This London Love (24 page)

“What are you doing here?” Meg was frozen to the spot, her eyes darting between Tanya and Kate.

“That’s just what I asked her,” Tanya said. “I tried to pick her up a few weeks ago, now I find she’s your new date.” She smiled at Meg. “We were lovers, and now we’re attracted to the same woman. Perhaps we should have a threesome at some point to square the circle, so to speak.” Tanya shut the front door, looking very pleased with herself. She leaned against the wall, her arms folded across her chest.

“You two
were together
?” Kate stared at Meg, beseeching her to say no. Only, she knew she wouldn’t.

Meg nodded slowly, her brow furrowed. “And you two know each other?” She pointed at Tanya, then at Kate.

Tanya nodded. “We met a few weeks ago, had a drink together.”

“I wouldn’t say we had a drink together — I’d say you were overbearing. Good to see you’re consistent.” Kate paused. “And this was before anything happened with us,” she told Meg, holding up a palm. Then Kate shook her head. “Although why I’m explaining this to
you
when you
slept
with her is anyone’s guess.”

Meg shook her head at Tanya. “I can’t believe you tried to hit on the first woman I’ve liked in
ages
.”

Tanya shrugged. “My charms didn’t work though, so you won.”

Nobody said a word for a few seconds and the silence was deafening.

Kate was still frowning. “But you still haven’t filled me in totally — how long were you together?”

Tanya was happy to fill in the blanks. “Years — we bought this house together. Funny how these things work out, isn’t it? I must say though, most of the décor is Meg’s doing — she’s the one with the design eye. When we first moved in, it was a right state, wasn’t it, honey?”

Kate’s face was frozen in frown mode. This wasn’t making sense to her and she hoped she could iron out the wrinkles in this story without ruining her evening. In her hand, the umbrella dripped steadily onto the beige carpet. She glanced at Meg, who was still lacking in colour, still saying nothing.

Kate was clutching the magazine in her hand, which somehow didn’t seem so important now. She could taste fear on her tongue.

“And you’re — just visiting tonight?” Kate asked Tanya. “Stopping by on the way home from work?” She winced as she said it.

But Tanya shook her head. “We both still live here. Still here after — what is it now, Meg? Nearly six years?” Tanya threw a hand in the air to emphasise her point. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“Yes, okay, Tanya, you’ve made your point.” Meg’s voice cut in with stony authority. But then she turned to Kate, and her tone softened considerably. “Look, we went out, we bought this house and we both still live in it.” Meg cast her eyes down to the floor briefly, then she took a deep breath and refocused. “But we haven’t
been
together for a year and we both live
very
separate lives.”

“Nine months, a year, give or take.” Tanya moved her hands as if juggling time.

“What were we just saying in the kitchen before Kate arrived?” Meg’s tone had gone a notch higher as she addressed her ex.

“Do tell me, because I’m all ears.” Kate was loosening her shoulders like a boxer in her corner. “Was it a mutual pact to make me look like an idiot? Because it’s working
really well
if that was your intention.”

“No! That’s not what we were saying,” Meg said. “I really
like
you, and I was telling Tanya that — and that we need to sell this house and move on. You’ve got it all wrong.” Her voice was brittle, cracking as it hit the air.

“We’re moving on — we are,” Tanya said. “But there’s an
awful
lot of history to sieve through first.”

Kate let out a bark of indignation. “You’re telling me.” She shook her head in disbelief before turning a granite gaze on Meg. “I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact you both still live here
and
bought this house together. It never occurred to you once to tell me this in all the time we’ve been seeing each other?” Kate’s vision blurred, her cheeks flushed scarlet. “Not once?”

“I was going to tell you this weekend — it just never came up before.” Meg’s eyes were wide.

Her words scratched Kate’s skin like they were an irritant. Kate laughed. “It
never came up
? I should put this on my checklist now, should I? Do you have a girlfriend and are you still living with her?” She almost choked on her own words. “Can you hear what you’re saying?”

“You haven’t
told her
?” Tanya let out a low whistle. “You’re not still holding a torch for me, are you? Because really, we should have chatted about this before we put the house on the market and everything.”

Meg clapped both hands over her ears as she shouted. “Shut up! Just shut up, Tanya — I’ve had just about enough of you.”

“Me too,” Kate said. “And I only met you a few weeks ago.”

Tanya opened her mouth to say something, but Meg’s stare was still drilling into her, so she closed it and said nothing.

Kate shifted from one foot to the other, took a deep breath and addressed Meg. “I thought it’d be a nice surprise for you to bring this round tonight.” She held out the magazine, still in her work carrier bag. “But honestly? I wish I hadn’t bothered.”

“What is it?” Meg grasped the carrier bag like it held a bomb.

“The magazine.”

“It’s already out?” Meg flicked her gaze to Kate.

“Early copy.” Kate shook her head. “But it turns out I’ve walked into a domestic that my own — girlfriend, can I call you that? — is having with her ex. In the house they bought, that they still live in. That she never told me about.” Kate bit her lip, before glancing at Tanya, then Meg.

“You never thought this might be something you should mention? That you were living with your ex? What else are you not telling me? Is there an ex-husband or any children waiting in the wings?” Kate sighed loudly and held up her hand as if stopping traffic. “Never mind, don’t even answer that. I think I’d better go. Leave you two… to… Whatever.” Kate moved the bottom half of her jaw one way, the top part the other way and then back again. “I need some air.”

Kate turned and put her hand on the front door latch. However, before she had a chance to open it, Meg was beside her, a hand on Kate’s arm.

“Don’t go.” Her voice was almost a whisper. “
Please
. I’d like to explain.”

Kate looked down and shook her head. “You had plenty of chances to explain. And now I understand why you never wanted to bring me back, and why you were always herding us back to mine — because you already had a girlfriend here.”

“Ex — she’s my ex!” Meg turned to Tanya. “Aren’t you?”

Kate followed Meg’s gaze.

Tanya nodded.

Meg exhaled. “It was just… Never the right time. And I thought maybe we might sell the house before you came round, and then it wouldn’t be so awkward.”

Kate faced Meg, their mouths just inches apart. Kate allowed her gaze to drop, before she picked it back up and shook her head with a sad laugh.

“And it’s not awkward at all now, is it?” Kate swallowed down a lump in her throat. “I thought you were different, I thought I could trust you. Turns out, you’re just like all the others.”

Meg recoiled as Kate’s words hit home.

As she opened the door, Kate could still feel Meg’s hand around her arm. She shook her off, before turning and shaking out her umbrella. The mechanism jammed. There was an excruciating few seconds while Kate wrestled with it.

“Do you want me to help?” Meg stepped forward.

Kate’s whole body stiffened at Meg’s proximity. She turned and looked her in the eye. “I think you’ve done enough for one day.”

She finally got the umbrella up. “You’re on page 49. You look stunning. As always.” Kate dropped her head. “See you around,” she said, before turning away, rain — and tears — misting her vision as she walked up the path.

Kate didn’t look back.

***

Meg watched the door slam shut and closed her eyes. Was she still breathing? She checked and she was. Was Tanya still breathing? Yes, unfortunately. Had the world’s roof caved in? For her, perhaps. Poor Kate, getting drenched in the rain.

Meg opened her eyes and twisted to face Tanya. “You happy? Was that what you wanted?”

Tanya was having none of it. She turned up a corner of her mouth before answering. “Before you blame me, I think you need to look in the mirror. Why didn’t you just tell her you were still living with me? It’s hardly the crime of the century. We haven’t sold the house, we
have
to live here.” Tanya stroked her chin and paused. “So really, why? I mean, you’ve made it pretty clear we’re over. I’m not standing in your way. But
you are
. It’s high time you stopped blaming me and started looking at yourself. You made this mess, and it’s yours to clean up.”

Tanya pushed herself off the hallway wall and looked at Meg. “She’s worth trying to keep hold of — so you might want to start thinking of a way to salvage this. Putting the house on the market was step one. Sorting your own life out is step two.” Tanya shook her head. “Anyway, I’m going to get changed. Let me know if you want to talk about the valuation later.”

“Yeah, I’m sure to want to talk about
that
tonight,” Meg spat.

“It’s all part of sorting things out. It’s all connected.”

Meg watched Tanya disappear upstairs to her room, forming a ton of comebacks and cutting comments in her head. But somehow, they never came out of her mouth. Because logically, she knew Tanya was right. Yes, her ex hadn’t wanted to sell originally, but if Meg had pushed, she would have. She wasn’t a terrible person.

Meg just hoped she could sort it out with Kate before it was too late.

28

“So why am I coming with you again?”

“Because you love me, and because I offered to buy you coffee and cake. And because I’m having a crisis.”

Jess kicked the pavement and smiled as the pair wheeled Kate’s bike down the road to Bikes & Bakes. In this day and age, bike shops couldn’t simply be bike shops — they had to diversify.

“What’s up with Beryl?”

“Dodgy brakes,” Kate replied. “Which wasn’t so good when I was cruising down Hampstead Heath recently.”

Jess laughed. “Cruising on the heath? What did I tell you about that?”

“Ha ha,” Kate replied.

Once inside, Jess nabbed the last available table, while all around her, conversation was being traded at full pelt. Kate handed over her bike and within five minutes, she was back with coffee and cake.

Kate sat down opposite Jess, the late evening sun streaming in through the window and making her squint. The weather had bucked up today, the city now painted in autumnal sunshine.

Jess took a sip of her cappuccino. “So come on, then — the suspense is killing me. Your crisis. Is it a world-dooming crisis, or something that’s eminently sort-outable?” Jess took a bite of her carrot cake as she waited for Kate to answer.

“Any good?” Kate asked, avoiding the question.

Jess nodded, rescuing a stray crumb from her lip. “Nearly as good as mine.” She paused. “Now spill.”

Kate took a deep breath. “You won’t believe it when I tell you.”

Jess raised her eyebrows in response.

“So last night, I went to Meg’s place for the first time. She’s been quite evasive about me going round there, but I didn’t really think anything of it. I mean, I had
no reason
to. She wasn’t exhibiting the signs of someone who was hiding anything or having an affair — and I
know
those signs, I’ve seen them before.”

Jess grimaced and paused mid-chew. “But she is?”

Kate shook her head slowly. “Not exactly.” She exhaled. “But she is still living with her ex-girlfriend, which she’d conveniently failed to mention.”

“Ah,” Jess replied, through a mouthful of cake.

“Yes, ah.” Kate sipped her coffee. “But the best is yet to come. Guess who said ex-girlfriend is?”

Jess sucked on her bottom lip before answering. “That woman from Orange Is The New Black?”

Kate gave her a withering look.

Jess thought for a moment, before her features filled with alarm. “Not Caroline?” she whispered.

Kate choked on her coffee. “God, no! But perhaps worse.” Kate sat back to deliver the news with maximum impact. “Remember Lucy’s mate who you tried to set me up with and she cracked on to me at dizzying speed?”

Jess sat upright and tapped the table. “In that bar?”

Kate nodded. “Tanya.”

“Tanya is Meg’s ex?”

Kate nodded again.

“
Oh. My. God
.” Jess covered her mouth with her right hand. “And she’s still living with her?”