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‘Maybe now that I’ve tried the big-city life I’m ready to get back to my open-field syndrome!’
‘You might just find that’s easier said than done.’
Alessandro didn’t know why he was getting hot under the collar at Megan’s innocent conversation, but it gnawed away at him throughout the whole of the first half of the musical.
He was vaguely aware of dutifully clapping in all the right places—just as he was vaguely aware that the woman next to him was totally absorbed in what was happening on the stage. But he was largely preoccupied with the disturbing suspicion that he wanted to be the one calling all the shots. Was that just his male ego talking? From the lofty heights of someone who was used to giving orders and having them obeyed without question, Alessandro had piously thought that he was not one of those guys who got off on being always in control.
By the time intermission rolled around, he was in the grip of a pretty foul mood, made more foul by Megan’s bubbly chatter and her insistence on getting his thoughts on what he had seen so far. Wasn’t the choreography brilliant? Wasn’t the singing fantastic? Wasn’t that little kid just so adorable?
Alessandro was non-committal as they headed for the bar, where drinks had been pre-ordered.
‘Not too many musicals in the countryside these days,’ was what he heard himself saying. ‘Although probably quite a few barn dances.’
‘What’s it to you whether I bury myself in the countryside to pursue my hobby of knitting and going to barn dances?’ Megan asked tartly.
Ahead of them, the other members of their party had become submerged in the chaos of the bar.
This whole stupid conversation seemed to have become a battle of wills, and Megan wasn’t going to back down.
‘Obviously not much,’ Alessandro drawled darkly. ‘You can bury yourself wherever you want to. I merely felt compelled to point out the drawbacks to your master plan.’
‘And thanks very much for that. But I’m a big girl now. I think I can work out how to live my life without your advice. In fact—’ she furthered her cause for independence ‘—if you’ll make my excuses to everyone, I’m going to join the queue for the Ladies’. I might not be back in time for my glass of wine.’
She wasn’t one hundred per cent sure where the restrooms were, and nor did she really need to go, but she needed to put some distance between herself and Alessandro. This should have been a fun evening. Instead the fun bit was getting lost in an uncomfortable argument about nothing in particular. If, she thought furiously as she battled through the crowds like a fish swimming upstream, he hadn’t wanted to bring her along to the theatre, then he should never have invited her. But he had asked her along and then proceeded to pick a row over her silly, purely hypothetical plan to move out to the country. Just because, she reasoned, he had to be the one whose opinions were always right.
Was she getting on his nerves? Was this his way of showing it?
She reached the restrooms to find the line of people as long as she had expected. Longer. And moving at a snail’s pace. But at least it would give her the chance to get back her cheerful frame of mind, so that she could enjoy the second half of the musical.
She was miles away when a familiar voice said from behind, ‘Megan? Is that you?’
Megan spun around to find Victoria standing right behind her, exquisite in a pale woollen, long-sleeved dress with a string of pearls around her neck. Her hair, for the first time since Megan had met her, fell in a neat, glossy bob to her shoulders.
‘Victoria!’
‘Isn’t this a surprise? Who are you here with?’
The line was shuffling forwards very slowly. ‘I’m with…’ Megan hesitated, guiltily aware that Alessandro’s name might be a depressing reminder to the other woman of her broken engagement. ‘A few…friends. And you? You look tremendous, by the way. And Dominic, I gather, is still head over heels in love with football! I’m so glad about that.’
‘So am I,’ Victoria confided with a warm smile. ‘And I have you to thank for that.’
Megan mumbled something in return.
‘In fact, I have you to thank for a number of things. Look, are you absolutely desperate for the loo? We could just slope off and have a quiet chat before the second half begins. There are a few things I’d rather like to get off my chest.’
Megan swallowed hard and wished herself back to the bar—because arguing with Alessandro suddenly seemed more restful than hearing what Victoria had to say.
‘Of course.’ She resigned herself to the inevitable and followed Victoria, who seemed to know the layout of the theatre a lot better than she did. In fact, they managed to avoid the crowds altogether, and were shown by one of the ushers to a quiet side room just off the stage.
