Page 43 of Never
‘I don’t mind, but if I tell you it might sound like boasting.’
‘Tell me anyway.’
‘It was the English teacher.’
Tamara giggled – second time. She was starting to feel more normal. ‘What was she like?’
‘About twenty-five. Pretty, blonde. We used to kiss in the stationery store.’
‘Just kissing?’
‘No, not just kissing.’
‘You bad boy.’
‘I was crazy about her. I wanted to run away from school and fly to Las Vegas and get married.’
‘How did it end?’
‘She got a job in another school and disappeared from my life. I was heartbroken. But heartbreak doesn’t last long when you’re seventeen.’
‘A lucky escape?’
‘Oh, yes. She was great, but look, you have to fall in and out of love a few times before you begin to understand what you’re really looking for.’
She nodded. He was quite wise, she thought. ‘I know what you mean.’
‘Do you?’
She blurted out: ‘I’ve been married twice.’
‘I wasn’t expecting that!’ He smiled, taking the edge off his expression of shock. ‘Tell me more – if you feel like it.’
She did. She was glad to be reminded that there were important things in life other than guns and killing. ‘Stephen was just an adolescent mistake,’ she said. ‘We married in my first year at college and separated before the summer vacation. I haven’t spoken to him for years and I no longer know where he lives.’
‘So much for Stephen,’ said Tab. ‘If it’s any consolation, I feel the same way about a girl called Anne-Marie. I didn’t marry her, though. Tell me about number two.’
‘Jonathan was serious. We were together for four years. We loved each other, and in a way we still do.’ She paused, thinking.
Tab waited patiently for a few moments, then prompted her gently. ‘What went wrong?’
‘Jonathan is gay.’
‘Oh. That’s awkward.’
‘I didn’t know it at first, obviously, and I guess he didn’t either, although at the end he admitted that he’d always been uncertain.’
‘But you parted friends.’
‘We haven’t really parted. We’re still close, or as close as you can be to someone who lives thousands of miles away.’
‘But you are divorced?’ he said emphatically.
That seemed important to him for some reason. ‘Yes, we’re divorced,’ she said firmly. ‘He’s married to a man now.’ She wanted to know more about him. ‘Have you ever been married? You must be, what, thirty-five?’
‘Thirty-four, and no, I’ve never been married.’
‘But you must have had at least one serious love affair, after the English teacher.’
