Page 36 of The Custard Tart Cafe by the Sea
“Keep your voice down,” I tell her hypocritically. “You had no qualms about me spending time with him yesterday afternoon, as I recall.”
“That’s because we didn’t realise his true identity!”
“They really did break the mould when they made you,” Radhika snipes.
“Do you know what, Rad?” She hates it when I call her that, but too bad, her bitterness is really uncalled for the morning after my giant mistake. “You’re just about the last person I’m taking relationship advice from. You’ve spent the best part of this week not so much two-timing as triple-timing guys!”
Radhika looks like she’s been hit by a truck, and I wonder what I am missing.
“Nice one,” she mutters, turning her back on me and skulking off to dip her feet in the pool.
“To be fair, Willow can’t really know the effect of her words. She wasn’t party to last night’s heart to heart, hun, was she?” Kelly says to Radhika’s slender back in its gorgeous black asymmetric cut-out swimsuit.
“What?” I hiss. “What am I missing?”
“Oh, I’m not regurgitating my woeful tale to you as well.” Radhika says over her shoulder, avoiding all eye contact with me. “Kelly can fill you in later.”
“Right. Okay then. But what’s done is done, as far asmywoeful tale is concerned, and I don’t ever want to talk about this episode again. Are we clear? Not a word to anybody when we get back. Especially not Caitlyn or Reggie. Very especially not Lauren. Promise me.”
“We promise,” my friends reply unconvincingly in unison.
“Great. I’m glad that’s sorted,” I say. “I’m going to have forty winks, do something with my hair.” It’s a two French plaits day today, but there was no way I was taking any extra time to tend to that at Tiago’s place. “And then I’ll join you back down here to plant my buttocks on a sunlounger which I don’t intend to leave for the entire day… make that for the entire holiday.”
“Talking of backsides,” Radhika says, warming up a little along with the rays of the sun, “I don’t care how cute that butt of his looked when he was stretched out in the aisle playing the hero card and rescuing your passport on the plane, he’s a moron to seduce you, bonk you, and still refuse to rip that petition into shreds on the spot.What an arse.”
Radhika’s actually come up with a half-decent joke there and I know from the twinkle in her eye that Kelly thinks the same, but since my friends have both insulted my discernment (or lack thereof) I am not going to laugh at it.
“The signatures are fake so that makes it meaningless anyway,” I shrug. “But yeah, I thought that was the least he could do, too. I guess he wouldn’t have had a copy of the document on him at the breakfast table, but he didn’t exactly invite me to a burning-of-the-petition ceremony on Weston beach when we’re back home, either.”
“As I said, what a shit. Come out and party with us tomorrow night instead.” Radhika is positively back to her old self now, but the idea makes my stomach lurch. I want to stay as far away from the Algarve coast as possible. “We’ve managed to blag a lift down to the Strip in Vilamoura. Twelve hours of hardcore partaaaaaying awaits us.”
“Yay.”
I don as convincing an expression as I can muster and fling my bag over my shoulder, trudging back to the room.
“I feel as enthused about it as you do, Willow.” I feel my shoulders relax, hearing Kelly’s semi olive branch and her sigh float across to me. “But we did agree to one event each and at least the place Radhika’s picked has a cocktail bar serving sustainable and seasonably foraged drinks.”
“Double yay,” I reply, as my mind conjures up images of mushroom mojitos served by a group of wannabe Bear Grylls.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“So, am Iallowed to know what’s going on with Radhika, or not?” I ask Kelly, when she comes back to our shared bedroom for a siesta later.
“Oh, that, yes,” Kelly replies with a dejected expression. “It’s quite heavy to be honest.”
“Ouch,” I say. I settle onto my bed, hugging my pillow close in preparation, mind racing. What could possibly be up with our mutual friend?
“Arranged marriages don’t have the hold they once did, but nevertheless, Radhika’s feeling under immense unspoken pressure right now.” My eyes grow wide. This does not sound good. “Her two younger sisters seem quite happy to be paired up with the sons of family friends–approved and reputablefamily friends.” Kelly makes quotation marks with her fingers. “As you can imagine, Rad’s bearing the brunt of it for showing no inclination to follow their lead.”
“Oh, no! That’s terrible for her. Depressingly so. It also explains her recent behaviour.”
“Indeed,” Kelly acknowledges. “It’s nothing new, she says. Her parents, much as she loves them, have been dropping hints for a few years now. Not that Radhika’s any age– she’s only twenty-five. But the fact that Bhavna and Sumaira are in the throes of planning their weddings, to Gurdeep and Ritesh, is only adding to the stress. Her sisters’ big days are all that Radhika’s entire extended family can talk about. And the hushed whispers that she is being too choosy about potential suitors is making her uber-paranoid.”
“No wonder she’s constantly on the lookout for her own love interests, and no wonder she’s so quick to snap all the time. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult all of this is for her. Especially as it’s bombarding her from all angles. And she still lives at home. It sounds relentless.”
“Let’s just say Mr and Mrs Chandra have ramped up afternoon teas with friends and acquaintances in the West Country’s Indian community, in a bid to help their daughter come to her senses.”
Sugar.
