The Secrets Women Keep (11 page)

‘I’ll do that, Dan. You get another bottle.’ Rose pushed back her chair. ‘Anna, could you help?’ If they all left Eve and Terry alone for a moment, things might
simmer down. That was the usual nature of their disputes – quick to blow and quick to go.

‘Sure.’ With a rattle of bangles, Anna stood and reached out for the wooden pepper grinder and the bowl of sea salt that were still centre table. Her hair fell across her face,
hiding her expression.

In the midst of this flurry of activity, Terry and Eve sat frozen. Neither of them could speak without embarrassing themselves further. Then, breaking the silence, came the shrill ring of
Eve’s phone. Thankful for the distraction, she answered the call despite Terry’s despairing shake of his head.

She held up a hand to excuse herself as she turned away from the table to have the conversation. ‘What? What did she say?’ Her voice grew louder, her forehead creased into a frown.
‘Hang on just a moment.’ She looked at Rose, just returned with the coffee cups, and made a gesture to say she couldn’t understand what was being said to her. ‘I’m
sorry, but I have to take this.’ She crossed to the end of the terrace to stand in the shadows, where she could talk more privately. At the table, the others sat down again, Terry
apologising, the others reassuring him. Snatches of Eve’s conversation blew their way and they pretended not to hear.

‘What do you mean, retire? . . . That’s absurd . . . What? Say that again . . . Of course I’m not . . .’

As time went on, the others gave up any pretence and sat transfixed, trying to follow the threads of Eve’s conversation. ‘She’s doing what? . . . But I can’t, I’m
here . . . You’re breaking up . . . Of course she knows that . . .’

Eventually they heard clearly, ‘Oh shit! The bloody signal’s gone.’

She returned to the table, sat down heavily, put her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.

Rose was the first to speak. ‘Something wrong?’ she asked, aware that that was likely to be the understatement of the evening.

Eve let out a dramatic groan. ‘Only everything.’

‘For God’s sake,’ muttered Terry.

Rose’s heart sank as Eve rounded on him. ‘For God’s sake what? This could be very difficult for me. Apparently Amy’s been telling my clients that I’m
retiring.’

‘Retiring?’ Rose repeated. The thought of her sister-in-law giving up her agency before she was carried out of the office in a box was inconceivable. ‘You never
said.’

‘No! Because I’m not. As if. Why would she do that?’

Terry sat and stared up at the stars, as if he couldn’t begin to imagine and wasn’t much interested.

Hearing Eve’s irate intake of breath and fearing another outburst at her brother, Rose went inside to get the coffee.

‘There must be a misunderstanding.’ Daniel was standing behind Eve. He put a consoling hand on her back as he refilled her glass. ‘No one would mistake you for an
almost-pensioner. That’s ridiculous.’

‘I should bloody hope not.’ Eve sat upright, eyes blazing. ‘Apparently Mary Mackenzie’s pissed off because I haven’t got her the sort of deal she thinks she
deserves. She told Belinda, another of my clients, that Amy told her I was signing off on the agency. Belinda’s just phoned me to see if it’s true. In fact, I asked Amy to look after
Mary – big mistake, probably – but that was as far it goes. Oh God. I should be there to sort this out. I should never have trusted her.’

‘Then why don’t you go home? You might as well be there anyway, the amount of time you spend on that thing.’ Terry gestured at her BlackBerry.

‘Thanks for your unwavering support, Terry.’ She spun the phone in slow circles on the tabletop as she thought. ‘Actually, you know what? If that’s how much you want me
to be here, I think I bloody well will.’

‘Will what?’ Rose returned, pot of coffee in hand, and took her place at the table.

‘Get a flight back tomorrow. I ought to be able to change my ticket.’

‘Eve, you can’t.’ Rose couldn’t keep the alarm out of her voice. ‘You’ll miss Jess and Dylan.’

Daniel turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised in question, just as the first roll of thunder sounded in the distance.

‘And you’ve only just got here,’ added Anna, without breaking her concentration on rolling a cigarette. She glanced at them all as she licked down the length of the Rizla,
stuck the paper together then put the roll-up on the table by her tobacco pouch.

‘Let’s all calm down.’ Daniel pushed his specs back up the bridge of his nose. ‘Aren’t you being a bit hasty? Decisions should be slept on. In the morning you can
use my study and the landline to sort out whatever’s going on.’

‘I can’t sort out anything if the wretched woman won’t answer my emails.’

‘Haven’t you tried calling her?’ Anna took her pashmina from where it had slipped off the back of her chair and wrapped it round her bony shoulders before lighting her
cigarette.

‘Of course not.’ Eve was incensed by the suggestion. ‘Until now we’ve always emailed when I’ve been away. We only ever talk if there’s an
emergency.’

‘What do you call this then?’ Anna looked mystified as she blew a long stream of smoke into the night. ‘Sounds like one to me. I’d call her.’

‘I think you should stay out of this, Anna.’ The clink of the jug against the coffee cups betrayed Rose’s shaking hand.

‘Don’t talk to me as if I’m ten! I’ve as much a right to an opinion as anyone else around this table.’ Self-expression and assertiveness: sometimes alarming
qualities that had been drilled into her during those expensive therapy sessions. Rose wished she hadn’t spoken. But as the whole edifice of the happy family holiday finally crumbled,
she’d reacted without thinking.

‘Easy, you two.’

The feel of Daniel’s soothing hand on her thigh was like a burn. Rose twisted her legs away from his touch, knocking one of the cups and saucers on to the floor, where they smashed,
rivulets of black coffee running into dark gullies between the tiles. As she turned from him, she caught the bewilderment in his eyes. For a second, she wished she’d controlled her reaction,
then she remembered.
Miss. Love. Come back.
‘We can sort this out without you interfering,’ she said sharply.

His puzzlement deepened, then he shrugged. ‘All right. I’ll get something to clear this up with, then.’

Eve was on her feet, having missed their brief exchange, making her way round the table. ‘Anna’s quite right. I should call her. If she thinks she can put her feet under my desk
while I’m away, she’s got another think coming. Ouch!’ She sat down heavily beside Rose, lifting up her bare foot with one hand and examining it. A thin stream of blood ran
between her toes.

‘Oh Eve, I’m so sorry.’ Rose bent over to see the injury. ‘Don’t move – I’ll get you a plaster.’

Squatting beside them, Daniel was picking up the scattered pieces of pottery. The way he moved told Rose how hurt he was by her dismissal. The knowledge gave her a shaming stab of pleasure.

‘I’ll get it,’ he volunteered. ‘I’m going in for a cloth anyway.’

While he disappeared inside, Rose looked closely at Eve’s foot. ‘It’s only a tiny cut.’

Eve scratched crossly at a new mosquito bite on her ankle. ‘Don’t worry about it, really. But I must talk to Amy.’ She pulled her injured foot from Rose’s grip. Making
the call, she jiggled her right leg, impatient for Amy to answer. After a few seconds she returned her BlackBerry to the table. ‘She’s not picking up. She must be deliberately fielding
my calls.’

‘She’s more likely to be out.’ Rose was desperate to restore the earlier atmosphere of the evening.

‘Mmm. More likely she’s up to something. Plotting.’ Eve reached across the table for her drink as Daniel re-emerged with a bowl of water with a whiff of disinfectant, a flannel
and a packet of sticking plasters.

‘Don’t be so suspicious,’ Rose countered. ‘There’s probably a perfectly simple explanation.’

But she could see that Eve’s thought process was speeding down its own track. Nothing was going to stop it. ‘She couldn’t be planning to set up on her own, could she? Taking
some of my clients with her?’ She spoke slowly, as if she was thinking out loud as the idea took root.

‘She wouldn’t.’ Rose was shocked that Eve would even consider her close colleague capable of such a thing.

‘You always see the best in people. That’s one of your great gifts.’ Eve cleaned the cut, took a plaster from the packet and stuck it between her big toe and the next one.

‘Not always.’ They’d forgotten about Anna, who had been silent till now. The candlelight danced on her face, exaggerating its angles and planes, making her look thinner than
ever. She sat with her coffee, picking at the remains of her brownie, covering her plate with crumbs, smoking. In a gesture of defiance, she stubbed her cigarette out on her plate.

Rose decided to ignore the remark and the cigarette, both calculated to enrage her. Rising to either would only make the evening even worse.

Beside Anna, Terry was stretched out in his chair, arms behind his head, eyes shut, as if waiting for the evening to resume as normal. She felt like strangling both of them. Why couldn’t
they help pull what was left of the party back into shape instead of leaving it to her?

‘Whatever she’s doing, you’re not going to be able to sort it out now. It’s too late. So why don’t you give up and enjoy the rest of the evening?’ Daniel
suggested as he sat down again.

‘I can’t enjoy it now. The bloody woman’s ruined it.’ Eve poured herself another glass of wine. ‘I’m going to have to work out some sort of damage limitation
exercise the moment I get back.’

‘Please don’t go,’ Rose urged. ‘The holiday won’t be the same without you.’

‘Surely you can deal with this from here.’ Dan emptied the Soave into his glass. ‘A few judicious phone calls and a message letting her know that you know what’s been
going on.’

‘But I don’t,’ insisted Eve. ‘I’ve no idea.’ She pressed a few brownie crumbs on to her finger and licked them off. ‘That’s the trouble with being
in contact every hour God sends. I know too much but not enough.’ She closed her eyes with pleasure at the taste of chocolate.

That makes two of us, reflected Rose, darting an angry glance at Daniel. He was sitting at an angle to the table, legs crossed. Immune to the mosquitoes, he always wore shorts in the evening.
Tonight they were paired with a deep blue linen shirt, his chest hair visible in the opening. He was quite still, eyes on her, obviously puzzling over the reason for her shutting him out.

‘Well . . . looks like the party’s over.’ Terry stretched his arms into the air so that his striped polo shirt rode up to expose his sunburned stomach. ‘Think I’ll
turn in.’

‘Just like that? Don’t you have an opinion about Amy or what she’s up to?’ Rose’s impulse to protect her friend finally took over.

‘I’m with Daniel.’ He slipped his feet back into his sandals. ‘Things will look different in the morning. They always do.’

Rose heard Eve’s frustrated tsk and tried again. ‘What about Eve going home early? You don’t really want that, do you?’ Surely he’d come on side to stop her
carrying out her threat.

Terry gave a languid smile, tucking his polo shirt into his trousers. ‘Dear sister, you should know by now that when it comes to the agency, Eve will do exactly as she pleases.
That’s one of the reasons it’s been so successful. She doesn’t always do what’s expected.’

The way he looked at Eve told Rose more than she’d previously appreciated about her brother’s marriage. Whatever their apparent differences, he obviously admired Eve’s business
methods and the success she’d achieved.

‘Not true, my love,’ interjected Eve bitterly. ‘I play by the rules. And that’s why it’s worked so well. I’m not going to sit back and watch Amy destroy
it.’

‘
If
that’s what she’s trying to do.’ Anna took a walking stick that was leaning against the balustrade and walked off the terrace to the nearest fig tree. Raising
her arm, she took aim with the stick and hit the nearest branch. She aimed again. Gathering up the fallen figs, she dropped the stick where she stood. ‘Night, all.’

‘Think I’ll do the same. Read my book for a bit.’ Terry kissed both Eve and Rose’s cheeks, and took himself off. ‘Sleep on it,’ he advised. ‘I
would.’

An hour later, Rose followed suit. She had stayed up to try to persuade Eve to take Terry and Daniel’s advice, but her sister-in-law was too anxious to listen. In the
end, she had given up and left her to look for an available flight home.

Rose opened the bedroom door quietly, hoping to find Daniel asleep. Instead, the light was on and he was sitting propped up against the antique wooden bedhead. As she came in, the curtains
billowed and the window slammed shut in the wind. She went over to secure it as, in the far distance, lightning flashed over the mountains.

Daniel put down his book and looked over the top of his reading glasses. ‘Well?’

‘Well what?’ Rose took off her trousers and hung them up before going to the bathroom. She could hear his voice over the sound of her overly brisk teeth-brushing and the running
tap.

‘Have I done something to upset you, sweetheart?’ He sounded genuinely perplexed.

She threw the rest of her clothes into the laundry basket. As she reached for her nightdress on the back of the bathroom door, she noticed a tiny chip of flaking blue paint and picked at it,
trying to control the uncontrollable rage that swept through her.
Miss. Love. Come back.

‘No.’ She bit her lip till her eyes watered as she brushed her hair, then cleaned her face and smoothed in the night cream that cost the equivalent of the national debt and had yet
to make any noticeable difference. She was trying to put off for as long as possible the moment when she would have to join him.

‘Rose. I know there’s something wrong. I’m not going to sleep until you come out and talk about it.’ Daniel was placating, confident he could talk her round from whatever
it was that was upsetting her. He was so good at that.

She half opened the door, wishing she could vanish from the face of the earth. Or that he would.