was wilting and his face was pale, his voice lacklustre. He seemed defeated as the clock ticked on and on. It was completely dark outside now, street lamps glowing, headlights moving past every now and again, a spattering of stars outside.
She finally arrived, dressed in a trouser suit, her hair scraped back in a bun, pale, although she was always pale now, too thin, her eyes scanning the room. The muscles in her neck were tense and her arms rigid as she hugged me, barely touching me. I could feel the nervous energy, smell the day’s dirt of London on her.
Luke had approached, still looking dashing in his suit, holding out a hand for her. She hadn’t realised the importance of the moment, of course. Practically the whole room had paused to watch him, the band readying to play the song they had rehearsed, Arjun tapping his crutch on the stage as their prompt. But then, oh, Cora, Lottie shook her head. ‘I really need a drink, Luke, OK?’ But Arjun had given the band their cue and they had begun and I watched Luke’s eyes widen as he recognised the opening bars of the music, his hand still hovering in the space between him and Lottie.
She stayed for a drink and then she made her excuses, kissing me on the cheek, Luke looking forlornly at me as he muttered something about an early start, a lot of work. Oh, Cora, I could have wept for him.
Teddy x
Chapter 21
Love is . . . overrated
EVA, 76
Luke was very quiet but not in a normal way – lots of heavy sighing and wistful looks out of the car window. I didn’t really understand his problem. He’d been moaning about going to the ballroom dancing evening for a couple of days now and I had released him early. A bit of me thought he’d be more grateful. Another sigh. I found myself gritting my teeth. I couldn’t be bothered to ask him why he was sulking. I just wanted to get home, have a quick shower and get into clean pyjamas and our bed.
‘Why didn’t you call?’ he asked, twisting in his seat to look at me.
I kept my eyes on the road ahead. ‘I was rushing and then I had no signal.’
‘And we didn’t need to leave so early,’ he said in a rush. ‘Your grandad will think we were rude. The band were brought in especially.’
Why was Luke suddenly Mr Concerned when it came to my grandad? ‘He seemed fine with it,’ I said, realising I hadn’t really seen Grandad, too intent on dragging Luke away. ‘And the band are always on there. They all love it.’
The room had been filled with couples dressed up and enjoying being spun around the floor. I had seen Margaret in a fetching pink number being steered across the dance floor by Geoffrey, and Howard and Paula, her scarlet talons bright red against his jacket as she clutched him. ‘We didn’t need to stay, they had enough people.’
He sighed again. I wanted to open the passenger door and tip him out. Sometimes I just need Luke to say whatever is on his mind. It was infuriating trying to work out whether he was cross or just struggling with his sinuses.
‘Are you going to be like this all the way home?’ I asked, an edge creeping into my voice.
A beat.
‘Like what?’
‘All this.’ I did an impression of heavy sighing, tipping my head from side to side as I did so.
‘I’m not being like that.’
‘You are. You’re steaming up the windows with it.’
I could see him clutching something in his hand, a single rose head, shredding the petals into his lap one by one. ‘I just wanted a pleasant evening with my girlfriend. Is that so hard for you to understand?’
‘Why didn’t you say? I could have stayed a bit longer,’ I said, conveniently forgetting my mood upon arrival. I had practically downed the warm single vodka and Coke Luke had ordered for me, before complaining the music was giving me a headache and everyone was ancient and could we please just go home it had been a really long day. I hadn’t really waited for much of a response from him.
‘You didn’t give me a chance,’ he protested, the rose now petal-less in his hand. ‘You never do.’
We had pulled up outside our flat and I switched the engine off.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I asked, turning to face him, a streetlamp opposite making an orange