Entangled (21 page)

‘How was Mick?’

‘You’re so impatient, Grace! I was just getting to that.’

Things my mother told me about meeting up with Mick even though I wasn’t in the slightest bit interested (but it was my fault for asking)

1. She bumped into him on Oxford Street of all places. (Her words, not mine.)

2. It was so lovely seeing him again after all these years. (Again, her words.)

3. He hadn’t changed a bit.

4. He was doing very well for himself.

5. His penthouse had three bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom. (Big fucking deal.)

6. He took her to the Ivy. He’s a regular there, apparently. Blah blah blah.

7. They stayed up late and
talked
for hours.

Way too much information.

‘Why did you stay in his flat? Isn’t that a bit … weird?’

‘What an odd thing to say! Why would it be weird?’

‘Well … you know … he’s just got divorced, and you’re …’

‘I don’t know what you’re trying to imply, Grace Carlyle, but I can assure you, it was all completely above board. Mick is one of my oldest friends.’ She pushed back her chair, went over to the sink and rinsed out her mug. She’d barely even touched her tea. It looked like our special mother—daughter time was coming to an end.

I got up to leave the kitchen, taking my tea with me. I was
so
close to making a clean getaway.

‘Mick was asking after you. He said he’d really like to see you some time … if that’s OK with you?’ She sounded nervous.

I turned round, reluctant to continue the conversation. When it finally came, my answer surprised me almost as much as it surprised her. ‘No.’

‘What do you mean, “no”?’

‘I don’t want to see him.’

‘Why ever not? Grace, you are acting
very
strangely. Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘Then why don’t you want to see Uncle Mick?’

‘He’s not my uncle. Don’t call him that. I haven’t seen him in years. Why the hell would I want to see him now? I can barely even remember him anyway,’ I lied.

‘But he was your dad’s best friend! Surely that means something to you.’

‘Then why haven’t we seen him since the funeral? It’s pretty obvious that he just wants to get in your pants now that he’s divorced from what’s-her-name!’ I didn’t know why I was acting like this. Maybe I just wanted to hurt her. I didn’t need a particular reason for that.

‘Grace! How dare you say that to me?!’ She was shocked, but she didn’t deny it, did she?

‘Oh, whatever, Mum. You know it’s true.’

‘You apologize right now.’ Her tone was threatening.

‘I’ve got nothing to apologize for,’ I said snottily. And I left her sitting there, surrounded by her shopping.

Back in my room, I wondered whether I might have overreacted ever so slightly. It was hard to tell. I was unsettled by the Mick thing. Why did he have to turn up now? Did they really just meet on the street, by accident? I couldn’t escape from the awful, nagging feeling that Mum might have slept with him already. That was just too gross to think about, but I couldn’t help myself. It would certainly help explain her overt niceness to me when she got back – talk about over-compensating. But why
him
? There were thousands of blokes out there that she could have gone for, so why did it have to be Dad’s best friend? And why did it bother me so much?
Doesn’t she deserve to be happy too?

I spent the next few days avoiding Mum. I stayed at Sal’s for a couple of nights. I didn’t tell her what was up – there was no need. I was able to push Mum and Mick right to the back of my mind with all the cobwebs and other extraneous matter.

Everything else was good, and that was all that mattered. I concentrated on what was important: Nat. He was going back to university in three weeks’ time. And I was going back to school next week. I fully intended to spend every possible minute with him before he left. I’d tried talking to him about how things would work between us when he was back at uni, but he’d just told me not to worry. Everything was going to be fine, apparently.

I was running out of time to put my Nat and Sal plan into action. I was determined that they were going to be friends.

Nat had bought a couple of tickets for a gig near his university, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to throw Sal into the mix. We were hanging out in Nat’s room a couple of days before the gig when I made my move.

‘Why don’t we invite Sal to the gig?’

Nat looked up sharply. ‘Why?’

‘She’s my best friend, that’s why! I thought it would be fun for us three to hang out, that’s all. But if you don’t want to …’ I left the sentence hanging in the air.

‘I thought it was going to be the two of us.’

‘Aw, come on! It’s just one night.’ I scooted down onto the floor to lie next to him and started to massage the back of his neck. ‘And I think Sal would really enjoy it. It’d be good for her to get out … She hasn’t exactly had the easiest time of it this summer, has she?’ I knew that would do the trick.

‘Fine. Bring her along.’

‘Are you sure? I don’t
have
to.’
Disingenuous or what?

He rolled his eyes. ‘Are you always this good at getting what you want?’

I laughed and shrugged. ‘Pretty much. I got you, didn’t I?’

He thought for a second before answering. ‘Yeah, I suppose you did.’

One down, one to go
.

‘Sal …?’ In between bites of my Big Mac.

‘Yeeeeeees?’ She stretched out the word as far as it would go.

‘What are you up to on Monday?’

‘Hmm, let me think … Monday, you say? I’m going to have to check my
very
busy schedule, but I
think
I might be free. Well, as long as I get all my pencils sharpened for school on Tuesday.’ She took a big slurp of her milkshake and looked at me expectantly.

‘Good, cos you’re coming out with me and Nat.’

Another slurp of milkshake. ‘Now I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I’d arranged to do something like that.’

Sal was a slightly tougher nut to crack. It was obvious that she wasn’t up for it, but I wore her down, countering every reason she gave for not coming with us. It was over in a matter of minutes.

Eventually she sighed. ‘You’re impossible when you get like this! You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?’

I laughed. ‘Ah, you know me so well! So that’s settled then. You can come round to mine to get ready beforehand, and then we can meet Nat at the station. Maybe we should get a couple of cans to drink on the way? Shit … what am I gonna wear? What are you gonna wear? We’ll have to make sure we look completely awesome. I bet there will be lots of fit boys there. Maybe you’ll—’

‘Grace …’ The warning in her voice was clear.

‘But—’

‘But nothing! You’d better promise right now, or I’m not going.’

I sighed in melodramatic fashion. ‘I promise. But I can’t say the same for Nat – he might have a lonely, unbelievably gorgeous friend in mind for you.’

‘He won’t,’ she said quietly.

‘Nah, course he won’t! All the friends
I’ve
heard him talk about are girls anyway, so the odds aren’t in your favour.’ I laughed. Sal did not.

When Sal arrived on Monday, my bed was buried underneath a mountain of clothes and I was standing there in my jeans and bra, hands on hips.

‘What’s up?’

‘I have NOTHING to wear. Nothing! Not one thing! This is hopeless.’

‘Calm down. You’ve got loads of clothes.’

‘Yeah, but nothing’s right!’

Sal started sorting through the pile I’d discarded, carefully folding things and putting them back in the wardrobe as she went. Before long she’d pulled out a black top and held it up against me. ‘Yup, that’s the one.’

‘That? But it’s so old! And so boring. Don’t you think it’s a bit too casual?’

‘Nope. We’re going to a proper studenty club, remember? Dressing down is the only way to go.’ She rummaged in the drawer of my dressing table and pulled out the purple necklace she’d given me a few months ago. ‘Here. Try it with this.’

Of course she was right – as usual.

‘Thank God you’re here. You’re a lifesaver!’ I said, as I struggled to fasten the necklace in the mirror.

‘Here, let me.’

I checked her out in the mirror as she concentrated on the fastening. She was wearing a
lot
less make-up than I was, and her hair was in a simple ponytail, which made her look young and sort of innocent. I was slightly worried she might get ID’d, but knew better than to say anything now. She was wearing jeans and a black top too, but we could not have looked more different.

Nat was leaning against the railings at the station when we arrived. This ‘being on time’ thing was becoming a habit. He watched our approach and made a big show of checking his watch.

‘What time do you call this?!’

‘Yeah, yeah, you can blame Sal. She’s almost as incapable of being on time as you are … well, were.’ I kissed him.

Nat said hello to Sal and they shared an awkward hug. I was pleased they didn’t shake hands or anything lame like that. The train was just pulling into the station, so we legged it over the footbridge and made it onto the train just in time. Sal sat opposite me and Nat, and we cracked open the beers Nat had brought. We chatted about this and that and the conversation flowed easily without too much effort from me. I was pleased that despite their initial lack of enthusiasm for the evening, they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company.

‘I like your necklace, Grace. Is it new?’

I beamed at Nat, and then at Sal. ‘Nah, I’ve had it for a while. Sal bought it for me – she has impeccable taste, doesn’t she?’

Nat nodded vaguely and was about to say something when Sal piped up with a change of subject. ‘Grace told me that one of your friends works behind the bar at this place we’re going. Will she be there tonight?’

Nat nodded and swigged his beer. ‘Yeah, Anna will probably be working. We might get a couple of free drinks from her, if we’re lucky.’

‘So, what’s Anna like? Is she on your course’ I wanted to know what I was up against.

Nat shrugged. ‘Yeah, she is. Unbelievably clever – she helped me out a lot with anatomy last year.’

‘Anatomy?’ I couldn’t help but giggle.

‘Grace … how old are you?’ he chided.

‘Sorry. So … does she have a boyfriend?’

Nat shook his head. ‘Nah, she was seeing someone for a bit just before the holidays, but I think she dumped him. Anna isn’t really into relationships – she thinks they’re a waste of time.’
Hmm, don’t like the sound of this one at all
. In fact, she sounded suspiciously like the Old Me.

‘Is she pretty?’ I just couldn’t help myself. I glanced over to catch Sal’s eye, but she was staring out of the window.

‘Yeah, I suppose she is. My mates seem to think so anyway.’ Nat clearly hadn’t been reading his How To Be A Perfect Boyfriend handbook. Of course, the answer I was looking for was something along the lines of: ‘I have no idea. Everyone pales into insignificance now that I’m with you.’