Robbie had booked dinner at the Peat Inn, a restaurant renowned locally and beyond for its Michelin-star-quality food and unpretentious surroundings. The fivesome nestled into snug chairs round a low oak table where Robbie ordered five vodka martinis.
The place felt like a secret retreat in the heart of this beautiful countryside. It was surrounded by winding country roads with old-fashioned wooden bus stops sheltering women wearing headscarves and kind smiles.
Robbie looked across at Lucy. Hartley was his best friend in the world and Bridget had come as a bitter disappointment. He despised her but of course said nothing for fear of upsetting Hartley – and after all, maybe he had got Bridget wrong. He had vowed to share his concerns should they ever get engaged, but thankfully that had never happened. Bridget represented everything he loathed: snobbery, fake concern for the environment and charities, and utter self-obsession. She masked this cleverly by acting sickly sweet around Hartley, fussing over him, making plans, buying him presents every time she shopped. But Robbie had seen through the facade and witnessed on more than one occasion the sharp end of her tongue. Once, during a skiing trip in Italy, he had overheard a phone conversation she’d had with her father and was disgusted by the way she spoke to him. As far as Bridget was concerned the man who afforded her pampered lifestyle had, it seemed, no right to an ounce of respect or gratitude from his spoiled daughter.
So thank God for Lucy. He had just met her, but Robbie sensed she was worlds apart from Bridget. For starters, she didn’t look as harsh. Her features were as soft as Bridget’s were hard. Lucy was demure, almost shy, and yet full of grace and sexuality. Hartley was one lucky boy. Robbie was sure Lucy was altogether more gentle and genuine than Bridget. Though who wouldn’t have been?
‘So, tell me,’ Robbie addressed Lucy, taking a glug from his drink, ‘do you have any beautiful single friends you can introduce me to?’
Lucy smiled. Genevieve? She could think of nothing worse than going on double dates with these warm, welcoming people and her boss, full of questions about who was who, what new places the royals were hanging out in. She could think of other girlfriends she would far rather see Robbie with. Then again, what harm was there in setting him up on a date with Genevieve? If he hated her, there would be no repeat. But then again, that might turn her neurotic boss against her, and she would be back collecting the skinny lattes before she knew it.
‘I can think of a couple.’
Claudia, a quiet girl who seemed constantly to be preparing to speak but rarely did, joined in. Lucy recognized her from the day she met Bridget at Ascot. She had assumed the strawberry blonde girl by her side was stifling a giggle as she looked at the ground during Bridget’s tirade, but now she wondered if she had simply misread her shyness, for she seemed as gentle as her friend was brash.
‘I have a few friends who would kill for a date with you, Robbie,’ Claudia told him. ‘You’re quite a catch. And moving to Scotland has only made you harder to get.’
Robbie laughed heartily, covering his face in mock embarrassment. ‘Oh shucks, Claud. They are after me for one thing and one thing only…’
Claudia looked at him, wide-eyed and expectant.
‘… my enormous manhood.’
As the group of friends laughed, the waiter approached and signalled their table was ready. While Charles and Robbie caught up on news about mutual friends – they too were school friends – and Claudia excused herself to the Ladies, Hartley squeezed Lucy’s hand under the table.
‘Are you OK, Lucy Lu?’
‘Of course. Are you?’
‘Never more so. Having you here with my friends, it’s divine. Sorry about earlier… you know, being disturbed.’
‘That’s OK,’ Lucy said, smiling. ‘We have all weekend.’
Hartley laughed and jokingly hit the air with a clenched fist like a winning jockey crossing the finish line. He kissed Lucy on the cheek as she laughed, then settled into conversation with his friends about old pals.
Claudia seemed relieved to have Lucy to herself and quizzed her relentlessly about fashion, endearing herself to Lucy by telling her: ‘I’m a bit of a geek, you see. I need all the help I can get.’
The six-course tasting menu was delicious, with tiny tastes of local produce – salmon, pheasant and duck – washed down with fine wine.
‘I do feel dreadful, about Ascot,’ Claudia ventured over sticky toffee pudding. ‘I was there, beside Bridget.’
‘I know you were, but you did nothing wrong. You can’t apologize for the way others behave.’
‘Bridget did behave terribly. But I don’t think she’s all that bad.’
Lucy smiled. ‘No, perhaps she’s not.’
When they were leaving at the end of the meal, Robbie smiled as he watched Hartley escort Lucy to the door. He had never seen him look so happy. And that made Robbie happy. Hartley had had it hard since his dad died – he felt responsible not only for his mother’s happiness but for helping as many people as he could through his charity. It was about time he had someone to share his life with.
Stepping outside, they were blinded by a flash.
‘What the hell…’ Hartley started.
‘Alright, mate, give us a smile.’
‘What?’
Charles instinctively lunged at the man who was in their faces, standing at the bottom of the steps and blinding them with his camera flash.
As Charles wrestled the camera from him, the man shouted in a thick London accent: ‘Oi, what’s the problem? Lucy, you tipped my boss off – he said you knew we were coming. I don’t want no trouble.’
Charles let go of the camera as suddenly as he had grabbed it and turned to Lucy.
Lucy stared at the man, trying to compute what he had just said.
‘Come on, Lucy, tell the big fella… I’ve come all this way.’
‘I have no idea who you are,’ Lucy said as loudly as she could. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. Hartley?’ Lucy looked at Hartley but he couldn’t meet her eyes. ‘Hartley?’
He was walking to the car as the photographer scurried off into the night.
Confused, Lucy stood and watched as her friends, as if in slow motion, followed Hartley.
She got in the car and sat in the back beside Hartley. She took his hand but he pulled it away.
‘We’ll speak about this later,’ he said in a hushed tone.
‘Guys, I have no idea who that was.’
Silence.
‘For God’s sake, you think I told someone to track us down to a country restaurant in the middle of nowhere to get my picture in the paper?’
Robbie coughed in embarrassment. ‘No, I’m sure that’s not the case. It’s just…’
‘Yes?’
‘Well, as you say, it’s not the sort of place you stumble upon. And… well, why would he blame you?’
Lucy looked at Hartley and caught something in his eye she wished she hadn’t. It was the rawest, most painful look of hurt she had ever seen.
She turned away to look out of the window, her eyes stinging with tears.