The Perfect Present by Karen Swan

Author:Karen Swan [Swan, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447219811
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Laura sat on the sofa in the back row of the cinema room, wondering how it was that Cat made even slobbing-out look chic. She was wearing a winter-white cashmere tracksuit with baby-blue and white striped cashmere socks. Laura looked down at her own ensemble: dark green Jack Wills trackie bums bought in the sale and a navy and green flannel lumberjack-type shirt that had already lost a button and so had to be either closed up to the neck or left flopping open and dangerously close to exposing her M&S bra.

Laura dragged her eyes back to the screen and watched dispassionately as George Clooney performed a masterclass in being handsome and funny at the same time. He usually did it for her, but tonight she was more interested in the men who were busy being handsome and funny in this blacked-out room. Since her revelatory interview with Alex, and the contretemps with Rob, she felt like she was on shifting sands. She didn’t understand Rob’s persisting anger with her, any more than she understood why Alex was going to marry a woman he didn’t love.

Alex, sitting in the middle of the three rows, had started a popcorn fight and kept landing perfect aims on Orlando, but more particularly Rob. David didn’t stop texting, driving Sam to despair as his bright screen interrupted her concentration until eventually she confiscated it from him altogether.

‘On the naughty step, David?’ Alex chuckled, lobbing a piece of popcorn at him so that it landed in his beer.

Laura watched in silence, happy to be protected by the darkness. Now that she had some context, Alex’s behaviour was easy to read: the joking, happy-go-lucky, inveterate flirt – they were all modes that kept attention on what he was doing and deflected attention from how he might be feeling.

Isabella snuggled into him, yesterday’s fight already forgiven and forgotten. Maybe she knew what she was dealing with. Women were intuitive in these matters. Perhaps she accepted the off-screen role that Cat played in their lives. Cat was married, after all, and posed no direct threat to their relationship. It was Alex’s fantasies and memories she had to contend with, not the woman herself.

Laura’s eyes drifted over to Rob, the man living Alex’s dream. Cat was stretched out on him, her head in his lap, and she kept intermittently feeding him. Occasionally, Laura would see Cat’s arm snake up to his neck, bending him down to her for a kiss, even though he seemed more interested in the film.

A wave of loneliness broke over her in the back row, closely followed by exhaustion, and she wasn’t sure she could manage several more hours of keeping a smile on her face. She had to go to bed. She’d already seen the film they were watching anyway. Quietly, she rose to go, placing a finger on her lips as Kitty looked across at her questioningly. Laura put her hands to the side of her cheek, indicating she was going to bed.

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