Jill Mansell - Sheer Mischief

Looking at them with their arms around each other, Maxine was reminded that she herself had never been in love, not really. Her own experiences were of a string of tumultuous and usually short-lived relationships where lust had figured high on the agenda. Instinctively drawn to men whose volatile personalities mirrored her own, it was almost as if she was ensuring that the affairs wouldn’t last. For all their similarities, she and her partners never seemed to have much in common in so far as ordinary, day-to-day living was concerned. Within weeks of the initial dazzling attraction, boredom would set in and she would find herself looking for a way out.

Invariably, the way out involved another man.

Yet she was, it seemed, doomed to failure. In a deliberate attempt to break the sad and sorry pattern she had got herself involved with Maurice Stanwyck and that, thought Maxine ruefully, had turned out to be the biggest mistake of all. Poor, pedantic Maurice, hell bent on conforming to his mother’s ideas of success, simply hadn’t been able to cope with a wayward fiancée. And she in turn had tried to conform, she really had, but all she’d managed to do in the end was to hurt and humiliate him.

Returning to London last week to pick up her belongings, she had attempted to apologize.

The meeting, however, had been an awkward one. Maurice, his stiff upper lip super-glued into place, had initially betrayed no emotion at all. Then, after twenty minutes of following her around whilst she packed her cases, his guard had dropped. Maxine had been forced to endure the far more harrowing ordeal of listening to him as he begged her to change her mind. At one point he had been on the verge of tears. All she’d been able to do was to remind him how miserable she would undoubtedly have made him if she’d stayed, and what a disaster she would have been as a corporate wife.

Poor Maurice, she thought now, gazing numbly down at the photographs of Guy and Véronique in her lap. She hoped he’d put the experience behind him and find himself another more suitable girlfriend soon.

Josh, meanwhile, was still sorting through the piles of photos which hadn’t made it into the albums. Thrusting a selection into Maxine’s hands, he said in matter-of-fact tones, ‘This is us after Mummy died. That’s me when I was seven, on my new bike. That’s Ella’s birthday party when she was five. And these are some of Dad’s girlfriends.’

It was as if Guy had deliberately chosen women who in no way resembled his wife.

Véronique, with her straight blond hair and Madonna-like beauty, couldn’t have been more different from these gypsy-eyed, dark-haired females who pouted and smiled for the camera and who were evidently trying too hard to impress.

The difference in Guy, she observed, was equally apparent. Just as earlier she had been able to tell at a glance which photographs of Véronique had been taken by him, so now she could have guessed which of those featuring him had been taken after her death. It was almost indefinable, but there nevertheless; a hardening of the expression in the eyes ... the loss of carefree pleasure .. . concealed sorrow reflected in the wryness of his smile.

Feeling uncomfortably as if she was intruding upon his private grief, Maxine bundled the photographs together and handed them back to Josh. Ella, still sucking her thumb, had fallen asleep at her side.

‘They’re lovely.’ Maxine smiled as Josh replaced them with care in the cardboard box.

‘You’re lucky to have so many pictures of your mum.’

‘Yes.’ The boy looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘I wouldn’t have forgotten what she looked like but Ella might have. She was only young when it happened.’

She wondered how he felt about the string of subsequent girlfriends but sensed that she had done enough prying for one night. Outside, it was growing dark. It was past both children’s bedtime. Tugging tentatively at Ella’s thumb, Maxine found it plugged into the rosebud mouth as firmly as a sink plunger.

‘Come on, I’m still on parole. Your father will shoot me if he finds out how late I’ve let you stay up. You take the photographs back upstairs and I’ll carry Ella.’

They Think It’s All Over was about to start on TV. Josh said jealously, ‘What will you do when we’ve gone to bed?’

Maxine gathered Ella into her arms. She was only small but she weighed an absolute ton.

‘What else?’ she countered, with a long-suffering sigh. ‘The rest of the rotten ironing.’

True to his word, Guy was back by eleven with the Indian takeaway. Maxine, having watched They Think It’s All Over, switched the television off and the iron on the moment she heard his car pull up the drive and promptly assumed the kind of saintly-but-weary expression which indicated that whilst he’d been out enjoying himself with one of his floozies, she had been hard at work for hours.

Her mouth watered as he unwrapped the brown carrier bag and lifted the cardboard lids from their foil containers. Prawn korma, scented and golden, was piled over pilau rice.

Massaging her back for good measure, she switched the iron off.

‘What time did they get off to bed?’ said Guy, turning his attention to the lamb dhansak and naan bread. ‘Nine o’clock.’

He grinned. ‘That means ten.’

‘Well ...’ It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him what time he’d gone to bed, but she didn’t want to risk spoiling his good mood. ‘Ella fell asleep on the sofa and Josh thinks he’s the Cincinnati Kid. At this rate I can see my entire salary disappearing into his piggy bank.’ She pulled a face. ‘I wish now I’d never taught him how to play poker.’

‘If it makes you feel any better,’ said Guy, deadpan, ‘you didn’t. I did. Last Christmas.’

For the first time, Maxine realized, they were actually sitting down and discussing the children rather than engaging in a battle of verbal wits. The sparring subsided, she began asking suitably intelligent questions about Josh’s education and the atmosphere, helped along by a bottle of Sancerre, grew positively relaxed.

Before she knew it, she was asking Guy the question she hadn’t felt able to ask Josh.

He frowned. ‘Why? What’s he been saying?’

‘Nothing really.’ She crushed a poppadum and licked her fingers. ‘Just that you have lots of girlfriends, but none of them is as pretty as his mother was.’

‘I see.’ The dark blue eyes registered amusement. ‘Well, he’s probably right about that.

Although I don’t know about the actual number. "Lots" sounds pretty alarming.’

‘Aren’t there?’ Maxine cast him an innocent look.

‘Lots, I mean.’

‘One or two.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ve tried to keep it low key, for the kids’ sakes. On the other hand, I’m only human. And they’ve never seemed to mind the occasional ... visitor.’

‘Children are adaptable,’ agreed Maxine, reassured by his reply. ‘And it isn’t as if you went through a traumatic divorce. At least they know you were happily married.’

‘I hadn’t thought of it like that.’ Guy looked pensive. ‘Maybe it does help.’

Pleased with herself for having said the right thing, she nodded. ‘I’m sure it does.’

‘I could show you photographs of Véronique, if you’re interested.’

Maxine wondered if this was some kind of test. She didn’t want him to think of her as morbidly curious.

‘There’s no hurry,’ she replied easily, getting to her feet and taking his empty plate from him. ‘Maybe Josh and Ella will show them to me whilst you’re away.’

And then it was all spoiled. By the time she returned from the kitchen Guy was standing by the sofa with his back to her. When he turned around, she saw the crumpled photograph in his hand and the look of disdain on his face.