Page 35 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
‘I don’t think anyone can escape the past that easily, Garland, no matter how much they may try,’ Honey said sombrely. ‘You always carry the ghosts with you.’
I supposed she was right. I’d never quite managed to escape my past – first the death of my parents when I was a child, which illogically had felt like an abandonment, and then, later, Thom literally had abandoned me, though he at least had had a choice.
‘I still think you should have warned me, Honey. What if he thinks I found out where he was living and only took the job here because of it? I mean, it all seems one hell of a coincidence. Doesn’t it?’
‘Oh, he doesn’t think that. And life is full of the weirdest coincidences,’ she assured me. She sipped her own drink and her dark, thoughtful eyes met mine over the rim of the glass.
‘How do you know he doesn’t think it?’
‘He rang me earlier, shortly after I’d got back and said he’d had a shock when he saw you, because you’d known each other from childhood, though you’d since lost touch.’
‘Yeah, right!’ I said sarcastically.
‘And he said you were obviously surprised to see him there, too—’
‘Understatement of the year!’ I put in.
‘But he really did think it was a coincidence, because he doesn’t realize thatIknow all about your shared history.’
That was true. During all our long exchanges by email andphone, I was sure I’d revealed almost every detail of my relationship with Thom, not to mention the whole Leo/Marco connection that had caused our last quarrel before he left London for good.
‘So, why did he ring you?’
‘To find out what you’re doing here, of course! I mean, he realizes you are my new museum curator, but he said the last he’d heard of you, you were firmly fixed in London, doing well in your profession and engaged to be married.’
‘What did you tell him?’
‘Well, first of all that we’d discovered we were distant cousins after we’d met at an exhibition about a mutual ancestor, a Regency actress.’ Then, she continued blandly, ‘I said that when I’d heard that due to a change in your circumstances you were looking for a new job out of London, I immediately offered you the post of curator.’
‘“A change in my circumstances” is one way of putting it,’ I said drily, and she gave that attractive, twisted grin.
‘Of course, then he wanted to knowwhatchange of circumstances and I said he’d better ask you himself if he really wanted to know and I looked forward to seeing him with the other Pelican Mews residents for dinner at seven thirty.’
The realization finally dawned. ‘So heiscoming here?’ I looked at my watch. ‘Any minute now!’
‘Well, he didn’t say hewasn’t, and he accepted the invitation earlier, along with the others. But I rang off then, anyway.’
‘Who are these others—’ I began, then broke off as a woman came into the dining room, visible through the folded-back double doors.
She was about Honey’s age, small and slight, wrapped in a large flowered pinafore. She was setting down a stack of plates but looked up when our voices ceased.
She had a sweet, heart-shaped face with a broad brow, above which sprang two wings of wavy brown hair. She reminded me strongly of a portrait of Charlotte Brontë.
‘Viv, come and have a sherry,’ invited Honey. ‘This is my cousin, Garland – I’ve told you all about her.’
Viv came in with seeming reluctance, darted a shy smile in my direction, then accepted a glass of sherry. She didn’t stay and drink it with us, though, but without a word headed back through the dining room and out of a far door.
‘Elective mute,’ said Honey when she’d gone.
‘What?’
‘Elective mute, though they called it selective mutism when we were students together. She’s been one from a child and it means that as well as being very shy, she literallycan’ttalk to most people, only to ones she knows well, like me. We were at school together before university.’
‘I’ve never heard of it,’ I confessed.
‘Not many people have. It’s more common in children and then, with the right treatment, they usually manage OK as adults, but Viv’s has continued all her life.’
‘Won’t she be a bit daunted by a dinner party of people she doesn’t know, then?’
