A Question of Love (24 page)

‘And how did you meet Gina?’

‘In Ravenscourt Park. I’d been to some friends for lunch, and I was walking back when I saw this tiny boy coming towards me—I was vaguely aware of his mum in the background, pushing the stroller—and he was running along, laughing, waving this piece of tinsel, and he suddenly fell over, right in front of me. I hated seeing him cry so I helped him up; then she caught up and thanked me, and we got chatting…’ He smiled. ‘And she gave me her card.’

‘That’s romantic. And do you spend much time with Sam?’

‘Quite a bit.’ He clasped his hands behind his head. ‘Gina’s doing a part-time degree, and needs to study on Saturday mornings, so I take Sam to play on the swings. Then I read to him, or we watch CBeebies. I love my time with him; it’s the highlight of my week.’

‘Well,’ I said awkwardly. ‘That’s great.’ And then I didn’t know what else to say, because, as I say, Tom and I don’t normally discuss our private lives. Even when he was so kind to me after Nick left he didn’t ask awkward questions. He was sympathetic, but discreet—he just helped.

‘And what about Luke’s ex?’ I heard him ask casually. ‘Is it okay on that front?’ I felt my stomach muscles clench as I thought of Magda. ‘I hope you don’t mind my asking—I just can’t help…wondering.’

‘Oh. Well…Magda’s…okay. She’s…’ I was temptedto tell him the truth, but I didn’t want to let Luke down. ‘She’s…
fine.
‘

‘That’s lucky.’ There was an odd little silence. ‘Because it
can
be hell in these situations.’

‘Hm,’ I said. ‘
Exactly
.’ Tom glanced at me. ‘For some people,’ I added quickly. ‘And how about you?’

‘Same, really. It’s…you know…’ he shrugged. ‘Her husband’s around sometimes, but it’s…okay.’

‘Untiln-e-x-t-weekg-o-o-dbye…G-o-o-d-b-y-e…good-byegoodbyegoodbye. Goodbye.’

Tom hit the hard return. ‘Right then—so that’s us done.’ He looked at me intently and, for a moment, I thought he was about to ask me one of his ‘very serious’ questions. But he simply took the disc out of the hard drive, and labelled it. ‘So…have a good Easter, Laura.’

I picked up my bag. ‘You too. Have a great one…’

‘Got nice things planned?’

‘Oh…Yes…definitely…I’m not quite sure what—I need to talk to Luke—but, well…’ I stood up. ‘I’ll see you on Tuesday then, Tom.’

He smiled. ‘See you Tuesday.’

So Tom was also dating someone with a child and an ex. This cheered me up for some reason; the thought that he was in the same boat as me. But as I walked up Westbourne Park Road on the way to Luke’s gallery I thought again how strange it was that he’d spoken to me so openly of his affection for that little boy, when he must be aware that I knew what he’d
done.
That he’d had this
coup de foudre
as his own sister had said, which had left him estranged from his child. As I crossed Powis Square I decided that dating Gina must be an act of atonement. Suddenly my mobile rang.

‘Laura?’ It was Hope. She sounded stressed.

‘Where are you?’

‘At home. Packing for Seville. I’m in a bit of a state actually.’

‘But you’re not going till tomorrow morning.’

‘
That’s
not the reason! It’s because…’ There was a stifled sob. ‘I’ve just
found
something. Firm evidence.’

‘Oh God…
What
?’

‘A receipt. From Tiffany’s. It was in the jacket of the suit that Mike wore yesterday.’

My heart sank. So he’d been careless. ‘And what was it for?’

There was a teary gasp. ‘A silver bangle with a gold heart clasp. It’s for
her
. I know it is, it couldn’t be for anyone
else
…’

‘How do you know it’s not for
you
? He might have got it…for your birthday.’

‘But my birthday isn’t for
months.
‘

‘Then maybe it’s just…a present. He’s got you things from Tiffany before. Maybe he’s planning to give it to you this weekend.’

‘No.’

‘Maybe it’s for his mother, or sister.’

‘It isn’t for them. I know it’s definitely for this…woman, because—’ I heard her voice crack—‘the receipt listed an extra charge for “engraving”—and it gave details. She’s called—’ I heard another tiny sob—‘
Clare.
‘

‘Clare?’ I Googled my memory. No matches. I crossed over Talbot Road.

‘But I don’t
know
anyone called Clare—and
he’s
never mentioned anyone called Clare. And to think—he’s with her at this very moment!’ Of course. It was Thursday. He was ‘working late’. ‘He’s probably giving it to her right now—in
more ways than one,’ she added bitterly. ‘It must be someone at work. That’s where most affairs start isn’t it—by the bloody water cooler—and there are loads of attractive women at Kleinwort Perella—and he’s a very handsome and successful man.’

‘Yes, but it’s
you
he loves Hope
…’

‘I’m not
sure
any more. Oh God, Laura…’ She was weeping now. ‘I’ve got to go to Seville with him tomorrow morning and pretend that everything’s fine between us when frankly things couldn’t be
worse
.’

‘Don’t cry, Hope. Please don’t.’

‘I can’t
help
it. You’d cry if you’d just found what I have.’ I probably would. ‘I can’t eat. I can’t
sleep…
‘

‘If you think this
is
the proof you’ve been looking for, then you should speak to him about it. When he gets back just quietly tell him that you found the receipt and ask him to explain it.’

‘No!’ she screamed.

‘You might
have
to, Hope.’

‘I won’t confront him tonight.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because then he might stop seeing her.’

‘But…don’t you
want
him to?’

‘No! At least, not
yet
. Because the point is I want him to go and see her on Tuesday, as normal.’

‘Why?’ I asked as I turned up Ledbury Road.

‘So that you can follow him.’

I groaned.

‘Please
don’t
refuse me again, Laura,’ I heard Hope say. ‘You said no before because you didn’t want to give me bad news—but the point is that I already
have
the bad news.’ This seemed to be true. ‘I now
know
that Mike’s having an affair, but what I
don’t
know is where he meets her, or what she looks like.’

‘But why do you want to have your nose rubbed in it?’ Into my mind flashed the image of Luke with Jennifer all those years ago. I still remembered the almost physical shock.

‘I
don’t
want to—I just want proof. So that I can start proceedings.’

‘Look, you’re being incredibly rash. Even if Mike
is
doing something he shouldn’t be doing, it doesn’t have to mean it’s the end. People work these things out, Hope. They go to counselling, they try to—’

‘Laura, I know myself
very
well. And I know that if Mike
has
been unfaithful, then I wouldn’t be able to get over it.’

‘You
don’t
know that, Hope.’

‘I
do
. So on Tuesday night, when he leaves work, I want you to go after him.’

‘Oh…God.’

‘Please,’ she said. ‘
Please
do this for me, Laura. I’m desperate. I have to know where he’s going.
Please.
‘

‘Oh…oh…all
right
then. I don’t
want
to. But I will.’

‘What don’t you want to do?’ Luke asked as I arrived at the gallery. He kissed me. ‘I just heard you.’

‘Nothing. I was talking to Hope.’

‘I’ve just been going through the guest list for the Craig Davie show on Tuesday night. There’ll be a big crowd. You will be there won’t you, Laura?’

I suddenly realized that now, thanks to Hope, I
wouldn’t
be. I wondered about asking her if I could do my sleuthing on Thursday instead, but it seemed callous. Now I felt doubly annoyed. I didn’t want to snoop on Mike—nor did I want to miss Luke’s show.

‘You
will
be there, won’t you?’ Luke repeated as he picked up his jacket.

I couldn’t explain why I probably wouldn’t be. ‘Of course I will,’ I said.

Luke set the alarm and double locked the door, then we wandered back to his house in the early evening sunshine, past front gardens filled with shocks of golden forsythia, and clumps of nodding daffodils, and bushy, glossy camellias already displaying their fat blooms. And we were just having a drink on his tiny terrace, beneath his flowering cherry, which was encrusted with pink petals which were lifting off in the light breeze and drifting down over us like confetti, I was happy to think, when the phone rang.

‘Ooh—who can
that
be?’ I said.

It was Magda, of course. But then it was never not Magda. Luke spoke to her patiently and, it seemed, at inordinate length, while I sat there twiddling my thumbs. For once, amazingly, she wasn’t phoning to berate him, but to seek sympathy. It seemed the charity ball had not gone well. Steve was being offhand. She was anxious. What was Luke’s view? Did he think Steve might be cooling off? I found it amusing to see Luke cast, for once, in the role of agony aunt rather than whipping boy.

‘I’m sure it’s not anythink
I’ve
done,’ I heard her moan on the speakerphone. ‘DOWN YOGI!
OFF
the sofa! OFF, OFF,
OFF
!!!!’

Luke grimaced. ‘No Magda—I’m sure it’s not you…You’re a very nice person Magda. Yes…Of course you are. You’re a wonderful person…I see. You had a little difference of opinion with one of his clients did you…?’ Luke grimaced at me. ‘Well of
course
you were entitled to your view…Yes, Steve
should
be more understanding…Hmm…
I
think he’s being intolerant too. Yes, Magda, he’s
very
lucky to have you…’

‘Especially as he’s got baggage,’ she whined. ‘I mean, there he is with this
awful
ex-wife—she’s
so
nasty to him.’

‘Really?’ Luke said, while I rolled my eyes.

‘She’s absolutely horrrrendous. She’s just jealous of me of course.’

‘Of course she is,’ said Luke. ‘Because you’re probably much more attractive than she is.’

‘Well, yes, actually, I think I
am
. I’ve seen photos and she’s got this…squint.
NO
HEIDI!
OFF
THE MANTELPIECE!!! AT
ONCE
YOUNG LADY!!
Bad
goat!
Ba-aa-aa-d
! But she’s constantly on the phone to him about the alimony, or complainink about her new husband—he’s just lost his job—that’s not the husband she married after she left Steve, by the way—that was Pete—this is Jake, he’s the one she married
after
she left Pete because that marriage didn’t last long.’

‘I see,’ said Luke uncertainly.

‘So she’s upset, because he was earnink loads in the City—Jake, that is, not Pete—Pete was a teacher—and they’vegot
big
problems with their teenage son, Patrick—that’s Steve’s son, by the way. He was caught with some cannabis—Patrick, that is, not Steve—and he’s been expelled. But they’re going to appeal so that he can take his GCSE’s in May—he’s sittink eleven so he’s quite a clever boy.
Anyway
, Steve is very upset about that, and then he’s worried about his mother because she’s gettink married again next month to her toyboy—he’s only sixty-two and she’s seventy-three. Maybe
that’s
why Steve’s so distracted at the moment…’ Magda’s voice trailed away.

And I was just sitting there thinking about the fact that in dating Luke, I was also dating Magda, and Magda’s boyfriend, and
his
ex-wife, and his mother, and his
ex-
ex wife and
her
discarded husbands and assorted progeny. All these people, who I had never met, and who I probably never
would
meet—except, possibly, it suddenly occurred to me, morbidly, years hence, at Magda’s funeral (unless I’d murdered her, in which case I would not be expected to attend)—all these unknown people—not to mention five vertically challenged goats—were now in my orbit, circling obliquely round me, making me feel dizzy and disturbed.

‘Steve just doesn’t seem…
happy
,’ I heard her say. ‘But then I’ve been rather tense myself, what with all this newspaper coverage there’s been about you and, and, and…’

‘Laura,’ Luke said helpfully.

‘
So actually, Luke, I blame
you
for our problems, because if you weren’t seeink this, this, this…Laura…then my relationship with Steve would be
fine
.’

‘I don’t really think that’s fair, Magda,’ Luke said sweetly. He was rotating his index finger by his right temple.

‘And on that front, I was goink to tell you that this journalist phoned me today, after that piece about you and, and…
her
was in the papers. And he asked me how I felt about it, and when were we gettink divorced and I said I really didn’t know. But I was feelink miserable about Steve, and I must have had a bit too much to drink at the ball because I had this terrrrible headache so I just said, “Look, I’m feelink a bit upset at the moment. No comment.” So I’m certainly not givink the newspapers any ammunition, even if you are.’

TV LAURA STOLE MY HUSBAND!
announced the
Daily Post
the next morning.
EXCLUSIVE! ABANDONED WIFE OPENS HER HEART!
There was a large photo of Magda, in her dressing gown, watering her tulips, captioned
Distraught Wife’s Tears of Betrayal.
She’d obviously had no idea she was being snapped.

The wife of Luke North, the quiz contestant lover of tragic Laura Quick, spoke out from her modest home in Chiswick about the emotional devastation she’s suffered since her husband left her for the troubled presenter of Whadda Ya Know?!! ‘No, we’re not divorced…’ a clearly distressed Mrs North confirmed. What did she think about her husband’s relationship? ‘I’m a bit upset,’ she said with quiet, understated courage. Asked what she thought of her rival, Mrs North blinked back her tears, and, with dignified restraint, said, simply, ‘No comment’. There was a world of meaning in those two little words…