Birmingham Friends

by Annie Murray

  Olivia’s voice broke in across the table, somehow claiming her. ‘Anna’s mother and I were very dear friends, a long time ago. We’ve only just got back in touch.’ She beamed indulgently round the table. ‘We’re going to have a lot of catching up to do.’

  Anna felt a strange feeling of elation, of having been singled out. A flush spread across her cheeks. She kept glancing at Olivia throughout the meal, resplendent in the glossy blue of the sari, regal, presiding over the table and her admirers. She could see now what it was that had made Kate adore her so much, something in her, a combination of charm and vulnerability which made you feel prepared to do anything for her. Anna found herself waiting for responding glances from Olivia and she was not disappointed. Often she did look over, giving her a smile both affectionate and complicit. After a time Anna began to forget the incongruity of her response. It was as if the past had nothing to do with this Olivia. Whatever her problems had been she had clearly overcome them. She was as charming and lovable as the childhood Olivia Kate had known. Anna relaxed, enjoying her.

  Krish spent much of the meal clowning, Theo his foil, both of them laughing, but Krish by far the loudest. Ben talked seriously to Olivia, who occasionally turned to Sean. Once, she laid a hand on Sean’s and said, ‘There is more bread in the oven. Would you be a darling? They’re in tin foil . . .’ And Sean got up to fetch them, with the silent compliance of a dog.

  ‘How’re you finding teaching then?’ a voice said. Anna, concentrating on watching Sean, turned, startled, to Jake.

  ‘I’m sorry? Teaching? Well . . .’ She had various stock answers to this question. For Richard something upbeat and idealistic; for Kate, a more straightforward assessment of the job, but not going so far as to include the truth of how draining she found it, how hardly a day passed when she didn’t feel despair; for others there were the brief social replies: ‘Fine,’ or ‘Well, it’s a challenge.’

  Since she didn’t know Jake at all and had no time to think of anything else, the only option was to be honest. ‘I think since I’ve been a teacher I’ve lost any illusions I ever had that I’m a nice, reasonable person.’

  She thought he might be tediously disconcerted, as people so often were when she said something honest. Instead, he gave a laugh of recognition, the serious face suddenly transformed. ‘Very like being a parent, then.’

  ‘I don’t know. I can imagine, though.’ She tried to remember what she’d been told about Jake. ‘You’ve got kids?’

  ‘One. A little girl, Elly. She’s just four. Only she lives with my wife – ex-wife.’

  Anna groped for a response. ‘You must miss her.’

  Jake swallowed a mouthful of wine. ‘Like hell.’ He jerked his head to one side to flick back the hair from his face and forced a smile. She liked the smile and knew she was going to like him. There was something open about him, and genuine.

  ‘You live in Coventry, then?’

  ‘I did until recently. With my boyfriend.’ She managed a comical face. ‘Ex-boyfriend.’

  Again, the generous laugh. ‘Oh dear. You’d better have some more wine!’

  Olivia, seeing Jake’s hand poised over Anna’s glass, called across, ‘You’d be welcome to stay the night. Why not? I even have toothbrushes!’

  Automatically, Anna said, ‘Thank you, but I think I’d better get back. I’ll get a cab.’ She was so used to being tied to home, to Richard, who admired spontaneity but only on his terms. But now there was only Kate’s empty house and she realized too late that she needn’t have refused.

  Olivia accepted the refusal graciously. ‘Do whatever suits you best, my dear. Actually I teach early tomorrow, so unfortunately I shouldn’t have much time to see you.’ She leaned forward. ‘And I so want us to have a talk.’ The smile she produced actually made Anna’s heart beat faster.

  Jake had refilled her glass. Turning to thank him, she caught him watching her and saw an expression in his eyes that she couldn’t quite read – puzzled, or worried – but before she could think about it further there was a loud outburst from Krish. She watched him, his laugh high and giggling, cheeks pink. He had drunk too much, she could see. She wondered what it was he and Jake could possibly have in common.

  ‘Does Krish work for you or something?’ she asked Jake. ‘Is that how you know each other?’

  He nodded. ‘He has done. I’ve got my own business in School Road. He’s worked there during a couple of holidays.’ He grinned at Olivia. ‘She came in to buy a dresser and by the time she’d left she’d talked me into giving her son a job. Persuaded me he’d be the best thing that ever happened to me . . .’

  ‘Which of course I was,’ Krish interrupted, his voice loud and slurred.

  ‘No more wine for you,’ Olivia said sternly. She beamed at Jake. ‘And wasn’t I right?’

  ‘He’s pretty good at making tea,’ Jake teased.

  Olivia let out a loud laugh, wine loud, Anna thought, just beyond what was called for.

  ‘He learned a lot actually,’ Jake added hastily.

  ‘So what d’you sell?’

  ‘Furniture, mainly. Stripped-pine stuff – do a lot of it myself. It’s getting very popular. I have a few other bits and bobs in to decorate the shop, but I go for the big stuff really – cupboards and dressers, that sort of thing.’

  ‘I like shops like that.’

  Jake shrugged. ‘Come and see it then. It’s not far.’

  She found herself talking with Jake for most of the rest of the evening, through the kulfi – ice cream sprinkled with shavings of pistachio nuts – the slices of mango and cups of strong black coffee.

  ‘You all need sobering up,’ Olivia said. Sean volunteered for the coffee making. Anna saw Jake’s eyes follow him as he disappeared unsteadily into the kitchen.

  They all moved to the other end of the room, lounging in easy chairs, congratulating Olivia on the food, and she sat on the sofa covered in its bright fabrics, between Theo and Krish, arranging the end of the sari over her shoulder with an air of cream-fed satisfaction.

  Sean handed round squat cups of coffee and sat on a chair to one side, scowling. He made Anna feel very uneasy, as if he was a servant, someone without equal status to the rest of them.

  Theo was telling jokes about his family, making the three on the sofa laugh loudly. Ben joined in politely. And Anna and Jake talked. They talked about films and books, comparing tastes, keeping mostly off the subject of their own lives, except that Jake mentioned having moved to Birmingham at the age of ten from Staffordshire. Through the shouts of laughter from across the room she told him briefly about Kate’s death and he was sympathetic and not over-effusive. There still seemed to be a lot of things to say when Olivia stood up suddenly.

  ‘I think it’s time we broke this up, pity though it is,’ she declared. The boys, except Jake, all stood up immediately. Anna wondered whether this was deliberate on his part, a refusal to jump to her orders.

  ‘Did you bring your van, Jake?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah, but I’m not in a fit state to drive it. I’ll be back for it in the morning. The walk’ll sober me up.’

  Ben and Theo drifted off upstairs. Sean stood hesitating, as if waiting for a signal from Olivia. Eventually, indicating the kitchen, he said, ‘D’you want me to . . .?’

  Olivia stared at him, silent for a moment. The look in her eyes turned suddenly icy. But she said in an even tone, ‘Leave the washing up for tomorrow.’

  Anna, watching Sean, was startled by Jake saying suddenly, ‘Have you seen Olivia’s batiks? Look – come and see this one.’

  She found he had taken her hand and was leading her down towards the batik of the village at the other end of the room. His hand felt very big and warm, the skin rough.

  ‘I have looked . . .’ she began to protest.

  As they turned to face the picture he said suddenly in an urgent whisper, ‘Come to the shop – tomorrow?’

  Finding this very strange, she said cautiously, ‘Well – I’ll come
some time. I’m not sure about tomorrow.’

  He leaned slightly closer to her. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way. Look – this is going to sound amazingly presumptuous of me but I’m going to say it anyway. You’ve been going through a difficult time recently – don’t get drawn in by Olivia.’

  Astonished and angry, she looked up into his eyes but they were steady, concerned. ‘We should talk,’ he said.

  She was jolted by his seriousness, and trusted his sincerity. ‘Yes, of course then. If you think . . .’

  His face broke into a grin suddenly. ‘Plus I’d like an excuse to show you my shop.’

  ‘That’d be great,’ she said, more reassured.

  Olivia and Krish were clearing things off the table. Jake thanked them and, with a final glance at Anna, left.

  ‘Call a taxi for Anna, will you darling?’ Olivia said to Krishna. As he went out to the telephone in the hall, Anna began to join in the work of clearing the table.

  ‘I see those other bad boys have slunk off,’ Olivia said. The two of them stacked plates and dishes next to the sink. In the big, old-fashioned kitchen Olivia chatted about practical things. ‘The chicken can all go together in this dish – yes, lassi in the fridge, please. I’ll just put a plate over this rice . . .’

  She turned suddenly from the table, the rice giving off a whiff of cardamom, and gave Anna a cold, appraising look.

  ‘You’re different from her, aren’t you?’

  Completely taken aback, Anna said, ‘Am I?’

  But there was no follow-up remark. Olivia turned back to cover her rice as if the exchange hadn’t happened.

  ‘It’s here!’ Krish’s voice came from the hall.

  ‘Ah, go now!’ Olivia said, apparently all charm again. ‘Don’t keep it waiting – they charge so much nowadays.’ There was a sudden sense of hurry now the taxi had arrived.

  ‘Do come again soon. Please.’

  ‘I’ve got to pick up my car tomorrow,’ Anna pointed out.

  ‘Of course. Good.’ In the hall they kissed each other, briefly, and Anna watched her glide away, the plait a slice of black down her back as the harsh blue of the sari disappeared into the long room.

  Krishna was out at the front. As Anna came out he stepped over to her, took her by the shoulders and kissed her clumsily on the mouth, his lips taut and painful on hers.

  He gave a foolish grin. ‘Sorry. I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing here. But it’s lovely to see you.’ And he was gone.

  As the taxi took her through the dark streets she felt more and more uneasy. The odd, cold look Olivia had given her, Jake’s warning, Krishna’s drunken kiss – these were the things which now stood out from the evening. Caution, Kate had warned. Yet she had been so quickly beguiled. She must in future be more on her guard, even if she had no real idea against what.

  On Kate’s inner doormat she found a roughly folded sheet of pink paper: a note scrawled on the back of a flyer advertising cheap carpets.

  ‘Came over to see you as you won’t answer the bloody phone. What the hell are you playing at? Call me. Richard.’

  Chapter 33

  Olivia’s house was quiet next morning. Sean let her in and she waited with him in the kitchen where he carried on working his way through last night’s washing up, his back to her and thin elbows stuck out at angry angles.

  ‘Have you been left to do it all?’ Anna exclaimed. ‘Here, let me give you a hand.’

  He was turning to speak when the voice cut across from the doorway. ‘No. Leave him. Sean’s quite happy to do some work for me this morning, aren’t you, darling?’ Sean plunged a pile of bowls into the water with the force of someone trying to drown a puppy.

  Turning to greet Olivia, Anna actually let out a gasp. Her hard, calculating tone accompanied another transformation so startling that she took a few seconds to manage the words ‘Good morning.’

  Gone were the sari, the bare feet and soft, understated make-up. Her suit was emerald green, cut in straight, sophisticated lines, the shoulders padded, the effect angular as a box, and she wore high, pointed court shoes in a matching shade. Instead of the loose plait, her hair was caught up into a perfect pleat, face immaculately made up, her lips a glistening plum red.

  ‘Anna.’ She offered a smile, but it seemed brittle and forced. Anna felt her breathing turn more shallow. Thank God she’d already decided to be more wary of this woman. ‘We must spend some more time together, alone.’ Olivia’s heels clicked across the kitchen tiles. She leaned to touch Anna’s cheek with her own and again there came a waft of perfume, this time something costly. ‘I so wanted you to meet everyone last night – Krishna especially, of course. What did you think of him?’

  Honesty lurked in Anna’s mind: I thought he was pretty obnoxious. ‘He’s lovely,’ she said. ‘A credit to you.’

  ‘He’s my life,’ Olivia breathed. Sean rattled cutlery loudly behind them and Anna stood feeling very uneasy. They were stepping too near the well of emotion. Everything was at odds this morning and she just wanted to get away from this place, back to Kate’s house, and sink into a warm bath.

  ‘I’m teaching today,’ Olivia said. Her voice was clipped and precise, no trace of the rise-and-fall accent she had put on the night before. ‘I like to dress up for the piano. It makes me feel professional. I really wanted to be a musician, you see. My father wouldn’t hear of it until it was really too late.’

  ‘Yes – my mother told me.’

  ‘Did she?’ There was a coldness in Olivia’s eyes which brought Anna’s flesh up in goosepimples. ‘Come for tea,’ she said abruptly. ‘I’ve no pupils after four o’clock. We must talk. I presume you came to talk?’

  The words were flung out like a challenge. Anna felt angry, suddenly, as if she was being played with, and at Olivia’s assumption that she had nothing else to do but be called upon at her command.

  ‘Yes, I came to talk,’ she said stiffly. ‘I presume that’s what you wanted. You did write to her after all.’

  The bell sounded in the hall. Sean left the sink immediately to answer, and to Anna’s relief they heard Jake’s voice down the hall.

  ‘Morning.’ He smiled across at her from the doorway, so tall his head nearly reached the frame, hands in his pockets. ‘Come to pick up the van. Thanks for last night, Olivia. It was a great meal.’

  ‘Krishna’s still in bed,’ Olivia snapped. Anna watched her anxiously. There were stings in everything Olivia said this morning.

  But Jake appeared not to notice. ‘As I say, I’ve only come for the van. Got to get back to open up. I was wondering – ’ He looked at Anna. ‘Since I’m going back, d’you want a lift over, to see the place?’

  ‘It’d suit me better to come later – elevenish? I could do with coffee and a bath first.’

  Jake was flustered suddenly. ‘Look – don’t come if it’s a bother.’

  ‘I want to.’

  ‘Great.’ He smiled at her. ‘I’ll see you later, then. And Olivia – if Krish wants to drop in this afternoon, that’s fine by me.’

  Olivia nodded, grudgingly. ‘I’ll tell him.’

  Anna left as soon as she could after Jake.

  ‘Don’t forget,’ Olivia said. ‘I’ll be waiting for you this afternoon. And you can stay. I like a full house.’

  It was more than a request, it was a command. Anna didn’t take too easily to being ordered around.

  ‘That should be all right,’ she said coolly. ‘I’ll be round at four.’

  Then came the smile, Olivia’s disarming warmth. ‘I’ll so look forward to it.’

  At Kate’s house she lay in a deep bath and watched a silvery moth flap against the white ceiling, unable to get Olivia out of her mind. She pictured Olivia’s face, its baffling flashes of light and darkness like cloud shadows racing across a valley. She thought of the glinting malevolence she had seen in her eyes, and felt her innards turn. She imagined Olivia as she had seen her dressed that morning, malign mannequin, waiting by the ba
th, her hand coming down over Anna’s face, the nails red and sharp, pushing her down and down.

  ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘Stop. Please.’ She lay in the warm water, trembling and sobbing, irrationally afraid for a time even to lie back and soak her hair.

  I should go away and not get involved with her, she thought, as she dried herself. I don’t need this, on top of everything else.

  ‘What d’you want me to do, Mom?’ She felt foolish talking to herself in the bathroom like that. The emptying bath inflated her words with an echo but provided no answer.

  She put on clean, washed-out jeans and a white shirt and walked quickly round to Roland’s house.

  ‘Come in!’ he greeted her joyfully, secateurs in hand. ‘I could do with a break.’

  ‘Roland, sorry – I can’t today. I’ve promised to meet someone at eleven.’

  ‘Ah. Anyone nice?’ he asked, with childlike hopefulness.

  ‘Nice?’ Anna teased him. ‘Yes, I think you could say nice. I just wanted to check you hadn’t been round and wondered where I was.’

  ‘No, I haven’t as a matter of fact. Been to see friends then? Good for you. You don’t want to be in that house alone too much, I’m sure.’

  ‘I might be staying over in Moseley tonight. I didn’t want you to worry.’ She gave him the address. ‘It’s off Anderton Park Road.’

  ‘Right-o,’ Roland said with his implacable cheerfulness.

  ‘Can I pop in for a coffee tomorrow?’ she asked, guilty.

  ‘Nothing I’d like more.’

  ‘Great. I’ll see you then.’

  ‘Anna?’

  She turned back.

  ‘Spare a kiss?’

  ‘More than.’ Hugging him tight, she gave him a big kiss on each cheek and Roland chuckled delightedly.

  He stood watching her as she walked off quickly down the street amid the song of birds.

  The banner across Jake’s shopfront was a deep green with gold letters which read, Jake’s Pine.

  ‘I was looking out for you.’ He appeared in the doorway, an old cloth in one hand, and came to join her in the sunshine, looking up appraisingly at the building. ‘So, d’you like it? I’ve just cleaned the windows.’