Page 18 of Such a Good Couple
‘I’m gonna just give him a nudge.’ Annie turned back to make her way down to the water’s edge. ‘See you guys in an hour.’
Up at the house, the kids, who had wilted on the walk back from the boat, were soon freshly showered and assembled in the dedicated screening room down in the basement in front of the newSonicmovie.
‘It’s not even in cinemas yet,’ Josh told Clara breathlessly. ‘Essie and Dodi’s dad gets all the movies before they’re out! And he’s the voice of one of the squirrels.’
With the boys settled, Clara jumped into the shower herself and took her time conditioning her hair and cleansing her face. It was a luxury showering without her kids trying to get in with her but Clara’s thoughts were swirling.Why change the code? Why change the code?Day-drinking and unsettling revelations did not mix.
Ollie was still not back from the beach when she got out and started getting dressed. She chose a short mint-green dress and Doc Marten sandals and hurried up the stairs to Maggie’s room on the second floor. She wanted to get there before the stylists arrived. She had to tell the girls about the phone passcode. She needed the reaction of an outsider to decide how serious or not serious it was.
She pushed open the door, which led into an airy seating area. Maggie and Fionn’s room was a suite, with a bedroom and bathroom off a living room. The sound of running water suggested Maggie was still showering, so Clara ambled over to the windows. Just like Clara’s own room, the view was spectacular, only this room had a wrap-around wooden balcony – a sort of widow’s walk. She stepped out onto it and looked down to the beach below. She could see Ollie and Conor ambling back and she felt irritation flare. Conor had clearly stood Annie up and Ollie hadn’t even been up to the house to check if the kids were sorted. Obviously she hadn’t had to do a thing with Ed on hand but Ollie didn’t know that.
Clara realised that the shower had stopped and she slippedback inside, moving into the bedroom area.
‘Maggie?’ Clara called. She heard the toilet flush and some elaborate throat-clearing noises, then the doors swung open and Maggie, catching sight of Clara, leapt backwards.
‘Fucking hell!’
‘Sorry! Sorry!’ Clara laughed. ‘I thought you’d heard me call you!’
‘No, sorry.’ Maggie, recovered from her fright, strode across the room wrapped in her towel and began pulling a dress in a deep red from a garment bag that hung on a rail in the corner along with more than a dozen others. ‘I’m just going to get dressed.’ She slipped back into the bathroom.
‘You really don’t have to hide from me, the amount of times you’ve mooned me!’
‘That was in college,’ Maggie called through the door.
‘That was last year in Saint-Tropez!’ Clara reminded her.
Clara slid over to the clothes rail. There were laminated sheets affixed to the outside of each bag showing what looked to be pictures of the dresses inside, along with notes on what shoes and jewellery go with each one. Fascinating. Clara filed this away to tell Annie about. Just then, as though summoned by Clara’s thoughts, Annie appeared in the living space behind her.
‘Oh my God!’ Annie said, taking in the chic wicker sofas with plump white cushions and enormous, almost sculptural wicker lighting feature overhead.
‘Shhhhh.’ Clara pulled her into the bedroom and indicated the rail. ‘Check it out,’ she whispered. ‘Rich People Shit is getting crazier.’
Annie’s eyes were wide. ‘This one’s Marni!’ Annie tugged on a bag. ‘She didn’t have this dress buffet on the last holiday, did she?’
Clara shook her head. ‘Maybe because it was skiing, she didn’t care as much?’
‘She is caring a lot now, I’m noticing.’ Annie kept her voice low. ‘Where is she?’
‘In the bathroom, changing.’
‘You don’t think …’ Annie paused. She seemed to be searching for the right words. ‘You don’t think she’s doing anything … bad?’
‘No!’ Clara shook her head. ‘She would never. She’s just a little self-conscious. Those shits in the press. Plus there was another one of those pieces about her being Fionn’s, like, super “ordinary” wife …’
Just then Maggie breezed out, looking beautiful. Her dress was to the knee with a scoop neck and the rust-red colour was a stunning contrast to her dark hair.
‘So, Annie? Did you get the ride?’ Maggie asked.
‘I did not.’ Annie shook her head, looking mutinous. ‘I’m getting so sick of it. I do all the work of making the plans, figuring out the fertile windows, and then half the time I’ve to cajole him into it. Do you know how hard it is to bang someone when you’ve had to remind them, like, a hundred times to fuck you?’
Clara nodded sympathetically. ‘I can imagine.’
Maggie put her arms around Annie. ‘If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think you’re alone. I’m starting to suspect that fucking your husband starts to feel like a chore no matter where you’re at.’
Maggie drew back from Annie and started fussing in a large velvet box on the dressing table that was full of neatly arranged jewellery. Annie, Clara noticed, didn’t look remotely cheered up by that bleak statement.
‘I don’t remember the last time Ollie and I had sex,’ Clara piped up. ‘It’s easily been a month. And no doubt it was brief. He’s …’ She hesitated for a minute; she wanted their opinion but, also, saying it made it real.
