Chapter 19

“I just needed to know.”

Will left the bathroom but didn’t return to the party. Instead, he wandered into the foyer and slumped into one of four red leather sofas clustered around a low rectangular coffee table scattered with newspapers and magazines. He shook his head and sighed. Why had no one told him? Warned him? Or was Nugent lying? He’d always been fast and loose with the truth. But something about the way he’d spoken told Will it wasn’t a lie.

He pulled his mobile phone out of his inside jacket pocket and slid his thumb across the screen to unlock it. The screen lit up, displaying a picture of a young girl with a wide grin as the background wallpaper. He smiled as he looked at her.

“Is that your daughter? Sophie, isn’t it?” Lizzie was standing behind the sofa. He looked up at her and when she saw the questioning look on his face she said, “I came out of the ladies just as you left the gents. Saw you coming this way and thought we could have a chat without having to shout over the music.” She paused. “She’s very pretty.”

“She is, isn’t she?” He tapped the screen twice to display the photo fully and handed it to Lizzie.

She sat on the arm of the sofa and looked at the picture. “She has your eyes. And your smile.”

“And her mother’s sharp tongue, which, thankfully, she doesn’t use very often. She’s very difficult to get worked up.”

“Then it sounds like she’s got your temperament too. Are there any more?”

Will reached to swipe across the screen and the picture scrolled to one of father and daughter laughing.

“That’s nice,” Lizzie said. “Where is it?”

“Her thirteenth a couple of months ago. One of the few birthdays I’ve been able to get to. I usually have to make do with an early or late celebration. Some dad I turned out to be, huh?”

“I’m sure you’re a great dad.”

He sighed. “How great can I be when I’m only part-time?”

“How often do you see her?”

“Officially I have joint custody, but since she schools in London, I normally see her every other weekend and most of the holidays.”

“Most?”

“We alternate Christmas and New Year, one year she spends Christmas with her mother and New Year with me, next year we switch. Easter and half terms she spends with me and we split the summer.”

“And she knows she can call you whenever she wants, right?”

“Yeah. And she does. Although, lately it’s been to complain about some punishment or other that her mother has imposed. She’s a hell of a texter too. But that’s the youth of today, right?”

Lizzie laughed.

“What?”

“You keep saying her mother. As if she doesn’t have a name.”

“Lynn. Her name’s Lynn. Sad to say, that’s all she is to me now. My daughter’s mother.”

“You must have loved her once.”

“I did.” The finality in his voice said that topic was out of bounds.

Lizzie nudged him to scoot up the sofa, sat beside him and handed his phone back. “Is tonight as bad as you expected?”

“Who said I expected it to be bad?”

“You did.” He didn’t answer. “What are you doing out here on your own anyway?”

“Deciding if I should call a cab or not.”

“You’re leaving? Why?”

He looked at her for a few moments before answering. “I had a conversation with John Nugent while I was in the bathroom.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. Oh.” He took in the look of horror on her face, masked by forced indifference. “Why didn’t you tell me, Lizzie?”

“Tell you what?”

“Lizzie!”

She shrugged. “Amy asked me not to. Don’t look at me like that. She’s my best friend, what did you expect me to do?”

“I’m your oldest friend.”

“And you haven’t spoken to me for nearly ten years.”

“So that makes it okay to lie to me, does it?”

“I didn’t lie to you. I just...” She looked down at her shoes, “ ... left out some details.”

“Pretty big detail,” he mumbled.

“Besides, would have come tonight if I’d have told you beforehand?”

He looked away. “Probably not.”

“That’s what I figured.”

They sat in silence. The words that went unsaid hung in the air like a bad smell. Will shook his head.

“You should have told me when I got here.”

“I know. I tried. Bobby interrupted us and dragged you away. Then you were with Amy. I hoped she’d break it to you before you bumped into John.”

More silence.

“It’s not just my fault we haven’t spoken in so long, you know,” he said. “Nothing stopped you from calling me.”

“I know. Sometimes, I wish I’d made the effort. I have missed you, Will. Missed talking to you.”

“Yeah. Me too.” He put his hand on top of hers and squeezed. “Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again, shall we?”

“Deal. Of course, you do realise you’ll be getting as many text messages from me now as from your daughter.”

He laughed. “I doubt that. She’s on a contract that allows her unlimited texts.”

Lizzie raised her eyebrows. “So am I.”

Then another voice from behind said, “Here you two are. I’ve been looking everywhere.”

They both turned to look at Amy. “I spoke to John,” she said. “He told me he’d seen you.”

Lizzie stood. “I’ll leave you two alone. You need to talk. Will, promise me something.”

“What?”

“Don’t leave without saying goodbye.”

He nodded. “I promise.”

Lizzie went back to the party and Will patted the seat she’d vacated. Amy shook her head and held out her hand.

“Walk with me?”

“Where?”

She waved towards the entrance. “Out there. It’s a nice night.”

Will stood but didn’t take her hand. He walked towards the doors, then stopped and looked back. “Are you coming or not?”

It was a clear, warm night, as it had been for the past fortnight. The stars shone brightly in the dark blue, moonless sky. They walked but didn’t talk, entered the formal gardens in front of the mansion and walked around one of the two ornamental ponds, at the centre of which a marble statue of a naked Venus poured a torrent of water from a jug. Seashells covered her modesty.

“Say something,” Amy said.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Anything is better than nothing.”