claire.’ She smiled, blatantly sizing her up. Then her eyes slid questioningly to Mark. ‘Well, you haven’t wasted any time,’ she said, as she took the seat onMark’s other side, her dazzling smile never slipping. ‘I go into rehab for five minutes and find I’ve been replaced.’
Her mischievous smile belied the bitterness of her words, but they hit Claire like a slap. She didn’t know where to look. Was this why everyone had been acting so shiftily when Sophie arrived – because Mark was supposed to be her boyfriend and instead he’d turned up withher? Because he’d cheated on Sophie while she was in rehab?
Irritation crossed Mark’s features. ‘Sophie, you know we’d?—’
‘So, what’s for supper, Ol?’ Sophie interrupted, pouring herself a huge glass of wine. ‘I’m starving!’
‘Should you be doing that?’ Olivia asked, frowning, as Sophie raised the glass to her lips.
‘Oh, Christ, you’re right!’ Sophie stopped herself as she was about to take a sip. She lowered the glass. ‘God, I’m such a dunce! I’ll never graduate from rehab like this. Here, you have it,’ she said, sliding the glass across to Andy.
Olivia smiled reluctantly. ‘I’ll go and get the first course.’
‘What do you think it’s going to be?’ Sophie hissed, once Olivia was out of the room. ‘Not one of her “creations”, I hope.’
