There was a brief moment of silence, then Harriet picked up the bowl of strawberries beside her. “Would anyone like a strawberry? They’re homegrown. Everything is organic from our garden. My skin has improved so much since we started growing our own food. I can send you a hamper if you like, Lorna?”
Lorna gave her a tight smile and Chloe reached for a strawberry.
“Wow, these are the best strawberries I’ve ever had,” she said, trying to break the tension. “So, what are you up to these days, Salma?”
“I run a shipping company,” Salma said with a flick of herhand. “It’s a family business, so I had a head start, but I’ve grown it from ten thousand to thirty thousand employees in six years.”
“Wow, that’s incredible,” Chloe said.
“Yeah, that’s amazing, Salma,” Lorna agreed.
Salma smiled proudly, then turned to Chloe. “How about you, Chloe?”
“Oh, I work for a film company,” Chloe said.
“Which one?” Lorna asked. “Matteo knows all the big players, his brother works for Netflix.”
“McKenzie and Sons? You won’t have heard of them.”
“What have they made?” Salma asked. “We always have the TV on in the background at the office.”
“Probably nothing you’d know. It’s a small production house,” Chloe said, feeling her cheeks heat.
“Did you carry on acting?” Harriet asked. “You were so good at uni. I remember seeing you as Puck inA Midsummer Night’s Dreamand thinking, ‘That girl is going to be famous one day.’ ”
“Thanks. I did have an agent for a while, but it’s hard to juggle a day job with auditions,” she said, feeling her chest constrict. “Never say never though, right?” Why couldn’t she just admit she had tried and failed? There was no shame in it. And yet, for some reason, she felt so much shame.
“I don’t know,” Lorna said. “Matteo’s brother says if you haven’t made it by twenty-four as an actress, you might as well give up. Or wait until you’re in your Judi Dench era. It’s different for men, they don’t have the same expiration date.” Lorna pushed out her lower lip and reached to squeeze Chloe’s arm. “You’ve got a lovely boyfriend though, haven’t you, so that’s something.”
Thea strolled over with a plate of cucumber sandwiches, which she offered around but nobody wanted. “What are wetalking about?” she asked, sitting down, adjusting the silk headscarf she had tied around her braids.
“Chloe’s yummy boyfriend,” Harriet said with a giggle.
“He really is great, Chloe. You must wake up every morning and pinch yourself,” Salma said, nodding her head toward Rob.
“You know, I think he’s the most attractive person I’ve ever seen in real life,” Thea whispered. “Don’t you think he looks just like that guy fromNormal People?”
“Right,” Chloe said with a forced smile, her skin prickling with discomfort. This was what she’d wanted. It was the reason she’d brought him. And yet now, their admiration felt hollow. Having a nice boyfriend, fake or real, was not the metric she wanted to be measured by.
The conversation moved on to Thea, who talked about the challenges of juggling her well-paid law work with emotionally rewarding pro bono cases. Then Harriet told them about all the sustainability ventures their cottage farm business was investing in. Chloe listened, and nodded, and tried not to feel like the little kid at a party full of grown-ups.
Then Rob came back to join them with a plate of watermelon, meticulously cut up into identical-sized wedges.
“Wow, how did you do that?” Thea asked, leaning over to pick up a slice. “This is so neat!”
“Twenty-eight pieces,” he said cheerfully. “One for everyone here.”
Chloe eyed the watermelon, which looked like it had been dissected with a precision-cutting laser. She would need to talk to him about not doing everythingquiteso perfectly.
Then Chloe felt a prickle run up her neck, and when she turned around she saw John and Richard walking across the park toward the picnic party. She felt her pulse quicken. Shecould see from the way his head was moving that John was talking to Richard. She smiled, trying to imagine what they were talking about, tuning out the group’s conversation. Rob reached to put his arm around her just as John and Richard arrived.
“Just getting a Coke,” she said, extracting herself, standing up, and walking over to the cooler. “Anyone want one?”
“Rounders time,” said Lorna, waving a bat in the air. “Who’s going to be on my team? Rob?” She handed Rob a bat. “Let’s put couples on opposing sides. Chloe, you go with Matteo and field.”
Lorna split those who wanted to play into two teams, while some people stayed and lounged on the picnic rugs, happy to sit out the game. As everyone walked across to the bases, Chloe sent a quick text to Akiko.Were you the Imp? Seriously, joke over now, tell me.
“Everything okay?” said John, and she turned to see he had fallen into step beside her. He nodded his head toward Rob.
