Page 43 of One Moment in Time
‘That’s because, my love,’ Brenda took over, ‘what Eileen has omitted to mention so far, is that back then, she was your dad’s girlfriend. And Gary was my boyfriend, not hers.’
21
THE SUNSET MOTEL, LAS VEGAS – 1993
The room was sticky hot and there was no air con, no fresh air, and no switches by the bedside to control the lights in the room, so when the door opened and the overhead light came on, there was nothing Eileen could do to hide her nudity except pull at the discarded sheet and try to cover as much of her body as possible.
Of course, it was too late.
Brenda had already seen everything, and so had Colin.
‘Oh fuck,’ Gary groaned, still drunk enough to slur, but sober enough to know that they’d just done something that was going to change their lives. ‘Brenda, I… Fuck. Colin, mate…’ He ran out of words, given that there were none that would make a damn bit of a difference in this situation.
‘Don’t you dare call me mate…’ Colin seethed, and Brenda realised it was the first time she’d ever seen Colin angry. In all the years they’d been friends, he was always the peacemaker, the joker, the easy-going one with practical solutions. ‘You’re no fucking mate of mine now.’
Brenda just stared, and bizarrely the thought crossed her mind that when it came to Gary’s panic, he’d mentioned her first. And she hated herself for being so bloody weak that she thought that way. So still she stared, waiting for the scene to change, for the alcohol to leave her system and for her mind to learn that this was just a really bad trip on some dodgy booze and it wasn’t actually happening.
‘Brenda, I’m so sorry…’ Eileen’s voice was higher than she’d ever heard it, a gush of strangled words. ‘I didn’t mean it. Didn’t mean for this to happen. Didn’t plan—’
‘To have sex with my boyfriend?’ Brenda didn’t recognise her own voice. Just a few minutes ago, she’d fallen in the door giggling, and now her world had ended and she was someone else altogether. Someone she didn’t want to be, in a place she didn’t want to be in.
She picked up her bag, threw in everything that she could find. Grabbed her passport, her purse, her travellers’ cheques…
‘Brenda, please! Stay. Talk to me. Let me explain…’ That came from Gary.
Brenda didn’t even respond, just kept packing her stuff, then threw her bag over her shoulder. Gary had somehow managed to get his boxers on and he was on his feet now. Brenda still didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. He was the love of her life, the guy that she adored, the one who’d been her boyfriend for three years, no matter how strange people thought that was. Flash, overconfident, drop-dead gorgeous Gary, with little Brenda, the sweet girl who’d not long qualified as a nurse. Not a model. Not one of the sexy dancers in the club. Not even that stunner, Eileen, that worked in the ticket office.
Brenda. He’d been going out with her since before he’d started DJing, and they were still together, despite all sorts of rumours about what he got up to when she wasn’t there. Brenda didn’t believe them because she loved him, and because his best mate, Colin, who’d been seeing Eileen for even longer than she’d been with Gary, assured her they weren’t true. That’s why they’d always been such a great foursome. Eileen and Colin, madly in love for the last four years, despite the fact that she had a good couple of inches on him, and she was a total glamour girl, while he was a bit of a geek. That was her type, she always said. She liked them smart and funny, and Colin was both.
Eileen and Brenda were best friends, Colin and Gary were best mates, and it all worked out brilliantly. Sometimes, after a few drinks in the lock-in after work, they’d joke about how they should have a double wedding, then kids at the same time and raise them in a communal house… Brenda just hadn’t realised she’d be sharing everything, including her boyfriend.
‘Brenda, will you just stop a minute?’ Gary begged her, but she blocked out the very sound of his voice, ominously sure that if he said another word, she’d throw up right there and then. Instead, she opened the door and walked out. She’d made it to the pavement outside the hotel, when she realised that Colin had come after her and he looked just as shellshocked as she was. Yet another piece of her heart chipped off, this time for him. He was such a good guy. So sweet. And he adored Eileen. Sometimes, he joked that he couldn’t believe he’d managed to land a girlfriend like her. Brenda could believe it. She saw his kindness, his intelligence, and was there night after night when he had them roaring with laughter at his daft jokes and funny chat. He was a catch. He just didn’t realise it.
‘I don’t know where to go,’ Brenda said, her whole body beginning to shiver as she slipped into shock, despite the heat of the May night.
Just at that, a taxi pulled into the hotel drive, and Colin ushered her in. ‘The Flamingo please,’ he said. Later he told her that it was the only place he could think of because that was where Eileen had won the money on the roulette. Turned out his mind was every bit as scrambled as hers.
At the hotel, she used her traveller’s cheques to pay upfront for a room – two single beds – and they went upstairs.
He poured them two vodkas from the minibar, because they were the first drinks that came to hand. He topped the glasses up with a can of Coke, then brought Brenda’s over to the bed. He pulled a blanket from the bottom of the bed around her shoulders, gave her the drink, then lay back on the other bed, staring at the ceiling.
Sometime later, Brenda had no idea how long, she spoke first. ‘Are you okay?’ Stupid question, but it was all she had, and it was in her nature to worry about everyone else. Just a shame Gary and Eileen hadn’t been worried about her or Colin. That thought sent rivers of tears to her bottom lids and she blinked them back furiously.
Colin was still staring into space. ‘No. Not okay.’ He was deathly calm, and she almost wished he would get up and kick something. Punch a wall. Throw the telly out of the window. Anything. For once in her perfectly behaved, sensible life, she’d have joined him and caused an absolute riot. ‘I… I loved her. I never thought she’d…’ He couldn’t finish and Brenda could see he was struggling to fight back tears too.
She had no idea what was happening in the other hotel room. She didn’t know that Eileen was sobbing her heart out. She had no idea that Gary was pacing the floor, swearing constantly because he couldn’t find any other words.
All she knew was that it was over for them all.
And she never wanted to see Gary Gregg or Eileen Smith again for as long as she lived.
22
ZARA
Millie drained her glass and then put it down on the glass table and gestured to the waiter to bring another round of drinks. ‘I think I’m having an out-of-body experience. You know, one of those ones in sci-fi movies where you look down at yourself and you’re robbing a post office, and you convince yourself it’s true, even although you don’t own a balaclava. Only that would be more believable than this.’
Zara eyed her sister with nothing but incredulity. ‘Really? That’s where you’re going with this?’ She leaned over and put her hand over her mother’s. ‘Mum, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I feel awful, because you’re having to relive all this and it’s completely my fault.’
