‘Have you got a one who got away, Renee?’ asked Jay.
‘Goodness, no. I did it all.’
‘How about you, Jay?’ asked Nora.
‘Far too many to list really. Although…’ He tilted hishead and looked wistfully off into the distance, which just happened to be a painting on Renee’s wall of a naked woman. ‘Layla Davis.’ He sighed deeply after her name. ‘She was perfect. Like she’d walked off a film set.’
‘Given your line of work, had she?’ asked Nora.
‘No. She worked in the sandwich bar at uni. My heart used to properly flutter when she asked me if I wanted plain or seeded.’
Nora failed to suppress a giggle. Jay gave her a look. ‘Sorry, carry on,’ she said.
‘Big eyes. The kind you could look into for hours. And a smile that brightened a room, or in this case the student canteen. After a while she knew my order and would have it ready for me every day.’
‘What did you have?’ asked Renee.
‘Cheese and onion on seeded,’ he said.
Nora knew she was scrunching up her features but she couldn’t help it. ‘But you hate onions.’
‘Yeah. She got the order wrong so it used to take me ages to pick the bits of onion out. Happy times.’
‘Why didn’t you ask her out on a date?’ asked Renee.
‘No confidence. But I heard she was obsessed with horror movies so I figured if I became an actor and one day starred in one, it would be the perfect story.’
‘Bloody hell, Jay,’ snapped Renee. ‘What a pifflingly long-winded way to go about it! It would have been a lot easier and quicker to just ask her, “Hey, what are you doing for sex later?”’
‘I couldn’t ask anyone that.’
‘And that’s just sex,’ said Nora. ‘It’s not a relationship.’
‘My point exactly,’ said Jay.
‘Sex is a relationship, isn’t it?’ asked Renee, looking at the others. They both slowly shook their heads.
‘Hogwash.’ Renee seemed to pause for a minute and Nora didn’t know what to do. Renee stared into her glass. Nora wondered if all Renee’s relationships had been transient sexual encounters, which was quite sad. Renee’s head snapped up. ‘Oh well, I had a damn good time. Cheers!’ and they clinked mugs with her glass.
Renee put a finger in the air and everyone stopped. ‘Actually, there was one person. There was one who got away. Mersea Island 1969. Theo Carlisle. Absolute darling. Kind, considerate and smart. Not my type at all. Artist. Painted blurry flowers. Utterly bewitched, I was.’
Everyone was leaning forwards. ‘What happened?’ asked Nora in almost a whisper.
‘Parents,’ said Renee. ‘They didn’t approve. Theo married a teacher and I went on tour with Julie Driscoll and the Brian Auger Trinity.’
Everyone was gobsmacked.
‘You must have heard of the song “Wheels On Fire”?’ Renee was looking at the blank faces.
‘I’m afraid not,’ said Jay. ‘But I’m sorry about Theo.’
Nora nodded. Renee shrugged but definitely seemed to be carrying a little sadness after what she’d shared. Nora and Jay exchanged glances. Nora felt unexpectedly emotional at the thought that Renee may have missed out on a meaningful relationship. It made her evenmore determined to complete her review of her exes. She didn’t want to be Renee in a few years’ time, sitting there with a gin and tonic wondering if she’d thrown something magical away. ‘Renee, I’m sorry,’ said Nora.
‘Don’t be. I’d have only messed it up anyway.’
30
Nora had had a busy day squeezing in all the jobs she couldn’t do in the week and was looking forward to putting her feet up in front of the TV. What she didn’t need was to open her front door to the sound of her parents singing. They were belting out ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley. Rick-rolled by her own mum and dad– what was going on? She stood in the kitchen doorway for a full minute before they noticed she was home. Ali hastily put down the soup ladle he was using as a stand-in microphone.
