Page 28 of A Midlife Marriage

‘We should have gone out,’ Helen said.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘I wanted this to be special. I told Caro I would organise it.’

‘Helen it really …’ Kay put her hand to her cheek and stopped talking. Helen was already in the kitchen. For a moment she stood listening to the sound of cupboard doors opening and slamming, of Helen muttering. ‘Shall I buzz Caro up?’ she called, and when Helen didn’t answer she lifted the intercom and let Caro in.

A minutelater flushed and breathless, Caro fell through the door. ‘I used the stairs,’ she panted as she thrust a bottle-shaped package at Kay.

‘Why didn’t you take the lift?’

In response, Caro lifted her nose to the stream of fresh air coming from the open doors of the balcony. ‘I need to cool down,’ she gasped and in two strides she was across the room, gripping the ironwork with both hands, as she breathed deeply.

‘It’s no good.’ Helen came back into the room. ‘I can’t find it.’

‘Caro’s here.’ Kay nodded at the balcony. ‘She took the stairs.’

Helen turned. ‘Caro, I’m sorry. I’m a bit behind. I was going to do salmon, but I can’t find my bloody pan.’

‘Fish?’ Caro groaned.

‘Don’t you fancy it?’

‘And why did you take the stairs?’ Kay added.

‘Because I need to lose some weight!’ Caro threw her hands up. ‘There’s no wiggle-room at all in that dress, and Thomaz cooks all the time. There are three ovens on the Aga, and I swear he uses all of them, every night.’

‘Can’t you say something?’ Helen said, her lips twitching with amusement. She knew how many ovens there were on an Aga. Hadn’t she had one for twenty years?

‘I’ve tried. I was telling him about intermittent fasting the other week.’

‘And how did that go down?’ Kay said mildly.

‘Well, he seemed interested, but then the next day I sat down to a casserole with dumplings.’

Now Helen laughed.

‘I think you’re going to need to be clearer than that, Caro.’ Kay held up the package. ‘Can we open this? Do you have glasses?’ She turned to Helen.

‘Umm … there’s a box somewhere. But ––’

‘Don’t worry.’ Kay raised her hand. ‘I’ll use cups if I have to. Someone has to get this party started.’ And clutching the package she went into the kitchen.

‘Kay’s right,’Helen said as she joined Caro on the balcony. ‘You are going to have to be clearer with Tomasz. I lost count of how many times I said,divorce,before Lawrence actually heard me. It was getting to the point where I was thinking of painting it on the front door. Like they did in the plague,’ she added grimly.

‘Oh, Tomasz isn’t like …’ Caro’s voice dried. ‘I didn’t mean …’ She stopped again.

’It’s fine, Caro.’

‘I wasn’t …’

‘I know you weren’t.’ Helen smiled. ‘Let’s not go there. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all in the past. I just want to concentrate on the future now.’ She meant it. The decades long rivalry between them, the secret torch Caro had carried for Lawrence, the awful rows they had had in Cyprus and Vegas. It felt like village gossip now. Gossip about people she didn’t know and wasn’t interested in.

‘Me too,’ Caro said. Her face brightened. ‘Talking of the future, where were you?’

‘When?’

‘The photo you sent this morning. I presume it was the city?’

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