Page 29 of The Bordeaux Book Club

‘You know you’re in France, right?’ Leah joked, putting her bag down on the floor beside the chair and slipping gratefully in it. ‘It’s obligatory to be in easy reach of a café at all times.’

They exchanged small talk for a few minutes – Leah ordering a coffee and buying Alfie another orange juice. George had been working on fitting a stained-glass window in the property he was renovating. ‘My mate designed it himself,’ he said proudly, passing around a phone. ‘Beautiful, ain’t it.’

Monica looked much happier than when they’d last seen her. Peter was apparently back on a fortnight’s leave and had taken Bella last night so that she could finally get some sleep. ‘Honestly,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe that a couple of years ago, I used to pull all-nighters. Now my favourite pastime is literally passing out.’

‘It’ll pass,’ said Grace, unintentionally creating a bit of wordplay that made them all groan. ‘Well?’ she said, clearly not having thought about what she’d said. ‘It will!’

‘If you need a hand, anytime, you can always ask,’ Leah found herself saying. ‘I know we don’t know each other that well, but I’d love to help if you need it.’ It would be nice, she thought,to spend time with Bella – a little girl who almost certainly wouldn’t scowl at her every word.

Grace opened her mouth as if to echo Leah’s offer, but closed it again.

Monica flushed a little. ‘Thank you,’ she said to Leah. ‘That means a lot.’

‘And if you want to get outsans bébé, then pop over to mine for a coffee anytime,’ Grace added at last.

Grace then regaled them with a tale from art club about a session where they’d elected to draw a pet. ‘I invited them to mine, of course. But do you think Hector would play ball? Damn cat sits perfectly still most of the time, so I thought he’d be ideal. But no. Suddenly, he is the most playful, bouncy pussycat you’ve ever seen. We had to abandon it entirely!’

When asked how things were in her world, Leah decided to simply say they’d been fine and ‘working on the garden’. She realised that, other than the potato argument, they hadn’t had anything interesting happen to them this month. Was that a good thing? Interesting times, anecdote-generating moments, were often the most difficult ones. Perhaps things were just ticking along fine, and that was why she had nothing to report. But it felt a little odd, just to nod and say, ‘Yeah, not bad thanks,’ when asked about her month.

Finally, they got onto the matter in hand. ‘So,’ said Grace, taking charge, ‘what did we all make of the wonderfulWuthering Heights?’

‘Oh, I loved it,’ Monica began. ‘The gorgeous descriptions – the undying love. And Heathcliff,’ she rolled her eyes in a mock-swoon. ‘It’s all just so romantic! That level of love, passion. It’s just…’

‘But it’s not really a love story, is it?’ Alfie piped up. They all looked at him.

‘Surely it’s thedefinitivelove story?’ Grace said. ‘The sense of eternal longing between Cathy and Heathcliff. Yes, it’s not a happy ending; but surely the love is there?’

‘It’s just…’ Alfie said. ‘I was expecting… Everyone says it’s a love story, don’t they? Everyone says Heathcliff is this romantic character. But, well, does anyone else feel he’s a bit of an arsehole?’ He blushed, looking at Grace. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘A—hole.’

‘Heathcliff is the epitome of a romantic lead!’ Grace cried, almost as if mortally offended by his words. ‘He embodies that raw passion, the wildness of the moors, the natural…’

‘But he’s a bully,’ Alfie said, simply. ‘He’s a bully and he’s an abuser – and I know he’s had a pretty awful childhood, but that doesn’t excuse how he behaves later on.’

Grace shook her head, almost fondly, at Alfie. ‘But surely it’s his love for Cathy that drives him? And yes, he’s a bit… well, violent-tempered, I’ll give you that. But it’s the violence of love that compels him! He doesn’t give up when the going gets tough.’

‘Violence of love?’ George interjected, his tone scoffing.

They looked at him.

‘Sorry,’ he said, going red, ‘didn’t mean it to sound that way. It’s just… well, I agree with Alfie that this Heathcliff bloke is a bully. You know, you read stuff in the papers. About abusers and that. And there’s always, like, an excuse – like he was “so in love”, or “driven by passion”, or whatever. But that ain’t an excuse now and it shouldn’t have been then.’

Leah nodded. ‘I sort of agree,’ she said, looking sideways at Grace. ‘I know, I loved Heathcliff when I read it the first time. But this time, being a bit older… Ihatedhim. The way he treats poor Isabella! Throwing that knife at her. Oh, and her poor dog!’

‘I know what you mean,’ Monica said. ‘But there’s something about him, don’t you think?’

‘I suppose women always like a bad boy,’ quipped Grace.

‘Yeah, but there’s a bad boy and there’s Heathcliff,’ said George. ‘He’s not some rebel on a motorbike. He’s evil, if you ask me. Poor kid had a tough start in life. So, I suppose it’s not his fault, or whatever, completely. But he’s… Put it this way, if he walked into this café, I’d give him a piece of my mind.’

It was such an absurd comment that Leah laughed. George looked up, caught her eye and joined in. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I realise that’s pretty unlikely.’

‘Because he’s fictional?’ Leah said.

‘Fictional and dead.’

‘Yeah, makes it a pretty empty threat.’

They all laughed.

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