Laura indicated the way out into the hall. “First door on the left.”
Cherry locked the door behind her and sank down onto the floor. Why couldn’t she fit in? Her mother’s words of the night before rang in her ears:“The rich have a different life. Not something we really know about.”
Was she right? So far, the evening had been a horrible collection of tense, awkward moments. Nothing like she’d envisaged. She’d imagined herself falling into a warm friendship with Laura, finding some common ground early on, maybe sharing a joke or two, perhaps even going into the kitchen to help Laura with the supper. Cherry had even dreamed of Laura as a motherly substitute, taking her under her stylish wing and being the kind of mother she wished she had. She burned with embarrassment at her girlish fantasy. Somehow she had spent the evening feeling inferior, unworthy of these people. Humiliation turned to resentment and she angrily flushed the toilet and ran the taps, just in case anyone was listening. She just wanted to go home, and the disappointment and sense of failure were crushing. How was she ever going to escape her life if she couldn’t even hold a conversation with someone over a certain salary bracket?
She took a breath and then opened the bathroom door. The hallway was empty. Making her way back into the dining room, she saw everyone had left the table. Howard had disappeared, and Laura and Daniel had their backs to her and were peeringover a laptop. Laura had an affectionate arm over Daniel’s shoulders and Cherry stared. The draped arm felt like a barrier to her, stopping her from coming in.
“She’s found you somewhere wonderful,” said Laura.
They were looking at photos of the flat. What was she, the staff, the hired agent, only useful to find property for her son? Even as she thought this, Cherry knew it was unreasonable, but she didn’t care. She walked over and joined them. Then she deliberately put her arm on Daniel’s lower back and started to caress it. He turned to her and smiled. On Laura’s face, she caught a look of surprise and felt her quickly take her own arm away.
“It is nice, isn’t it?” said Cherry. Keeping her eyes on the screen, she smiled inwardly, a sense of satisfaction creeping over her as she kept her hand possessively in place.
8
THE KITCHEN WAS FULL OF POSTDINNER DEBRIS; PLATES, GLASSES, and pans were stacked by the sink, the culinary wreckage from the evening. The dishwasher had long finished its gurgling with the first load that she’d filled some hours before, but Laura couldn’t face the rest. It could wait for Mrs. Moore in the morning. She sat on her swing seat in the garden, pushing herself against the ground with her foot, pondering the evening. She had seemed nice enough, Daniel’s girlfriend, although quiet. Laura supposed she was nervous, but it had been hard to engage her in conversation.... In fact, she’d practically clammed up when they’d mentioned her birthday with her mother. And then there was that odd thing she’d done, at the end of the evening. With her hand. It was almost as though she was claiming Daniel, wanting to score a point? No . . . that was silly, and Laura felt bad for thinking it. The girl was probably just nervous as hell, poor thing. Soon after, Daniel had offered to take her home, and Laura had known they were itching to get away, and she smiled, knowing they needed time for themselves. Daniel had driven her back to Tooting, and as he’d left, he made it clear she shouldn’t wait up. Once they’d gone, Howard retreated again to his study. Even Moses had gone out for a night prowl and now she was left with her thoughts.
The wind coursed through the trees at the end of the garden and she shivered. The temperature had dropped for the first timein a week. Laura realized she was cold and went back inside, closing up the bifold doors behind her.
Lying in bed, she tried to sleep, but felt restless. The curtains billowed in the buffeting wind; then there was a crack of thunder. Finally the storm that they had been waiting for was breaking. The rain started, and in a matter of seconds, it was hammering against the window, in some disjointed torrential rhythm as the wind blew it bullyingly about. Laura got up, and as she went to close the window, she saw a flash of lightning against the sky. It lit up the garden and the large opaque ground window glistened wet in the rain. Then she heard a faint mew. The next flash illuminated Moses outside the bifold doors, waiting to be let in.
“Oh, Moses,” she said exasperatedly, but quickly went downstairs. As she opened the doors, he scuttled inside, gratefully rubbing his thanks against her legs. She stood for a moment and watched the storm, but then a flurry of rain blew into her face and she shut the door. She looked around for Moses, but he had gone for a late supper, so she left him and went back upstairs to bed.
She lay staring at the ceiling; through the plaster was Howard in his study, engrossed in work one floor above her. She thought about how sad it was that they didn’t really talk anymore. She turned over on her side and instead thought of Cherry. She resolved to do something for her. Something to make her feel comfortable; perhaps she’d take her out somewhere. Yes, that would be nice. She switched off her light and the room plummeted into darkness. She tried to block out the storm battling at the window and at some point must have succeeded, for she drifted off to sleep.
9
Saturday, June 14
THE FOLLOWING MORNING WAS FRESH, WITH A SOFT BLUE SKY. THEstreets had been washed by the rain, but were now dry in the morning sun. As Laura stepped out of her front door, she saw Daniel’s open-topped Mercedes turn at the corner and make its way down toward the house. She went to the gate and waved as they came closer: Cherry was in the passenger seat.
“Hello, you two.”
They pulled up outside the house and Daniel gave Cherry a lingering kiss. Then he jumped out and, to Laura’s surprise, Cherry swung her legs over and shifted into the driver’s seat.
“Thanks again for a lovely evening, Laura,” called Cherry with a smile that didn’t seem to have any of the anxiety she’d displayed the previous evening. Then she drove off quickly, with a squeal of tires.
Laura was taken aback. “What’s she doing?”
“Going to work.”
“But . . . but that’s your car.”
“I’ve loaned it to her today. We were late getting up,” he explained, “and I didn’t want her to get into trouble at work.” He smiled to himself; now that Cherry had discovered sex properly, she found she loved it, much to his delight.
“Oh, right.” Laura, if she admitted it, felt a little put-out. She’d bought Daniel the car for his twenty-first birthday. It had been a special gift, one that she’d thought about for ages beforehand and had chosen carefully.
“That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“Of course! How do you know she’s a good driver?”
Daniel laughed. “Oh, Mum, don’t worry. I think she’ll be fine. Although that was a bit of a racing start,” he said, watching as Cherry did another wheel spin as she turned out of the other end of the street.
“Well, it’s nice that you have such a trusting relationship.”
“Thanks again, Mum. For all the effort you put in last night. Fantastic steak.”
“My pleasure.”
