The Other Wives Club

by Shari Low

  As she watched his back disappear into the crowd, Sarah decided that if that encounter had been the equivalent of riding one of those bar-room bucking broncos, she’d just been bucked off and landed on her bum with a very loud splat.

  5.

  Anchors Away

  Mona

  It had taken a bit of deft manipulation, but Mona succeeded in securing the seating arrangement she’d been looking for at dinner: Drew on one side, Eliza on the other. Penny hadn’t made it, preferring to stay in the cabin with the still poorly Lavinia, so their table of nine consisted of her and Drew, Tess, Piers, Max, Sarah, Eliza, John and little Lawrence. The dining room had two official sittings, at six thirty and eight thirty, but Drew had booked them on an ‘anytime dining’ ticket, which meant they could eat whenever they wanted.

  Sarah, who had miraculously managed to appear at a gathering without body fluid stains on her clothes, was down at the other end of the table with her son John and Piers, while Tess was between Max and Lawrence and seemed to get on well with both.

  Mona cast a critical eye around the room, but it was difficult to find fault with the decor. It was very much in the tradition of the old-school grand voyages. You could almost imagine forties movie stars gliding down the glorious curved walnut and brass staircase. There wouldn’t be change out of a hundred thousand for the main chandelier. The tables were made of thick, glossy mahogany, with matching Queen Anne chairs upholstered in antique gold. The overall aesthetic was one of luxury and class. Mona felt right at home.

  Piers’ booming laugh cut through her thoughts. He just couldn’t resist the opportunity to show off and be centre of attention. He’d already ordered two bottles of champagne and was making a big performance about uncorking the bottles. Why hadn’t that annoyed her before they got married? Or perhaps it had and she’d just chosen to block it out? She decided that was the best policy now too and turned to her former husband instead.

  ‘So how does it feel to be fifty?’ she asked Drew.

  ‘Old,’ he joked. ‘Especially when a girl who looks like this is your daughter.’

  Eliza had laughed and punched her dad on the arm.

  ‘Where did you get that dress?’ he asked, feigning disapproval. ‘Isn’t it a bit too… sophisticated for you?’

  Eliza really did look utterly beautiful, which was just as well because Tess and Sarah were letting the side down with their plain clothes and lack of accessories. Sarah’s black maxi dress was unremarkable in every way and Tess was wearing a black gypsy top and trousers. It was difficult to distinguish whether they were dressing for dinner or a death in the family.

  ‘Actually, Mona got it for me. I love it.’ Eliza beamed, purring loudly enough for the whole party to hear. At the other end of the table, Sarah almost choked on her gin and tonic. Mona chose to ignore her, struggling to conceal how much she was enjoying Sarah’s shocked reaction.

  ‘It was one of the samples from the Antigua shoot last month. Eliza often comes by my office when she’s waiting for you and we’ve found her some great clothes, haven’t we, sweetheart?’

  The irony wasn’t lost on her. When she and Drew were married, Eliza was the subject of many a heated discussion. Why should she give up her weekend in Paris to take a six-year-old to a Barbie birthday party? Why was her attendance mandatory at the end of term dancing display? And why must a large portion of her hard-earned cash – OK, their hard-earned cash – go to support a child who clearly had more than she could ever want already? How many bloody pony lessons could one kid need?

  Now, their revised relationship was built on very different foundations. Eliza loved Mona because she was chic and stylish, introduced her to cute male models and got her amazing clothes for free. Mona loved Eliza (actually ‘loved’ was definitely stretching the point, but she happily tolerated her) because she was a direct link to Drew and gave her an opportunity to come off as the really cool, caring, former stepmother. It was a win/win situation. At the other end of the table, she could see Sarah’s face of thunder. Another bonus! It seemed her relationship with Eliza infuriated Drew’s other ex-wife. Win/win/win.

  Eliza agreed, then picked up her iPhone and was soon lost in text world with her friends. It amazed Mona that they were in the middle of the ocean, yet they still had a WiFi signal. If she had time tomorrow she might go online and check out some of the best places for shopping before they disembarked in Naples. She much preferred targeted consumerism to random browsing.

  ‘Missing the office?’ she asked Drew, with heavy irony. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t been checking in.’

  ‘I have, but don’t tell Tess. She’s threatened to toss my iPhone overboard.’

  Mona had struggled not to laugh. As if Tess would have the bottle to pull a stunt like that. Look at her, sitting there chatting to Max, probably about reality TV or something equally inane.

  It did give her an idea, though. She leant closer to Drew. ‘Well, we can’t have an unhappy wife, can we? How about if I check in for you, then bring you up to date with anything you need to know. Filter out the rubbish, but keep you abreast of the important stuff.’

  His shoulders actually relaxed a little as she said it. If there was one thing she knew about Drew, it was how committed he was and how he couldn’t bear to be cut off from the news. It was one of many things she used to – and still did – love about him.

  In fact, she suspected that his desire to give his all to his job was the reason behind this whole big family voyage in the first place. He was getting all his demands as a father, a husband and a grandfather satisfied at the one time. He could return from here, satisfied that he’d been a family guy for a couple of weeks and go straight back to living round the clock at his desk. Either that or he was bored rigid with Little Miss Gypsy Top and couldn’t stand being stuck on a ship for ten days with only her company.

  He was clearly unhappy. She could see it. He wasn’t fulfilled. He wasn’t satisfied. And no wonder. What did Tess have to keep a man like him interested? Sure, at the beginning it was probably a novelty for a forty-five-year-old man to have a twenty-four-year-old hanging on his every word, but by the looks of things that had definitely worn off. Poor girl. Mona almost felt sorry for her.

  Almost.

  She tried not to show her irritation when John announced it was time to get Lawrence off to bed and immediately voices around the table jumped to concur, with clichés like ‘long day’, ‘up early tomorrow’, and ‘get an early night’. That one came from Piers and it was loaded with such a thick layer of innuendo that everyone laughed.

  Mona joined in, even though she was clenching her jaws so tight she almost burst her veneers.

  She had to keep her cool. There would be a time to act, but it wasn’t now. Hadn’t the last few years shown that she was nothing if not patient?

  Sarah

  It had taken every ounce of self-control Sarah had, not to take the bread roll from the plate on her left and launch it across the table like a scud missile, aimed squarely at the over-painted, smug, vicious, conniving tart sitting next to Drew.

  How fucking dare she? And oh my God, she’d just thought the F-word for the first time in years. That was what that fucking woman did to her.

  This was so bizarre. In the last fifteen years her relationship with Mona had gone through many stages. There was the pure hatred stage, when she first found out about Drew’s affair, and the only reason Mona was still alive was because Sarah didn’t know where to buy arsenic. Then there was acceptance, when Mona graduated from mistress to wife, and Sarah knew that for the sake of the kids she had to suck up her own feelings and present a pleasant face to the world. Next, admittedly, came a little snippet of smugness when their marriage ended. Since then, on the few occasions when they’d been together, Sarah tolerated her and kept things civil. She understood that even though Mona and Drew were no longer married, she was still one of his closest friends and would therefore be in attendance at all significant social gatherings.


  But the conniving, devious witch had boasted about how she’d given that dress to Eliza! The very dress that Sarah had told her daughter was completely inappropriate to wear to dinner in a room that looked like it could have gone down with the bloody Titanic. In fact, it was too short, too low-cut and too obscenely tight to wear anywhere – which was why Sarah had told Eliza to leave it at home. Not only had her daughter ignored her as usual, but now it turned out that Mona was complicit in the whole debacle.

  In a burst of fury-induced comfort eating, Sarah had resorted to eating the bread roll instead of using it in a violent act. It didn’t make her feel any better. Now she was just bloody furious with a tighter waistband.

  The only thing that had kept her going throughout dinner was Piers Delaney and his endless chatter of funny anecdotes and really bad jokes. Maybe it was her imagination, but Mona didn’t seem to give her husband a second glance all night. Not that surprising, she supposed. Mona and Drew had always been impossible to distract once they got talking about work.

  Somehow Sarah had managed to get to the absolutely magnificent strawberry cheesecake without resorting to a serious breach of the peace, and it was a blessed relief when John announced he was taking Lawrence to bed and she jumped on the bandwagon. ‘I think I’ll call it a night, too,’ she announced, then – to her surprise – almost everyone else concurred. Were they all, with the exception of Piers, fighting the urge to kill Mona, too?

  Back in the cabin, she peeled off the black maxi-dress picked out by Patsy as she chatted to Eliza. She wouldn’t be able to return it now, but she’d felt nice in it so it was worth it. Besides, it would come in handy for a show of mourning after she surreptitiously topped Mona.

  ‘So what do you think of the ship then, love?’ Eliza didn’t even glance up from her iPad. Another one of Drew’s ‘little treats’.

  ‘Yeah, great.’

  ‘And how was your dinner?’

  ‘Yeah, fine.’

  ‘Do you think you’ll have plenty to keep you occupied for ten days?’

  ‘Dunno.’

  All those years at school studying the English language were clearly paying off. It would be tempting to get into the whole dress thing with her daughter, but she resisted the urge. It was the first night of the holiday, she didn’t want a stroppy teenager for the next ten days, and anyway, she wasn’t convinced that the bulk of the blame didn’t lie with Mona. What was she thinking, giving a sixteen-year-old a dress like that?

  Sarah sighed as she pulled on comfy black velour trousers and a plain black T-shirt (it had been a pyjama compromise with Patsy, who had finally agreed to no lacy baby-dolls or deep-cut cleavages, as long as Sarah chose nothing with spots, stripes or cuddly animals of any species).

  ‘Are you going to be on that thing for a while?’

  ‘I’m on Facebook, Mum,’ Eliza replied, with an overtone of ‘D’uh’.

  ‘OK, I’m going out for a walk, then. You know, that thing that people do. Sometimes people even walk with friends that they actually meet face-to-face, instead of just sitting at home talking to six hundred and fifty people that they barely know.’

  ‘Mum, you sound so lame.’

  Lame. Oh for the days when that meant there was something wrong with your foot. And she got the irony that thinking that made her, in Eliza’s eyes, even lamer.

  She grabbed a sweatshirt, pushed her feet into a pair of black trainers and headed to the lift. A couple who were fairly obviously on their honeymoon got in at the same time. The tall, blonde girl was wearing a stunning ankle-length silver silk gown and the guy was in a sharp suit with an open-neck shirt. The rings on the girl’s wedding finger sparkled in the light and the pair seemed to find it difficult to keep their hands off each other. Sarah felt a surge of happiness for them. It was hard to believe she’d felt like that once. How long ago was that? She did a quick calculation. She’d married Drew almost thirty years ago. Bloody hell, that was a long time to go without the frisson of excitement that came with a new love. There had been a few dates, a few casual relationships, even a low-key romance with a plumber who’d come to fix a burst pipe, but love had never entered the frame again.

  Love’s Young Dream got off at level ten and Sarah carried on up to level fourteen.

  One deck below The Ocean View lounge, deck fourteen had a walking and jogging track that stretched right around the whole ship. A brisk walk – OK, a casual stroll – was just what she felt like after the huge meal and side order of concealed rage.

  When she stepped outside, she was glad that she’d brought the sweatshirt. The night air was cool, but the breeze caused by the fact that they were soaring through the seas was bordering on chilly.

  Turning left as she came out of the lift area, she peered over the railings on the inside of the track to see dozens of loungers, still laid out in circles around the pool. On at least a dozen of them were couples, some looking up at the stars, some talking intimately, some sleeping, and in the case of a rather large couple who had taken a lounger each, some eating chips. They were even doing that in a romantic manner. This place had turned into the love boat.

  Sarah carried on walking, facing into the breeze and loving the way it felt like it was blowing away her stresses. Not that she had many. Life was good, she reminded herself. It was just that, lately, she was beginning to think it might be even better if she had someone to share it with. Bugger, was this going to lead to her devouring Mills and Boon novels, prowling Match.com and never going out without a pair of those magic knickers?

  ‘Hey, what’s making you smile?’

  Her shriek got carried off in the breeze. ‘Bloody hell, Drew, you scared me. And at my age that’s not a good thing,’ she joked. ‘What are you doing up here?’

  She immediately clocked his attire and realized it was a stupid question.

  ‘I was in the gym working out, and thought I’d cool down up here with a run.’ He slowed down to her pace and seemed quite happy to walk with her.

  She couldn’t resist having a gentle dig. ‘So. First night on a cruise. Your big holiday of the year. With your lovely wife. And you’re working out at midnight. I don’t know whether to admire your discipline or have you committed.’

  ‘It’s an age thing,’ he admitted, clearly enjoying her cheek. ‘Got to keep the bones moving in case they grind to a halt.’

  Sarah laughed and bowed. ‘OK, you win. I’m in awe of your motivation.’

  It had been a while since they had chatted like this, on their own and free to have a bit of teasing banter. He was still so handsome, she acknowledged. Even now she could see in him the young seventeen-year-old boy who had kissed her at the school dance. He’d taken good care of himself and his eyes still crinkled up at the sides when he smiled. That used to be enough to make her stomach flip with adoration.

  ‘I’m glad you came, Sarah.’ A little more serious now.

  ‘I am, too.’ For the first time, she realized that she actually meant it.

  There was a pause when neither of them seemed to know exactly what to say.

  After a few moments, he made the first move to go. ‘See you tomorrow, Sarah. Goodnight. Sleep tight.’

  ‘You, too,’ she replied, and then watched as he broke into a jog again and took off.

  It was only as he disappeared into the night that she realized she’d missed the perfect opportunity to ask him why he’d invited her along in the first place.

  Tess

  Tess lay in bed, eyes open, the wall of black outside blowing in a soft salty breeze. Drew had decided to go to the gym for a late-night workout and she was trying not to care that she was spending the first night at sea sitting in bed alone.

  She told herself that after the drama of the morning and then the slightly awkward dinner they’d all had together, it was quite nice to switch off and relax for a little while. The conversation had been a little forced at dinner, but thankfully Piers was as gregarious as ever and kept things going. The two bottles of champagne he insiste
d on buying helped, too. His son, Max, had turned out to be amusing company. He did something to do with computers and was full of funny anecdotes about the office he worked in, and seemed genuinely interested in her job, too. She’d omitted the bit about the work colleague who was currently trying to split up her marriage. Probably not the best topic of conversation for the first night at sea. Or any night until the end of time.

  Mona had shone in her usual spectacular way, wearing a pale blue figure-hugging tea dress and silver strappy sandals, her hair pulled back into a severe but stunning chignon. Sarah’s gorgeous but simple black maxi-dress and Tess’s black trousers and gypsy top had seemed utterly underdressed by comparison.

  She reached down to the floor for her handbag and pulled it on to the bed, an action that gave her a pang of homesickness – not for her and Drew’s home, but for her mum and dad. Evelyn always slept with her bag next to bed and it was a habit that Tess had developed as soon as she got her first Take That backpack. She felt for the inside zip pocket, slid it open, pulled out Cameron’s note and reread it. At least twenty times.

  With each reading her heart thumped even faster as she swayed between sadness, annoyance, missing him, irritation, hurt, affection, disbelief and longing to see him walk through the door right now so that they could talk, laugh about this, dismiss it all as a joke and go back to being extremely platonic best friends.

  Right on cue the door swung open… and Drew came in, still in a black vest and shorts, with a towel around his neck and a gleam of sweat on his face.

  ‘Hey, honey, still awake?’

  Cameron’s note was hastily slipped under the duvet, thankfully giving her no time to concentrate on analysing whether Drew’s comment had an overtone of disappointment. Of course it didn’t. Bloody Cameron was making her question everything.

  ‘I’m just going to grab a quick shower.’

  ‘No problem, babe,’ she replied, with a cheerfulness that was definitely skin deep.