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The boys arrive hand-in-hand and it’s clear they’re loved up again. While I’m fixing drinks for them and wondering what’s keeping Dominic, Nina and Gerry turn up in a taxi. It’s also clear that they’re not having a ‘love’s young dream’ day. Black looks are being exchanged before they’re through the door.
‘Good to see you both,’ I say too brightly.
Nina plasters a smile on her face as she kisses me. ‘Sorry we’re late.’ Another look at Gerry.
‘My fault.’ Her husband kisses me. ‘As usual.’
‘You’re not late,’ I say as I take their coats. ‘No worries. Hakuna Matata.’
‘What?’ she asks, distracted.
‘It’s Swahili,’ I supply, ‘for “no worries”.’
‘Oh.’ My multilingual skills fail to pique her interest. ‘Where is the guest of honour then?’
‘I’m sure he’ll be down in a minute.’
‘Dinner smells great,’ Gerry says, rubbing his hands together. ‘What have we got?’
‘Lamb,’ I say.
‘Oh.’ Disappointment clouds his face.
Not at the top of his list of favourites, obviously.
Steph arrives and I leave the rest of them in the kitchen to let her in. She’s on her mobile as I open the door. I stand there while she finishes her list of expletives and then hangs up. ‘Fucking men,’ she says with a tut. ‘Fuck the lot of them. Tossers.’
My heart sinks. Poor Mike is going to have his work cut out tonight if he’s going to be able to impress Steph. I might as well give up on my matchmaking career before it has started.
She kisses me, also distractedly, and holds out a box of chocs and some wine. ‘I need a drink,’ she says, ‘and fast.’
‘Problems?’
‘Isn’t everything with a cock trouble?’ she mutters as she shrugs her jacket off and dumps it on the sofa.
‘Er . . .’ I say. ‘Let’s get you that drink.’
Mike has already opened the bottle of champagne and soon we all have a glass in hand.
‘Shall we wait until Dominic arrives before we propose a toast?’ Mike suggests.
‘I need this now,’ Steph points out and necks the glass while he stares, open-mouthed, at her. She holds out her flute for a refill and, though gobsmacked, Mike duly obliges.
‘You’re one glass short,’ Nina points out.
‘Dominic doesn’t drink,’ I explain as I pour him a tumbler of milk.
Nina raises her eyebrows at that. ‘Not at all?’
‘No. He just likes milk.’
‘Strange,’ she remarks in an off-handed way that riles me.
‘Not really.’ Some people don’t have to be pissed to have a good time, I think.
Then a voice says, ‘Good evening, everyone.’
As one, we turn as see Dominic standing in the doorway. A silence falls over the party. Steph drops her glass, which shatters on the tile floor.
‘Bloody hell,’ Nina manages.
This is not the reaction I’d hoped for, I think bitterly. Not the reaction I’d hoped for at all.
Chapter Sixty-Three
‘My goodness.’ Mike is the first to rally. ‘You look magnificent, Dominic. Truly magnificent.’
The others are still speechless.
Dominic, instead of wearing the clothes I had put out for him, has chosen his own costume.
Over his usual red shuka, he’s wearing an orange skirt slung around his hips that is encrusted with beads and dozens of little circular mirrors that catch the light. There’s a fringe of multicoloured beading at the hem and his machete is tucked into the waistband. He’s barefoot and is wearing his wedding necklace and a dozen other strings of beads are strung across his body. His arms and ankles are also adorned with bracelets. On his cheeks, there are streaks of ochre war paint and he’s wearing an elaborate headdress of brown feathers fanned out in a circle around his face. Archie, in repose around Dominic’s shoulders, completes the outfit.
His tall willowy frame looks utterly terrifying in my tiny cottage and everyone – myself included, if I’m honest – just gawps.
Mike again, is the first to move. He hands Dominic his glass of milk.
‘Shall we drink a toast, Janie?’
‘Yes, yes.’ I’m coming out of my own shock now. ‘Yes. Of course.’
Everyone else starts to return to normal, only Dominic is looking uncertain now.
‘To Dominic,’ Mike proposes, champagne aloft.
‘To Dominic,’ we echo and we all drink from our glasses, some of us more gratefully than others. Nina downs hers in one.
‘It is very nice to be here,’ my lover says hesitantly. ‘It is very nice to meet you. I hope that friends of Janie will be friends of mine.’
