Page 35
So when I’d spotted her this morning in the Henshaw kitchen, I couldn’t hide the way I was feeling. She picked up immediately on the hardness of my words and the ice in my stare. I feel bad about that, but not bad enough if she’s lied to me. I hate to think I’m being made a fool of, and if she’s calculating enough to lie to her best friend about being in a relationship, then what’s to stop her from lying to me?
I reach the garden, hoping the sun and fresh air will calm me, but I almost jump when I find Alice already perched on the bench, her hands stuffed between her knees.
Placing my lunch on the table opposite her, I straddle the bench.
“No lunch?” I note the absence of food on the table and have a niggly feeling that, maybe, she presumed I’d be bringing her something after I brought her the couscous on Wednesday.
“I ate it on my first break. I was hungry,” she says quickly, her eyes dull and her face full of worry, which I don’t like. But then I remind myself that she could’ve been lying to me all this time. But then I can’t help the anxiety about her being hungry later on in the day.
“Won’t you be hungry later?”
“No,” she answers. Then her chest inflates, and she begins in good old Alice fashion. “Didn’t you want to talk about something? Is it about Operation Wedding? Is Paul not happy about it? I mean, I totally understand if he isn’t. It’s a long day, and I can’t expect him to sacrifice his time with you for some woman from your work, and not only is it the wedding, but now shopping on Sunday. Does he want to come with us? He can totally come with us if he’d like to. I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, I’d love it if he came with us.”
She stops, but only to draw breath, so I speak first.
“Shopping isn’t really his scene,” I tell her. “Besides, he won’t be allowed in half the shops.”
“He won’t?” Her face screws up. “Why the hell not? Is he banned? Can you even get banned from a shop? Oh my God, is he a serial shoplifter? Has he been caught that many times that he’s a known lifter and has his photo behind the checkout?”
She’s not even looking at me now, thoughts just erupting from her mouth.
I’m so confused. “He’s not a shoplifter, and he isn’t banned,” I explain. “It’s more to do with him peeing on the floor.”
Alice stares at me, so I add, “He’s not as young as he used to be, and when you gotta go, you gotta go,” I tell her, hoping to untangle the crossed wires, but all it appears to have done is pulled them tighter, as Alice’s face looks weird now, like she’s been sucking on lemons. Honestly, I’m not sure which one of us is more baffled.
“Wow. How old is he? I mean, I’m all for the age gap, but seriously? Or is he ill? Oh my God, I’m so sorry if he’s ill or had major surgery. I didn’t think.” She presses her fingers to her lips as if to try and staunch her next sentence, but it doesn’t work. “So, like, are you his registered carer?”
What the…? Something isn’t right here. “Alice, who do you think Paul is?”
“Well, he’s your partner, isn’t he? Boyfriend.” She looks down at my left hand. “There’s no ring, so you guys aren’t married unless you don’t wear your ring for work.”
“Oh my God.” I put my head in my hands.
“What? What’s wrong?”
I pull my phone from my pocket.
“This is Paul.” I hold it out and show her my home screen, which is a photo of Paul taken last year when I bought him a new jumper for Christmas.
She stares at the screen and then looks up at me.
“But that’s a dog,” she points out.
“Yes.”
“A sausage dog.”
“A miniature dachshund, yes.”
“But I thought….” She trails off.
“You thought what?”
She claps her hand over her mouth and stares at me before answering. “I thought Paul was your partner.”
I hold her gaze as I say, “My partner.”
“Yes. The first time I met you, you said you were tired because Paul had kept you up all night snoring, so I presumed….” Her words trickle away as if she’s come to the end of her wire and isn’t sure what to do with it, so I pick it up for her.
