Page 72 of Teacakes & Tangos
Clara
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Rory would be home from his course late the following afternoon.
But as I worked in my office early that morning, I couldn’t decide if I was really looking forward to seeing him – or absolutely dreading it.
We’d need to have a conversation about Irene spotting him walking into that Lockley Meadow B&B with Lois and staying for a suspiciously long time. I didn’t want to talk to him about it over the phone so I’d kept our mobile chats quite brief on the pretext of having things to do. And actually, I wasn’t pretending. Since Magic of Dance had opened, I seemed to be busier than ever.
In my darkest moments since Irene’s revelations, I’d thought about phoning the Brighton hotel to check Rory was really staying there. Because what if he’d checked into the B&B so that he and Lois could carry on an affair, away from everyone who knew them?
But I didn’t make that call, because in the light of day, I knew Rory would never do something like that. If he wanted to start a relationship with someone else, he would break up with me first. I knew that for certain.
I couldn’t believe I was even thinking things like this.
But even before he’d gone away on the course, I’d been sensing that things had grown awkward between Rory and me. It was as if there was an invisible barrier between us and neither of us could climb over it, so we were just carrying on being strangely polite and distant with each other.
It was a horrible feeling, losing that closeness as a couple that you’d previously taken for granted. But were we really growing apart? Or was I just imagining it? (A result, maybe, of all thestress and exhaustion I’d been through, setting up Magic of Dance?)
Now, though, with Irene having voiced suspicions about Lois herself, I realised I wasn’t losing my marbles at all. Irene had also noticed things weren’t quite right...
And she was absolutely right about Lois behaving weirdly.
Only the night before, I’d arrived home late and run straight upstairs to get changed, only to find Lois in my bedroom looking through the contents of my wardrobe.
She’d looked uncomfortable when I’d asked her what she was doing and she more or less banged the wardrobe door shut and marched out, apologising on the way. She’d muttered some excuse about all her white T-shirts being in the wash so she was hoping to borrow one of mine. But when I took one through to her later, she said she didn’t need it anymore.
So not only had I caught her spying on my phone, I’d found her looking through my clothes as well.
It was a comfort at least to know that Irene thought the same about Lois. But not much.
Because now I needed to find out what on earth was going on...
*****
It was lunchtime and I was back in my office, trying to work but instead drifting off and driving myself crazy thinking of Rory and Lois being in that B&B together.
In the end, I got to my feet, just needing to do something instead of sitting there, obsessing about the pair of them and what the hell they were up to.
As I passed Studio Two, the Pussycat Dolls were belting out ‘Jai Ho’ in Jaz’s popular Zumba class, but I walked straight on to the café in rebellious mode. Something sweet and satisfyingwould temporarily block out the pain, and a pastry loaded with sugar and carbs was just what I needed.
The Little Duckling was empty when I walked in – apart from a couple of women chatting over iced coffee – although I knew it would get really busy in approximately twenty minutes, when the Zumba class ended.
Anika, who was busy cleaning tables with a sanitiser spray and cloth, smiled a welcome and came over to serve me. ‘What can I get you, Clara?’
‘Carbs, please. I need cheering up,’ I confessed with a smile.
We both looked over as the two women left the café, and Anika murmured, ‘Oh, dear. It sounds like you’re having the same sort of day I’m having.’
‘You, too?’
She nodded. ‘Man problems.’
I smiled ruefully. ‘Same. Sister problems as well.’
‘So what would you like? I reckon the triple chocolate cheesecake – a big wodge of that – would fit the bill on the carbs front?’ She held up the plate and I nodded.
‘Done. And why don’t you join me?’ I watched her cut me a large slice. ‘I reckon we’ve probably got a good fifteen minutes to put the world to rights before the Zumba class gets out.’
