Did The Earth Move? (17 page)

'Oh my God. You've never even met his wife and children before, have you?'

'No. I've only seen him a few times since . . . you know.'

'Oh my God,'
Janie couldn't help repeating, 'I can't believe we'll see him again. The rat.'

'I know,' Eve could laugh at the idea now. 'It's quite brave of him to face us all with his wife and teenage daughters.'

'Teenage?'
Janie pounced on the detail, 'Has it been that long since he left you?'

'Sixteen years. Intriguing, isn't it? He certainly didn't mention any children when he reappeared three years later to ask for a divorce. But they must have been around . . . otherwise they wouldn't be teenage, would they?'

'Why on earth does Tom want him at the wedding?'

'He's Tom's dad. Tom's about to have a baby, he's going through a lot of heavy stuff and has decided he wants to get to know his dad. It doesn't seem so surprising. Bit annoying, though. I can't say I'm looking forward to it.'

'D'you think he feels guilty?'

'Dennis?! Er . . . no. I don't think the word is in his dictionary. Well... occasionally, he must get some kind of pang, then he writes them a cheque, sends it and feels better again.' She swirled her drink around then swallowed it down. 'What worries me,' Eve confided now, 'is that the boys have always idealized their dad a bit. They couldn't really help it. And now that they are grown-ups – well, sort of,' she couldn't stop the little snort at the idea of Denny and Tom being grown-ups. When did your children ever seem grown up to you? 'Anyway . . . I think they'll see him for what he is this time,' she continued. 'And it might be very disappointing.'

'Yeah, I'm sure. But never mind,' Janie said. 'They'll realize what a lovely mummy they have instead. You're doing so well with them all, Eve, you should be proud.'

'Oh! Thank you. Now that really is enough about us. How are you and David and your lovely, brainy children?' Eve asked.

'We're fine. All absolutely fine,' Janie answered with a smile and a little tappity tap on the side of the glass which made Eve wonder.

'Can I ask you one thing about Dennis?' Jane surprised her.

'Of course. Nothing to hide.'

'Are you still at all upset about what happened?'

'Oh God no,' was Eve's immediate answer. 'Everything turned out for the best. For us anyway.'

'So not the slightest trace of heartbreak left at all?'

'Heartbreak!! No, definitely not. Dennis has been out of my life for about three times as long as he was ever in it. No,' and then in a burst of candour, Eve added, 'The only person at this wedding who is going to remind me of heartbreak is Joseph.'

'Joseph is coming as well!' Janie just about tipped her drink down the front of her sweater.

'Of course he's coming. He's family. He's Anna's dad ... and Robbie's.'

'Sorry, Eve. I always liked Joseph.'

'Yeah, me too,' she smiled at her sister, trying to shrug off the sad feeling this was provoking.

'Is it well and truly over with him then?'

'Looks like it. He's just got engaged.'

'Oh... So, pregnant Indian bride, the long-lost husband, the ex-lover and his fiancee – this is going to be the best wedding ever!' Janie said, trying to lighten the mood.

'Janie! Just because I don't live in a Victorian villa in Winchester with my lawyer husband and 2.2 children!' Eve retorted. 'I'm the norm these days, you know. You're the strangely unusual, monogamous, married person!'

They both laughed at that.

'What about a boyfriend?' Janie asked.

'What!'

'Shouldn't you be bringing a boyfriend? Otherwise, Dennis will be there with his wife. Joseph's got someone new...'

Eve nodded.

'So you really should take a boyfriend along. Isn't there someone . . . ?' Janie was leaning forward curiously.

'Well... there's the potential of someone.' Eve shot her a little grin, 'but no-one serious enough for Tom's wedding. No, I'll have to go alone ... Alone? Ha,' she laughed at this idea. 'I have four children, I am
never
alone! Anyway – what are we going to do tomorrow?'

'Drive out somewhere for a picnic if the weather is nice? If Dad is up for it,' Janie suggested.

'OK, good idea.'

On the top deck of the bus winding its way through Friday afternoon traffic, there was plenty of time for Eve to think as she made her journey from work to collect her youngest children.

She'd come out of a conversation with her boss, Lester, who had appeared in her office just as she was getting ready to go, to warn her that his deputy, Rob Greene, had decided to apply for the top job and so would be standing against her.

'Lester, have I even officially applied for this job?' she'd asked him. 'I mean . . . I'm still not sure.'

'I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think it was a good idea,' he'd said.

But up on the top of the bus, Eve worried. It wasn't really the work side that bothered her, it was essentially the hours and the added stress. She still couldn't decide if it was what she wanted. And now Rob was standing too. Nice man, but he would be an infuriating boss. He was jumpy, moody, found it hard to make decisions, procrastinated ... Now everyone in the department would want her to have the job, just so he didn't get it. And then if she did, he would have to go elsewhere. Oh bloody hell.

She had enough to think about. Her dad's surgery was only weeks away and Tom and Deepa had decided to postpone their wedding till August to await the outcome and hope he would be well enough to be there.

She willed the bus to move faster through the snarled up roads. She just wanted her little kids round her and to be back at home.

Finally, they were there, back at the flat, deep in their Friday evening routine: Robbie watching Thomas the Tank, Anna finishing off her homework, Eve, casually dressed in a summer skirt and vest, barefoot, trying not to care too much about the fact that Joseph would soon be at the door.

Then the telephone rang.

'I'm really sorry, the traffic's at a standstill,' Joseph was saying, 'I'm still on the M6, I'll be at least another two hours. Is that going to be OK?'

He asked to speak to Anna so he could explain. What a nice dad he was, she couldn't help thinking as she listened to Anna's side of the conversation.

'Yup ... OK ... Yeah, I'll snooze in the car ... That's fine, Daddy ... Be careful. See you later.'

And it was much later, almost 9.30 when Joseph finally rang at the door. Eve was dozing flat out on the sofa, Robbie was long asleep and Anna had gone to read in her bunk.

'That's your dad,' Eve called to her now from the sitting room, but there was no reply.

'Anna?' She went to the children's room first, on her way to the front door, and peeked in. It looked as if Anna had fallen fast asleep with a book open on her chest. The doorbell buzzed again and she went to let Joseph in.

Anna only opened her eyes when she heard her parents saying their hellos at the door. Her mother and her father had to spend some time together,
alone,
Anna had decided, and she was guessing – quite correctly – that Joseph would need a break from driving and neither of them would want to wake her up until it was time for her dad to go. So this would leave them with half an hour, maybe even longer, alone together. OK, she had to face the fact that it could be too late to save her dad from marriage to Michelle, but until the deed was done, every little effort to get her parents back together again had to be made.

She heard them walking towards her bedroom door and quickly closed her eyes again. 'Oh!' she could hear her dad say and she hadn't seen him for a fortnight, so she really, really wanted to turn and smile at him. 'Aren't they both sweet!'

But then the door was closed and he was obviously taking up the offer of a drink she'd heard her mother make.

Anna picked up her book again and carried on reading with her fingers crossed.

Eve went to make tea and left Joseph taking a seat on the sofa in the cosy jumble of a sitting room he still knew so well.

He sank down into the flowered cushions that were still warm from where Eve had been lying, and saw the dish on the floor filled with apple cores, tangerine peel and a KitKat wrapper alongside an empty wine glass.

When she came in, balancing a tray with the tea things, he pulled the side table in front of the sofa, so she put the tray down and quite naturally, busy with mug arranging and tea pouring, sat down beside him.

They started to talk: how was work? . . . how were the children?... Michelle... Manchester... London bla di bla. They were both tired and a little preoccupied with the worries of the week, so they forgot that they were supposed to be sarcastic to each other and instead found themselves unwinding on the saggy old sofa, chatting, laughing . . . both remembering how good it was to talk together, before the era of sniping and snide comments and the slightly bitter and twisted stuff they seemed to indulge in most of the time.

'What's all this about going to Germany then?' she asked him. 'And environmentally friendly business ideas?'

'Oh yeah...' He looked embarrassed. 'There's interesting stuff happening over there that I'm sure will catch on here eventually.'

'So it's a moneymaking thing?'

'Eve, I'm not all bad, you know. I have some ideals too,' and he fixed the dark eyes on her and smiled.

See? What was going on? Was he changing? Had she totally misunderstood what was happening in his head when she threw him out of her home? She was losing her bearings. But there was one feeling that was clear and undeniable, as they sat together on the sofa, her looking round at him every now and again to catch his nod and reassuring smile: she knew without a doubt that she was still magnetically attracted to him.

'How's your dad doing?' Joseph was asking now and then Eve was telling him about that and about Tom and Deepa and how anxious she was for them... and work. He'd obviously not come straight from the office that night, she couldn't help noticing, he'd had time to change into casual clothes: a chunky rollneck, a pair of loose white trousers and trainers. His arms were folded behind his head and he looked really not a bit older than the day she'd met him. He'd muscled up just a little over the years, but he was still the same lean, lithe person she used to practise yoga with on the bedroom floor.

Yoga on the bedroom floor . . . well that had nearly always ended in positions a little more kama surra than iyengar.

"That's all really hard,' he was sympathizing. 'Poor Eve, you've got a lot on. If there's anything I can do to help ... Maybe I could take the children for a weekend.
Both of them
,' he smiled at her. 'Because I think you have to let me take Robbie now, he's old enough.'

'Yeah,' she agreed and glanced down to her lap, only to see that her left leg was just a centimetre or so away from his. She could feel the warmth of him through the thin skirt she was wearing.

'Are you going to be OK?' he was asking, so kindly, she looked straight up into his face.

Oh Joseph, how am I ever going to be OK again, now that you're marrying someone else?

'Hey, don't cry,' she heard him say. 'It's all right.'

No, it's not all right. It is not at all all right.

One of the arms behind his head unfolded now and moved around her. He leaned forward and hugged her in against him. For a moment or two she stayed there, very still, head against his shoulder, feeling the tight warmth of his arm around her. Then she looked up and that was when his fingers brushed over her eyelashes, their lips touched together and they began to kiss. And, oh God, it was perfect. All she could think of as she moved her tongue into his mouth and tasted him, as her hands felt across his beautiful face, as she slid a leg over his lap to get closer to him ... all she could think of was that this was unlocking a physical memory. Details kept in the body long after they'd slipped from the mind. She felt like a pianist oblivious to the music stored in her fingertips until she'd touched the keyboard again. They were moving, quite involuntarily, following the steps in a dance they had perfected in their seven years as lovers.

She didn't dare to open her eyes, terrified that if she looked, she would break this spell. She was kissing Joseph's tea-flavoured mouth as he slipped down the straps of her vest to touch her bare breasts. Down there in his lap, underneath her, she could feel an unmistakable throb.

With a gentle roll, he laid her down on the sofa and wordless . . . wordlessly ... as if a single sound would ruin everything . . . his hand was feeling for her, his mouth still over hers.

Eyes tightly shut, she let him. She had no idea what it meant but she let him pull her skirt and underwear aside and move his fingers in.

She felt dizzy, oxygen deprived .. . high. She was desperate to groan, to whisper to him, but she bit her lip, terrified that the slightest noise would wake them from this.

Another hand squeezed her breast up into a little mound and he put his mouth, hot and wet over it and bit gently.

Ah, aaaahhh . . .
she so wanted to sigh, shout, tell him. But she kept her eyelids scrunched up and the sound bottled inside her. She couldn't bear for this to end. She groped in the tight sofa tangle they'd become for his cock and heard the sharp intake of breath when she reached it and ran her fingers over the velvet skin. Everything was so familiar and yet this was too strange.

His lips were moving over the bare skin of her collarbone, she felt him hot and nudging against her, and that was when she had to open her eyes.

'Joe?' she asked, barely above a whisper, and she saw his eyes open too. 'This can't be a good idea.'

'No.' He sank his head down against her shoulder.

For a moment, she wondered if he was going to say anything, but he just lay there crushed down on top of her, waiting for the blood to stop pounding in his ears and other places, then he gave her neck a small, sweet kiss and sat up.

She pulled herself up too, hooked her vest straps back over her shoulders, smoothed her skirt and stood up. They looked at each other and the smiles were apologetic. What was there to say? This was moment of madness territory . . . wasn't it?

When he stood up, she saw one of her blond hairs on the shoulder of his blue jumper and she reached out to pull it off.

Did she know she was making his hair stand on end with desire when she did that? He had no idea. Not for the first time in his life was he wondering what on earth she wanted from him and what he wanted from her. Jesus.

'I better go,' he said. 'Scoop Anna up and head

'Yes.'

They were looking each other in the eye but there really was nothing obvious to say. Eve broke his gaze and turned towards the door, he followed her out of the room and together they lifted Anna from the bed and into his arms.

'Hello.' Anna said in a drowsy mumble.

'Hello honeybun,' Joseph kissed her cheek. 'I'll carry you to the car.'

'OK.'

Eve kissed Anna at the door but only smiled at Joseph.

'Good night,' she told him. 'Drive carefully.'

When she went back into the sitting room she saw the indents on the sofa cushions, the two empty tea mugs on the side table and she couldn't deny what had happened. She had touched him, kissed him, felt him, let him almost ... almost make love to her again.

She was still too stirred up about it to even want to cry. She needed more wine, she decided – anything to drive this gale of loneliness from the room.