Chapter 4
They spent the next couple of hours catching up on all the news, drinking, eating and intermittently flipping through the channels on TV. A festive re-run of Fatal Attraction prompted Carmen to tell Rennie the story of Nancy and the Christmas card from the jewellers.
Predictably, Rennie shook his head and tut-tutted. ‘What an amateur. Number one rule when you’re buying anything like that, always pay in cash. And always, always give a false address. Ouch.’
‘It’s not funny. You’re single, he’s married. Nancy is my best friend and that bastard’s cheating on her, I just know he is.’
Looking around the living room, with its complete absence of Christmas decorations, Rennie said, ‘If she’s your best friend and you were going to be here on your own, why didn’t she invite you up there for Christmas?’
‘She did. I turned her down, said I couldn’t miss my shift at the shelter.’
‘And the real reason is?’
‘You know what I’m like. I can get a bit mopey at this time of year. I didn’t want to inflict my moods on other people, make them feel guilty for having fun and enjoying themselves.’ Carmen wriggled herself into a more comfortable position on the sofa. ‘Plus, I never did like Jonathan. The thought of having to pretend I did was more than I could stand.’
‘You see? That’s the difference between us. I never pretend to like people I don’t like. Complete waste of time. Why can’t everyone just say what they think?’
‘Because world war would break out and everyone would end up dead.’ Patiently Carmen said, ‘And how would that help?’
‘But what if your friend Nancy’s got it all wrong? I mean, I’ve never met her husband, and he does sound like a dickhead, but she doesn’t know for sure that he’s fooling around, does she? OK, just off the top of my head here,’ Rennie raked his fingers impatiently through his tousled hair, ‘he could have gone out a few weeks ago and bought her an emerald necklace for Christmas. Then a few days later, Nancy happens to mention in passing that she can’t stand emerald necklaces. What’s he going to do? Take it back to the shop. Buy her something else instead, like a sit-on lawnmower. But in the meantime his details have already gone into the computer. He’s been added to their Christmas card list.’
‘Jonathan would never have done that.’ Carmen’s voice dripped with scorn.
Rennie shrugged. ‘Maybe not, but it’s feasible. That’d be my excuse.’
The phone rang. Hastily swallowing a mouthful of Viennese truffle, Carmen snatched it up before Rennie could get in first and say something hideously embarrassing.
‘Hi, it’s me.’ Nancy’s voice was hushed and strained.
‘And?’ Carmen’s heart went out to her.
‘Mum’s just gone up to bed. I don’t want her to overhear me. God, what a day. All this pretending everything’s fine is exhausting.’
Carmen, who knew all about putting on a brave face and pretending everything was fine, said, ‘Where’s Jonathan?’
‘Out.’
‘What? It’s Christmas night!’
‘I know. He came back from the pub at two o’clock and we had a nice afternoon. Well, nice for Mum,’ Nancy amended. ‘I mean, everything was like normal, as far as she was concerned. Then at eight o’clock Jonathan got a call on his mobile. He said it was his friend Hamish, having trouble getting his new computer fixed up. So off he went to help, but that was three hours ago and now his phone’s switched off, and I’m a bit worried that when he does get home I might punch him.’
‘OK, sshh,’ Carmen said soothingly as Nancy’s voice rose. ‘How long is your mum staying with you?’
‘Until tomorrow night. That’s another thing,’ Nancy burst out. ‘This afternoon Jonathan told me we’ve been invited to a Boxing Day party at the pub. Well, I said no because I knew Mum wouldn’t be too keen. Pubs aren’t really her thing, and she wouldn’t know anyone. So Jonathan said fine, me and Mum could stay at home if we liked, but he didn’t see why he should miss out on a bloody good party. Oh God.’ Nancy took a deep breath, steadying herself. ‘It’s just awful. What’s Mum going to think if he disappears again?’
‘Tell her,’ said Carmen.
‘I can’t, I just can’t. She’d be so upset.’ Nancy sounded close to tears.
‘She’s your mother.’
‘Exactly!’
‘Take her home at lunchtime and go on to the party afterwards. ’
‘How can I do that?’ Nancy let out a wail. ‘She’s all excited about staying with us until tomorrow night!’
‘OK, so all three of you have to go to the party.’ Carmen was fast running out of options.
‘I know, I know we will. But I keep having this horrible thought,’ said Nancy. ‘What if Jonathan’s girlfriend is there? That could be the reason he’s so determined to go.’
‘Well—’
‘Hang on, I can hear a car!’ There was the sound of a curtain being swished back, then Nancy hissed, ‘It’s Jonathan, he’s home. I have to go.’
‘OK, good luck . . .’ but the line had already gone dead. ‘She’s all on her own,’ Carmen said defensively, because her eyes were starting to glisten and Rennie was about to make fun of her for being such a girl.
‘She’s not on her own, she’s got her mother and her husband there with her. I bet she wishes she was on her own.’
‘You’re all heart,’ said Carmen.
‘I’m not so bad.’ Grinning across at her, Rennie said, ‘I’ve got hidden depths.’
As he took out his mobile, Carmen eyed it suspiciously. ‘Who are you ringing now?’
‘Calling a cab.’
‘Where are you going?’ Her stomach contracted; she’d been perfectly all right on her own. But now that Rennie was here, she didn’t want him to leave.
‘The Savoy.’
‘You can stay here if you want.’ Carmen prayed she didn’t sound as needy as she thought she sounded.
‘I know.’ Rennie winked to show he’d been teasing her. ‘I am staying here. But I’m already booked into the Savoy. I need to get over there and pick up my stuff.’
‘Here, cup of tea. Happy Boxing Day.’
Hmm? From the depths of sleep, Carmen heard the clink of china and smelled toothpaste and soap. Her eyes snapping open in disbelief, she saw that Rennie had brought her a cup of tea. Not only that, but it was still pitch black outside. He was even wearing aftershave.
‘Oh my God,’ squeaked Carmen, catching sight of the alarm clock. ‘It’s four o’clock in the morning!’
‘I know, blame it on the jet lag. Now drink your tea,’ Rennie said bossily, ‘and chuck a few things into a case. Car’s going to be here in half an hour.’
Was he hallucinating? Sleepwalking? Unbelievably drunk?
‘What’s going on?’ Carmen eyed him with suspicion.
‘I didn’t bring you a Christmas present. So this is it. We’re going on a little trip.’
The trouble with Rennie was he had absolutely no concept of the words little trip. Last night he’d been talking about Australia and she’d mentioned that it was somewhere she’d always wanted to visit.
Cautiously, Carmen said, ‘How are we getting there?’
‘Plane. Don’t worry, I’ve already booked the tickets.’
Oh God, it was Australia!
‘I don’t know where my passport is.’ She rubbed her eyes.
‘Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?’
‘Gone walkabout.’ Then Carmen saw that he was laughing at her.
‘You don’t trust me at all, do you? I wasn’t actually planning to whisk you off to the Australian outback.’
‘Where then?’
‘Thought we might try the Edinburgh outback instead. See what Boxing Day parties are like up there.’ Rennie ruffled her hair. ‘Give your friend Nancy a bit of moral support.’