The Therapist(15)

‘It’s amazing that it doesn’t seem to bother her,’ Tamsin is saying as I approach.

‘I’m beginning to wonder if she actually knows,’ Eve replies.

‘Of course she does,’ Tamsin scoffs.

Maria looks up brightly and I realise that they were talking about me.

‘Hi, Alice, how are you?’

‘Fine, thanks,’ I say, smiling at her.

Eve and Tamsin turn quickly. They’re both wearing dark sunglasses and I feel even more intimidated at this visual barrier between me and them.

‘Alice!’ Eve cries, as if she hasn’t seen me for months. She pushes her sunglasses on top of her head and her pixie cut splays out on each side. ‘What have you been up to?’

‘Reading. I heard voices and thought I’d take a break.’ ‘What are you reading?’

‘A book I have to translate.’

‘Into which language?’ Maria asks.

‘English, from Italian.’

‘Impressive.’

‘Will’s grandmother is Italian and he’s trying to teach me so that I can speak to her, as she doesn’t speak any English,’ Eve says. ‘I’m not managing very well.’

‘You should try Russian. It took me ages to be able to hold a conversation.’

Eve looks at Maria in awe. ‘I didn’t know you spoke Russian.’

‘I do, but not very well. I’m not fluent, or anything.’

I turn to Tamsin, aware that she’s been silent. Today she’s wearing pale blue jeans and an orange T-shirt, which on any other redhead would look weird. On her, it looks great. ‘How about you? Do you speak any languages?’

‘No.’ Her voice is curt.

‘Right.’ She might not like me but she’s bordering on rude. I look at her appraisingly. She’s stunningly pretty but there’s an air of sadness about her. Suddenly, I want to find out more about these three women.

‘I was wondering – would you like to come in for a coffee instead of standing in the road?’ I ask. ‘Unless you have work to do?’

‘I don’t!’ Eve says. ‘Not today.’

Maria smiles. ‘Me neither, so that would be lovely.’

‘I can’t.’ Tamsin lifts her arms to show her bags of shopping. ‘I need to go and put this away. But I’ll see you two later.’

I know I shouldn’t take it personally. But I do.

By the time we’re halfway through a pot of coffee, I’m getting a real picture of who my new neighbours are. Eve and Will have known each other for twenty years and they’re thirty-one now.

‘We got together at our school’s theatre club,’ Eve explains. ‘He didn’t want to join at first because it was mainly girls. But as we were friends, he began to tag along with me and suddenly everyone realised that he had this amazing talent. Except he wouldn’t do anything about it until I persuaded him to audition for RADA – and he only agreed because I refused to go out with him unless he did.’

‘I love that story,’ Maria says. ‘Tim and I met taking our rubbish bins out at uni.’

Maria and Tim are in their late thirties. Tim is a qualified psychologist, working part-time while he undergoes further specialist training in psychotherapy, and Maria is a speech therapist, working four days a week until Luke, their youngest son, starts at nursery.

‘I work every day except Wednesday,’ she explains. ‘It’s lovely to have a day off in the middle of the week. It means I can go to yoga with Eve and Tamsin, and pick the boys up from school afterwards. Tim does the school runs otherwise.’

‘I never work Wednesdays either,’ Eve says. ‘If I did, I’d never see Maria.’

I mentally move my day off from Thursday to Wednesday. The yoga class sounds fun.

‘That’s funny, Wednesday is my day off too,’ I say with a smile.

I ask about Tamsin and Connor. They’re the same age as Maria and Tim and, as I already knew from Leo, Connor is in whisky, selling high-end brands to rich clients. Tamsin, who used to be a model – no surprise there – is now a stay-at-home mum.

‘She’s also a mathematical genius,’ Maria says. She’s dressed from top to toe in black and with her dark hair, she looks amazingly dramatic. ‘She does all these online courses and once she’s passed her exams, she’s going to set herself up as an accountant.’

‘Wow,’ I say, impressed. ‘I’d love to have a mathematical brain.’

‘So, have you found out any more about the mystery man?’ Eve asks, reaching for a biscuit.

‘No. I’m trying not to let it bother me but what I regret most is the effect it’s had on Lorna, because she was the one who let him in. It’s really shaken her.’

‘That’s a shame.’ Worry chases Eve’s smile away. ‘She and Edward don’t need any more stress in their lives. Do you know about their son? He was killed in Iraq. He was their only child, which makes it somehow worse.’

‘How awful,’ I say, shocked. ‘It must have been terrible for them.’

‘They lived on the coast – Bournemouth, I think – but they moved here three years ago,’ Maria says, taking up the story. ‘Lorna told me that as time passed, the memories dragged them down more, and they wanted a fresh start. They chose London because they loved going to the theatre and visiting museums and, because of their advancing age, they’d found the travelling up and down from Bournemouth more difficult. And they were fine for a while, they were really sociable and went out quite a bit, just as they’d planned. But then the whole thing of losing their son caught up with them and they’ve become near recluses. It’s sad really, because they never go anywhere now, not even shopping. They get everything delivered, even their clothes. It’s as if they’ve lost all their confidence.’