The Alphabet Sisters (21 page)

“Bett Quinlan, all the way from London, I’d like you to meet Daniel Hilder.”

Bett turned and felt the color run from her face. Her one-night stand had just walked into the room.

I
n the gym at the country club, Anna looked up at the clock. She’d been on the treadmill for only ten minutes, and she was already breathless, feeling out of shape after just a few days away from exercise. She could almost hear her personal trainer’s voice. “A little every day keeps age and fat away.” Too bad. She could do nothing about her age, and it wasn’t as if she needed to lose weight at the moment. If anything, she needed to put some on. Irony of ironies—now the pressure was off, now that Glenn was gone and she could put on some weight if she wanted, she wasn’t hungry. She could let herself go completely if she wanted. It wasn’t as if there was another man on the sidelines dying to see her naked body.

“Hello, Anna.”

She turned. It was Richard Lawrence, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, a towel over his shoulder. It was the first time she’d seen him since the morning after Lola’s party. He certainly looked much fresher today. Taller than she remembered. Still wearing his glasses. His hair was cropped very short. He looked quite like an athlete, she thought. Like a marathon runner, in fact. Lean and spare.

“Richard, how are you?” She coolly reached forward and turned off the treadmill, gradually adjusting her steps as the belt slowed. She’d always taken care stepping off this kind of equipment, especially since Bett had rung her in Sydney some years before and recounted her humiliating first and last visit to this gym. She had mistimed stepping off the treadmill and been catapulted backward onto the rowing machine, landing on another woman and pushing her onto the floor as well. It was one of Anna’s favorite Bett stories. She had nearly cried laughing while Bett was telling her.

Richard smiled. “I’m well, thank you. I didn’t realize you liked to work out here, too.”

“Occasionally. But I’m not in the mood this morning. I think I’ll try the natural-air approach and walk back to the motel instead.”

“Do you mind if I join you? I’ve been hoping to have the chance to talk to you again.”

She stood in front of him, a towel in her hands. Years ago she had decided to get it out into the open when men made approaches to her like this. “Really, Richard, you’re being very forward. Are you trying to pick me up?”

“I don’t know yet,” he said calmly. “You’re certainly very beautiful, and I like that spark in your eye, but I like to be able to have a conversation with my lovers, not just look at them. So it’s probably too early to tell.”

To both their surprise, she burst out laughing. “That is the best answer I have ever heard. What about your workout?”

He grinned. “We could walk the long way back, couldn’t we?”

O
ut at her house, Carrie was feeling sick. A book lay on the wooden boards beside her. She’d come home from the motel for a quick break after lunch, hoping for a message from Matthew, an e-mail, perhaps even a letter. She’d found nothing. Pacing the house, feeling restless, she’d tried the TV, then the radio, before crouching in front of the bookshelf in the hall. It was filled mostly with magazines and textbooks. Neither of them was a great reader. She’d come across one of Matthew’s few books, a collection of English vet stories. As she flicked through it, his bookmark had fallen out.

It was an old photograph of Matthew and Bett together, arm in arm.

A
t six o’clock, Bett came running up the path to the motel and practically burst into Lola’s room. “You knew he was working there, didn’t you? That’s why you said all those things about me looking as good as I could. I thought you meant the other stuff, but you meant Daniel Hilder, didn’t you?”

“Hello, darling. Did you have a good day at work?”

“Lola, I mean it. Why didn’t you warn me?”

“What was I going to say? ‘Best of luck at work tomorrow, and by the way that man you had the one-night stand with in Melbourne three years ago is working there now so you might want to make sure you’ve got your lipstick on straight.’ Really, Bett, wasn’t it better to be surprised? Think of how much you would have been worrying last night if you’d known he’d be there this morning.”

“But have you any idea how embarrassing it was? As if it’s not bad enough knowing people are talking about me and Carrie and Matthew. Why don’t we just put me on the back of a truck and drive up and down the main street, letting people laugh at me for all the mistakes I’ve made in my life?”

“That’s a great idea. I wish I’d thought of it. We could get sponsors, perhaps?”

“It’s not funny, Lola.”

“Did Daniel laugh at you?”

“No.”

“Did he call all your colleagues over and tell them what happened between the two of you?”

“No.”

“Perhaps he didn’t remember it himself.”

“Of course he remembered it. You don’t forget a night like that, do you? Or perhaps he has forgotten it? Oh God, that’s even worse.”

“The poor man can’t win,” Lola said, laughing. “You’d be furious with him if he did say something about it and furious with him if he’d forgotten it. He’s very nice, you know. And you told me the sex was quite something, once you stopped all the crying and talking and got on with it.”

“Did I really tell you that?” She realized that, yes, she probably had. The state she had been in at that stage she was practically stopping complete strangers and telling them intimate details about her life.

“I just can’t bear it,” she wailed, as she relived the brief and stilted conversation she’d had with Daniel that morning, with Rebecca standing between them chatting away unawares. “I knew I shouldn’t have come back here, Lola. Anna and Carrie and I are on eggshells with each other. Mum and Dad are still in their own little world. I’d have been better off staying in London.” She was shocked at the feel of a hand across her cheek. “Did you just slap me?”

“It wasn’t a slap, it was a flick of my fingers. Quite a different thing. I was scared you were about to become hysterical, and I didn’t have a bucket of water handy.”

Bett stood open-mouthed.

Lola took Bett’s face between both hands and looked her right in the eyes. “Bett, face him. Face every single thing life throws at you. Daniel was kind to you that night, wasn’t he? And everything you told him was the truth? Perhaps it was a good thing for him, too, a crash course in understanding women. Perhaps he’s been kinder to his own wife or girlfriend because of some of the things you said to him.”

“Wife? Is he married now?”

“No, although there was a serious girlfriend in Melbourne, from what I could drag out of him the other day when I remembered who he was. A live-in girlfriend, that’s the phrase, I believe. Horrible term, makes me think of velvet-covered sofas for some reason.”

“Was he living with her when I slept with him? Oh no, that’s even worse.”

“I don’t think so. He’d been with her for only a year or two, I think.” Lola laughed. “Bett, don’t look so horrified. You didn’t get pregnant, did you? Catch anything from him? He didn’t have lice? Scabies? AIDS? Don’t look so surprised. I watch TV soaps, remember. I know every disease going.” She looked at her watch. “Darling, the auditions will be starting soon. Do you want to stand in front of a gathering of people in a state like this? And no, you can’t get under the bed, so stop looking over there. Go for a walk. Think about things and remember how lucky you are.”

“Lucky? That my most embarrassing moment has come back to haunt me?”

“That’s not your most embarrassing moment. You told me your most embarrassing moment was last year when you walked around the center of London for an afternoon without realizing you had your dress tucked in your knickers.”

Bett howled. “Apart from that.”

“See, you’ve had more embarrassing moments than you realize. There’s no need to carry on as if this is the one that will tip you over the edge.”

“Can’t you be kind to me?”

“I am being kind. Cruel to be kind. Bett, go for a walk. Be glad of your good strong legs and stop worrying about tiny things that don’t matter. Do you know, I’ve just remembered another one. That time you made the speech at school and called the guest of honor by the wrong name the whole way through—”

“No more, Lola, or I swear I’ll—”

“You’ll do what? Elizabeth Quinlan, are you threatening your feeble eighty-year-old grandmother? Get out now or I’ll call the police.”

A
n hour later, Lola was in a new outfit and full makeup, sitting behind a small table at the function room door, greeting people effusively as they came in. Ellen was sitting beside her, politely handing out registration forms to each person.

“Sandra, marvelous to see you.” Lola beamed. “And which of your daughters is this? And what will you be singing, dear? Celine Dion? Oh, one of my favorites. Here, fill out this form, would you? We’ll get started as soon as we can.”

Anna, Bett, and Carrie stood at the other end of the room, watching the people stream in and sit down on the chairs lining the walls.

“I can’t believe the turnout,” Anna said. “I thought we’d be searching for people to audition.”

Bett had a flicker of nerves. “Do you actually know how to run one of these things?”

“Of course I do. I’ve been to a million of them. We’ll do the warm-up songs, then get everyone to sing a verse and chorus of their chosen song, ask them to stop midway through if we think they’re terrible, or hear them to the end if they’re okay. Then if we want them, we call their agents and make an offer.”

Bett’s lip twitched. She noticed Carrie was trying not to smile, too. “I don’t think Len the butcher or Mrs. Gill from the primary school are going to have agents.”

“You know what I mean. We need to run it professionally, set the standard from the start. It’s going to be hard enough to pull this off in a few weeks as it is, starting from scratch, without any professional actors or musicians or performers, apart from me.” There was a tiny pause. “And you two, of course.”

“A lot of the people here have got experience,” Carrie said briskly. “I think you’ll be surprised, Anna.”

“I hope I am.”

“Hello, Carrie.”

Carrie turned. It was Kaylene, one of Len’s daughters. She worked in one of the Valley hairdressers, although Carrie didn’t go to her anymore, since she’d learned what a gossip she was. Carrie smiled a welcome nevertheless. The more the merrier tonight. “Hi, Kaylene. You know Anna? And Bett?”

Kaylene nodded at the other two. “God, I didn’t ever think I’d see you Quinlans standing in the same room. I heard you had a ferocious row over Matthew.”

“Did you?” Anna said coolly. The three of them were standing close to one another and without realizing it inched even closer.

“Mmm. Someone said you hadn’t spoken in three years.”

Anna, in the middle, put one arm around Bett and the other around Carrie. “Then it seems that someone was wrong, Kylie.”

“Kaylene.”

“Sorry, Kaylene. We wouldn’t let a silly thing like a row about a man upset us, would we, Bett, Carrie?” Behind their backs, she was pinching them both hard.

“Of course not.”

“No.”

“If anything, it’s brought us even closer together,” Anna added.

There was no need to lay it on too thick, Bett thought. She didn’t dare look at Carrie.

Kaylene seemed disappointed.

“And you’ve come to audition, Kaylene, have you?” Anna asked nicely.

Kaylene colored. “I thought I’d give it a try. I like dancing, and my mother says I’m a good singer.”

Bett took pity on her. “Thanks for coming, Kaylene. Take a seat, won’t you, and we’ll get started as soon as we can.”

As she moved away Anna grinned. “Good thing she left when she did. I was about to tell her I’d slept with Matthew, too.”

“Anna!” Carrie and Bett were genuinely shocked.

Anna’s eyes were full of mischief. “Only joking.”

Turning back to the piano, fighting a smile, Bett didn’t see Daniel Hilder come into the room behind her. Or see Lola greet him with a kiss on the cheek. Or see him take a seat at the back, out of her line of vision.

T
wenty minutes later the room was filled to capacity. The plan was for Lola to welcome everyone, briefly sketch the musical, then pass it over to Anna, who would run the auditions. “It’s your baby, now,” Lola had told them that afternoon. “I’ve done my bit. I want to enjoy it all at the end, when all the hard work has been done.”

“You’re not going to sit in on every rehearsal, making comments?” Anna asked.

“Me, make comments? What do you take me for? No, I’m leaving it all to you and spending the time with Ellen instead.”

Lola hadn’t been surprised when Ellen had said she didn’t want to be in the musical. She’d already noticed how self-conscious the little girl was. “Excellent news, Ellen,” she’d said cheerfully. “That means you and I can keep each other company while the others get on with the hard work.”

Lola made her way to the front of the room now. Bett enjoyed some of the group’s reactions as they took in her outfit—the blue silk shirt, so shiny it could have been a Barry White castoff, the flared trousers, the crocheted vest in enough colors to rival Joseph’s technicolored coat. Lola waited dramatically for the chatter to stop, then gave a little bow. “Thank you all for coming. It’s the most wonderful turnout. You may have heard this is my life’s work, something I have been planning for nearly ten years—”

Two months, Bett corrected.

“And I am thrilled that so many of you are here tonight to audition, or to at least be entertained by the others’ auditions while planning on sneaking off yourselves before we call you up. Hello there, Rebecca. Yes, I can see you edging out the back there.” There was a ripple of laughter. “Let me set the scene—
Many Happy Returns
is based on the true story of the American war hero General Douglas MacArthur, and his historic visit to the tiny town of Terowie in 1942, in the middle of World War II. My story begins …”

Bett gazed around the room as Lola gave a précis of the story line. There were several people she remembered from her newspaper days, but many she didn’t know. A late arrival coming in the door caught her eye. Richard Lawrence. She wasn’t surprised to see him. He’d been curious about the whole musical since Lola’s party. She brought her attention back to Lola’s speech.