Claire comes up for air in the pool and waves at Andy where he’s standing in the shallow end, his muscled torso rising up from the water. Dominica is right. All he needs is a trident and he’d be a good model for a water deity. She knows that it’s completely wrong to sexually objectify him, but it’s hard not to.
He smiles beneath his swimming hat and applauds. Buoyed up by his praise, she clings on to the side and prepares herself to set off again. He’s certainly given her power today. That’s her first ever full length of front crawl in the twenty-five-metre pool, breathing every three strokes and remembering to twist her body in the water and glide, stretching her arm out. It feels great and she pushes off now, determined that this length will be even better. She wants to impress him, just like she impressed Helga and the Sea-Gals yesterday.
She thinks back to her half-arsed, ill-fated attempts at getting fit in the past. There was that costly gym membership that just became embarrassing, a spate where she was determined to run, until she got painful shin splints, and the spin classes in which she was the fattest and nearly had a cardiac arrest.
But this is different. And necessary. She’s signed up with the others to swim around the pier in July. Dominica presented it to the group. It’s the annual gathering of all the sea swimmers along this bit of coast in aid of a mental health charity. Having helped out Tor with Home Help and raised money for her charity with the dawn swim, Claire was a little bit surprised that she might be involved in another fundraiser. But then again, she likes it that the women she swims with have a social conscience. They are, as Dominica says, the kind of people charities rely on. As Claire doesn’t have a paid job, being a force for good and helping people makes her feel like she’s contributing to society in a good way.
But still. Round the pier? It feels like a long way. Helga says they’ve done it a few times and it’s easy and that Claire can do it, but she wants to be sure she can. Pim told her she was mad and the boys clearly think she’s too old to attempt anything like that, so she’s going to prove them all wrong. And, since she met Andy at the pool at 6.30 a.m. and it was still dark, her family aren’t even aware that she’s out of the house. So what’s it to them?
‘Well done,’ Andy says, as she joins him at the other end. ‘You’ve got it.’
They get out of the pool and he puts his hand on her shoulder as they walk to the changing rooms, but not in a creepy way. ‘Shame the sauna isn’t open. It’s always good after a swim.’
She walks through the female door and catches sight of herself in the full wall mirror. Her cheeks are glowing and, for once, her mind doesn’t fall into negative hate thoughts about her tummy or arms, because her mind is occupied by what Andy has just said. Was he flirting with her? Was he saying that he wanted to have a sauna with her?
A sauna? Christ, that would be sexy.
She hasn’t had a sexual thought about anyone other than Pim (and not really about Pim either) for so long that it’s a shock to feel her libido saying hello. But there it is.
Wow.
She’s home from the pool in plenty of time before school starts. The boys are still asleep, by the looks of it, as their curtains are shut.
‘How was it?’ Pim asks, coming up behind her as she puts her bag in the utility room. ‘You went at the crack of dawn.’
‘Hard,’ she admits. ‘But good.’
Dare she tell him about sexy Andy? That he’d been flirting with her? Might he see her differently if he realised his wife was admired by another man?
She suddenly decides that this is it – she’s going to press herself against him and kiss him. She’s going to get their sex life back on track. She steps towards him.
‘It’s nice to feel healthy. More alive, you know …’
He smiles and she reaches out to touch his ancient towelling dressing gown, letting her hands loosen the belt. He looks surprised, but happy about it. She takes a step closer, revelling in how thrilling this unexpected bit of foreplay is. She knows that it’s crazy … absurd to arouse her husband when the boys will be down any minute, but her hand starts to travel south.
But suddenly there’s a deafening noise of a chainsaw right outside and they stare at each other.
‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ Pim says, stepping away and re-knotting the dressing gown cord. He flings open the back door. The noise is horrific. Sawdust fills the air.
Right above them, there’s a workman in a harness sawing through the branches of Jenna and Rob’s cherry tree. Seeing them he grins and touches the rim of his red hard hat. As if he’s doing them a favour. Claire tries to shout at him, but he can’t hear her, so she rushes upstairs to the landing window.
It takes her a while to locate the key to open it, but then she flings it open. She’s now more on a level with the workman.
‘Stop,’ she shouts. ‘Stop it right now.’
The workman puts his hand to his ear, as if he can’t hear her, but she waves at him and the noise of the chain saw cuts out for a moment. ‘You can’t chop it down. The birds are nesting there.’
She sees that Rob has come out into his garden, holding a cup of coffee.
‘What’s going on?’ he calls up to the workman. ‘Why have you stopped?’
Then he sees Claire in the window and he rolls his eyes. ‘Oh, here we go.’
‘You can’t just chop down the tree,’ she shouts at him. ‘The birds live there. They’ve been building their nest. This is the wrong time of year. And anyway, you can’t … you can’t just—’
‘They’re birds. They can live anywhere. They make too much noise anyway and that pigeon craps on my wicker sofa.’
Claire is so cross; she feels close to tears. ‘You really don’t care, do you? About anyone other than yourselves.’
‘This is none of your business.’
‘It is my business. It’s my view.’
‘That I’ve been providing free of charge.’
‘You don’t own nature,’ she shouts then slams the window shut.
‘That went well,’ Pim says, but she growls at him furiously. She didn’t see him trying. She stomps downstairs. There must be something they can do? But calling the police seems a little reckless, when Rob isn’t breaking the law. Is he? It feels like he is.
She picks up the home phone.
‘What are you doing?’ Pim asks.
‘Calling the police.’
He gives her a look as if she’s crazy. ‘Don’t be daft. The police can’t do anything. Just let it go.’
He shakes his head and goes upstairs to get dressed. Claire stands with the phone in her hand, the sound of the chainsaw filling the hallway.
She hears the ping of a message on her phone in her pocket and she replaces the receiver. It’s Maddy on WhatsApp. She’s has to drive back to Cobham, but she’s got a few things she wants to give Claire for when she volunteers for Home Help. ‘I’m on my way,’ Claire types back. ‘I’ll be there in five.’
She’s still seething as she arrives at Maddy’s apartment block. It’s the kind of place that you’d never notice and she has to double-check the pin Maddy has sent. It looks rather run-down for someone posh like Maddy.
Claire texts her and a few moments later, Maddy comes out of the building, carrying two black plastic bags. Claire gets out and opens the boot of the car.
‘Some jackets,’ she explains, ‘and some sanitary products from Lidl.’
‘Tor will be pleased. That’s very generous of you.’
‘It’s the least I can do. I keep thinking how Jamie would want stuff like that.’
‘Still no word?’
‘This guy that Lotte’s friend used. He’s on the case. He called to say that Jamie stayed in a hostel in Oriental Place last year. I’ve talked to the warden there who doesn’t remember him. But then, they have people coming and going all the time. She didn’t have any idea where he might have gone. But it’s a start. A timeline at least.’
Claire smiles, but Maddy frowns. ‘Hey? Are you OK?’
‘Not really.’
Claire explains what has just happened.
‘They can’t do that,’ Maddy says, and Claire is touched that she’s just as indignant.
‘Well, they’re doing it.’
‘Right now?’
‘Yes, right now. I’m glad you texted. I couldn’t bear to watch.’
Maddy takes out her phone and squints at the screen and dials. ‘Let me see if I can help?’
‘Help? But how?’ Claire asks.
‘Matteo.’
‘Matteo the sexy neighbour?’
Maddy laughs and holds up a finger.
‘Matteo, it’s me. Can you do me a favour?’ she asks. She walks a few steps up the pavement and then back again to the car. Claire hears her explain the situation to him.
‘I know! Exactly.’ She smiles and Claire sees Maddy’s whole demeanour change when she listens to him. ‘You would? Seriously? Oh, Matteo. That’s great. Thank you. I owe you.’
She rings off, her eyes bright. A second later, a text pings up. ‘Here we go,’ she says, but Claire still doesn’t understand.
‘What are you doing?’ Claire asks.
She presses a number on her phone and raises her eyebrows at Claire and then nods as she gets through to someone on the other end. And Claire sees why it is that Maddy has been able to build a home from scratch. She’s rather formidable.
‘Hi,’ she says brightly. ‘You don’t know me, but I’m Maddy Wolfe. Matteo, my next-door neighbour, gave me your number.’ There’s a pause and her eyes shine. ‘Oh, did he?’ She laughs. ‘Well, he said you’d help.’ She turns away and Claire hears her explaining about Jenna and Rob’s property and the tree on the boundary wall.
‘Yes, they’re there now,’ Maddy says. ‘What’s the address?’ she mouths to Claire, who tells her. ‘Fourteen Waterloo Drive,’ she repeats. ‘Yes, that’s right. You’ll go right away? Oh, that’s great. Thank you.’
Claire stares at her in amazement as Maddy explains that Matteo’s colleague from the council will be paying a visit with an order to stop the destruction of the tree.
‘I cannot believe you just did that,’ Claire says. ‘Thank you.’
‘No problem. You got time for a quick coffee?’ she asks.
Claire nods and locks the car and they go up the stairs a few flights to Maddy’s floor. Only a few months ago, Claire would have been completely out of breath, but to her surprise, she keeps up with Maddy who takes the stairs two at a time. She’s wearing old faded Levi jeans that make her bum look great. She hasn’t got any make-up on and, in her baggy jumper, she looks effortlessly cool. Even with everything going on, she looks a lot more relaxed than she did when Claire first met her.
They get to the apartment and Luna comes over from her bed in the corner.
‘Oh, hello you.’
‘I said I’d watch her whilst Matteo is at the office.’
‘So what’s the deal with you and Matteo? If you can just call in a favour like that?’
‘He’s still just a friend,’ Maddy says, smoothing the hair behind her ear.
‘But you want it to be more?’
Maddy lets out a strangled laugh. ‘Oh God, Claire. I don’t know. I definitely fancy him, but I’m too shy to make the first move. It just feels like such a huge step to take.’
‘You’re overthinking it,’ Claire says.
‘Am I?’
And as Claire sits, watching Maddy make coffee for them, she feels like she used to with her sisters when they were teenagers. She loves it that Maddy values her opinion and wants her advice.
‘God, I don’t know what I’d do without you lot to keep me sane,’ Maddy says.