Babyville Page 0,138
Dan on the return journey, hoping to catch his, to swap a secret smile.
The corner of her mouth still burns where he kissed it. She tries to focus on Jill and Maeve, pretending to concentrate, to listen to their experiences at Gymboree, but all the while she is going over their kiss, wondering what would have happened had Jill not interrupted, wondering how far they would have gone on that darkened stairway had they not nearly been caught.
“Darling? Shall we sit down?” Chris is blossoming in his role as benevolent host, and leads the way to the dining table, assigning seats to their guests.
If Dan loves me, he'll smile at me before he sits down.
“Mark, why don't you sit on the left of Jill, and Dan, you sit on the right next to Sam.”
Dan looks at Sam and smiles.
Thank you, God. I promise I'll go to church soon.
The evening is a great success. Maeve is still unsure of Dan, is not unaware of Sam's eyes following him around the room, of Sam's attention being focused almost exclusively on Dan.
Maeve drops her napkin at one point, convinced she will see Dan's hand fondling Sam's leg under the table, but a quick crawl in their direction proves her wrong.
She's surprised. More so having met Chris. Sam's flirtation with Dan, her desire to take it further was so obvious, Maeve had assumed there had to be something intrinsically wrong with her husband. He would surely have had to be arrogant. Dislikable. Charmless.
She had not expected Chris, had not expected the quintessential boy-next-door, and does not miss his constant glances at Sam, glances filled with love, hope, and confusion.
She can see he so clearly still loves his wife, is so clearly hurt by her lack of interest in him, despite not having cottoned on to her deepening crush on Dan. Maeve tests the waters, tries to find out what he knows, whether he suspects. She waits until Jill is deep in conversation with Mark, and Sam deep in adoration with Dan, before turning to Chris.
“So Jill and Dan. How long have you known them?”
“Jill I've known for ages through work. But we've only become friendly as a couple very recently.”
“Hmmm. Jill's lovely.”
“Isn't she? I'm glad you've hit it off.”
“And Dan. Tell me about him.”
“Lovely guy,” he says, his face a picture of innocence. “The pair of them are salt of the earth.”
She doesn't push it any further.
“Who's for pudding? Jill's made bread-and-butter pudding,” Chris says gratefully when the salmon has been finished and the conversation has drifted to a natural halt.
The table murmurs its approval, and Maeve gathers some plates, following Sam into the kitchen.
“Do you mind if we just dash upstairs and check on Lily?” Jill pops her head round the door.
“Of course!” Sam forces a smile as Jill and Dan disappear upstairs.
Mark and Chris clear away the last of the plates and follow the girls into the kitchen.
“It's good to see you, mate,” Chris says. “I've missed you. I've got some old port I've been saving for a special occasion, and I think tonight may just be the night. It's a Fonseca 1987. What do you think?”
“I think tonight is definitely the night,” Mark says. “Down in your wine cellar, is it?” They both laugh at the old standing joke between them. Chris has always referred to his dingy damp basement with a rickety old Habitat wine rack in one corner as his wine cellar. Mark's professional wine cellar, housing hundreds of rare and important wines, is referred to between them as the crappy wine rack.
“Are you coming?” Chris opens the door and starts walking down.
“Be there in a sec.” Mark takes his plates over to the sink and leans over to plant a kiss on Maeve's neck.
Sam sees the kiss and smiles. She never saw Mark and Julia like this. Never saw displays of affection between them, and it is reassuring, life-affirming, to see that two people can be this happy, this loving.
This is what she will have with Dan. This is what her future holds.
“You're terrible.” A tinny voice drifts across the kitchen and all three of them jump, laughing as they see the monitor perched on a shelf. Sam moves over to turn it off. After all, it's hardly fair to eavesdrop.
She is not even halfway there when Jill's voice continues. “That poor Sam has got the hugest crush on you and you're encouraging it, you naughty thing.”
All three of them freeze in horror.
“I know.” Dan's voice emerges, laughter