Even though the others had no idea what Melanie Cheung looked like, beyond the vague description Eve had given Clare over the phone, there was no doubt in their minds that Melanie was now standing in the doorway, peering across packed tables towards the corner where they sat. She was clutching what looked like a waiting-list-worthy Hermès Kelly bag to her chest as if it was body armour.
‘Oh God Eve,’ Clare murmured. ‘Tall, slim, gorgeous. Your basic self-esteem crusher.’
‘Shut up.’
Raising a hand to wave Melanie Cheung over, Eve had to share Clare’s misgivings. What could this woman—all expensive handbag, effortless style and shampoo-ad hair—possibly want with them?
‘Thank you, so much, for letting me come along. I really appreciate it,’ Melanie Cheung said, when she’d settled into the seat they’d saved for her and Lily had returned with two skinny lattes and a bottle of water. ‘Are the others on their way?’
‘Others?’ Eve looked at her, confused. ‘What others?’
‘Well…I thought…I mean, I know you said it wasn’t so much a group…’ Melanie looked flustered, as if she wanted the ground to swallow her up.
‘There are no others,’ Clare said with a smile, taking control of the situation. ‘Just us. It doesn’t matter, does it?’
Melanie shook her head, but it looked as if it did matter. A lot.
‘Eve, you already know, sort of. She’s a new stepmum…’
‘Not exactly,’ Eve protested.
‘As good as,’ Clare continued. ‘To three children—her partner, Ian, is a widower. Lily’s my sister and has a three-year-old stepdaughter.’ Lily didn’t bother to correct her. ‘And I’m not a stepmother at all,’ Clare said. ‘But I had one, so that gives me a different perspective on things when it’s needed.’
‘And when it’s not!’ Lily said, but she was smiling.
‘What about you, Melanie?’ Eve said, conscious of the other woman’s discomfort. ‘What’s your story?’
Gingerly, Melanie placed the bag she was still hugging—either as protection or in case she’d need to make aquick getaway—on the seat beside her.
‘I’m divorced,’ she said, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the low-level chatter around them. ‘My ex recently remarried and had a child—not in that order. A little boy with his new…wife. But that’s not strictly relevant. I mean, it’s not as if Barty’s my stepson. He’s nothing to me. And that’s kind of odd in itself, don’t you think?’ She paused, obviously embarrassed at how much she’d revealed so quickly. The others looked everywhere but at her, while Melanie sipped her latte and tried to regain her composure.
‘Anyway…I’ve been seeing this guy for a couple of months now, I met him through work. His name’s Vince, his company set up personalshopper’s computer systems. It was all going really well, no pressure, just an easy-going thing. No strings—well, not many. Exactly what I needed after…well, after…you know…’
They did. Even if Eve hadn’t already filled them in, Melanie’s divorce was well enough documented for anyone who ever read the gossip columns.
‘And then I found out he’s been married before. Vince, that is. He just tossed it into the conversation, like it was nothing; just one of those things everybody did in their twenties.’
‘Not me,’ Clare said.
‘Me neither,’ Eve agreed.
‘That’s what I mean,’ Melanie continued. ‘And on top of the unmentioned marriage, it turns out he has a daughter who’s ten. She lives with her mother but he sees her every other weekend, and a week or so in each of the school holidays.’
‘How d’you mean, you “found out”?’ Lily asked, sketching inverted commas in the air. ‘You mean he kept it secret?’
‘No, not exactly,’ said Melanie. ‘He just hadn’t thought to mention it and I didn’t think to ask. Well, you wouldn’t, would you? But I know what you must be thinking. I mean, how do you date someone for two, nearly three, months and not tell them something that significant? And, to be honest, I feel like an idiot. How can you not know your boyfriend has a kid?’
‘I wasn’t thinking that,’ Lily said, with a shrug.
‘Really?’ said Clare turning to her. ‘I was.’
Melanie gave a nervous laugh. ‘But it’s not just that. It’s like one minute it’s all easy-come, easy-go, the next he’s got a ten-year-old daughter and therefore, by extension, so do I.’
She paused, clearly panic-stricken. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to meet her. I do. It’s just…I’m terrified. I don’t have the first clue how to handle it. What to say, what to do.’
Taking a deep breath, Melanie looked around at the other women. ‘I’m pathetic, aren’t I? I’m scared of a tweenager I haven’t even met.’
‘And, not unreasonably, a bit pissed off with Vince for putting you in this position without warning,’ Lily added. ‘I don’t call that pathetic.’
‘Not at all,’ Eve added. ‘If we’re anything to go by, out-and-out terror is entirely normal.’ She was gratified to see that Melanie, who’d looked on the verge of tears, smiled.
‘When did you find out your guy was a dad?’ Melanie asked Eve. ‘If you don’t mind me asking.’
‘It was a bit different,’ Eve said. ‘I knew long before I met him.’ And she ran Melanie through a potted history of her and Ian.
‘What about you?’ Melanie asked Lily, when Eve had finished.
‘Pretty much straightaway,’ she said. ‘A week in, maybe two at most. But that’s Liam for you. He wouldn’t see what the big deal was. It was, “Can’t see you Saturday babes, it’s my turn to have the kid. Don’t suppose you fancy coming round too, do you?”’
‘Really?’ Eve said, eyebrows raised. ‘You’re kidding? Liam let you meet Rosie that soon? How did he know it was going to last? You and him, I mean.’
‘What? You don’t believe in love at first sight?’ Lily grinned to show she wasn’t serious. ‘And I didn’t meet Rosie that soon. But only because I refused. Liam would have wheeled me along on our second date, no doubt about it. To him, it’s not that big a deal. He thinks we think too much. And, sometimes, listening to us beat ourselves up, I wonder if he doesn’t have a point.
‘Anyway,’ said Lily. ‘Where was I? Oh, yes. I didn’t meet Rosie that first time. It would have been too soon for Rosie, and frankly it was too soon for me. I mean, you meet this guy, you basically laugh each other into bed, then you wake up next morning and he’s like, “Oh by the way babe, how d’you feel about brat sitting at the weekend”. Call me old-fashioned, but I say that’s a bit too soon!’
The group burst out laughing and Eve took the opportunity to start a coffee run. As Melanie reached for her purse Eve waved her away. ‘You get them in next time.’
‘Not for me, thanks,’ Lily said, reaching for her jacket and backpack. ‘I’ve got to be back at work five minutes ago. Lovely to meet you, Melanie. Sorry to run out on you. See you soon.’
Melanie watched Eve and Lily hug each other and then head in different directions, Lily to the door, Eve to the counter, as Clare called her daughter to check she was where she said she’d be, doing what she said she’d be doing. At home doing homework.
Did they realize what they’d just said? Melanie wondered. Next time. For the first time since landing in London, Melanie felt on the verge of something, some people, who might truly, in time, become her own friends.