Wasit amazing? Vince has no recollection whatsoever. ‘Yeah, it’s been lovely. So, um...’
‘Great,’ Zoe cuts in. ‘So, I just wanted to say...’
‘Erm, look, I know I’m a bit late with the book, Zo.’ Is it okay to call her Zo? He’s never done that before.
‘Well, actually, Vince, the reason I’m calling is to tell you—’
‘The thing is, it’s nearly finished. I just need a bit more time—’
‘Please don’t worry about it,’ she says firmly.
Vince blinks, momentarily stunned. ‘Oh, really?’
‘Yes. Not at all. Just take your time with it and see how you go...’
‘Really?’ Vince croaks.
‘Honestly, yes. Don’t stress. We’re not in a hurry for it at the moment. Or actually at all. I mean, there’s no rush. So just finish it in your own time, okay?’
Anxiety prickles at him now. He can do itin his own time? Has his hilarious take on the absurdities of modern life plummeted to the realms of some vague homework assignment? ‘I’m sure it’s going to be great,’ she adds. ‘I’m so excited to read it!’
He doesn’t know Zoe that well. Through their handful of face-to-face meetings, and a few chats on the phone, he’s gathered that she’s just moved out from North London to Hertfordshire and is married to her university boyfriend and ran this year’s London Marathon in under five hours. Beyond that, it’s a void.
But Vince has been around the block, and he knows when his act is going well, and when he’s tanking, and he knows when people are sucking up to him just because he’s a little bit famous now, or they want to be genuine friends.
He’s developed this radar over the past few years. He’s pretty certain that Kate has been having a whale of a time in London with her old mates, and that she and Tash are sitting around in pyjamas in Tash’s kitchen right now, chatting and laughing just like old times.
And he knows, as much as he can ever know anything, that Zoe is lying to him.
Much later, at around twoa.m., Vince wakes with a start, sensing that something is different. For two whole, empty weeks he’s been horribly conscious of the empty side of the bed. He’s tried to fill it, splaying out his arms and legs in order to inhabit maximum space. But it’s felt odd and awkward – like trying to mimic someone else’s walk.
However, at this moment it feels less empty than it has in recent times. In fact it feels almost normal, like it used to, with his warm, softly breathing wife in it.
He must be imagining it because Kate has left him, just like Colin Carse’s wife left him, the only upside being that Kate isn’t shagging a driving instructor.
She might be, he reflects, for all he knows. She might be going through all the manoeuvres at this very moment. Yet the thought soon dissipates, and he is soothed once again by the closeness of another living being.
Vince can hardly bear to look.
‘Kate?’ he says softly.
He can hear breathing: a gentle in and out. In and out. The tension of that terrible Saturday night, of upsetting Colin and having nothing to contribute to the planning of next year’s book festival – as well as today’s bizarre conversation with Zoe – seems to leave his chest. Now he’s thinking, what kind of man is he to have commented on the hair he’d noticed poking out of Kate’s chin? Or expected her to throw a buffet together the minute she’d come home from work? He’ll be kinder – far kinder – from now on. He’ll never make disparaging remarks about her corrugated vest or massive pants. He won’t even say she looks good for her age, as he did recently – which had her looking as if she’d happily take a bread knife to him. And now, having vowed to turn over a new leaf, he flops an arm over the soft warm furry—
Furry?Vince jolts fully awake, realising a line has been crossed. At some point during the night, he has been taken advantage of. For a moment he’s poised to shoo the interloper from his bed and shut the bedroom door firmly. But then, it feels so good to have the warmth of his body close by, demanding nothing; not recipes or ras-el-hanout or that he shares the details of his marriage break-up with the neighbourhood. Even the faint whiff of not especially fragrant breath is weirdly pleasant. So instead he murmurs, ‘Make yourself comfortable, why don’t you?’ Then, edging a little closer to the slumbering hound, Vince falls soundly asleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Kate
Stunning 6 Bedroom House For Sale
Osprey House is a magnificent baronial home set in a rural Perthshire location within beautifully landscaped gardens. Having previously operated as a B&B, the house could equally be an idyllic family home.
‘So our work here is done,’ Alice announces.
‘It is. And doesn’t it look amazing?’ I say.
‘Not too shabby, I suppose.’ We laugh at her understatement. After days of dark, brooding skies, the sun had burst through obligingly when the estate agent’s photographer arrived. The house looked spectacular against the sweeping hills, all traces of gloominess gone.
