Page 30 of Love Is: Two Bodies One Soul

Lexie shook her head. The telepathy had, in fact, worked. ‘Don’t tell me!’ she said. ‘It was my brother with the women’s issues writer.’

‘Yes.’ Kate dipped her head, hiding big, sorrowful eyes brimming with tears again. ‘I opened the door, and there they were. Sassy Samantha Drake, with her bright red dress hoiked around her waist and her knickers nowhere to be seen. Xander, his jeans down at his ankles and a certain part of his anatomy buried deep inside the women’s issues writer.’ Kate looked up, tears streaming again. Hardly able to speak, she gulped. ‘He didn’t care that I’d caught them at it. He laughed at me, Lexie. Can you believe that?’

Lexie shook her head. Sadly, she could.

‘He laughed.’ Kate choked. ‘Told me to chill out. He said he’d invite me to join them, but I wasn’t fun anymore. I said I was hurt, and if he thought I was the sort of girl who’d join a threesome in a stationery cupboard, he didn’t know me at all. That was when he got angry, told me to fuck off, and said I could go to hell for all he cared.’

‘Oh, Kate.’ Lexie’s heart broke. She leapt across her kitchen, scooped Kate into her arms and held her close to let her cry.

* * *

Later,Lexie was stretched out on the beach, the sound of the sea in her ears as she stared at the stars, the universe spinning in front of her eyes. Champagne in the morning and white wine in the evening – far too much alcohol for the normally nearly teetotal Lexie. Earlier, with all talk of Xander and his cruelty almost exhausted, she and Kate had gone for supper at a nearby bar with a tapas menu. By closing time, they’d not eaten much but had emptied two bottles of Sauvignon Blanc.

In a forlornly merry state, they’d staggered out into the spiky cold October night; wandered aimlessly over to the promenade and leaned on the blue ornate cast iron balustrade, where they listened to the tide breaking on the shingle beach below. Breathing in the sea-salt air, they’d talked some more about the cruelty of men and the impossibility of finding a good one. Then Kate had solemnly announced she wanted to paddle, and, with heeled shoes in hand, she shot off toward the steps to the beach.

Protesting at the insanity of the idea, Lexie ran after her.

‘Kate, come back. It’s not safe. It’s too cold. Have you any idea how many people drown when they’re drunk?’

‘I’m only going to paddle,’ Kate argued. ‘And I’m not drunk.’

‘Oh yeah, not much.’

Undeterred, Kate had set off for the water, crying loudly when her bare feet met the hard pebbles, leaving Lexie to wait.

So there she was, staring up at the sky. For no logical reason, she remembered Kate had said the new drunken writer was a star. A few of the same sparkled at her. They seemed friendly, making her feel strangely happy, making her sing. ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder who you are.’ She flung back her arms. ‘God, I’m so drunk. What am I doing singing on the beach at nearly midnight? Can’t even get the words right to a simple nursery rhyme.’

Suddenly Kate loomed into Lexie’s line of vision; her face so close she blocked out the stars. ‘You know, you said you wished you could teach Xander a lesson,’ she said.

‘Yes.’ Lexie shifted onto her elbows, and the whole constellation of stars came back into view, seeming to spin in a sea of dark blue velvet.

‘Did you mean it?’

‘Yes, I did. My brother always gets his own way. No matter what’s going on. I swear he could fall into a sewer and emerge with a winning lottery ticket in one hand and a bottle of Champagne in the other.’

‘Bollinger?’

‘No. Dom Perignon Rose Gold,’ Lexie slurred. ‘Do you know, I read somewhere that a methus–a meth—’

‘A methuselah?’ Kate suggested helpfully.

‘Yes, that’s right. A meth-use-lah of Dom Perignon Rose Gold cost over forty thousand pounds. Can you believe that?’

‘Bet it tasted dreadful,’ Kate said seriously. Then, practical as ever, she added, ‘Lucky the buyer would never know – too expensive to drink.’

They fell about giggling until Kate, becoming serious again, said, ‘I remember now why I came up from the water.’

‘Because it was freezing?’

‘No. It was, but that’s not it. I’ve had an idea.’

‘What?’ Lexie tried to focus on Kate.

Kate shivered. ‘That sea is cold. I’m almost numb.’

‘It is October.’

‘I know.’ Kate pulled her coat tightly around her shoulders, snuggling nearer to Lexie. ‘You know, if I squint hard enough to blur my vision, it’s almost possible to imagine I’m sitting next to Xander.’

---