Page 43 of The Wife
‘Town hall thing?’ I glance from Toby to Celia.
She shrugs. ‘I went with Madeline to meet the planners earlier today. We gave them the petition for the appeal against the woodland development. It went fine, but we won’t hear anything for a day or two.’
‘Fingers crossed,’ I say. ‘They need to know how much opposition there is to it.’
‘Absolutely!’ Celia puts an arm around Alice, who snuggles into her grandma’s side. ‘Anyway, enough about that. You two go and enjoy your evening.’
‘Have fun, you two,’ Malcolm says, as we blow them all kisses and head out of the door with a rare feeling of celebration.
Thankfully, the rain has ceased. Instead, the air is fresh and cold, clearing my head and banishing any residual sleepiness. The pub is only a minute’s walk down the road, but the narrow pavement is slippery, and I hang on to Toby’s arm for support.
‘I’m glad we’re doing this.’ Toby leans in and kisses the side of my head.
‘Me too. I’m starving though. Think I’m going to have their mushroom hotpot.’
‘Shepherd’s pie for me. And a nice cold pint.’
As we reach the brick-built pub, I glance through the leaded windows at the cosy orange glow within. Toby opens the porch door and I follow him into the warm, noisy interior, buoyed up even more by the sound of laughter and the delicious aroma of award-winning pub grub. We wave to Mike and Lucy behind the bar. They took over the pub three years ago and managed to turn it from an okay place to one of the best eateries in town. Consequently, it’s always busy. Tonight is no exception.
‘Those two look like they’re leaving.’ Toby nods in the direction of an older couple at the far end of the room, next to the wood burner. They’re vacating two chesterfield tub chairs that I know from experience are the comfiest seats in the whole place.
‘Quick, quick,’ I hiss, glancing left and right. ‘Let’s grab that table.’
We giggle like teenagers as we thank the departing couple and sink into our newly claimed seats with sighs of bliss. Toby stands up again and lays his coat over the arm of the chair. ‘What do you want to drink?’
‘I’ll have a pint of pale ale.’ I unzip my coat and hold my hands out toward the wood burner that’s emitting just the right amount of heat.
‘And the mushroom hotpot?’
‘Yeah; and get some crisps for while we’re waiting.’ I giggle again, feeling giddy with our sudden escape from domesticity.
While Toby’s at the bar putting in our order and chatting to Mike, I glance around to see if I can recognise anyone. There are a few semi-familiar faces, but no one I know that well. I’m finally warm enough to wriggle out of my coat. I resist the urge to look at my phone. Tonight is about relaxing. Before too long, Toby returns with our beers. We clink pint glasses and take long sips. He drops two bags of salt and vinegar crisps onto the table and I tear one of them open and take a handful.
‘Well, this is nice,’ I remark.
‘Yeah, definitely one of my better ideas.’ Toby grins. ‘Are wegood?’
I frown. ‘Good?’
‘Yeah, you know, after the whole Madeline thing.’
I feel my blood pressure rising just at the mention of her name. ‘Shall we not talk about that tonight?’
‘Fine by me. But…’ He hesitates. ‘I was going to tell you about the surprise.’
‘What surprise?’
‘You know, the one I was talking to Madeline about that day.’
‘Oh.’ I’ve been trying to put that day out of my head. I hadn’t been sure if Toby was being entirely truthful, or whether he was making up a ‘surprise’ to throw me off the scent of whatever else they might have been doing. Thinking about the whole incident was making my head hurt. I decided that I preferred to forget about it and give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, I really couldn’t picture him and Madeline together. I couldn’t imagine him betraying me, as well as his brother. It would be beyond reprehensible.
It seems that all our topics of conversation tonight are going to be minefields. Perhaps we should have stayed in and watched TV after all.
‘Okay. So, what’s the surprise?’ I take a sip of my beer and wish there was no surprise at all, and that he’d never had to meet up with my sister-in-law.
‘It’s a good one,’ he reassures me, sensing my distrust. ‘As well as our party on the Friday night, we’re going to have a posh mini-break! We’re booked in to stay at the hotel for two nights, along with Madeline, Nick, and my mum and dad. And Mum’s booked treatments at the spa on the Saturday afternoon for you, me, Madeline and Nick!’ He pauses while he waits for me to digest the news. ‘So? What do you think? Madeline helped Mum to book it all.’
‘Wow.’ I realise that came out sounding less than excited. Ordinarily, this would be an incredible surprise. A real treat. Right now, it feels like too much. But I can’t let Toby see how I’m feeling, so I take a breath and try to act really happy. ‘Toby, that’s amazing! Thank you.’
