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‘All right.’ He raises his palms to me, looks behind him, towards the Lovegoods’ house, back to me. ‘But you’ve got to know he did it for you, all right?’
‘What? Who?’
‘Matt. He loves you. He’d lie down on hot coals for you – you know that, don’t you? But it was him, babe.’
‘Him?’
‘He left the door open. It wasn’t you. It was him.’
Twenty-Two
Matt
‘Where’s Nee gone?’ Bella has materialised out of thin air and is looking all about her. ‘I literally saw him here five seconds ago.’
‘Bella,’ he says. ‘Where’ve you been hiding?’
‘God knows. Where’s Nee though, Matt?’
‘He…’ Matt gestures towards the kitchen but gets no further. ‘I was looking for Ava, but I can’t see her either.’
‘Check this place out, eh?’ Bella says then, the whereabouts of her husband apparently no longer a priority. She takes a sip of her tall pink drink through a black paper straw, then fixes Matt with a direct, almost flirtatious stare. She releases the straw and smacks her lips. ‘I don’t think I’ve been to a party where they have actual waiters in the house. The guy on the bar’s, like, a proper mixer. I literally told him what I wanted and he mixed a cocktail just for me.’ She holds up her glass and looks at it. ‘This is a Pink Gin Bella! It’s delicious! Try it!’
Matt shakes his head.
‘Oh go on. Don’t be boring.’ She holds the straw to his lips and reluctantly he takes a sip.
‘Nice,’ he says, without knowing what he means.
‘Can you taste the rhubarb?’ Bella asks, eyes twinkling. ‘It’s got rhubarb in it.’ Her brow furrows. ‘Or was it gooseberries? I can’t remember. Anyway, this is my fourth, lol.’ As if to prove it, her eyelids half close and she sways a little. ‘Johnnie said he’s going to turn the music up in a minute. He asked me to start the dancing.’
‘Great,’ Matt says, his gaze wandering again to the kitchen. No sign of either Neil or Ava. He has left Ava alone, as he said he would not. He went to check on Neil and when he looked round, she’d gone. Then Neil left, and he got talking to Pete Shepherd, the retired guy from over the road. He meant to look for Ava, he did. But somehow he forgot about her.
The flash of guilt amplifies in the face of another realisation: it has been a relief. To forget about her.
‘Have you seen Ava?’ he asks Bella.
She shakes her head. ‘I saw her a while ago. Before the speeches, well, not speeches – you know what I mean.’
‘I’m going to find her, OK?’
‘K, babe.’ Bella raises her glass. Her eyes close as she first misses then finds her lips with the end of the straw.
In the kitchen, the music is louder. The voices have amplified in such a large space. The kitchen is too big, he thinks. A garage. An aircraft hangar. The hard surfaces, the high gloss and the lack of curtains or soft furniture make the cacophony of voices bounce around, make it sound like there are a hundred people here when there are about half that. A warm smell of spices reaches him; hot snacks on square black plates spread across the ice-white kitchen bar. It is almost 10 p.m. and the atmosphere is boozy. This has happened quickly, possibly on account of the strong cocktails and perhaps because everyone is so excited to get a lookinside the Lovegoods’– God knows, Pete Shepherd could barely contain his scandalised excitement, eyes popping as he took it all in, brain visibly exploding at his own wild estimations of the outrageous cost.
Stopping to grab another beer from the artful selection piled high on blue ice in some sort of futuristic metal trough, Matt takes the opportunity to taste what turns out to be a rice ball with melted cheese – mozzarella? – inside, delicately flavoured with… cumin? Fennel? Chilli, definitely, and salt. My God, it’s good.
‘Matt,’ someone says.
He turns to find Jennifer Lovegood standing beside him, her features soft with alcohol and the early years of her forties, he guesses.
‘This is so good,’ he mumbles, holding up the… thing.
‘Supplì, yes, they’re great, aren’t they? Angelo’s, the Italian deli over in Barnes – do you know it? Anyway, I’m so glad you and Ava came. How are you?’
‘Erm, fine,’ he replies, preoccupied. ‘Actually, I was looking for Ava.’
She glances about, her height allowing her to scan the room. ‘She’s probably in the sitting room. I showed her it earlier, in case she needed somewhere quiet to feed Fred.’
