The Lie of Love (16 page)

‘What timescale do you think is
reasonable?’

Amanda mulled the question over
for a moment, as if doing some complex internal calculation. ‘I say we aim for
New Year.’

‘That soon?’

‘Why not?
We’re almost halfway there already and now that the charity is getting a high
profile around and about, there’s no reason why we can’t attract lots more
help…. I do believe Ethan from the
Echo
is going to be here tonight. Why
don’t we ask him to pitch in again?’

‘Do you think he would?’

‘He’s coming, isn’t he? So he
must still be interested.’

‘I suppose so. I don’t know about
the deadline but it can’t hurt to set it mentally. I can email Ted Steinbeck
and see what his schedule is like for the early part of next year.’ Darcy
couldn’t help but smile. ‘Imagine if we could have Sophie walking for the
summer.’

‘That’s the spirit!’  Amanda
glanced across the room and settled on a figure with a look of triumph.
‘There’s Ethan now. I’ll get him and tell him to come and sit with us in the VIP
area so we can seduce him to our cause with cheap booze and scintillating
conversation.’

Before Darcy could argue, Amanda
was up, out of her seat. As she watched her friend negotiate the now building
crowds with considerable grace, she became aware that the seat next to her was
occupied.  Instantly, she recognised the smell.

‘You can’t talk to me here,’
Darcy said in a low voice, looking straight ahead.

‘Why not?’
Harry replied. ‘Lots of people are talking to you here so they won’t think
anything strange about one more doing it.’

‘It’s…’

‘It’s what?’

‘Dangerous.’

‘Like you’ll explode or pull a
gun on everyone? You don’t look capable to me.’

‘Harry!’ Darcy turned to see him
grinning. ‘This is nuts.’

‘I’m part of the fundraising
efforts and I’m asking you for instructions about the cash box.’

‘Are you?’

‘No.’ He leaned closer. Darcy was
falling under his spell as his scent filled her senses.

‘What did you come over for?’

‘I came over to say that you look
incredible.’

Darcy was silenced by the earnest
look that now crossed his previously cocky features.

‘You shouldn’t have come here
looking that good,’ he said in a low voice, ‘because now I know that I can’t
let you go.’

‘You have to. I’m married.’

‘It didn’t seem to worry you
before. Besides, he’s a moron. Where is he tonight? Not here?’

Darcy shook her head.

‘If I was married to you I
wouldn’t let you go out looking that gorgeous unless I was with you. Some
handsome, lifesaving student with the stamina of a racehorse might come and
steal you from under my nose.’

‘Harry…
please
…’

He leapt up from the chair as two
figures approached. ‘Nice to see you again,’ he said, reaching out to shake hands
with Ethan Reeves. ‘And sorry, Amanda, I stole your chair for a moment to grab
a quick chat with Darcy.’

‘If you kept it warm for me then
I have no objection. Besides, Darcy needs someone to keep her company because
she’s all nervous and jumpy tonight.’

‘Really?’
Harry looked down at Darcy with the ghost of a wink. ‘Why would that be?’

‘The speech,’ Darcy said very
deliberately.
‘At the end of the show.’

‘Ah,’ Ethan smiled. ‘I remember
how my first one was. I thought I was going to pass out with nerves.’

‘You do a lot of these events
then?’ Harry asked.

‘One or two.
I get asked to host a lot of things too. As a matter of fact, Amanda and I were
just discussing what else the
Echo
could do for Sophie’s Steps. She
mentioned that you’re up against a deadline now.’

Darcy flicked Amanda a loaded
glance. She had clearly taken the deadline idea and run with it already. Darcy
couldn’t help but be impressed by her friend’s tenacity and a little bit guilty
that she didn’t have quite that much energy. But then Amanda didn’t have a
family eating up her time. Neither was she an emotional cripple, which was
exactly what Darcy was as she stood with Harry at her side, feeling as though
the breath had been stolen from her lungs and every rational thought from her head.

‘We have discussed setting a
solid date for Sophie’s surgery,’ Darcy said. ‘And we’d really like it to be
early next year.’
 

‘You’d originally said next
summer?’ Ethan replied.

‘Yes,’ Amanda cut in. ‘but we’re
gathering funds much quicker than we’d anticipated. Which is lovely and we’d
like to build on that, get our target before everyone is sick of seeing our
silly faces.’

‘Oh I’m sure nobody would ever
tire of seeing those lovely faces,’ Ethan said gallantly. Amanda gave her most
musical, endearing laugh.

‘That’s entirely flattering but
not entirely true.’

Harry’s attention was drawn to
the doors. ‘Here’s my date,’ he said.

Darcy’s head snapped around to
see Rachel come in, alone and searching the room anxiously. She looked radiant
in a simply cut, dark green shift dress and black heels, her hair piled loosely
on her head. Darcy suddenly felt ridiculously overdone and cursed herself for
letting Amanda dress her.  Harry waved her over as her gaze settled on
them.

‘You look lovely, darling,’
Amanda said as Rachel gave Harry a shy smile.

‘Thank you. So do you.’

Darcy forced a smile of her own
and wished that she didn’t feel quite so wretched right now. She wanted to go
home, and never think of any of this again. ‘It’s so good to see you here,’ she
said to Rachel. ‘We’re always glad of your support.’

‘When Harry asked me I couldn’t
say no,’ Rachel said. ‘Not for such a good cause.’

‘You never know,’ Harry said, ‘if
there’s a dress going cheap I might get it for you.’

Rachel laughed, a little too heartily.
‘If your student loan is as paltry as my coffee shop wages then we might just
manage a sleeve between us.’

‘Come on…’ Harry reached for her
hand. ‘Let’s go and find my mum. She’s probably bossing the hell out of some
poor bartender somewhere. But she can’t half haggle when the chips are down and
we could do with her help if we’re going to get the whole of that dress.’

Darcy watched them go, her
emotions somewhere between relief and heartbreak. It was always going to end
like this, but seeing him move on so quickly was a shock, especially in light
of what he had just been saying to her. Was he playing some elaborate game with
them both? She wanted to be happy for Rachel, who was a lovely girl and had
waited a long time to finally get Harry’s attention, but she couldn’t. And she
suddenly didn’t trust Harry’s motives at all.

‘We’re almost ready to start, I
think,’ Amanda said.

 Ethan took a seat next to
Darcy and Amanda sat at her other side. Darcy wished that someone other than
the
Echo
reporter could be sitting with her, even
Ged
would do at that moment. It wasn’t that she
disliked him or had any issues with his support; it was just that she didn’t
feel emotionally stable enough to hold a sensible conversation with him
tonight.

After ten minutes or so, the show
began. Darcy looked around the room to see that roughly two thirds of the venue
had been filled – not as good as they had hoped for but considering the size of
the place it was a respectable turnout and, as Amanda reminded her when she
leaned across to share this opinion, they still had the sale of the designs to
factor in. Darcy’s eyes were everywhere but on the catwalk as her mind worked
overtime. She glanced around a few times to see where Harry and Rachel were,
and towards the end of the first half of the show, she saw them emerge from
behind the silver curtains together, heads close and laughing.  Harry
fetched a spare chair and sat it next to his at the table where the cash box
was to be set up so that Rachel could join him there.  Darcy tried to
ignore the dart of jealousy that pierced her heart and turned her attention
back to the show, watching without interest as the models swaggered up and
down. The one saving grace was that the accompanying music was so loud Ethan
could barely get her to understand the odd word, let alone hold an in-depth
conversation about anything.  But as the lights went up and the music
stopped, Darcy knew that the torture was not over yet. There was to be an
interval and then a second show.

As people moved towards the bar
for their interval drinks, Julia came out to the front looking slightly flushed
and harassed but grinning from ear to ear. This was Julia at her best and
happiest: organising.

‘It’s going really well, isn’t
it?’ she beamed.

‘Marvellously,’ Ethan said. ‘Is
this another of your bright ideas?’

‘Oh no,’ Julia laughed, ‘this is
all down to the students and tutors. I’m just making a nuisance of myself in
the back helping to get them changed quickly.’  Her gaze flitted to where
Harry and Rachel were chatting to a group of very well preserved women –
potential customers, Darcy hoped.  ‘She’s a lovely girl, isn’t she? I
don’t know why Harry had to be so secretive about them dating.’

‘Oh I think they’re simply
perfect for one another,’ Amanda agreed. Although, as Darcy glanced at her, she
seemed not to be talking to Julia but to her.

‘How long have they been
together?’ Darcy
asked,
her mouth dry.

‘I’ve no idea,’ Julia said. ‘I
should think
,
the way he’s been skulking around, it’s
been most of the summer. I think he’ll be terribly sorry to leave her when he
goes back to Bath. I suspect he’s a
little bit in love, the way he’s been mooning about the place for all these
weeks.’

‘In love,’ Darcy repeated. ‘Do
boys that age even fall in love?’

‘Do I detect a hint of cynicism
in that question?’ Ethan laughed. Darcy had hardly realised what she had said
until he spoke.

‘I only remember what I was like
at that age,’ Darcy excused, ‘and the boys I dated.’

‘They do say we’re less mature
than girls as we grow up,’ Ethan agreed. ‘And I’ll let you into a secret… we
never change even when we’re past forty.’  He shoved his hands in his
pockets and gave her a good-natured wink. ‘Speaking of boyfriends, where’s your
husband tonight? Fashion not his scene?’

‘We couldn’t get a babysitter,’
Darcy lied.

‘Ah, always a
problem.’

‘I think I’ll get us some
drinks,’ Amanda said. ‘Shall I get a bottle, something we can all share?’

‘Sounds good,’ Ethan said. ‘Would
you like me to come and give you a hand carrying the glasses?’

‘I’d be delighted,’ Amanda
said.  Ethan held out an arm and she took it as they made their way
through the crowd to the bar.

‘Is he happy?’ Darcy asked Julia.

‘Hmm?’

‘Harry. He seems happy with
Rachel. You’re pleased about them?’

Julia gave her a sideways look.
For a moment she looked confused. But then she smiled.
‘Of
course.
She’s a lovely girl. Although… I don’t expect it will last.’

‘Why not?’

‘He’s going to be moving away
again in a few weeks and these things rarely survive distance. It’ll be a long
time before he settles with a girl.’

‘You sound certain of that.’

‘He’s my son; I know him better
than anyone else. Surely you think the same about your children?’

Darcy thought about Jake – all
bluster and barriers, and Sophie with the secrets that she kept and never so
much whispered. She didn’t think she could know less about them if they were
strangers. How had her family ended up like this?  But Julia seemed sure
of Harry. Darcy wondered what Julia would think if she knew the truth. Of
course, that could never happen. Only she and Harry knew the truth and that was
the way it had to stay.

‘It seems a long time until my
children are off into the world on their own. I try not to think about
girlfriends and boyfriends.’

‘I used to think that. But time
passes quickly and before you know it they’ve left you.’

Darcy looked to see Julia wipe a
tear from her eye. She had never seen her display emotion like that before. It
was a deeply unsettling sight.

‘Are you ok?’

‘Of course,’ Julia blustered.
‘Being silly and sentimental…. Ah, here’s the cavalry,’ she added, nodding her
head at the return of Amanda and Ethan. ‘I don’t know about you but I need a
stiff drink.’

The second half of the show was
much the same as the first: music that was too loud, clothes that Darcy was
barely interested in, a room that was too hot and too full of people. Harry and
Rachel continued to watch from their table, having been kept too busy at the
interval to come and talk to Darcy’s little group. Julia joined them at the
front this half to watch the rest of the show, showing her appreciation for
each design with enthusiastic applause which got louder with every glass of
wine. Darcy wished she could drink herself into oblivion, but being the
designated driver had to remain depressingly sober. She had a speech to deliver
too, and the closer the moment came, the colder her hands felt, the stronger
the palpitations in her chest, the shallower her breathing. More than anything,
she wanted all this to be over.

‘You’ll be fine, darling,’ Amanda
said, grasping her hand in an over-affectionate grip when Darcy shared her
fears.

‘Would you like to do it?’ Darcy
asked.

‘I’d love to but sadly it’s not
my party.’

Darcy nodded. She didn’t want to
seem ungrateful and she knew that she had to show her appreciation for all the
effort made on her behalf, but this was going to take a large dose of courage.

As the music faded and the lights
rose, Darcy was called to the microphone.  Facing the crowd and wishing
her knees would stop trembling, she grasped it in one hand, holding up a cue
card with the other. The words and letters seemed to slide around in her
vision, and her mouth felt too dry to produce the sounds, but she took a deep
breath and began: