Mrs Carter. Thank you.’
‘I saw you run in here and wondered if you might like a glass of water or something, darling?’
Greer wondered how much Mrs Carter had seen and understood.
‘No, thank you. I’m fine, really.’
‘That’s good.’ Mrs Carter made no move to go into the cubicle. Instead she put her hand comfortingly on Greer’s shoulder and leant in closer. She smelt of alcohol mixed with Dior Poison.
‘Seeing your mam and dad dancing like that has taken me back.’ She shifted unsteadily and her eyes seemed glazed over.
Greer wanted to sit down or go home or both, but this wretched woman wouldn’t leave her alone. She made an attempt at good manners. ‘Taken you back to when?’
‘When we was all at school together. Your dad was so handsome. All we girls wanted to dance with him. He’s still got it, hasn’t he? I haven’t seen him dance like that since he married your mum.’ Mrs Carter had a faraway look in her eye that Greer didn’t like.
‘He used to dance like that with me, you know.’
Greer was feeling queasy again. ‘What do you mean?’
‘He and I went out with each other for a little while, but your mum took dancing lessons and before long they were a couple on the dance floor …’ Mrs Carter sighed again. ‘And in life.’
Beads of sweat popped out on Greer’s top lip and forehead. She didn’t want to hear any more. ‘Excuse me, Mrs Carter, but I must get some fresh air.’ She made a dash for the door and just heard Mrs Carter’s imploring, ‘Don’t tell Loveday, will you? She thinks her dad was my one and only boyfriend.’
God, what was going on with these adults? What kind of role models were they? She slipped through the pub bar and out to the front where she found an empty bench tucked into the shadows. She breathed the cool night air. It was tinged with the familiar smell of salt, seaweed, diesel and fish and chips. She took stock of her evening. Her parents were some kind of dancing nuts, and her best friend’s mother had gone out with her dad. She didn’t want to imagine how intimate they might or might not have been. Her world seemed to have turned upside down. Then she thought of Jesse and the way he had held her tonight. She was sure she’d seen a flicker of real emotion in his eye. Until her parents had shown themselves up. What would he think of her now? She buried her face in her hands for the second time that evening.
After a while she sensed that she wasn’t alone. Someone sat on the bench next to her and the wooden slats gave way a little, making her bounce slightly.
‘All right, are you, Greer?’ asked Jesse.
She stayed hunched but took her hands from her face. ‘Yes.’
‘Loveday’s mum’s worried about you. She thought you might not be feeling well.’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Sure?’
‘Sure.’
Jesse stretched his long legs out in front of him and stretched his arms over his head. She turned to look at him. He was staring at the stars. She drank in his wonderful profile. His always tousled blond hair was carelessly sticking out in all directions. His eyebrows framed his honest sea-green eyes. His lashes were fair but long and his nose straight and strong. His lips, slightly parted, were on the thin side but they framed his teeth perfectly.
He spoke. ‘Satellite. Look.’ She tilted her head up and followed his pointing finger. Sure enough, across the heavens a bright light was moving at speed. ‘I wanted to be an astronaut when I was young.’
She smiled. ‘You are young.’
Now he turned those sea-green eyes to her. ‘Greer, I’ve got six O levels and I’m leaving school to work with my dad. I’m already old.’
‘You’re only sixteen. You can go to college, get some more qualifications.’
‘That’s for people like you. You want to go to college, don’t you?’
‘Art school. But my dad wants me to do a secretarial course.’
‘Sensible.’
‘I don’t want sensible. I want to be an interior designer. To make beautiful houses for beautiful people, and …’ She looked down at her feet in their pretty pink suede court shoes, ‘and I want to be married and have children.’
Jesse lifted his arm and put it round her shoulders, aware of what he was doing, thinking again of her smooth skin and her firm thighs. He couldn’t seem to stop himself: the mix of alcohol, the heat of the pub and his raging hormones had put his body and his mind at odds with each other. ‘Do you now? And who have you got your eye on?’
It was now or never, under the starry night sky, and still slightly drunk she looked him full in the eye and breathed, ‘You.’
His father’s words – you’d do a lot worse than to marry that girl – drifted through Jesse’s alcoholic haze.
Greer felt his arm lift a little away from her and he was silent for a moment before he started to laugh. Now his arm was back by his side, searching for his other arm to cross defensively over his chest, his heart.
‘You’re a funny one when you’re drunk, aren’t you?’ He stood up. ‘Let’s go back. The others will be wondering where we are. We don’t want to start any rumours, do we?’
She stayed where she was, horrified and ashamed that she’d played her hand so openly.
‘I’ll join you in a minute.’
He looked down at her and held out a large hand. ‘Come on, you. We all say silly things when we’re pissed. I promise not to tell. Now take my hand and let’s go back.’
*
The party had degenerated into several couples clinging to each other in a slow dance. Around the edges sat groups of people chatting or snogging. The fire pit for the hog roast had died down to a mellow glow and the hog itself was just a charred carcass. Greer glanced around to find her parents. She saw them through a window sitting inside in the bar.
Her feeling of relief was swiftly abated when a breathless Loveday ran up to them in distress.
‘Jesse, your brother’s challenged Ricky the DJ to an arm-wrestling match. He’s ever so drunk and I’m frightened he’s going to hurt him.’
‘Oh shit,’ said Jesse, and he sprinted off into the pub.
A crowd had gathered around Grant and Ricky. Ricky was a big lad with strong arms and a beer belly, and he was holding his own. Grant’s tattooed muscles, though, were as dense and hard as granite. He was staring into the DJ’s pudgy face and through bared teeth said, ‘Come on, fat boy. You can do better than this, can’t you?’
Ricky dug deep and strengthened his grip. ‘You don’t scare me, soldier boy. I was in the Falklands. I’ve killed people.’
‘Yeah?’ grimaced
