All That She Can See(52)

‘Yes!’ Danior said, the word sliding off her tongue before she could catch it. Velina leaned over and returned the slap, twice as hard. The crowd was beginning to unsettle, with a few people starting to shout out.

‘Disgraceful!’

‘You’re fakes!’

‘I want my money back!’

‘And, Danior, is it true you used to steal my pocket money to buy yourself cigarettes?’

‘YES!’ Danior shrieked and Velina slapped her so hard, she knocked the crystal ball off its small gold stand and it rolled off the podium and into the crowd.

‘Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,’ Chase said, a small laugh escaping his lips.

People moved and created a path for the ball as it rolled to a stop at Cherry’s feet. She was suddenly in the direct eyeline of the sisters.

‘YOU!’ Danior pointed a claw and Cherry was sure she was envisioning sinking it deep into her eye sockets. Dani walked back over to the lectern on shaking legs. She didn’t understand what was going on but she had this overwhelming urge to be very, very honest all of a sudden. ‘You think you’re so clever with your little bakery and your ridiculous pyjamas but a SILLY LITTLE CUPCAKE CAN’T STOP ME!’ Danior’s eyes were painfully wide and her eyeliner and eyeshadow were merging to create thick lines above both of her eyelids. ‘Let’s start with Bruce, shall we? Bruce Bunting, are you here?’ No answer. ‘Hmm? Can’t hear you, Bruce? But then again I doubt anyone would be able to hear you over the deafening sound of your wife’s betrayal!’ There was no gasp from the crowd, only concerned murmurs – but whether they were for Bruce or Danior’s mental wellbeing, Cherry couldn’t decipher.

‘We have to stop this,’ Cherry whispered urgently to Chase, who had paled now things had taken a turn for the worse. ‘This is exactly what we didn’t want to happen.’

‘We’re too far away,’ Chase said. He and Cherry tried to push their way towards the front but the crowd, so engrossed in what was going on on stage, weren’t budging. Cherry and Chase looked at one another, defeated. How could they stop this? They’d promised Sally they were going to help her, not ruin her.

‘What about, Margie? Is she here?’ Danior was on a roll. ‘Because Bruce, did you know that if you ever wanted to leave your cheating wife, there’s a lonely widow waiting over in the dress shop who would happily have her sloppy seconds!’

Cherry looked around until her gaze fell on Margie’s glistening eyes, just a few people away. Cherry squeezed Chase’s hand, then wriggled her fingers out from his and tried again to elbow her way through everyone to get to her but Margie started to push forwards, moving away from her. She was having better luck than Cherry and was moving at a faster pace than Cherry was.

‘Wait! Margie!’

‘AND I’ve not even got to the good bit. SALLY LIGHTBODY! Are you here?!’

‘Stop it!’ Margie raised her voice louder than Cherry had ever heard her speak before but it still wasn’t loud enough to cut through Danior’s wailing.

‘Because I think everyone should probably know that SALLY LIGHTBODY…’ she paused, savouring every word, ‘HAD AN AFFAIR! She CHEATED on Ron. Remember Ron? Dearly beloved by all! A wonderful man who loved Sally more than anything and yet she had ANOTHER MAN!’ Danior screamed.

‘STOP!’ Margie shouted. She’d made it to the edge of the podium and was staring up at Danior. The crowd hushed so Margie dropped her voice, feeling exposed. ‘You are embarrassing yourself.’

‘I’m embarrassing myself? Haven’t you heard all the things I’ve said?! This whole town has embarrassed itself!’

‘Yes, I did hear what you said. Every word. But not a thing you said has shocked me.’

Danior’s face fell. ‘What do you mean? You can’t possibly —’

‘I already knew it all,’ Margie said.

‘So did I,’ Bruce said, appearing beside Margie but not quite able to meet her eye. Suddenly, voice after voice rose from the crowd.

‘And me.’

‘Me too!’

‘We’ve known for ages!’

‘No… this isn’t possible. How could you have known?!’ Dani shook her head furiously, unblinking.

‘Think about it, Dani.’ Margie’s voice was clear and confident. ‘We’d all be blind fools if we didn’t see all the things that were happening under our noses. These things aren’t secrets because nobody knows; they’re secrets because… we don’t talk about these things out of respect for one another. It’s not for us to judge what Sally did, nor should we interfere en masse in what’s going on between Bruce and his wife, and it’s no one’s business how I feel about —’ she coughed, ‘— how I feel. If I want to talk to someone about it, I will, and so will anyone else, but we’re not gossips. We don’t talk about people behind their backs, filling other people’s heads with half-truths when we don’t have all the facts. We live and let live. We don’t interfere. We’re not entitled to each other’s private lives and just because we accidentally heard something or someone let something slip, it doesn’t give us the right to stick our oars in.’

Danior took a step back from the crowd, clutching at her heart.