‘All right,’ said Madison. ‘What’s the big deal? What are we celebrating?’
She was leaning back in the booth in their favourite bar, clad in a vivid red dress, her fake fur coat lying over her very real Burberry bag, a gift from Caspar.
Fiona grinned down at her, shaking the rain off her coat.
‘Hello, Mads, let’s get some drinks first. What are you having?’
Madison gestured negligently with her painted nails. ‘Oh, I’m not bothered.’ Her face was slightly strained, her jaw set. Fiona had the first sense then that this might not go well. ‘What are you having?’
‘I was thinking of getting some champagne in,’ Fiona said, but already she could feel her enthusiasm draining away.
No, she thought with a sudden flash of insight, being drained away.
‘Oh, champagne’s so boring. Do you know what I fancy?’ said Madison, gazing out of the window as huddled Londoners hurried past in the rain. ‘Just a plain Chardonnay.’
‘You’re sure that’s all you want?’
‘Yeah, yeah. I can’t drink too much tonight. Caspar is taking me to Prague for the weekend.’
‘That’s nice,’ said Fiona.
Madison shrugged.
‘So, just a Chardonnay, yeah?’ asked Fiona. ‘You’re sure?’
‘Yeah. But you can get champagne if you want.’
The bar was empty, the barman a little bearded hipster in a waistcoat whose smile seemed almost sympathetic, as though he guessed at the turn her evening was taking.
It would be impossible to drink champagne alone, as Madison must have known, so she ordered a large gin and tonic. Something told her she would need it. Almost pre-emptively, the bite of disappointment had shut its jaws in her heart.
No, she told herself. Stop this. You’re being selfish. Madison doesn’t have to drink champagne if she doesn’t want. And she doesn’t know your news yet. People don’t necessarily have to follow your script, you know.
She carried the drinks over. Madison was buried in her mobile phone but put it down the minute Fiona reappeared and offered her a tight little smile.
‘So how are you?’ asked Fiona.
‘Well, Hugo came round to mine last night. “Oh, Madison, I was just in town, let’s go to dinner. I have reservations at Hawksmoor …” Like I’m going to go sit in a restaurant with him.’
‘Yeah?’ Fiona made a sympathetic face. ‘What was it about?’
‘What do you think?’ Madison growled. ‘Same as always. He wants my mum to give him power of attorney and “retire”. I said, “She is retired, Hugo. She lives in a big house in Majorca and spends all day on the beach.” Then it was, “Yes, but what if something happens to her? You know her heart …” And he has these big tragic eyes while he says it. “Aren’t you worried about what will happen to her if she gets sick?”’
‘I just said, “I’m very worried about what will happen to all her money and her house if you get your greedy fists on it and don’t even have to ask permission to spend it any more. So no, I won’t be hassling her to do whatever you want. Don’t ask.”’
Fiona shook her head. ‘And?’
‘He was despicable, Fee. Actually trying to bribe me at one point. “You know, it has been so unfair that you’ve not felt the benefit of Dad’s money. I could help you get a deposit for your own place, if I had access to the funds.”’
Fiona did a double-take. ‘He must be desperate if he’s offering to give any money to you.’
‘So, what do you think is happening?’ Madison asked, taking a sip.
‘He’s in trouble. Big trouble this time, and he needs a lot of money in a hurry, and if your mum finds out she’s going to go crazy.’
‘My thoughts exactly, my dear Watson.’ She smacked her lips. ‘Anyway, he got no joy. Would like to think it’s the end of the matter, but something tells me not.’
‘Probably not,’ Fiona agreed.
‘So, are you going to keep me in suspense?’ Madison asked. ‘What did you invite me out for?’
‘They’ve offered me the senior lecturer position.’ Fiona was flushed, breathless. It felt faintly unreal, and now she was here, she could hardly believe she was saying it out loud. ‘Senior lecturer. I’m only twenty-nine!’
‘Fee, that’s amazing news!’ Madison grinned broadly, but her smile didn’t touch her eyes. ‘Congratulations!’
‘Thanks.’
‘This is that new university out in the north-east, right?’ asked Madison.
‘No, no. It’s Cambridge. That’s the great thing. I’d stay where I am, I’m just being promoted.’
Madison went very still. ‘You’ll be a senior lecturer at Cambridge?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You never said there was a job there.’ There was a flat tone to her voice, as though Fiona had been concealing something important from her.
‘No, Maude approached me … six weeks ago. Asked me why I hadn’t applied.’
‘You told me,’ said Madison evenly, ‘that if you wanted to get a promotion you would have to leave Cambridge.’
‘I know, that’s the amazing thing. Barbara is going to Harvard and I didn’t even think of applying for her job. But Maude suggested it and …’ Fiona shrugged, smiled. ‘I got it. Starting in January.’
Madison frowned. ‘That’s all very quick. Didn’t they advertise it?’ She sipped at her wine, not meeting Fiona’s eyes. ‘I don’t remember seeing an ad for it.’
‘Yes, they advertised it.’ Fiona could feel herself bridling. She was being subtly accused of something, she saw, some kind of underhand dealing. ‘And then they suggested I apply for it and I got it.’ Her cheeks were burning. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘No, no. God, you’re so fucking sensitive.’ Madison picked up her glass, and she wasn’t sipping any more, but taking a big gulp.
‘Yeah, maybe,’ Fiona said, biting back a retort. Maybe Madison was right. Even though Fiona had never thought of applying for the job initially, once it had been suggested that she should, she had spent the last couple of weeks on tenterhooks. ‘Waiting to hear has completely fried me.’
‘Hmm,’ said Madison, still not meeting her eyes. ‘It’s great how you managed to get lucky with that one research paper,’ she said, taking another big gulp of her wine. ‘You’ve spun a whole career out of it. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.’
‘What do you mean? I’ve written lots of papers.’ Fiona was colouring again. ‘I’ve worked really hard.’
‘Yeah, but they’re all the same thing, aren’t they? Technical information exchange in ferrous metallurgy, it just rolls off the tongue.’
‘Well, that is my specialty,’ said Fiona, putting her own glass down. She didn’t want to drink any more. ‘What’s got into you?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘This is huge for me, and you don’t seem very happy.’
Madison shrugged. ‘Of course I’m happy for you. But they were always going to push you up on the fast track.’ She drained her glass. ‘You play their games and say the things they want to hear. You’re their type.’
Fiona’s blush was turning into a true hot rage. ‘You’re always doing this.’
‘Doing what?’ Madison still wasn’t looking at her.
‘This. Whenever I achieve something, it’s like it doesn’t matter or I didn’t deserve it or I did something sneaky for it. Only you don’t come out and say it, you just make these snide, snarky asides and don’t look at me while you say them.’ Fiona seized her coat. ‘I worked my arse off for the last five years and now I’m finally getting recognised, and all you can do is sit there and undermine me.’
‘I didn’t say that or anything like it. Now you’re just being paranoid.’ Madison’s eyes were hard. ‘You never even mentioned to me that you were applying for this thing …’
‘What was the point? I didn’t think I was going to get it.’
‘Hmm,’ said Madison. ‘Didn’t you?’
‘Whatever,’ snapped Fiona, jerking to her feet. ‘Enjoy Prague.’