As if he were reading her mind, he turned and smiled at her.
‘Doing anything this weekend?’
‘Oh!’ Taken by surprise, Meredith gave a sharp intake of breath. Then, tossing her hair back in a determinedly casual fashion, she said, lightly, ‘Nothing much.’ She took a sip of tea. Jeez, this was ridiculous. She was behaving like some kooky kid angling for a date. ‘I thought I’d check out that new movie,’ she added, keeping her voice natural. ‘That one, The Grandfather’s Tale. It’s supposed to be a bit weird, but …’
‘I saw it a couple of weeks ago,’ said Alexis. Meredith’s heart dropped slightly and she smiled at Alexis to cover it. ‘It was excellent,’ Alexis added warmly. ‘You’ll love it.’
‘Don’t say that!’ Meredith forced a light-hearted animation into her voice. ‘If anyone tells me I’ll love a film, I find myself deliberately hating it.’ Alexis laughed. ‘It’s true,’ insisted Meredith, ‘I’m very protective about what I like and don’t like. If people start dictating I rebel.’ She sighed. ‘The number of perfectly good films which have been ruined for me …’
Ursula was listening, a look of puzzlement on her face.
‘But Meredith, dear,’ she said, ‘what about that charming film I took you to see last Christmas? I told you I was sure you’d love it, and when we’d seen it, you agreed. You said you’d enjoyed it very much.’ She screwed up her face in thought. ‘What was it called, now? It was a lovely film. You must remember. Those beautiful period costumes.’
‘Uh, yes, Ursula,’ said Meredith. ‘I remember. I guess that was an exception.’ She caught Alexis’s eye, and he gave the barest acknowledging flicker of a smile. And suddenly, inexplicably, Meredith felt her heart pounding violently and her face beginning to flush. We would go so well together, she found herself thinking, the thoughts piling over one another in foolish desperation. We enjoy talking to one another, and we have the same sense of humour, and I certainly find him attractive and … She pulled up short, hit by a sudden uncharacteristic loss of self-confidence; and looked away quickly. Perhaps that was it; she’d mistaken the signs: Alexis didn’t find her attractive, after all.
Surreptitiously, she glanced down at her body, lean and tanned and clad today in a clinging black dress made from an expensive stretchy fabric. If he didn’t like the way she looked, there wasn’t a lot she could do … except perhaps blimp out, she found herself thinking. In case he liked larger women. Eat cheeseburgers every day and put on twenty pounds. Would that do the trick? She gave a stifled giggle, in spite of herself.
Alexis looked up and Meredith’s grin died away. Ask him out! she told herself fiercely. Just ask. It isn’t such a big deal; he can only say no … But for some reason her mouth stayed closed.
Ursula was frowning at the newspaper.
‘It says here’, she said, ‘that women live longer than men.’ She put down the paper and gave Meredith a puzzled look. That can’t be right.’
‘Sure,’ said Meredith, taking a bite of biscuit. ‘They do.’ Ursula’s eyes flickered doubtfully to Alexis.
‘It’s true, Ursula,’ he said pleasantly. ‘Women live longer.’
‘But surely that’s impossible,’ said Ursula in gently obstinate tones. She put down the newspaper and appeared to be thinking. Meredith watched her affectionately, realizing, with a slight shock, that the few remaining blond streaks in Ursula’s hair had, without her noticing, vanished into a sea of silver. ‘Surely,’ added Ursula, ‘if it were true, it would mean that there were far more women than men on the earth.’
‘Maybe there are,’ said Meredith lazily. ‘Long may it last.’
‘And if that imbalance continued, year after year … then eventually there wouldn’t be any men left at all,’ said Ursula. She gave Meredith an impressive look. ‘So I don’t think you can be right, dear.’
‘Ursula!’ exclaimed Meredith, clutching her head in mock-despair. ‘Where do you get your logic from?’
‘It seems very clear to me,’ protested Ursula.
I’m sure it does,’ said Meredith, beginning to laugh. ‘Alexis, help me out here.’
‘Let’s have a look at the article,’ said Alexis. He leaned over Meredith to take the paper from Ursula, and Meredith felt a stab of yearning desire.
‘Let me see,’ she said, without thinking. ‘Let me look over your shoulder.’
‘OK,’ said Alexis easily. He shuffled up so that his chair was next to hers, and shook the paper open on her knee. She could smell his scent; could feel his leg lying against hers; could sense him breathing in and out. For a few seconds she felt pinned down; transfixed by wanting.
‘Alexis,’ she said softly. He turned and looked at her.
‘Yes?’
Meredith took a breath, ignoring the knife-like nerves in her chest. She paused to select exactly the right words; the most noncommittal, yet unambiguous phrase possible. ‘Do you think,’ she began quietly, shaking back her hair and staring at her hands. ‘Do you think—’
She was interrupted by a gasp from Alexis. He was looking over her shoulder.
‘Hugh!’ Ursula was exclaiming. ‘What’s wrong?’
Hugh looked back at them. His face looked drained; his eyes had lost their good cheer, and he was holding a letter in his hand. Meredith was suddenly, fearfully reminded of Simon’s death.
‘This is a registered letter’, Hugh began, ‘from that chap, Cassian Brown. Louise Kember’s friend.’
‘Katie …’ began Ursula in a choked voice. Hugh raised a hand.
‘I’ve just tried to phone Louise,’ he said. ‘She wasn’t there, but the babysitter told me that Katie is making reasonable progress. Apparently she woke up briefly from her coma yesterday morning.’
A sensation of relief flooded through Meredith, and in a tiny corner of her soul, a tinge of envy. Her loved one had never woken up. They were lucky …
‘Nevertheless,’ Hugh was saying, in halting, disbelieving tones, ‘it seems that Louise and Barnaby have made a … a rather strange decision.’ He looked at Alexis and took a deep breath. ‘They’re going to sue us. For negligence.’
‘They’re going to what?’ Meredith’s voice rose, outraged, into the afternoon air.
‘Sue us, apparently.’ Hugh ran a hand through his greying locks. He was still looking at Alexis. ‘Can they, Alexis?’ Ursula tugged at Meredith’s sleeve.
‘What exactly do they want to do?’ she whispered.
‘Take you to court, Ursula,’ said Meredith. ‘To get some damages out of you. Money,’ she added. ‘Lots of it.’
‘But, Meredith, dear,’ said Ursula, ‘I don’t think that can be right. It was an accident, you know. It wasn’t our fault.’ She looked at Hugh. ‘Are you sure he wasn’t talking about the appeal? We’ve raised quite a lot of money, you know …’
‘Ursula,’ said Alexis gently, ‘I really don’t think the appeal’s got anything to do with it. Hugh’s obviously right. The Kembers are intending to take you to court.’
‘But it was an accident,’ insisted Ursula, bewildered.
There was a taut silence. Everyone looked at Alexis.
‘I’m afraid that won’t make any difference,’ he said, and exhaled sharply. ‘You’ll be sued for negligence, under the Occupiers’ Liability Act.’ He sounded suddenly resigned, and Meredith gave him a hard look.
‘But they’re our friends,’ said Hugh in bleak tones. ‘Why do they have to take us to court? Why couldn’t they just come and talk to us about it?’ He looked at Alexis with a hurt, betrayed expression. ‘Wouldn’t that be simpler? I mean, don’t they realize we want to help in whatever way we can? We’ll give them money, if that’s what they need …’
‘It’s that smarmy lawyer,’ broke in Meredith suddenly. ‘He’s talked them into it.’
Hugh picked up a teacup, took a sip of tea, then grimaced as he discovered it was cold.
‘I’ll go and talk to Barnaby,’ he said, putting the cup down. ‘I’m sure that if we all got together ?
??’
‘No,’ said Alexis firmly. Hugh looked up in surprise. ‘It’ll be easier all round’, said Alexis more gently, ‘if you keep away from the Kembers for the moment, just to be on the safe side.’
‘Oh, Jesus,’ said Meredith. ‘Isn’t that going a bit far?’
‘Wait till you see the claim that the Kembers will make,’ said Alexis drily, ‘and then talk to me about going too far.’
There was a short frightened silence. Alexis looked around at the worried faces and relented slightly.
‘You may find,’ he said, ‘that when everyone’s calmed down a bit, all this talk of legal action comes to nothing. The best thing is not to rush into doing anything that you may regret. Just sit tight and wait to see what happens.’
Meredith gave him a sharp look.
‘You don’t really think it’ll come to nothing, do you?’ she said. ‘You’re just trying to make us feel better.’ Alexis shrugged.
‘It all depends. If they’re determined to sue, then they’ll sue.’
‘But we didn’t do anything wrong!’ said Ursula suddenly. She looked at Alexis with an expression of panic, as though realizing for the first time what was going on. ‘We didn’t do anything wrong!’ she repeated, and looked helplessly at Meredith and Hugh, as though for confirmation.
Meredith took Ursula’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.
‘Of course we didn’t,’ she said. ‘And let’s hope that’s the way the court sees it, too.’
When Hugh and Ursula had taken the tea things inside, Meredith turned to Alexis.
‘You knew, didn’t you?’ she said in a low trembling voice. ‘You knew this was going to happen.’
‘I didn’t know,’ said Alexis wearily, ‘but I did have my suspicions. When I saw that young lawyer coming to poke around the swimming-pool for no good reason.’ Meredith thought for a moment.
‘What were you looking at in Hugh’s study?’ she abruptly demanded. ‘That piece of paper?’ Alexis looked at her, a grim unsmiling look. Meredith felt her heart begin to pound nervously.
‘I was looking at Hugh’s insurance policy,’ he said quietly. ‘I was checking to see whether the swimming-pool was covered – and whether they were covered for negligence.’
‘And are they?’ Alexis gave a sigh and looked away.
‘They are, and they aren’t. They’re covered for negligence, but only in the context of domestic use.’ He paused. ‘Would you call a hundred people, all paying at the door, a domestic use?’
‘But it was for charity!’ protested Meredith. ‘They weren’t making any money!’
‘I know,’ said Alexis, ‘but I also know what insurance companies are like. If they can get out of paying, they will …’ He broke off. ‘I’m just afraid that this will prove a good enough excuse.’
‘So …’
‘So if Louise and Barnaby win any damages, Hugh and Ursula will have to pay out of their own pocket. And it could be a serious amount.’
‘How much?’ Meredith’s voice was sharp. Alexis sighed.
‘I wish I knew. It really depends on the little girl’s condition, but it could be anything from a few thousand pounds to – 1 don’t know – a hundred thousand pounds, two hundred thousand. Maybe more.’ Alexis looked at Meredith, his face clouded with worry. ‘Perhaps I should have said something earlier,’ he said. ‘Warned Hugh. But I really didn’t think it would come to this …’
Meredith stared back at him, feeling a white anger creeping up inside her.
‘How can they do this?’ she expostulated at last, keeping her voice low and one wary eye on the house. ‘How can they stand up in court and say that Hugh and Ursula were to blame? It was an accident, for Christ’s sake. An accident! No-one was to blame. Hugh and Ursula weren’t negligent. That kid just didn’t know how to dive properly.’ Alexis shrugged.
‘Can you prove that?’
‘Well, of course I can’t prove it, but …’ Meredith broke off, frustratedly. Alexis gave her a half grin.
‘You should be used to this,’ he said. ‘America’s just about the most litigious country in the world.’
‘I know,’ said Meredith bitterly, ‘but somehow I thought it was different here. I thought people valued friendship above money. I thought …’ She broke off, suddenly pushed back her chair and got to her feet, full of angry energy. Alexis watched as she paced a few aimless steps, then abruptly turned around. ‘Well, they’re not getting Hugh and Ursula’s money,’ she said defiantly. ‘I mean, I’m very sorry for them and everything, and I know what they’re going through.’ She paused. ‘I mean, believe me, I really know.’
‘Yes,’ said Alexis quietly, ‘I know you do.’
‘But I’m not going to let them walk all over Hugh and Ursula. They’re innocent. They don’t deserve this.’ She looked determinedly at Alexis. ‘We’re going to fight this, and you’ll help us.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ said Alexis, ‘but it’ll be hard. I’ve been asking around and I gather this Cassian Brown is a very sharp customer.’ He looked at her and lowered his voice. This isn’t going to be pretty, Meredith.’
‘None of it’s pretty,’ said Meredith. ‘Life isn’t pretty.’
She looked away, her expression suddenly bleak. Alexis stood up and began to put on his jacket.
‘I’ll come round tomorrow evening,’ he said, ‘to talk about it properly.’ He caught Meredith’s expression. ‘It’s OK,’ he added, ‘there’s no rush. Quite the contrary.’ He pulled a face. ‘Most lawsuits go on for several years, and this one hasn’t even started yet. In fact, in my opinion, the Kembers are being very premature, if Katie’s condition hasn’t even stabilized …’ He looked at Meredith. ‘As Katie’s a minor, you see, there’s absolutely no rush. They could leave it until she was eighteen before they even think about suing.’ But Meredith wasn’t listening.
‘Aren’t you going to stay for dinner?’ she asked abruptly, sitting down beside Alexis. ‘I know Hugh and Ursula would really appreciate it.’
‘I’m sure they would,’ said Alexis regretfully, ‘and normally, of course, I would. But tonight, I’ve … I’ve got another arrangement.’
He looked away hastily. And ignoring the crestfallen pang in her chest, Meredith smiled at him, nodded, and said, ‘Sure thing,’ in a casual, friendly kind of way, and didn’t ask him what he was doing. There was a momentary pause, then Alexis leaned over and kissed her quickly, once on each cheek.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘we’ll pull through this.’
‘I hope so,’ said Meredith sombrely.
As he left, she sat completely still, as though in a trance. She hugged herself tightly against the late afternoon breeze, and felt her unwilling disappointment mingle with a sudden vengeful hatred for Louise and Barnaby Kember.
After a while a gust of wind caught her bare arm, giving her goose bumps and making her shiver. And as she pulled her jacket around her and got up to go inside, she suddenly found herself wishing, bleakly, that she could somehow confide in Simon; that she could feel his arms around her once again, and hear his voice, and ask him for some advice and some help and some love.
Chapter Nine
Daisy lay in the bath, watching the green crab-apple leaves fluttering outside the bathroom window, and wondered what sort of an evening it was going to be. Her mother had phoned earlier that afternoon, just to check up on things, and Daisy had foolishly let slip that she had been asked out to dinner.
‘How nice!’ her mother had said, in the distracted voice that probably meant she was typing something onto the computer at the same time. ‘I didn’t know there were any boys your age in Melbrook.’
And stupidly, instead of saying nothing, Daisy said, ‘Actually, he’s not really my age.’
There was an ominous pause. Daisy imagined her mother stopping typing in mid-sentence, then automatically pressing the Save button while deciding exactly what to say.
‘Oh?’ came her mother’s voice at last; a single meaningf
ul syllable, encapsulating both a note of enquiry and a hint that she already knew the answer. ‘How old is he, then?’
‘Older than me,’ said Daisy, cursing herself for having said anything.
‘How much older, exactly?’ Daisy was momentarily silent. She wasn’t actually sure how old he was. But thinking about it now, she decided he must be at least forty-something. Nearly as old as her father, she thought, with a little jump.
Her mother sounded as though she was standing up; Daisy imagined her striding to the door of the study, beckoning to her father, mouthing to him to come and listen to this conversation, Daisy was in another pickle.
‘He’s quite a lot older,’ said Daisy at last. ‘But it’s not …’
‘Not what?’ Daisy blushed.
‘You know …’
‘Are you just going to a dinner party or something?’ said her mother, as though suddenly understanding the situation. ‘Well, that’s quite different.’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ said Daisy. ‘I think it’s just the two of us. But I’m not quite sure why …’ She broke off. She couldn’t possibly say the truth: that she wasn’t at all sure why he had asked her.
‘Daisy.’ Her mother’s voice came crisply down the line in her efficient crisis-management manner. ‘Daisy, you’re very young and very naïve. Are you sure you really want to go out to dinner with this man?’ Daisy flinched. Somehow her mother was making it sound all horrible and sordid.
‘It’s not like that!’ she cried. ‘It’s …’
‘What?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Daisy feebly. Her mother was breathing impatiently down the phone.
‘Daisy, darling, get a grip. You don’t just go out to dinner with people for no reason at all. You have to be careful.’ From the background came a sound of electronic bleeping. ‘Oh, damn. Look, darling, I’ve got to go. If you’re sensible, you’ll cancel this fellow. But if you do decide to go, make sure you ring us when you get back. We worry about you, all alone down there. I don’t know what your father will say when I tell him about this …’ The bleeping sounded again. ‘Right, now I really have got to go. Bye, sweetheart.’