there was a low hubbub of noise, the gentle shuffle of cards, coughing, laughter as people started to play. Paula had made us all get up and swap seats so I was now sitting opposite Luke, feeling him nudging me with a foot as we made eye contact.
Paula leaned forward conspiratorially, her breasts resting on the table. ‘Want to make this all a little more interesting, if you know what I mean.’ She wagged her eyebrows. ‘A little bid whist?’
‘Oh I’m not sure, Paula—’ Margaret started to say before Paula gave her a look full of daggers and she fell silent.
Luke came to her rescue. ‘We don’t know any whist, I’m afraid, not even regular whist,’ he said. ‘We’re whist virgins, so to speak. Never whisted before ever. I don’t even drive,’ he added.
Paula sat back in her chair and raised her e-cigarette to her lips again. ‘You what now?’
‘Come on, Paula, let’s just play,’ Margaret said, fiddling with the necklace again.
Paula leaned forward again. ‘Oh, come on, you lot. How about we make this worth our while? Dennis banned it a while back but he’s such a stick-in-the-mud. You only live once – am I right, Liam?’ She turned to Luke, eyes rounded.
‘It’s Luke, actually.’
‘Nah, you look more like a Liam,’ she said with a wave of her e-cigarette, ‘like that One Direction one who used to be with Cheryl. You should change it.’
‘Change my name?’
‘Why not?’ Paula took a drag, narrowing her eyes as if she was blowing out real smoke. ‘Luke’s a bit . . . a bit androgynous. I had a husband called Lester – that was the same problem. He played a ukulele.’ She circled a long nail around the rim of her glass. ‘That’s not even a proper guitar.’
‘Right, well, I’ll, um, I’ll think about it.’
‘So you’re Teddy’s granddaughter, are you?’ Paula said, turning back to me as if we’d never been interrupted. ‘That Teddy, he’s a gent.’
I smiled, about to agree, when Paula continued.
‘. . . and he’s still got a good body. I always see him doing his lengths when I’m in my aqua aerobics and I try to time my sauna session for when he gets out.’
‘That’s, well, that’s good to know,’ I said, grateful to see wine on the table and reaching for a glass.
Margaret had picked up the cards. ‘I’ll deal,’ she said, shuffling the pack like an expert. ‘We can explain the rules as we go along.’ She doled out thirteen cards to each of us.
I sagged with relief, my grandad’s swimmer’s body safely tucked away in a place in my brain to which I would never venture.
‘Fine,’ Paula said, sitting back. ‘I suppose they’re learners so we’ll have to humour them.’
‘Thanks,’ Luke said, picking up his cards. ‘So, how do you play?’
Margaret began explaining the rules, Paula interrupting when she didn’t think Margaret was being clear enough (which turned out to be most sentences), and we started to play.
The first round went well, mostly because Paula won and the wine was flowing. I was getting the gist of the game. Luke was talking to Paula and Mags, and had somehow managed to tell them about the deal we had made with Grandad.
‘So I’m now courting Lottie the old-fashioned way,’ he said proudly.
‘And you’ve persuaded Teddy to date again,’ Paula said, her eager eyes swivelling over to Grandad’s table. There he sat, innocently. Should I send up a flare warning?
‘That sounds very romantic,’ Margaret said, smiling sweetly at me, two dimples appearing in her cheeks.
‘You need to get yourself a new man, Mags. First husband,’ she said, barely lowering her voice, ‘overbearing, dominated Mags here, didn’t he?’
Margaret nodded slowly, a blush building. ‘He was quite forthright on occasion.’
‘Oh, don’t look now, Mags, but it’s Howard, he is such a dish. Hi, Howard,’ Paula cooed, almost spilling her white wine spritzer in an enthusiastic wave.
Howard saluted her from his chair. He seemed to have about three wine glasses lined up in front of him and no cards. Paula made her excuses and headed his way. Luke went to fetch more wine.
‘Sorry’ – I turned to my right – ‘is it Mags or Margaret?’ I asked, liking this softly spoken woman with the kind eyes and not wanting to offend her by using the wrong name.
‘It’s Margaret. I always wanted to be Maggie actually,’ she added in a quiet rush, ‘but my parents wouldn’t let me and then I suppose it felt a little silly, changing it. Stephen, my husband,