Rosie Thomas 4-Book Collection: Other People’s Marriages, Every Woman Knows a Secret, If My Father Loved Me, A Simple Life. Rosie Thomas
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side. ‘Jimmy is only jealous, of course.’
Nina found herself laughing. Jimmy Rose was amusing, in his sharp way.
‘Who would not be jealous of the man who possesses Wilton Manor, a Maserati and Hannah?’
‘I thought I might buy myself a car,’ Nina heard herself saying.
‘Haven’t you got one? No heavenly chariot?’ Jimmy’s eyebrows peaked.
Quickly she said, ‘I used to have an Alfa Romeo Spyder, but I sold it.’
‘Beautiful machines,’ Andrew pronounced.
‘Sexy machines,’ Jimmy added.
‘You must buy another glamorous car because you are a glamorous person,’ Hannah told her with slightly drunken assertiveness, and Nina found herself smiling across the table at Star. Even though Star had talked and laughed almost as much as the others her voice was cool, and Nina had the impression that she had held herself aloof from the mood of the party. Perhaps it was her intention to act as an antidote to Jimmy, who had made more noise than anyone else.
‘Then you will have to advise me, Hannah.’
Andrew had cleared away the dinner plates and now there were individual chocolate souffles, with cocoa-brown crusts puffed high above the white rims of their dishes. There was another chorus of admiration.
‘The person to ask is Gordon.’ Hannah waggled her spoon at him. ‘Gordon knows the most, Gordon is an engine expert even more than Andrew, even though he’s staying pretty buttoned up tonight. What’s the matter, Gordon? Post-natal depression?’
Janice stood up, not very steadily. ‘Coffee for everyone? Andrew, what else have we got for people to drink?’
He sighed, ‘She’ll have a headache all day tomorrow, you know.’
‘So long as she doesn’t have one tonight.’ Jimmy winked.
Nina slipped out of her chair. Jimmy hopped to his feet and drew it back for her with a flourish. Janice waved a hand.
‘Use my bathroom, Nina. First on the left up the stairs. The downstairs one is probably full of trainers and rugby shorts. The boys never pick up a thing.’
It was a relief to escape the hot room and the smoke from Darcy’s cigar. The hall was cool and dark. Nina went slowly up the stairs, peering in the dimness at the gilt-framed pictures on the walls. She opened a door and saw the Frosts’ bedroom, with a light on in the bathroom beyond it. There was a thick carpet sculpted into patterns, and a long wall of mirrored cupboards. Janice’s negligee was laid out across one corner of the plump bed. Nina tiptoed like an intruder. On a tallboy there was a silver-framed photograph of a slimmer Janice in her wedding dress, one hand holding back a billow of net veiling. Nina picked it up, and the breath of her curiosity fogged the polished silver. She replaced the picture hastily and went on into the bathroom.
There were more mirrors in here, and polished chrome rails with neatly folded towels. The towels were cream with satiny flowers appliqued in the corners. Nina wondered if Andrew and Janice liked to admire themselves in their mirrors when they made love in here or in the bedroom, watching the reflections of their coupling receding into infinity.
She sat down without locking the door.
Gordon had left the table. He could think of nothing but finding Nina, and securing a few seconds of her for himself, away from the intolerable repetitive babble of the dinner party.
He opened the bathroom door and saw her. She looked up at him, shocked, like a scared little girl with her tights twisted around her knees and her ankles crossed.
‘What are you doing here?’
He was touched by her anger and shame at being caught in the act of peeing.
‘I wanted to see you. There’s nothing to hide.’
She finished, then dried herself and straightened her clothes with the neat womanly movements that he loved.
‘They’ll notice we’re both missing.’
‘No, they won’t. They’ll think I’m downstairs with the rugby shorts.’
They moved together, and after they had kissed he held her face between his hands and examined it intently.
‘I called you. I called you all weekend.’
‘I ran away,’ she told him simply.
‘Don’t run away again.’
‘There’s nowhere to go.’
‘I’d find you anyway.’
He was pushing against her and Nina put her arm up to one of the mirrors to support herself. As he turned his head Gordon saw the reflection of her, and the way the loose sleeve of her blouse fell back to reveal the bluish-white, egg-shaped hollow of her armpit. He was swept by a wave of tenderness that contradicted and intensified his need for her.
‘Nina, Nina. Can I see you again? When can I see you?’
‘Yes. I don’t know when.’
‘Yes is enough for now.’ He kissed her again, wanting to fuse himself to her but she slipped away from him.
‘We must go back downstairs. You first.’
He loved her carefulness and self-control. ‘I wish we didn’t have to. It’s a particularly silly evening.’ He wanted to apologize for its deficiencies.
‘No it isn’t,’ she argued. ‘It’s warm and friendly, like Janice said. You must go now, or they’ll guess what’s happening.’
He kissed her again, his mouth scraping hers. Then he went, and Nina was left staring in the mirror into her own anxious eyes.
Jimmy and Janice were the only ones left in the kitchen. Jimmy cleared the table and Janice haphazardly loaded plates into the dishwasher. He brought a stacked tray round to her and put it to one side while she bent over the wire racks.
‘God, Janice, look at you. You know you’ve got a great arse on you.’
Jimmy said it half-jokingly, as he always did, but there was enough wistful sincerity in his voice. Janice straightened up at once. Her face was damp and flushed and wisps of dark hair stuck to her cheeks. Her hostess manner of the early evening had evaporated.
‘Great’s the word. Half of it would be plenty. Don’t be an idiot, Jimmy.’
He had reached out and with the tips of his fingers lifted one of the strands of hair. She was alarmed and almost eager. Jimmy twisted the coil of hair, his face flat.
‘An eejit, that’s what I am.’ Gently he withdrew his hand.
They contemplated each other for a minute more, their eyes on a level. Then Janice frowned, groping for something through her sudden tiredness and the effects of the wine.
‘Are you and Star all right?’
His smile came back as quickly as it had vanished, with the associated repertoire of eyebrow contortions.
‘As right as rain. As right as ever. Shall I carry through the coffee tray for you, madam?’
When Nina came back to the den she found that someone had put on some slow music, and Janice and Jimmy and Hannah and Andrew were dancing in the space in front of the fire. Hannah rested her head on Andrew’s shoulder. Gordon and Star were sitting apart talking intently together. Nina sat down beside Darcy.
‘Would you care to dance?’
She felt the full weight of his disconcerting charm. He was very handsome although there were pads of flesh almost obliterating the strong bones of his face. Even after the drink he had taken in his eyes remained sharp under the puffy lids.
She smiled. ‘I think I would rather sit.’
Nina