Truly Madly Guilty(18)

‘It’s Erika,’ said Erika in that querulous way, as if Clementine had already let her down.

‘I know,’ said Clementine. ‘This new-fangled technology is amazing, it –’

‘Yes, very funny,’ interrupted Erika. ‘Look. About today. I was on my way back from the shops and I ran into Vid. You remember Vid, from next door?’

‘Of course I do. How could I forget Vid from next door,’ said Clementine. ‘The big electrician. Like Tony Soprano. We love Vid from next door.’ Erika sometimes brought out this kind of frivolity in Clementine. ‘Married to the smoking-hot Tiffany.’ She drew out the word ‘Tiff-an-y’. ‘Sam just loves Tiffany from next door.’

She looked over at Sam to see if he recognised the name. Sam used his hands to indicate Tiffany’s spectacularly memorable figure and Clementine gave him a thumbs-up. They had met Erika’s neighbours just once, at an awkward drinks party at Erika’s place last Christmas. They were maybe a decade older than Clementine and Sam but they seemed younger. They’d saved the night as far as Sam and Clementine were concerned.

‘Well, anyway,’ said Erika. ‘I told Vid you were coming over today and he invited us all over for a barbeque. They’ve got a daughter, Dakota, who is about ten, and he seemed to think she’d like to play with your girls.’

‘Sounds great,’ said Clementine, aware of her spirits lifting, even soaring. She moved to the window and studied the brilliant blue sky. The day suddenly felt festive. A barbeque. No need to cook dinner tonight. She’d take along that bottle of champagne Ainsley had given her. She’d find time to practise tomorrow. She quite liked this aspect of her personality: the way her mood could change from melancholy to euphoric because of a breeze or a flavour or a beautiful chord progression. It meant she never had to feel too down about feeling down. ‘Man, you’re a strange girl, it’s like you’re on drugs,’ her brother Brian once said to her. She always remembered that comment. It made her feel proud. Yeah, I’m so crazy. Although probably that was evidence of her lack of craziness. Truly crazy people were too busy being crazy to think about it.

‘Vid sort of railroaded me into this barbeque,’ said Erika defensively, and oddly, because Clementine had never known Erika to be railroaded into anything.

‘We don’t mind,’ said Clementine. ‘We liked them. It will be fun.’ She smiled as she watched Holly waltz around the room with a cracker held ecstatically high like a trophy. Holly had inherited Clementine’s temperament, which was fine except for when their moods didn’t synchronise. Ruby was more like Sam, pragmatic and patient. Yesterday Clementine had walked into their bedroom to find Ruby sitting on the floor next to Holly, gently patting her shoulder while Holly lay flat on her stomach prostrate with grief because her drawing of a panda bear didn’t look like a panda bear. ‘Twy again!’ Ruby said, with a perplexed expression on her face just like Sam’s, an expression that said: Why make life so hard for yourself?

‘Okay, well, good. Fun, yes,’ said Erika. She sounded disappointed, as if she hadn’t actually planned for the day to be fun. ‘It’s just that – Oliver is kind of cranky with me for accepting Vid’s invitation because, ah, as I mentioned, we’d love to discuss, this, ah, proposal we have, and he thinks we won’t have the chance now. I was thinking maybe after the barbeque you could come back to our place for coffee. If there is time.’

‘Of course,’ said Clementine. ‘Or even beforehand if you like. Whichever. It’s all very mysterious, Erika. Can you give me a hint?’

‘Oh, well, no, not really.’ Now she sounded almost agitated.

‘Fine then,’ soothed Clementine. ‘We’ll talk about this mysterious whatever-it-is after the barbeque.’

‘Or before,’ said Erika. ‘You just said …’

‘Or before,’ agreed Clementine, just as Ruby toddled into the room carrying a tiny plastic pink gumboot in each hand and looking pleased with herself. ‘Oh clever girl, Ruby, you can wear your gumboots! That’s a great idea.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ said Erika, who could never bear it when Clementine spoke to her kids when she was on the phone to her. She seemed to think it was a breach of etiquette.

‘Nothing. Sure. Let’s talk before the barbeque.’

‘See you then,’ said Erika brusquely, and she hung up, in that infuriatingly abrupt way of hers, as if Clementine were her lowly intern.

It didn’t matter. A barbeque with Erika’s charming neighbours on this sunny winter’s day would be fun. What could be nicer?





chapter eight



The rain eased slightly, although of course it didn’t stop, it would freaking well never stop, so Tiffany took the opportunity to grab an umbrella and drag their recycling bin, rattling indiscreetly with wine and beer bottles from the previous night, down her driveway.

She was thinking about Dakota and the smile she’d given Tiffany when she’d dropped her off at school this morning: a cool, polite smile as if Tiffany were someone else’s mother.

There was something going on with Dakota. It was subtle, this thing. It might be nothing, or it might be something. It wasn’t that she was misbehaving. Not at all. But there was something spookily distant about her. It was like she was encased in an invisible glass bubble.