Alice Brown's Lessons in the Curious Art of Dating (34 page)

‘At last! I’ve been so worried about you!’ Alice had finally got through to Ginny. She twisted in her seat, trying to block out the noise of the office. ‘Is everything OK?’

‘Not exactly,’ Ginny answered tightly. Something in her voice made Alice suddenly feel more worried than ever. ‘A few days after you came round, Dan and I had a huge row. Everything came out: all the ugly things I’d been thinking. I can’t believe the nasty stuff I said, like how he wasn’t the person I’d fallen in love with, how I hated him for not making an effort any more, for not taking me out, telling me I’m attractive. I even told him I was only with him because of Scarlet, and given half a chance I’d run off with the milkman – or anybody who bothered to look at me twice.’

‘Oh my God, Gin!’ Alice was stunned. ‘I’d no idea things had got that bad.’ But as soon as the words came out of her mouth she remembered the clues she’d missed. Looking back, hadn’t it been obvious? Ginny had been so weird in her kitchen the other night. And she’d been making odd asides for months now, implying that everything wasn’t
exactly peachy at home. Guiltily Alice realized she’d dismissed her friend’s distress signals, writing them off as Ginny just being sleep-deprived because of Scarlet. But why hadn’t she caught on; dug a bit deeper? Ginny was her best friend in the world, and she hadn’t done a thing to help her. And now her marriage was in trouble – big trouble. ‘But you wouldn’t though, would you?’ she asked tentatively, almost scared to hear Ginny’s answer. ‘Run off with another man, I mean . . . ?’

‘Of course not! I just said it to hurt him. I was being a cow.’

It was a small crumb of relief.

‘What did Dan say?’

‘Not a lot, at first. But then he got angry. Told me he’d been pretty miserable too, that he loved Scarlet and that he thought he still loved me, but sometimes it was hard to remember why.’

‘Ouch!’

‘He said I’d been a right royal pain in the backside for the last year. He said he knew it was because I was tired and that Scarlet could be a handful, but he was tired too and he never took it out on me. And then he said he was disgusted with me for threatening him with an affair – that he thought I was a better person than that.’

‘Oh, Ginny!’ Something in Alice’s insides was sinking, knotting uncomfortably into a hard and unpleasant lump. It wasn’t just the agony of realizing her friend was utterly and painfully miserable – it was the very
wrongness
of it too. Ginny and Dan were perfect for each other. They’d
fallen in love at first sight and had been inseparable ever since. Their relationship made such utter sense; they were such a team. They weren’t fluffily romantic about each other, or gushingly sentimental, or suffocatingly joined at the hip; they had a long-lasting, realistic love based on friendship, respect and fancying each other rotten. She’d always believed their marriage was so strong that she held up it up and savoured it as her shining example whenever she tried to match her clients. Ginny and Dan
couldn’t
be in trouble. If they were in trouble, anyone could be in trouble. The world suddenly felt a less safe place.

‘It’s really shaken me up,’ Ginny admitted in a small voice. ‘I didn’t realize he was unhappy too; I thought it was just me. But now I know he’s been having doubts . . . It’s really frightening, Alice. I can’t believe I said such horrible things to him. I didn’t mean them. But now the damage is done and I can’t take them back.’

‘What can I do to help? Can I come over?’ Alice offered earnestly.

‘Thanks, but I think we just need to spend some time on our own. You know – be a family.’

‘Yes, of course. But it sounds like you and Dan could also do with some quality time together, just the two of you. Go on a date night; be Ginny and Dan for a few hours, not Ginny and Dan and Scarlet. If you want to go out, just say the word and I’ll be straight over to babysit Scarlet.’

‘You’d really voluntarily spend time with our perpetually screaming devil-child?’ Ginny asked incredulously.

‘In a heartbeat.’

‘You’re a very brave lady and a bloody good friend,’ Ginny said, her throat tight with emotion. ‘Anyway.’ She did her best to lighten the tone. ‘Enough about me; I’m sick of thinking about myself. Tell me about you. Did anything happen with Prince Charming?’

‘Are you sure you really want to know?’ Alice asked doubtfully.

‘Yes, one hundred per cent! Come on, spill the beans. I could do with cheering up.’

‘Well . . .’ Alice quickly cast her eyes around the office to double-check Audrey was still out. And then, as discreetly as she could, she filled her in.

‘We met again for lunch yesterday,’ she finished quietly but with unmistakable excitement, ‘and he’s taking me to dinner tomorrow night.’

‘Hurrah!’ Ginny cheered, sounding almost like herself again for the first time in the conversation. ‘Three dates! That’s almost a relationship!’

Alice grinned happily.

‘So what’s it like dating an older man?’

‘He’s not old!’ Alice protested. ‘He’s forty-one!’

‘That’s ten years older than you! And didn’t you say he’s a silver fox?’

‘
Bits
of his hair are grey. Just like
bits
of George Clooney’s hair are grey!’

‘I suppose at forty-one he’s lucky still to have hair!’ Ginny teased.

‘I like it that he’s older.’ Alice could barely get her words out for the enormous grin plastered across her face. ‘It
makes him more interesting. He’s not trying to show off or prove anything. He’s confident and articulate and intelligent, and he knows how to listen.’

‘So you’re not worried about Audrey, then?’

‘What do you mean?’ Alice’s smile froze.

‘Well, you believe they’re not married?’

There was a pause. Alice could tell that Ginny was listening intently for her answer.

‘Yes, I do,’ Alice whispered. ‘I believe him. But, yes, I do worry about her. I feel really bad about what I’m doing.’

‘You’ve only had a coffee and a sandwich!’ Ginny scoffed. ‘It’s hardly Sodom and Gomorrah!’

‘You know what I mean.’

‘But why? If they’re not married, you’re not doing anything wrong!’

‘Apart from going behind her back and breaking her heart?’

Ginny snorted.

‘You can’t break something that doesn’t exist!’

‘That’s not fair,’ Alice said quietly.

‘Audrey’s never been fair with you.’

A little while later Alice put down the phone. Despite all her worries, and despite feeling bad for Ginny, she couldn’t help herself – she was so excited about dinner with John she could barely concentrate. But it wasn’t fair to put her clients’ love lives on hold just because she had a date of her own tonight. She needed to buckle down. Her eye fell on a pile of paperwork. Admin, she thought decisively. It was probably all she was good for.

She started sorting through a pile of papers, carefully putting the invoices to one side before carrying them into Audrey’s glass-walled office and placing them in her in tray. But as she turned, her eye was caught by the framed picture next to the computer. She’d seen it hundreds of times before, but it was still a shock to see it there. It was John, smartly dressed in his dinner jacket and looking just like he did on the night of the DIPS ball. Alice paused. He looked so handsome; she felt her inner geyser of excitement begin to bubble again. But what was he doing on Audrey’s desk? Why did she keep his picture there, right where she’d see him a thousand times a day? She
must
be in love with him. John said he didn’t have feelings for her, but why did he take her to the ball every year? Why did he let everyone think they were together?

Alice drifted back to her own desk, her face fixed into a frown. What was really going on? she wondered. What was it that she wasn’t being told?

There weren’t many things that John was proud of: his work, if he thought about the women he’d met who were now confident and happy, his garden and his daughter Emily, who sat in front of him at the dinner table.

Emily, he often thought, was simply the best thing ever to have happened to him, and even now she’d reached the grand old age of twenty-three he still couldn’t help but feel absurdly proud of her. She’d grown into a fine young woman; clever, sensible and beautiful, just like her mother. For years the similarity had haunted him. But now when he looked at Emily and saw a fleeting echo of Eve he felt only pride. He’d raised the best daughter in the world.

He looked at her as he carved the roast he’d just taken out of the oven. Emily was a charity worker and had just returned from a stint in Africa. Her face was covered with a fresh smattering of freckles that set off her long, curly auburn hair.

‘You’re looking thin,’ he observed kindly.

‘You always say that.’ She laughed.

‘I worry about you when you’re abroad. You work too hard and forget to eat.’

‘Yes, Mum!’ She mock-saluted.

John smiled, but put an extra-large portion on her plate.

‘So, what’s going on in your life?’ she asked as they started to tuck in.

‘Nothing much,’ John replied casually. ‘I’ve been on a few dates.’

‘When have you ever
not
been on a few dates, Dad?’ Emily replied sardonically. But something in her father’s face made her stop.

‘D’you mean
date
dates? Dates that Aunty Geraldine hasn’t set up for you?’

John couldn’t help himself. He broke into a grin.

‘I can’t believe it! Really? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘You were in Africa!’

‘Yes, but this is big stuff. Kind of like the Berlin Wall coming down or man landing on the moon. So, you’ve really had some dates?’

John nodded happily.

‘So, come on! Who with?’

‘She’s called Alice.’

‘And?’

‘And what?’

Emily threw up her hands in excited exasperation. ‘What does she do? What’s she like? And does she know you’re a rent boy?’

‘Oi!’

‘It’s got to be asked,’ Emily grinned. ‘It
is
the elephant in the room!’

John gave up trying to eat and filled her in on everything.

‘So she doesn’t know?’

‘About the escorting? No.’

‘But you’re going to tell her, right?’

John sighed. ‘I suppose I’m going to have to.’

‘Of course you have to!’ Emily cried. ‘I mean, you
like
this woman, you want to have a relationship with her. So tell her the truth!’

‘I know,’ John replied reluctantly.

‘If Alice is as good as you say she is, she’ll understand.’

‘But what if she doesn’t?’ John looked at her nervously. ‘What if it scares her and she calls the whole thing off?’

‘Well, you’ll just have to explain it properly. Don’t just let her hear the headline. Tell her why. Tell her what a sad sack you are.’

‘That’ll help!’

‘Dad! You’ve got to stop hiding from life!’ Emily scolded. ‘You’re an escort, not an axe murderer. And whilst you’re at it, you’ve got to stop beating yourself up too! The past is past. Why don’t you go crazy and tell her the whole hog? It’s about time you got everything out in the open!’

‘I told her you were as wise as the hills.’

‘Too right! And you should be a good dad and do as I say!’

John laughed, before falling silent and looking glum again.

‘There’s another complication.’

He told her about Audrey.

‘God, that Audrey!’ Emily crashed her fork down angrily on her plate. ‘She’s been nothing but trouble for as long as you’ve been escorting her!’

‘If Audrey found out that Alice and I were together, she’d
make life . . .’ – John groped for the right word – ‘
awkward
for Alice. Alice loves her job; I mean
really
loves it. And a relationship with me might cost her her job.’

‘So you think that’s a reason not to tell her the truth?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Dad, come on!’ Emily admonished. ‘Alice is a grown woman. If you tell her, and she decides to give it a go, then that’s her decision. But if you don’t, she’ll find out eventually, and then she’ll be angry with you for keeping things from her. And it’ll be curtains! You’ll have cocked up and you’ll be back on the shelf for another fifteen years.’