72

SAM

We both clattered down the stairs and onto the street.

Lucy mumbled, ‘I’ve got to get out of here,’ and disappeared down the street. I paused for a moment, my head blasted with shock. For a moment all I could think about was why she’d gone in that direction, when the Tube was the other way. And then I must have started walking back the way I came. I couldn’t remember any of this part, other than feeling very cold and very shaky. Just before I got to the Tube station I became aware of Claudia and Ed, running towards me.

What were they doing here? When they reached me, Claudia opened her arms and let me fall against her. Then when I’d stopped sobbing so much I couldn’t breathe – let alone walk – they led me down the street and into a pub, where Claudia shuffled into a booth and, in lightning-quick time, Ed bought me a brandy. And then another. And then, as the sharpness of the shock eased a little, it dawned on me that it was very strange for Claudia and Ed to have been there in that street at that moment. And running.

‘We got there as soon as we heard,’ Claudia said.

‘That bitch, I can’t believe it was her! But how did you know?’

Claudia and Ed exchanged glances.

‘What the fuck is going on?’ I asked them.

‘It’s a bit of a long story.’

‘Well, I’m completely incapable of doing anything just now so you may as well tell me.’

‘OK.’ Claudia paused.

‘Go on!’ What were they stalling for? Ed was sitting looking, what was it . . . sad? Looking serious anyway. He obviously wasn’t going to do the talking. I glared at Claudia. There was a whole lot going on here that I had to know. Had to.

‘Well, my love, I’ve been feeling strange about Rebecca for a while.’

I wasn’t expecting the conversation to veer off track but my day wasn’t exactly running smoothly thus far.

Claudia continued, ‘I must admit, I’ve never really understood your animosity towards her. I’ve always seen her as a bit pathetic really, a bit of a try-hard, but basically harmless.’

I rolled my eyes.

‘When she started hanging around after Ed got back from India I was going through my own stuff, and I guess I didn’t think about it too much. In retrospect, I think that should have set off alarm bells immediately.’

‘It did with me.’

I turned to Ed. ‘Oh look, he speaks.’

‘Sam, we’re here because we care about you,’ Claudia said, her voice edging towards being stern.

‘Sorry, I just feel like I’m spinning out here. Go on, Ed.’

After a bit of nervous throat-clearing Ed continued, ‘I . . . er, I did think it was strange, all the attention she was giving me. She’d never noticed me before and it’s not like I’m her type . . .’ The last bit was muttered into his drink.

Claudia picked up the story. ‘It’s really since she got the job with John that I started feeling something wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t put my finger on it for quite a while but then last week I overheard her giggling on the phone to someone, obviously a lover—’

I looked at Ed wide-eyed. ‘You can’t be serious?’ But Ed just blinked at me, a strange, vulnerable look on his face.

‘Jesus wept, Sam, are you crazy?’ Claudia said. ‘Of course it wasn’t Ed—’

‘That’s not what you thought at the time,’ Ed cut across her.

‘I know, I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions, that was really stupid of me.’ Claudia squeezed Ed’s arm, and he grunted.

What was going on here?

‘Anyway, there was definitely something about it that made me feel very uncertain and John and I decided to follow her.’

‘Really?’ I almost laughed. My friends cared so much about me that they had stalked my sister?

‘Yes.’

Claudia was grave and I felt a rush of gratitude to my dear friend – and the mysterious John Tightpants I was yet to meet – who would go to such lengths for me.

‘So we watched her arrive at the restaurant she was due to meet this person at. I even went in there, pretending to need the loo, but she was there on her own so I turned and left and, coming out, bumped into your man. Charlie.’

My stomach dropped through the seat beneath me.

‘What—’

‘I’ve never seen him before but John told me afterwards who he was. He met him somehow, years ago, at some dinner or something. Anyway that got me even more suspicious.’

Claudia paused, checking to see how I was taking it.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘So John and I both had our ears open for any new developments. Today Rebecca was due some time off in lieu and John had told her she could go home at two o’clock. He noticed her texting furiously through lunch and then he was just passing the water cooler on the way to the toilets when he heard her say she’d meet him at his place for some indoor sports.’

‘And you thought it was Charlie?’

‘We thought there was a good chance it would be and we wanted to make sure.’

‘Right . . .’

‘Anyway I was in a meeting so John couldn’t tell me straightaway. In the meantime he found out Ed’s address and then as soon as I knew, I called Ed and we came. We wanted to intercept you so you wouldn’t walk into it. I’m sorry.’ Claudia’s eyes filled with tears and she reached out and grabbed my hands. ‘We really didn’t want you to get hurt.’

I sat in silence for a moment, looking from concerned face to concerned face. So many questions were whirling around my mind. I still didn’t understand why they were going on about Rebecca.

‘I really want you to know I wasn’t involved with any of this, at least not willingly,’ Ed started up again. ‘It’s been going over and over in my mind today, wondering why Rebecca made such a fuss of me, and I can only think she was using me as a decoy so you thought she was interested in me. But it was all so fake.’

‘There was another reason she flirted with you,’ said Claudia.

‘Claudia . . .’ Ed sounded like he was warning her.

Claudia opened her mouth to speak and then shut it quickly. ‘Actually no, I don’t think I’ll say, it’s silly really.’

‘Say it.’ My teeth were clenched. This was becoming more and more like a dream that made no sense and I really needed everything straightened out.

Claudia shook her head.

‘Claud, I cannot bear any more secrets. Tell me!’

Claudia bit her lip, tensing with indecision, and then sighed. ‘I think Rebecca was actually flirting with Ed to make you jealous, Sam.’

What? I looked at Ed. His face was magenta and he was frowning at Claudia. I couldn’t read what was in his eyes but he wasn’t pleased.

Claudia put her hands in the air. ‘Sorry, Ed, but that’s my theory.’

‘Why would that make me jealous?’ I wondered aloud and then wished I hadn’t. It dawned on me – God, I was slow on the uptake today – that Claudia meant Rebecca was trying to make me jealous of her closeness with Ed so that I’d want him. I blushed with Ed and lowered my head, cringing.

‘That’s embarrassing.’ I managed a weak smile.

‘You’re telling me.’ Ed’s frown slid into a sheepish grimace, his eyes flashing at me across the table.

Whoa. This was all too much. Way too many revelations and emotions for one day. I rubbed my face vigorously with both hands.

‘The thing I don’t understand is why you’re sitting here telling me Rebecca’s having it off with Charlie when it wasn’t her I just walked in on.’

‘What?’ Claudia and Ed said at the same time. ‘Then who the hell was it?’

We all jumped on a bus soon after that and rode towards Claudia’s. I was grateful they didn’t slag Charlie off the whole way back although I’m sure they wanted to now that we knew he wasn’t a two-timing bastard but a three-timing slimeball. The crazy events of the last few weeks kept playing over and over in my mind, all of my encounters with Rebecca coming into sharp focus. Every time I’d mentioned Charlie, Rebecca had reacted. At the time I’d put it down to her being incredulous that I was making a play for someone so out of my league – someone from Rebecca’s precious circle. But it wasn’t that at all – it was envy! When did it all begin? Was he seeing Rebecca before I even started seeing him? Or did it start after? My stomach roiled in nausea when I thought about sharing him with my own bloody sister, intimately sharing with her. Yuck, yuck, yuck. What was he thinking? What was she thinking? After all, Rebecca knew we were seeing each other – why would she want to see him as well? And the scene in the Chinese restaurant with Mum loomed in all its cringing glory, over and over again. There I was with my sex toys, trying to spice up my love life, to entice Charlie further, and that bloody dildo – it was still in its packet, what a fucking waste of money – was bandied about for all to see, for Mum to see, when all along Rebecca was the little sex kitten. No wonder we’d only got it on once over the past few weeks. What the freaking hell was Charlie thinking?

And it kept coming back to that. As the bus stopped and started, with Claudia and Ed boxing me in, protecting me from the rest of the world and quietly letting me process my thoughts in my own time, I ultimately kept coming back to that question. What the hell was he thinking? Yes, Rebecca had crossed a line even I never would have thought she was able to. But Charlie – why? Why the fuck why?