Clara Bounces Back Read online

  My smile falters at the word besotted and I try to hide it behind my glass.

  ‘I don’t think he’s besotted…’ I reply, trying to play down the situation.

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ Dawn exclaims, leaning to the left as a group of gaggling girls sit down at the table behind us. ‘You have seen the photos, right?’

  ‘Photos?’ Lianna repeats, adjusting the neckline on her camisole. ‘You never showed me any photos, Clara?’

  ‘That’s because I haven’t seen any myself.’ Putting my flute on the table, I slide to the edge of my seat and look at Gina, who appears to be as clueless as the rest of us. ‘What photos?’

  Pulling her handbag onto her lap, Dawn produces her mobile phone. Waiting until she brings up the photo gallery, I take the handset from her and gasp. What is Janie doing? She’s supposed to be representing the company! Oliver would lose his mind if he saw these.

  My heart sinks further as I swipe through the array of incriminating images. Enjoying themselves in a private capsule on the London Eye, Janie and Stelios wrap their arms around one another and grin for the camera. Red rose petals are scattered around the pod, making the whole scene look stomach-churningly romantic. They certainly do not look like two business people on the cusp of exchanging a record-breaking contract.

  ‘When were these taken?’ I ask, not knowing whether I want to laugh or cry.

  ‘The earlier ones were yesterday at a jazz bar in Mayfair and the ones on the London Eye are from just a few hours ago.’ Dawn says excitedly, her eyes glittering. ‘Isn’t this fantastic?’

  ‘They certainly look very cosy.’ Lianna remarks, giving me a discreet nudge. ‘Very cosy!’

  Taking the phone, Gina grimaces and raises her eyebrows. ‘Don’t let Marc see these. He’s already freaking out that Janie isn’t taking this seriously.’

  Twisting my watch around my wrist nervously, I nod in agreement. ‘Oliver cannot know Janie is getting so close to Stelios. He can’t stand the guy.’

  ‘Oliver can’t know what?’ A tiny voice asks behind us.

  Spinning around, my stomach flips as I spot Eve standing by the bar awkwardly.

  ‘Eve!’ I exclaim, jumping up as Gina frantically tries to hide the phone. ‘How are you?’

  In Gina’s haste to get the phone into Dawn’s handbag, it slips out of her grip and lands by Eve’s feet with a clatter. Innocently bending down to retrieve the handset, Eve gives the screen a fleeting glance.

  ‘The London Eye!’ She remarks, before handing it back to Gina. ‘Very nice.’

  Throwing the phone at Dawn like it’s a hot potato, Gina smiles and grabs the bottle of wine from the table. ‘Sit down, Eve. Let me pour you a drink.’

  Shaking her head politely, Eve takes her purse from her bag and points to the bar. ‘I’m not drinking right now. You know, with breastfeeding.’

  ‘Oh…’ Placing the bottle back into the cooler, Gina bites her lip and scratches her head.

  Springing into action, I tap my empty chair. ‘You sit down. I’ll grab you a virgin cocktail.’

  ‘I’ll get it!’ Gina stammers, desperately wanting to escape the uncomfortable atmosphere.

  Grabbing her handbag, Gina runs to the bar before I can beat her to it.

  ‘So, what aren’t we showing Marc and Oliver?’ Cautiously taking a seat, Eve looks around the group anxiously.

  Dawn and Lianna look at one another in panic as Lily excuses herself to go to the bathroom.

  ‘Oh, nothing interesting!’ I lie, wanting to move the conversation along. ‘Anyway, it’s great to see you here! You didn’t tell me you were joining us.’

  ‘I didn’t realise I had to.’ Smiling thinly, Eve tugs on the hem of her dress.

  ‘You don’t have to!’ Laughing loudly to fill the silence, Lianna takes a big gulp of wine. ‘How have you been? How are the twins?’

  ‘Fine.’ Eve mumbles, avoiding eye contact with anything but the floor. ‘The twins are fine. I’m fine. We’re all fine.’

  Noticing that she seems far from her normal self, I try to cheer her up with some compliments

  ‘Your hair looks amazing. Have you had it cut?’ Running my fingers through her sleek bob, I marvel at how soft it is. ‘I always forget that you used to wear your hair straight. I’m so used to seeing you with it curly these days.’

  Managing a slight nod of the head, Eve clutches her handbag tightly. ‘So do I. There are days where I forget to wash my hair, let alone straighten it.’

  Trying to pretend I can’t feel the awkward fog that is hanging in the air, I force myself to laugh. Eve is one of my best friends, so why is there suddenly a huge void between us?

  Clearly feeling it too, Eve clears her throat and turns her attention to Dawn.

  ‘So, the London Eye.’ She says, trying to inject some enthusiasm into her voice. ‘It’s been years since I’ve been up there.’

  ‘Me too!’ Obviously delighted at having something to talk about, Dawn refills her glass to the brim.

  ‘It wasn’t you in the photo?’ Eve screws up her nose in confusion and switches her focus back to me. ‘If it wasn’t Dawn, who was it?’

  My blood runs cold as Dawn’s cheeks flush guiltily.

  ‘Am I missing something here?’ Eve asks, keeping her eyes fixed on mine. ‘I feel as though I’ve walked in on something I shouldn’t have.’

  Not knowing what to say, I debate just telling her the truth. Trying to hide the fact that Janie is on a rather unscrupulous mission to save her husband’s investment is driving a wedge between us and I don’t like it one bit.

  ‘Here you go!’ Gina trills, appearing at the table with a giant cocktail glass in her hand. ‘I even got you a cocktail candle.’

  Watching the sparkler light up the dim room like a firework, much to the delight of the other customers, sadness washes over me as Eve’s bottom lip starts to wobble.

  ‘I have to go.’ She announces suddenly, pushing herself up. ‘I shouldn’t have come here.’

  ‘Eve, please don’t go…’ Reaching for her hand, I attempt to stop her before she disappears into the buzzing crowd of people.

  Stunned into silence, I stare at Lianna in shock as the sparkler continues to burn in the centre of the table.

  ‘That was awful.’ I whisper sadly, looking over my shoulder in case Eve decides to come back. ‘She knows we’re hiding something from her. It must be hard enough to adapt to life with twins, without having your friends pushing you out of the loop.’

  My conversation with Oliver from last night comes back to haunt me and I feel a lump form in my throat.

  ‘This is the last thing I wanted. We’re supposed to be protecting Eve, not excluding her.’ Guilt washes over me and I suddenly feel incredibly depressed.

  Losing the Lakes as friends would devastate me. It would devastate all of us. Eve and I have been through far too much together to fall out over something as frivolous as money. My relationship with Eve is worth more than money could buy.

  ‘We have to tell her.’ I say decidedly, my shoulders immediately feeling lighter. ‘We have to let her in on the whole Ianthe situation and just hope that she doesn’t tell Owen until we make it official. Well, if we make it official…’

  ‘We can’t.’ Dawn replies hastily, raising her voice to be heard above the increasingly-loud music. ‘Owen was ready for walking away from Suave a few days ago. He only agreed to give you a little more time after Hugh convinced him you were working on something huge. If Owen finds out the something huge is snogging Janie on the London Eye, he’s going to terminate the company. That means we all lose everything. We lose the money we invested and you lose your jobs.’

  Feeling completely torn, I stare into my glass helplessly, as though hoping to find the answer I’m looking for beneath the bubbles. As desperate as I am to save Suave, I don’t want to do it at the expense of my friend.

  ‘She’s right.’ Lianna says carefully, as Lily returns to her seat. ‘I was all for including Eve in this,
but we can’t risk her telling Owen when we’re so close to victory with Stelios.’

  ‘Who says we’re close to victory?’ I snap, unable to stop myself. ‘From the photos I’ve just seen, the only thing Janie is close to is dropping her pants.’

  ‘It’s not personal, Clara.’ Gina smiles and pushes my glass towards me. ‘It’s just business and in business you have to make decisions that might upset other people. Losing Suave affects all of us. Not just Owen and Eve.’

  Becoming increasingly uneasy with the direction in which this conversation is going, I stare back at the others angrily. ‘Eve is our friend and she’s no less trustworthy than any of us around this table. Whether Janie pulls this off or not, Eve will always be there. When we entered into this, we went into it together. When did it become us against them?’

  Lianna and Gina look away ruefully as Dawn simply shrugs her shoulders.

  ‘I’m going to tell Eve what’s going on. I’m going to take her for lunch tomorrow and tell her everything.’ I announce, pushing out my chair and reaching for my jacket. ‘I trust Eve enough to tell her and hopefully, Eve will trust me enough not to tell Owen.’

  Hiking my handbag onto my shoulder, I grab my glass and stand up.

  ‘We’ll be in The Bistro at midday. If you want to join us, you know where we’ll be…’

  Turning on my heels, I march through the bar and slip into the crowd, taking my drink and my morals with me.

  Chapter 24

  Peeling open my eyes, I yawn lazily as Noah throws himself onto the bed and slips his cold hands on my stomach.

  ‘Good morning!’ I mumble, letting out a groan as he dives under the duvet. ‘You seem a lot happier today.’

  ‘I am happy!’ He replies, bouncing up and down on the mattress. ‘Can we go to the park today?’

  ‘Maybe.’ Smiling up at him as he bounds around the bed like a ball of energy, I laugh to myself as his enthusiastic jumping wakes Oliver.

  ‘Who would have thought that an evening with Luke Skywalker would be the cure for chickenpox?’ I tease, noticing that the majority of his spots have now healed over.

  ‘Someone’s got their mojo back.’ Oliver groans sleepily, stretching his arms above his head.

  Turning to face him, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that his spots are scabbing over, too. ‘Do you feel any better today?’

  Shuffling across the bed to make room for Noah, Oliver nods and yawns into his hand. ‘Actually, I do. The constant need to scratch has finally stopped.’

  ‘That’s fantastic!’ I say happily, delighted to see him back to his usual self. ‘With a little luck, you could be back at the office in a few days!’

  ‘Thank God! Staying in the apartment all day is driving me insane!’ Picking up his phone, he checks the time before bringing up his emails. ‘Please tell me we are able to leave the house now?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’ I reply cautiously, giving Noah a quick once-over. ‘I can’t see any fresh spots, but I don’t want to risk you both spreading the dreaded pox around the neighbourhood.’

  ‘You should call Gina and ask how Marc and the kids are doing.’ Oliver mutters, as Noah turns on the television and immediately finds the cartoon channel.

  My skin prickles as I recall my awkward conversation with the girls last night. I hate arguing with my friends, no matter how big or small the disagreement.

  ‘Did she mention anything at Artemis?’ He presses, as though reading my mind.

  Shaking my head in response I’m reminded of my plans for today, but before I can tell Oliver what I intend to do, he starts to speak again.

  ‘Have you heard anything from my mom? I’ve sent her a dozen messages, but she hasn’t returned my calls.’ Pausing as Pumpkin walks into the bedroom, he leans down and strokes her head. ‘I wouldn’t mind, but knowing she’s probably with that creep is bothering me.’

  Throwing back the duvet, I grab my dressing gown from the back of the door. ‘Can you stop referring to him as that creep? If things go according to plan, we could be working for him any day now.’

  ‘With him.’ Oliver corrects sternly. ‘Not for him.’

  I stuff my feet into my slippers and whistle for Pumpkin to follow me. ‘Either way, our future at Suave depends on Stelios, so you might want to reconsider your opinion of him.’

  ‘Again, I’m going to bring it back to the tape.’ Oliver scoffs, laughing sarcastically. ‘How can you possibly defend him?’

  ‘What tape?’ Noah asks, keeping his eyes glued to the television screen.

  ‘Never you mind.’ I say firmly, before turning back to Oliver. ‘When we met him he was charming, polite and professional. Stelios hasn’t given us a single reason to have a personal vendetta against him.’ Twisting my wild curls into a bun, I grab a hair clip from the dressing table. ‘If we all judged people on their bedroom antics, our list of friends would become a hell of a lot shorter…’

  Leaving him to stew over my words, I lead Pumpkin into the living room and let the bedroom door close behind me. Pouring some food into her bowl, I look over my shoulder as my phone bleeps from its resting place on the coffee table. A yawn escapes my lips as I pick up the handset and run my eyes over the many messages on the screen. Three from Lianna, two from Gina and one from Dawn. Each message desperately requesting that I don’t let Eve in on our plans.

  Before I can have second thoughts, I tap at the keyboard and send a text to Eve. Not bothering to reply to the others, I lock the screen and grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Wincing as the cold liquid slips down my throat, I place the bottle on the counter as my phone vibrates in my pocket. My heart skips a beat as I tap open the message and read her reply. She’s agreed to meet me and after last night’s escapades, I wasn’t sure if she would.

  Taking a deep breath, I watch Pumpkin sniff around the dining table as the sun peeps out from behind the clouds. Being honest with your friends costs nothing, but lying could cost you absolutely everything. Even when protecting the friendship is the reason for the lie in the first place…

  * * *

  Waiting for the waitress to finish dressing the table with tiny cakes and finger sandwiches, I steal a sideways glance at Eve as she surreptitiously checks her phone for messages. When I arrived at her apartment earlier Owen had already left for a business meeting, which made this lunch much easier. However, despite Eve not being aware of what this impromptu summit is in aid of, her low mood has been evident since the second I knocked on her door and I can’t say that I blame her.

  With everyone’s attention being on Suave lately, Eve has drifted further and further out of our social circle. Unintentionally, she’s been pushed out of the loop and I can’t believe it has taken until now for me to realise it. After trying so hard to fall pregnant, Eve has pretty much been left to raise the twins alone, which probably isn’t how she expected motherhood to be.

  As I walked away from Artemis last night, I finally grasped just how difficult these past few months must have been for Eve. It’s easy to forget how tough becoming a new mother can be and if I’m completely honest, I should have made more of an effort to be there for her. Real friendship goes beyond shopping and cocktails. Real friends notice when people are struggling and put their own problems on one side to help them through it. They don’t bury their heads in the sand and pretend that everything is fine, when deep down they know something isn’t quite right.

  Guilt washes over me once more and I try to shake it off. I might not have been the best friend in the world to Eve, but now is my chance to put it right.

  ‘So, this is nice.’ I say with a grin, taking the stack of small plates and pushing one towards her. ‘It’s been so long since we spent some proper time together!’

  Eve timidly pops a cucumber sandwich onto her plate and forces a tiny smile.

  ‘What is it?’ I ask, pouring out two drinks from the pretty teapot. ‘Are you missing the twins, because I’m sure Ester will be coping just fine?’

  ‘Yes an
d no.’ Checking her phone again, Eve reaches for a cupcake. ‘I always miss them when they’re not around, but it’s also a relief to be away.’

  ‘It is?’ I say in surprise, a little taken aback by her reply.

  Nibbling at a piece of cucumber, Eve sighs loudly. ‘I love them both deeply. Of course, I do. It’s just that, with Owen at work every hour of the day, I don’t have a single second to be me anymore.’

  Resting my elbows on the table, I motion for her to continue.

  ‘Is it too much to ask for an hour here and there? You know, just to paint my nails, read a magazine or catch up with you guys. I feel like I’m slipping away from the woman I once was and as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m lonely. I’m lonely and I’m sad.’ Blinking back tears, Eve looks away as her voice starts to break. ‘I’m a terrible mother, aren’t I?’

  ‘No!’ I exclaim, abandoning my food and shuffling my seat over to her. ‘You’re a fabulous mother!’

  Taking a napkin from the table, I dab at her wet face as tears spill down her cheeks.

  ‘I’m not! I’m awful and you guys must think it, because you don’t spend any time with me anymore.’ Turning to look at me, Eve sniffs repeatedly as she tries to compose herself. ‘I tried to convince myself it was all in my mind, but when I pushed myself to join you last night, I could feel it. I’m no longer part of the clique…’

  A huge tear slips down her face and I inwardly kick myself for being so oblivious to Eve’s troubles.

  ‘You’re not imagining it, Eve.’ I say, choosing my words carefully. ‘We have been avoiding you lately, but it’s not for the reason you think.’

  Eve’s jaw drops open as she hears her suspicions confirmed and I suddenly realise how stupid it was for us to keep this from her.

  ‘Before I tell you why we have been acting rather strangely lately, I need you to know that the way you’re feeling is perfectly normal.’ Keeping my eyes fixed on hers, I stare at her intently. ‘Most new mothers go through a stage of worrying that they’re not doing it right, but there is no right or wrong way to be a mum. It’s perfectly okay to admit that you’re struggling.’