One?

by Jennifer L. Cahill

  ‘Ok, good. I better go, rushing to a meeting.’ George added.

  ‘Ok, speak later.’

  Penelope hung up the phone, and sat staring at her inbox. She could see his email in the reading pane and she just didn’t know what to say. This was the last thing she needed right now. Things were going really well with Richard, and she was trying to put all of that stuff with Alyx behind her. This email had opened the wound right up again. She struggled with what to say.

  To: Alyxstuartbruges@hotmail.com

  From: pchesterfield@jlminternationalbank.com.

  Subject: Re: On the road

  Hi Alyx,

  It was nice to hear from you. That sounds very exciting about the band, and it sounds like you will be away for a long time. All is good with me, really enjoying the end of the summer in London. Let me know when you are back it would be good to catch up.

  Take care… …

  Penelope sat and stared at her response, and typed, deleted, re-typed, re-deleted the x after her name. In the end she settled with…

  Pen x

  After all… it was rude to not respond to two xx’s without even one x!

  Finally the response was gone. There was no taking it back. Penelope sat and stared at her PC, she felt a great emptiness growing inside her. It came out of nowhere, when she had woken up that morning, she was happy, she had had a fantastic summer, she had a nice boyfriend, she had a great house in Clapham and lovely housemates, and then he came back. He came back out of nowhere, and now the emptiness was growing. She tried not to think about him, but she knew she missed him, and there was nothing she could do about it. Penelope trundled through the day, her heart was heavy, and it was slowing her down.

  Later on that evening Penelope wandered down Abbeville Road towards home. Zara was sitting outside The Abbeville, with Zack, Stu and Paul, she plopped down in the extra chair, grateful for an alcohol distraction… anything to avoid being alone with her thoughts.

  ‘You look like you have had a long day.’ Zara said as she put a glass of rosé in front of Penelope.

  ‘Yeah, work is pretty busy at the moment, I’m pretty wrecked.’ Penelope sighed and the others believed her.

  ‘No worries Penelope, a few more glasses of rosé and it will all feel better,’ Stu added.

  ‘I’ll drink to that!’ …and Penelope raised her glass.

  ‘Cheers’ they all said.

  It was a lovely warm evening on Abbeville Road and the housemates stayed out drinking until closing time.

  ***

  On Friday night Penelope met up with Richard, as usual after work…

  ‘Hello darling, you know Poppy and Mitchel don’t you? And do you remember Tiggy and Tarquin?’ Richard planted a kiss on Penelope’s cheek and handed her a glass of champagne, he ushered her into the fold of “people to know”.

  ‘Oh, yes of course, hello, when is the baby due?’ Penelope dutifully kissed them all on both cheeks and couldn’t avoid mentioning Poppy’s bump.

  ‘Oh, yah, the baby is due in four months, we are soooo excited, aren’t we muffin?’ Poppy enthused, turning to her husband.

  ‘Oh, yah darling, we are positively dying for the baby to arrive!’ he added.

  Penelope was starting to get bored of Richards’ friends, they were all nice, but pretty settled, with babies on the way. She had been fine about it all until the email from Alyx, and she now felt as if she was being pulled out of Richard’s world of golf, networking and married friends, and back into the world of bands, glamour and the Bowery Ballroom… It was so hard for her. She felt so confused. She felt torn…

  ‘I hear that Harry has finally popped the question?’ Richard chuckled, one eyebrow raised.

  ‘Oh, yes, we were positively bursting with excitement, Melissa is soooooo delighted, another wedding in the family, Mummy is thrilled.’ Bunty arrived just in time to add to the conversation. She also had a six-month bump.

  Penelope zoned out. It was as if she were there in body but not in spirit.

  ‘Are you alright darling, you look a bit drawn?’ Richard whispered, when he got Penelope on her own.

  ‘Oh, yes… well… I am feeling a little under the weather, actually, I think I may go home…’ Penelope trailed off.

  ‘Yes, of course darling, if you are not feeling well, I will grab you a cab,’ Richard sighed hastily.

  ‘Thank you that would be lovely.’ Penelope began to relax, she couldn’t listen to any more marriage or baby talk.

  The cab arrived within fifteen minutes, and Penelope kissed Richard goodbye. She waved to him, and as soon as she was far enough away, she broke down crying. When she got home she ambled up to bed, and cried herself to sleep.

  Chapter 24

  On the Road

  Alyx sat at the side of the stage, this was his favourite time of the day, the crowd of 20,000 were making so much noise it would be a miracle if the band would even be heard. He sat nursing his Jack Daniels and Coke drinking it all in. Life was good, he was enjoying the beautiful hotels and beaches on the Asian leg of the tour, not to mention the women…

  His real life in Europe seemed a million miles away. He rarely thought about it.

  ‘Alyx, buddy, we are going on!’ Chad gave Alyx a man hug, as was the ritual before each gig.

  ‘I know, good luck, I’ll be right here keeping an eye on you.’ Alyx man- hugged him back.

  Chad strolled onto the stage and picked up his guitar, the crowd screamed and drowned out the first few bars of the first song…

  ***

  On Saturday night, George came around for the dutiful post-mortem of the email from Alyx, she could tell by Penelope’s tone on the phone that she was not taking it well. Just as George arrived at ‘a’, Zara was heading into ‘b’.

  ‘Hi George, how are you?’ Zara beamed

  ‘Oh, hi Zara, I didn’t recognise you there…’ George was startled, Zara looked completely different. Being in love certainly had a good effect on her.

  ‘Oh yeah, sorry…I’m just heading into ‘b’ here, that’s where my boyfriend lives,’ Zara smiled at her

  ‘Oh that’s right, oooh it must be going well then!’ George winked at Zara as she passed her by and went into ‘a’.

  ‘Hi there, Zara let me in.’ George peeped around the living room door.

  ‘Oh, hi…’ Penelope said glumly.

  ‘Oh dear, that bad is it?’ George sat down next to her.

  ‘I’m afraid so, I just can’t stop thinking about him, and just when things were going so well with Richard, it’s really hard.’ Penelope welled up.

  ‘I know, I know, but the thing is, he’s not really here, who knows if he will ever come back?’ George tried to be reasonable.

  ‘I know, but it’s hard, that’s all. I have never met anyone like him,’ Penelope sighed.

  ‘There’s only one thing to do, why don’t we head down to Sand bar, and knock back a few cocktails? That will take your mind off it, we are not going to achieve anything by sitting in on a Saturday night.’ George hugged Penelope.

  ‘I totally don’t feel like it but I know you are right, I’ll clean up my face and we can head down there.’ Penelope got up and went up to her room.

  Chapter 25

  The Matriarch

  It was not long before the inevitable happened…

  ‘Darling, mummy is absolutely dying to meet you properly!’ Richard announced to Penelope as soon as she was stretched out comfortably on his couch in his flat in Chelsea, reading the Sunday papers.

  ‘What?’ Penelope muttered, only half listening.

  ‘Well, you see, Mummy is coming down next weekend, and I thought we could all have lunch on Sunday…’ Richard gave Penelope a sideways glance to catch her reaction.

  Externally Penelope didn’t even look up from the newspaper, internally she was sitting bolt upright, tearing her hair out! ‘Hmm, yes, that sounds lovely,’ Penelope muttered and completely pulled off a nonchalant tone of voice. Richard felt like the cat that
got the cream as he began planning Sunday lunch in his mind. He simply couldn’t wait to introduce the two most important women in his life. He was delighted that Penelope felt the same way.

  A pit of dread started growing in Penelope’s stomach, she was not looking forward to Sunday lunch.

  They spent the afternoon sprawled out in Richard’s flat reading the papers, Penelope felt tense and change her mind about staying over. She headed back to Clapham to get a good night’s sleep in her own bed.

  The following Friday, Lady Elizabeth Lord-McFleurie checked into Claridges as usual. She was a creature of habit, and she always stayed there when in London. She was greeted by name by the concierge on duty. She inspected her room thoroughly before agreeing to unpack and grace it with her presence for the weekend. She was so looking forward to meeting this girl that Richard was intending to marry. She was planning on giving her a thorough inspection altogether, not everyone was worthy of joining the Lord-McFleurie clan.

  On Sunday morning Penelope woke up early, on edge. She had a bad feeling about this afternoon. While ‘meeting the family’ was never easy, she had a feeling that Richard’s mother was going to be more of a challenge than most. Penelope tried on nearly all of her clothes before deciding on an outfit. She erred on the side of conservative, but not dowdy… she didn’t own anything dowdy!

  Lunchtime came around all too quickly and Penelope met Richard at the restaurant before getting the concierge to call his mother’s room. Penelope’s heart was hammering away in her chest, as they both waited for Lady Lord-McFleurie to descend. Penelope’s palms were clammy and she was not looking forward to having to shake hands.

  Richard’s mother kept them waiting long enough to irritate them, without officially being rude. The lift doors opened dramatically and she swept out, a blur of brown tweed with just a hint of lilac. She had a wonderful brooch attached to her tweed jacket, with just a hint of the family tartan on it. She wore a matching A-line tweed skirt, with a single pleat down the front. Her hair was swept back into a neat bun, she looked very much like a glamorous, old school, headmistress. She carried a waft of lily of the valley with her as she walked towards Richard and Penelope. While her features were hard and she was not particularly pretty, her makeup was subtle but very effective and completely flawless. She was not a big woman and not a thin woman, but her sense of presence was large and non-negotiable. She wore sensible, old-fashioned, but elegant shoes. The type of shoes that cost a fortune and lasted forever. The heel was not too high, it was not too low, it was just right. She had a matching sensible, yet elegant brown clutch handbag. While Penelope was by far the beauty in their trio, there was no mistaking who was boss. Lady Lord-McFleurie air-kissed Penelope after giving Richard a small peck on the cheek as soon as she got near enough to do so.

  ‘Pen-ay-lope, it is so lovely to meet you fai-nally, Richard has two-ld mey soooooo much about you,’ she announced in her slight Scottish accent.

  ‘Lovely to meet you Lady, erm Lord, erm,’ Penelope stuttered, as she squirmed in her… suddenly… too high… heels as she towered over Richard’s mother. Penelope had thought that her black suit would have been a sensible choice, but all of a sudden she felt like a rebellious teenager who was trying to corrupt Lady Lord-McFleurie’s son! She felt like her clothes were too revealing, even though they were not… she felt overdressed, and for the first time in her life she actually wished that she owned a twin-set, a tweed skirt and sensible shoes!

  They made their way into the dining room in complete silence, Penelope was afraid to say a word, letting Lady L-McF. drive the conversation… .and that’s precisely what she did. She kept it brief, terse, and she asked all of the questions.

  ‘So, Pen-ay-lope, tell mey, where did you grow up?’ She didn’t even look at Penelope as she said this. While she absolutely, without question, spoke the Queen’s English, she had a wonderful hint of a Scottish accent that only seeped out through certain words and phrases.

  Despite the straightforward nature of the question, Penelope stammered, all of a sudden, and for the first time in her life… the words just wouldn’t come. She stammered through a brief history of her childhood, culminating in how she and Richard had met at University. Penelope made the fateful mistake of mentioning Richard’s ex-girlfriend, this was something of a conversation stopper. Richard’s mother’s face turned to thunder at the mere mention of someone actually rejecting her beloved first born. She found the situation quite incomprehensible. Penelope excused herself to go to the Ladies. Luckily there was good phone reception in there, despite all of the marble and the thick wooden toilet doors.

  ‘George, hi, it’s me!’ Penelope squeaked.

  ‘Oh my god, I thought you were meeting the…’

  ‘I am! I just met her, oh my god, I feel like I need a G&T and it’s only 2.30 pm,’ Penelope hissed.

  ‘Oh my god, is it that bad?’ George sounded concerned.

  ‘Yes! It’s terrible, I feel like a naughty school girl, she’s like the Queen,… but not in a good way… she’s wearing a brown tweed suit. I’m wearing, what I thought would be… a sensible black suit, and I feel like a rebellious teenager,’ Penelope sniffed.

  ‘You poor thing, is there anything that I can do?’ George was always ready to phone with an emergency at the drop of a hat, she was getting quite good at inventing things these days.

  ‘Not really, I just have to power through really, my nerves are frayed, that rash has broken out on my neck again, I’m starting to feel like I am allergic to his family!’ Penelope whimpered.

  ‘Oh no! Don’t say that! That would be disastrous!’ George hissed.

  ‘Well, it’s starting to feel that way. Look I’ve been gone for long enough now, I’d better head back, I don’t want her thinking I’m bulimic or anything!’

  ‘What!? Oh my god, don’t say that, for heaven’s sake. You are starting to scare me now.’ George nearly dropped her phone.

  ‘Well, you know what I mean, she’s the type of person who is just dying to find fault… with anything and everything.’ Penelope’s voice wobbled, the pressure was getting to her.

  ‘Alright, alright, well ring me as soon as you can when you get out of there. I’ll pop over if it’s not too late,’ George offered.

  ‘Ah George, you are an angel… speak to you later.’

  Penelope hung up and looked at herself, rash and all, in the mirror. As she re-approached the table in the dining room, she got the distinct impression that they had been discussing her, and not in a good way. They gave no physical indications of this away, but somehow she just knew. There was a stony silence as she sat back down. Richard’s mother turned to her as if waiting for an excuse.

  ‘Well, we thought you had fallen down the loo…’ She peered over her reading glasses and nearly broke into a smile.

  ‘Oh, yes, well, erm, it was, well you see there was a bit of a queue.’ Penelope stopped herself before the lie got bigger. Richard jumped in to save her from this particular conversational cul de sac.

  ‘Now Mummy, what are we going to have for dessert.’ He rustled his menu and handed Penelope hers, she had never been so grateful for a menu in her entire life. It formed a thin, but very effective barrier between her and Lady L-McF.

  ‘Ye-yes, quite, well now, what were you thinking of going for?’ She peered at Richard over her glasses and her menu. Her glasses were rimless, and therefore barely visible, but they became quite obvious in moments like this, as she was gearing up for disdain.

  ‘Mmm, yummy, let me see… ooh, I think I will go for the same thing as always, you know me Mummy, creature of habit!’ Richard snapped his menu shut and turned to order the rhubarb crumble with custard. At the same time, Penelope just caught herself before she rolled her eyes at this… there was nothing more mundane than habit. Penelope was secretly dying to go for the heated chocolate brownie with organic homemade vanilla ice cream, but she dutifully ordered the mango sorbet, she didn’t want to give Richard’s mother anything to complai
n about.

  ‘Pen-ay-lope, that’s exactly what I was going to go for, great minds…’ Richard’s mother defrosted for the first time during the whole meal, delighted, that finally… this girl had done something right.

  ‘Oh, yes, yes indeed.’ Penelope mustered her warmest smile, delighted that things, even in the tiniest way, had taken a turn for the better… finally! Internally she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

  Richard practically had his napkin tucked into his shirt, his knife and fork in his hands, by the time his rhubarb crumble arrived. He certainly was reverting to childhood behaviour in the presence of the Matriarch.

  Richard’s mother had really warmed to Penelope, after the dessert incident, so she announced that they should retire to the bar for some cognac. Penelope was nearly foaming at the mouth at the thought of the alcohol, she was so nervous… and she just knew that it would help matters. As soon as they were swirling cognac around their oversized glasses, the conversation continued conservatively. Penelope asking none of the questions, and Richard filling the silences. One cognac turned into two, which turned into three, and Richard decided to get himself and Penelope out of there before they all got bombed, for fear that this might loosen their tongues a bit too much. Richard’s mother showed no signs that the alcohol was affecting her at all.

  ‘Oh Mummy, we must be off, lots of work to do this evening,’ Richard announced before they had a chance to get another drink.

  ‘Oh, really, Richard, must you go?’ She peered at Richard over her glasses as she spoke.

  ‘Oh yes Mummy, you see, Penelope also works terribly hard, and she begins her day terribly early, so it’s best if we are on our way now, and I have lots of work to do tonight.’ Richard reassured her.

  ‘Indeed, indeed, well if you must…’ she sighed.

  ‘Oh, yes, Mummy, work is so important,’ Richard grinned at her.