Here's Looking at You (35 page)

Aggy frowned.

‘Anna doesn’t want to see him.’

‘What a shame,’ Laurence said. ‘And I wonder what sort of selfless act might change her mind?’

Laurence was misjudging this by running James down. The idea James was doing something purely to please Anna didn’t offend Aggy in the same way. And Aggy looked as if she was wondering why James separating her from Laurence would make her sister so ecstatic.

‘Hmmm. No sign of that bill I asked him to put on your non-existent room tab, is there?’ James said, as Laurence glared and Aggy looked slightly forlorn.

James stood up. He needed to exploit this moment of being ahead.

‘Aggy. How about you come with me? I reckon you’ll dodge the hangover if you find a carb now.’

‘OK,’ Aggy said, after a second’s hesitation. ‘Sorry.’

‘Hey, no skin off my dick, princess,’ Laurence said, with real venom.

Aggy looked startled.

‘Well lock that tongue up with the rest of the silverware,’ James said, tutting.

‘Don’t call me again,’ Laurence said to James.

‘Your famous catchphrase! And I didn’t even have to put out to hear it.’ James swigged from one of the two cocktails. ‘Laurence. You have my word you won’t.’

James briefly contemplated public transport, then assessed Aggy’s level of inebriation and thought again. He didn’t fancy manhandling a rag doll of a woman on and off the Tube.

She stood shivering as he fruitlessly tried to flag the cabs zooming past. He took his coat off and handed it to her.

‘Are we getting Burger King?’ she said. ‘I feel a bit sick.’ Her jaw juddered slightly.

‘Maybe bed is best,’ he said. ‘No barfing in the cab.’

He rang Anna and offered to deliver her. ‘
One sister, slightly soiled but not despoiled.
’ She was amazed and relieved, having just got home after her own hopeless search. It made him feel very glad he’d bothered.

A Hackney finally slowed to a stop and they got in. Aggy rested her head on his shoulder while he steadied himself, as the cab hummed and rattled its way through the city.

‘What’s up with you, then? Is it really over with your bloke?’

‘Chris cancelled my weddin’! I will never forgive him.’

‘Only because you couldn’t afford it. He didn’t do it to upset you. It sounds like he’s done a lot of things to make you happy, but you’ve got to make him happy too. Spending money you don’t have was clearly too much for him.’

‘It was my dream though. I’d planned every last part.’

‘Aggy, your wedding day isn’t the be all and end all. It’s the marriage part that’s the important thing. I had one of those
look at us
weddings where you can reel off a checklist of all your great choices. It’s not all that. Don’t live life through Instagram.’

‘You’re jus’ sayin’ that. I bet your wedding was the coolest of the cool.’

‘I’m not, honestly, Aggy. You get so drowned in the detail you forget that none of it matters. Absolutely no one, including you, will give a toss the next day whether you had garlic and juniper sausages for the wedding breakfast or not. Unless the sausages were off, I suppose.’

‘Think you’d get married again?’ Aggy asked.

‘Hah. Not bloody likely, no matter who the future holds.’ James paused. This wasn’t helping the noble cause. ‘You love Chris, right? He’s the man for you?’

Aggy snuffled in assent on James’s shoulder.

‘What you don’t realise is you’re better off than most people before you start. One in three marriages has got that bit wrong. Mine included.’

‘But it’s such a
comedown
. I know I sound like a brat but when your heart’s set on something it’s like anything else is second best. I’d looked everywhere in London and the Langham was perfect.’

‘Why do you have to stay in London?’

‘It’s where we live.’

‘Yeah, but you’re half-Italian, right? That’s a great excuse to go abroad.’

‘Yeah, but my dad’s not from Milan or Rome or anywhere swish. They’re halfway up a mountain.’

‘Exactly. Marrying there won’t be a cliché or break the bank. Hire a nice big barn in a village, get yourself some dirt cheap flights, done. It will make it a wedding to remember. How many of your friends are getting wed in …?’

‘It’s called Barga,’ Aggy said.

‘Barga. See? Special as a snowflake.’

‘But who will be there?’

‘Everyone you wanted to be there in London? Seriously, if they wanted to be there, they will do everything they can to make it. And if they don’t, well. Exactly.’

‘Mmmm. Guess so.’

The taxi engine throbbed as they sat in traffic. Looking over at Aggy, James could see the cogs seemed to be turning.

‘I suppose the venue wouldn’t be that much … and there’s quite a few bed and breakfasts and things … What about the hen do? That was a weekend in Ibiza. Will it have to be here now?’

‘What about Michelle’s place? She has a restaurant. I’d love to have a mate with a restaurant.’

‘Yeah …?’ Aggy was sitting more upright.

‘My dress though,’ she sagged again. ‘I can’t have my dress. I’ve got a bonus in January but it’ll be too late.’

James wrestled with how far he was going to take this soul-cleansing. Sod it. In for a penny, in for …

‘How much do you need?’

‘Two thousand.’

‘I can lend you that.’

‘Seriously?!’ Aggy bit her lip. ‘I should probably say no, shouldn’t I? Anna would tell me to say no.’

‘Well, despite your outbreaks of spendthrift hyperactivity, you seem for the most part a sane and salaried person. You can pay me back in a few months’ time?’

‘I’ll pay you by the end of January! Total swear-down promise.’

‘Then I won’t miss it and it’s not a problem. I suggest we keep this between the two of us though.’

‘You’re ’mazin’, James Fraser,’ she said.

The taxi finally pulled up at Anna’s.

Aggy shot the clasp on her seatbelt and returned his coat. He waved away her attempts to fumble with her purse and helped her out of the cab. He wasn’t completely sure if he wanted to see Anna or not but he didn’t get the chance to dodge her, as her front door opened, light spilling out over the scrubby front path.

There was much tutting and hugging and Aggy tottered into the flat, muttering about bagels with Nutella.

‘Thank you,’ Anna said, arms tightly wound over her chest and jumper sleeves pulled over her hands in the bitter cold. ‘I’ve been to every All Bar One within a five-mile radius and was just about ready to start howling at the moon. Did she pay you for the cab, can I give you something?’

‘She paid, don’t worry,’ James said. They smiled awkwardly and tightly.

‘Sorry. You did warn me about Laurence. I didn’t imagine he’d launch himself at Aggy.’

‘Yeah, you and him – it was never going to end well.’

Anna frowned. ‘The ice rink date? You think he had a grudge because I wouldn’t see him again?’

‘I thought you’d met up again recently?’

Anna was quizzical.

‘No?’

James felt a stab of hopefulness that made him a little reckless.

‘You haven’t shagged him?’
Yeah, could’ve phrased that better, James.

‘Of course not. The last contact I had with Laurence was some grimy email blaming the Mock Rock plot entirely on you. He said he knew how I felt cos he’d once had a sales presentation “go banana shaped”. I told him to get bent. Thanks for telling him who I am, by the way.’

James stuttered. ‘God … sorry. Loz sent me a text message saying something about Italy … joining the war …’

Anna shifted her weight to her other foot.

‘From one vague text message, you assume that?’

‘Ah. Uhm. Mea culpa,’ James said.

‘Your meter’s running,’ Anna said, shivering. She turned back and followed Aggy into the flat.

As James climbed back into the taxi, his white knight’s black chariot, he figured it out. That text had referred to Aggy, not Anna.

No doubt when Laurence had finally given up on Anna, he’d turned to his second choice. It wasn’t an accident that Laurence had created this confusion – he wanted to see if James reacted angrily, to prove his theory that James was after Anna.

So much for earning brownie points, anyway. After a lavish gesture that ought to have gone some way to restoring his tattered reputation with Anna, James had done a great job of plucking defeat from the jaws of victory by offending her with that presumption. He ought to be cursing himself.

But, it turned out she
hadn’t
fooled around with Laurence? James didn’t expect that knowledge to make him feel so chipper.

When the cab pulled up at his house and the driver asked him for an exorbitant total, James’s reflection in the rear view mirror revealed that without realising it, he’d been smiling.

‘And so it’s all sorted? It’s going to be in Italy?’ Michelle said.

‘It’s in Italy and you’re both invited. My sister’s largesse is still large enough for you.’

Aggy’s squealy excitement over her nuptials had previously seen her invite the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, but her impulse to include Michelle and Daniel was quite sincere. Aggy loved Michelle as Anna’s best friend and thought of Daniel and his girlfriend as part of the Anna package.

‘Nice one. I need a holiday,’ Michelle said, sorting cards with her e-fag wedged in the mouth, like a proper card sharp.

‘It’s Princess Di, Queen of Hearts! Queen of Hearts, ladies and gents,’ called a sing-song voice, over a microphone.

Michelle turned a card over. She was trialling a new head chef and had a rare weeknight off. She demanded Anna and Daniel join her for a game of Sticky 13 at an old men’s pub in Islington.

‘Yep,’ Anna said, aligning her cards in colour co-ordinated rows. ‘My sister’s event planning skills kicked in. She was like a UN diplomat in Uggs. I took Chris for a drink while she hammered through Italian websites, with my dad on the phone, translating. Chris and I agreed that for the good of their relationship, we should collude behind Aggy’s back more. It turned out he’d had serious doubts about the bills and she’d told him I was overlooking her financial management to put his mind at rest! Luckily Chris has enough for a much more modest wedding while Aggy’s sorting repayments on the card bill. And the Maldives honeymoon has been swapped for staying on in Tuscany.’

Anna sipped her drink.

‘My parents are overjoyed with the new location because it means all my dad’s older relatives can go. And everyone who’s met Aunty Bev is overjoyed that she’s said she’s boycotting because she hates foreign food and budget airlines. If it wasn’t for Aggy’s debt I’d say I’m glad it happened. And thanks for saying you’d host the hen night!’

‘Total pleasure,’ Michelle said. ‘From what Aggy says of her friends, I’ll make more from them thrashing the bar tab than I would from a full house on a Saturday anyway.’ She leaned across Daniel. ‘What kind of system is that?’

Daniel had his cards in a whirlpool on the table in front of him, with no care for colour, card value or suit.

‘All makes sense to me,’ he said.

‘Three of Spades! Three of Spades, ladies and gents,’ said the caller.

Daniel turned it over. ‘See. Not missing anything.’

‘God, I wish I hadn’t had to ask for James Fraser’s help.’

‘You said he sorted it pretty well though?’

‘Yeeeees,’ Anna conceded. ‘But between Patrick and Aggy I’ve had to eat two lots of humble pie with him. I could’ve really done without that. And it was completely out of order that he accused me of sleeping with Laurence!’

‘Laurence is a bit of a lad though? He was probably boasting.’

‘Yes, but. To think I’d do
that
.’

‘Sex is a thing that sometimes happens, my love. Not much to me anymore, granted,’ Michelle said.

‘Jack of Clubs! Jack of Clubs, if you please!’ called the compere. Michelle turned a card over. ‘At last!’

As bickering over the game continued, Anna’s mind drifted to James. She didn’t quite know why him thinking she’d sleep with Laurence upset her. She’d gone on a date with Laurence, after all. She’d never explicitly ruled it out. Yet James believing that really did bother her. Had it bothered him, the idea of her and Laurence, in flagrante? He’d not been a fan of that ice rink trip, after all. She couldn’t tell. He’d still done her the favour of acquiring Aggy, so it mustn’t have bothered him that much. Unless it was a straight like-for-like payback after the Fi phonecall? That had been a strange one, hearing James’s boss wax lyrical about how she thought Anna had a miraculous effect on him – ‘We all noticed that he couldn’t keep his eyes off you, that night at the bowling.’

Had that been true? Probably tracking her to make sure she didn’t do anything to shame him, like a store security guard monitoring a possible shoplifter.

‘Dan, I forgot to say that obviously your invite to Aggy’s nuptials is a plus one with Penny,’ Anna said, absently.

‘Thank you. I don’t think I can go,’ Daniel said, shuffling his cards.

Michelle and Anna looked at each other.

‘I can’t leave The Pantry.’

‘Don’t be soft. There’s plenty of cover.’

‘I can’t afford it,’ Daniel said.

‘It will be pricier than other weddings of course, what with the flights, but it’s also a nice excuse for a holiday,’ Anna said.

‘Yeah. Penny’s talking about doing an MA in conservation. So it’s time to tighten our belts.’

‘Isn’t it time for her to tighten her belt?’ Michelle asked.

‘We support each other,’ Daniel said.

‘So she’s going to work full time when you decide to do an MPhil?’

‘Conservation, sounds interesting!’ Anna interjected, nervously.

‘This is no reason to miss this wedding,’ Michelle said. ‘I’m not having it. In fact, I’m giving you a raise.’

‘Eh?’ Daniel said.

‘Michelle, you don’t have to …’ Anna began.

‘It’s sorted. You got a raise, you can come.’

Daniel blinked his big eyes. ‘Easiest raise I ever got.’

‘Two of Clubs!’ cried the caller.

‘Sticky 13!’ Daniel said, doing a two-arm air punch. ‘I’ve won!’

‘Winner buys the round,’ Michelle said.