Page 5 of The Monday Night Heartbreak Club
Demi tried to include me, of course, although her cute house and kind husband all stood in such stark contrast to my life that I always felt – although I would have died rather than told her – like the hired help whenever we were together.
Here, Margot was treating me like one of the club. Iwasone of the club.
I looked at the sweaty-faced man, in hisStar WarsT-shirt and badly fitting jeans, and experienced a moment of fellow-feeling. ‘Why not?’ I said. ‘He’s right, you didn’t say it was just for women, Margot, and if he’s a disappointed valentine then he’s as much right to join as we have.’
Margot gave me an appraising look which I tried to block out by pretending to finish the last of my wine. In reality, the wine had gone about ten minutes after sitting down, but in the face of nobody else reordering, I hadn’t felt I could fetchmyself another drink and I couldn’t afford to buy a round. ‘What do you think?’ she asked Annie directly.
‘Oh!’ Caught clearly by surprise, Annie jumped. ‘Well, yes, I suppose, I mean… Fee is right, we didn’t say women only.’
‘Wren?’
A shrug. Wren didn’t seem to care one way or the other, although her shoulders had curled forward.
‘All right then.’ Margot sat down, leaving the man standing. ‘But we’ve finished our meeting now; you’ll have to come back next week. Same place, same time.’
‘Okay. That’s fine. Great.’ On his chest, Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker were patchy with sweat. ‘I’ll get the earlier bus. I lives over the other side of town.’
There was a moment of silence. Overhead, the trendy pendant lamps swung ominously in a draught, and one of the dominoes men cleared their table, counters clacking into their box like a death rattle. Nobody seemed to want to be the first to move, so we all remained in stasis, like the closing scene of a bad play, waiting for the curtain to come down.
Finally, the barman came over and began wiping the table. He smelled nice when he leaned alongside me to pick up my glass and I took a furtive glance at his name badge, stark and white against the black uniform.
‘Thanks, Flynn,’ I said. For some reason I wanted to use his name, perhaps to discomfit him a little. He had a slight air of superiority that I wasn’t sure I liked, listening in on our discussion and only giving me a small glass of wine when I’d asked for a large.
He didn’t miss a beat, just wiped a cloth over the table and said, ‘You’re welcome,’ without meeting my eye.
‘Cheers, mate,’ said as-yet-unnamed man, Luke Skywalker now showing definite signs of clothing abuse.
Flynn nodded and walked off, carrying our empties. Margot seemed to gather herself. ‘Until next week, then.’ She picked up a rather nice bag which had been out of sight under the table and stalked off towards the door, followed in a slightly raggle-taggle format by Wren, Annie and then me.
‘Don’t suppose anyone can give me a lift back down the road?’ came the plaintive voice of the nameless club member, drifting through the door as it closed behind us.
3
On Saturday Demi texted to tell me she was moving to Peterborough.
You’ll have to come and stay all the time.
In Peterborough?I wanted to ask.Why the hell would I come to Peterborough?
Yes, of course.
I texted back.
Good luck. I’m sure we can have a drink before you go.
We move on Thursday.
There wasn’t much I could reply to that. Her life was going to go further and further towardsthe house, big family, reliable husband and a spaniel that she’d had it pointed at when we’d first met. Mine… wasn’t.
I put the phone down and stared around the flat.
It echoed with emptiness. Also a little with the argument breaking out downstairs, which seemed to be based on Him looking at Her again, you know Her, the one with the lips and the bum, not that they’re natural so you needn’t get any ideas. I slumped at the kitchen table and stared out of the window, which looked out over the main street and directly across to the wine bar, where Flynn was pulling a couple of tables out onto the small pavement area and trying to make the town look like Paris.
I watched him for a few moments. Then I opened a bottle of wine.
I was the second to arrive on Monday evening. Margot, of course, had got there first and was neatly arranging her handbag and some A4 pads when I swung through the door.
‘Ah, hello, Fee!’ Her use of my name made me feel odd, a little as though she was greeting me like an old friend, not like someone I’d only met once before. ‘How are you today? How’s life?’
