‘Sophie’s choice!’ roared Vicky down the phone. ‘Did we need any more proof that the girl has the IQ of a rabbit?’
Annie exploded on cue into hysterics. No one in the park even looked at her. God, she loved America.
‘He’s now my brother-in-law.’ Victoria was suddenly serious. ‘Fuck.’
‘I’ll be home in a mo,’ said Annie quickly. ‘You sound like you need cheering up. Thanks for the good gossip, sis.’
The sun broke through some cloud and Annie was suddenly bathed in winter warmth. Jake wasn’t going to marry Sophie! This amazing fact warmed her right through and she started running home. Then suddenly it occurred to her that Jake was still as estranged from her as ever and, worse still, might now be heartbroken.
She stopped running suddenly. And the sun hid again behind a cloud the size of Manhattan Island.
* * * * *
When she arrived home, she found Victoria on the phone to Fi. Charles was out. It was indeed going to be a double wedding in the New Year. Probably Easter. Fi was delighted – she thought David was wonderful. Tony already adored him.
As soon as Victoria got off the phone, she started talking nineteen to the dozen. Annie managed to glean how the David and Sophie story had happened.
During the very early stages of Sophie’s recovery, while Jake was out at work all the time and David was always around in the evenings, Sophie had realised with exquisite horror that she was with The Wrong Man.
The poor young girl had said nothing, hoping against hope that the problem would somehow solve itself. And it did, spectacularly. Jake’s hours were so long that she fell out of love with the Company Boss. And then fell in love with David.
The End.
‘And they’re both determined to marry immediately!’ finished Victoria.
‘And how do you feel about it now?’ asked Annie.
‘Better,’ said Victoria firmly. ‘There’s something stubborn about Jake that I didn’t notice at first. Not nice to have that in the family. God knows where it might end. Oh no. She made the right decision after all. Good girl.’
Annie grinned openly at the way her sister’s sheer selfishness had helped her find life’s silver lining.
But how was Jake feeling? She had to know.
‘Shall we do Madison Avenue?’ Victoria asked excitedly. ‘I’ve got to get an outfit for the weddings. Katie and Davina are there already – we could meet them for coffee – I could give Katie a ring on her mobile—’ she was already at the phone.
E-mail. Annie could e-mail David. Congratulate him. Ask how they all are. Hint at Jake.
‘You go ahead,’ she instructed Victoria. ‘I’ve just got to do something.’
She went to her bag and found David’s card. His e-mail address was at the bottom. She went straight to the office. She gasped. The view over the park was spectacular. The tops of the trees made a russet and yellow carpet, undulating towards the splendour of Upper West Street. The silence was almost moving. Next to the window was a small, unobtrusive intercom speaker interconnecting all the rooms – there was also one in the hall, the drawing room, the kitchen and her father’s bedroom. They used to have an intercom system in their London home, but they had got rid of it a few years ago when her father had had the place redecorated. They had all preferred life without it. After all, what was the point of being able to afford a place big enough to lose each other in, if you couldn’t lose each other in it?
She tapped in David’s address and started typing a message. After much deleting and swearing, she read the final version. It was chatty, informal and polite. Interested without being inquisitive. Chirpy without being ecstatic. She re-read it once more and clicked on the Send icon.
Then she spotted that she’d had two messages. One from Marlon and one from Joy. For some reason, she clicked on Marlon’s first.
Darling one!
What a nice surprise! How nice of you to think of me! How’s New York?
I’m having a nervous breakdown. Everything’s meaningless without the woman of my dreams.
How are you?
Marlon
Oh dear. Annie replied immediately. It wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. How can you listen sympathetically on e-mail?
She typed in that time helped.
Well, that was one of life’s biggest lies. Time didn’t help – it just made you older.
She deleted.
She typed in that she loved him and would always be there for him.
That was more about easing her guilt about leaving the country during his biggest crisis than helping him through this bad patch. And she wasn’t coming back, so it was hardly true.
She deleted.
She typed in that Joy would always be there for him.
But she knew that Joy had feelings for Marlon that he couldn’t return. She didn’t want to put either of them in a painful position.
She deleted.
With a big sigh, she started her fourth version.
Marlon
New York is great. My family is mad.
I love you.
Annie
Now for Joy’s message. She clicked it open.
OK, when he flirted with me it was an insult. One long bloody insult. An insult to my self-respect, to my intellect and to my clothes sense. Not to mention to his wife.
Now he’s stopped and I want to kill him.
It’s like he’s gone into himself. I can’t get through any more. And do I really want to? Can you imagine how painful it is trying to help the man you love get over another woman? No of course you can’t, you pretty young thing.
How’s New York? How’s your family?
Write soon
Love
Joy xxxx
Annie started to type in that time helped.
She deleted.
She typed in that she loved her and would always be there to help.
She deleted.
She typed in that maybe there was something more to Marlon’s flirting – maybe, who knew? – Marlon had latent feelings for her? …
She deleted.
She typed in that what gave Joy the right to think she had a fucking autonomy over feelings? Yes, she did know how painful it was to help a man get over another woman, since she asked …
She deleted.
She started again.
Joy
New York’s great. My family’s mad.
I love you.
Annie
She turned off the computer and stood staring out at the view for a moment.
A voice made her jump.
‘Hello there, you’re not working are you?’
Charles was standing behind her, his face more lugubrious than Eeyore’s.
Annie smiled enough for two at him.
‘Where’ve you been?’ she asked, her voice bearhug warm. ‘Haven’t seen you for ages.’
‘You’re the only one who’s noticed,’ he said morosely. ‘I’ve just been mooching, nothing special. Not over enamoured of the place, must admit.’
‘Fancy popping down to SoHo or Greenwich Village for a coffee?’ asked Annie.
Charles perked up. A village, he thought. Sounded almost like home.
* * * * *
Charles stared uncomfortably at the waiter’s nipple, which bulged underneath his skin-tight T-shirt.
‘It’s pierced,’ explained Annie, when they’d finished their order.
Charles nodded thoughtfully. He wondered what the boys at the golf club would say about that. He realised with some surprise that he didn’t give a damn.
‘Everything I do is wrong,’ he mumbled. ‘I can’t do a thing right. I don’t know how to do anything right, because I don’t know what she wants any more.’
A T-shirt-clad pierced nipple temporarily obliterated his view of the world. When it had gone, there was a café latte in front of him on the table. Magic.
‘Have you talked to her?’ asked Annie.
Charles snorted and then shook h
is head.
‘I’m going back home,’ he said with a final push of energy. ‘Got a flight late tonight. We need some distance. I miss the boys. I’m doing no one any good being out here.’
Oh my God, thought Annie. Make or break time. She knew there was no point in trying to change his mind. What could she do? In desperation, she heard herself say to him,
‘E-mail her, Charles. Regularly, I mean.’
E-mail could be profound. You could say things on e-mail without blushing. You could slice through all the hurt and embarrassment of social interaction and experience the essence of pure communication. She thought of the e-mails she’d sent Marlon and Joy. Well, you couldn’t do worse than Charles did in person.
Charles looked at her thoughtfully.
‘Hmm,’ he said, his voice so low it sounded like distant thunder. ‘If I remember.’
* * * * *
‘Thought I’d go back home,’ Charles told Victoria.
Typical, thought Victoria. Just when things were getting exciting. She raised an eyebrow.
‘Miss the boys, miss golf, miss, well, you know, miss being … me …’
‘Are you saying I don’t miss the boys? And as for missing being you, now you know how I feel being a single parent twenty-four hours a day.’
‘New York just … I’m not home … it’s …’
Oh, what the bloody hell was he trying to say?
‘Charles, must you always obfuscate?’
‘Must I what?’
‘Why can’t you just talk to me in plain English? Sharing a language is one of the few things we actually have in common.’
‘Not sure I agree with you there, actually.’
What did he mean by that? That they had more in common than that, or less?
She suddenly felt lonely.
‘Will you come back with the boys?’
Charles shrugged.
‘Oh great,’ said Victoria, finding her breath unexpectedly heavy. ‘I’ll be a single mother again.’
Charles didn’t answer.
‘Fine. Give the boys my love.’ She felt an unexpected pang. ‘Tell them I’m looking forward to seeing them.’
Charles waited for Victoria to come to kiss him.
She left the room quickly.
21
ANNIE WOKE FEELING bright and bubbly. She was to sit in on the first of Edward’s updates with her father, make notes and relay them back to Susannah at home. Adrenaline surged through her body at New York speed. A quick walk round the park, hot coffee and a bagel and then the meeting at eleven. Excellent.
Even though it was only eight in the morning, the manic park exercisers were all out in force already. Annie had to dodge them as she took in the morning views and sounds. Occasionally people actually smiled at her, some said hello or ‘morning’, others asked her how she was, wished her a good day.
She sat at her already favourite bench, munching her bagel and sipping her hot coffee, until she felt too cold to stay still any longer. Then she made her way back to the apartment with a bounce in her step. Was it New York that was doing this to her, or the feeling of hope from Edward’s attention or the news about Jake? Either way, she felt as though her life was starting up again.
She couldn’t quite equate the fact that Jake being newly single made her feel good, which in turn made her feel good about Edward. What was going on there? Did she need Jake to become free and available again to realise that she really was ready to move on? Did this prove that she was now ready for Edward? Of course! That made perfect sense. If Jake had been with Sophie, she’d have felt that being with Edward was ‘making do’. Or was she still kidding herself? Was Jake pining for Sophie and was she coping with that by turning to Edward? Oh God, brain ache. Don’t try and work out the confusing signals, work on the facts.
The facts: Edward was interested. Jake wasn’t. Act on the facts and you can’t go wrong, she told herself. Go for it with Edward. Forget Jake. She spotted the Walk sign and started to walk confidently across the road. Where she was almost run over by a stray taxi.
Edward had suggested popping into her father’s apartment for the meeting, rather than making him come all the way to the 52nd Street office. Annie was initially disappointed – she’d been looking forward to dropping in to the nearby Museum of Modern Art afterwards – but after a friendly chat with the doorman whom she had grown to like very much, she decided it would be nice to have Edward in the apartment. She wondered briefly if he liked art as much as she did. And which period would be his favourite? Was he a Pre-Raphaelite man? Or an Impressionist lover? A modern art fan, maybe? Or possibly portraits were his thing.
As she closed the apartment door behind her, she could hear voices in the lounge. She glanced at her watch: 10.30 am. It couldn’t be Charles, he had already gone home in the dead of last night to catch the first flight he could get. It couldn’t be Edward, he wasn’t due here for another half an hour. Who was it? Before taking off her coat and scarf and checking her reflection in the hall mirror, she popped her head round the corner of the door, her eyes alert.
There stood Edward and her father, enjoying an early morning coffee.
‘Ah, Annie, m’dear, do come in,’ said George warmly.
Annie walked into the room, choosing to enjoy her father’s warmth and ignore the novelty of it. Her father was clearly keen to create a happy family atmosphere in front of Edward. Maybe Edward could do the whole family good, not just her.
She was grateful that her cheeks were flushed from the walk, because she knew that if they weren’t, the directness of Edward’s gaze would have had too obvious an effect.
‘Hello, Edward,’ she said, taking his outstretched hand for a formal handshake.
‘Hello Annie,’ he replied, holding her hand as firmly as her gaze.
Annie was enjoying the experience so much, she didn’t even mind Davina joining them with a notebook and pen at the ready.
‘I’m so sorry,’ gushed Davina, glancing quickly at her watch. ‘Am I terribly late?’
Edward and Annie turned to her reluctantly. For all her profound apologies, Annie could sense that Davina was put out by Edward’s early arrival.
‘Good God no, my dear,’ assured George, patting her on the shoulder. ‘Better late than never, eh?’
Annie was surprised at how curt Edward seemed with his pretty, blonde, leggy marketing director. In fact, all Davina received from her chief executive was a negligible nod of the head.
Annie looked at Edward afresh.
Until now, she’d felt fairly sure he was an unusually sensitive man. Now though, she had her proof. Just like her, Edward had clearly picked up on the clues that Davina was untrustworthy. Clues that were as nebulous as fluffy, white, sun-blocking, rain-holding clouds. Annie was getting fonder of Edward by the minute. More than that, she felt for the first time in years that she had an ally. Slowly, drip by drip, the ice-cold sense of loneliness that shaped her life was starting to thaw.
‘I would have got here earlier, actually,’ started Edward, ignoring Davina’s hint that he had come before his appointed time. ‘Only I couldn’t find the apartment. I thought you actually lived on Fifth Avenue—’
‘Righty ho then!’ exclaimed George loudly. ‘To the office.’
Once inside the office, they all acted efficiently with each other. Impressive performances all round, thought Annie. All nearly as good as Davina.
Edward gave his business strategy update, interrupted only by George’s occasional grunt of approval and Davina’s less and less frequent questions.
Annie watched with delight as Davina’s usually successful self-deprecation collapsed on Edward’s deaf ears.
George nodded gravely at Edward every time he looked his way. Clever chap, good stock, nice face. Didn’t understand a bloody word he was saying.
When Edward finished, George gave a long deep sigh.
‘All sounds very impressive to me,’ he said, glancing straight over Annie at Davina. He sighed dramat
ically and wiped some imaginary dirt off the edge of the table and then thumped it, as if sweeping the meeting away.
‘What say we to a morning drink?’
Edward grinned widely and started packing up his stuff.
Annie watched him, aware all the time that Davina in turn was watching her. She turned to her suddenly, delighted in shocking her into an unprecedented natural reaction. Davina blushed and looked away sharply.
As Edward finished packing, Annie suddenly remembered why she was here. To report to Susannah. Woops. The way she’d been concentrating, all she could probably tell Susannah was what colour suit Edward was wearing and that she only thought of Jake twice during the meeting. Pathetic.
‘Um, Edward—’
Edward shot her a charming smile.
‘I don’t suppose you have any, erm, anything in writing I could send to Susannah from this meeting, do you?’
He unclicked his briefcase.
‘Of course.’
Davina gave a little cough. Annie almost looked under the desk for a hiccuping Chihuahua.
‘Perhaps we could arrange another meeting when Susannah gets here?’ suggested Davina.
‘Surely this is simpler,’ argued Annie, her smile fixed.
Davina returned the smile. ‘Of course.’
They hated each other. It was official.
Without taking his eyes off Annie, Edward delved into the front pocket of his case and handed Annie a disk.
‘Would you like me to add some of my latest marketing strategy to that?’ asked Davina, her hand outstretched as Edward gave Annie the disk.
Annie turned to face Davina. What was going on? Was she suddenly trying to impress her? Or George? Or Edward? Was she actually trying to pretend that she was earning her keep by fulfilling her job description rather than her father’s fantasies?
To her relief, Edward seemed totally unimpressed.
‘I’m sure if Annie wanted that, she’d have asked for it,’ he said smoothly.
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