‘What about Aisling?’ said Josh casually.
Bella looked wary. What about Aisling?
‘She’s looking for somewhere to live at the moment,’ he explained. ‘And you’d be bound to get on. I’d have thought she’d be perfect for you.’
What planet was he living on? Bella stared at him in disbelief. He didn’t really see her and Aisling as bosom buddies, did he? Didn’t he know her at all?
‘I’m not sure we’ve got that much in common,’ she said carefully.
Josh looked surprised. ‘Don’t you? I think you’re very alike. Aisling’s in marketing and you’re in PR—they’re not that different as careers go, are they? And she’s a bit of a social butterfly, too.’
‘I thought she spent her whole time climbing mountains or knocking up rafts out of a couple of tin cans and a piece of string?’ said Bella a little sourly.
‘She’s got a lot of expedition experience,’ Josh agreed, ‘but she’s a good-time girl like you on the side as well.’
Oh, right. So Aisling swung both ways. She could hack her way through a rainforest and wear lipstick. Bully for her. Bella took another slurp of champagne.
‘She’s not quite such a princess as you, though,’ Josh was adding with something less than his usual tact. ‘She doesn’t actually require somewhere to plug in her hair-dryer when she’s camping!’
Bella eyed him with some hostility. Josh had once insisted on taking her camping in the Yorkshire Dales, and had been appalled when he discovered that not only had she taken a hair-dryer with her but she had actually used it. He had never let her forget it. Bella was quite sure that Aisling had heard that story and laughed prettily at the idea that anyone could be quite that much of a city girl.
‘I’m not sure Tooting would be very convenient for Aisling,’ she said. ‘It’s not exactly handy for your office, is it?’
‘Aisling’s been trekking across the Sahara,’ Josh pointed out. ‘I don’t think she would find changing tubes a problem!’
Well, that put her in her place, thought Bella grumpily.
‘Yes, well, I’ll talk to Phoebe,’ she said without enthusiasm. ‘It’s her house, so it’s her decision really.’
‘Great,’ said Josh. ‘I’m sure Phoebe won’t mind.’
‘Where is Aisling, anyway?’ said Bella. She had to get to Phoebe before Josh did. There was no way she was going to share a house with Aisling.
Josh looked around the marquee, and pointed. ‘Over there, talking to Finn’s sister.’
As if she had heard him, Aisling looked over, and beckoned imperatively. In spite of being anxious to get rid of him so she could go and find Phoebe, Bella couldn’t believe it when Josh just went. He ought to have more pride, she thought crossly.
Still, now was her chance to grab Phoebe.
‘So you will say no, won’t you?’ she begged when she had dragged Phoebe away from Gib and poured the whole story into her ears.
‘If you want,’ said Phoebe, ‘but I don’t know what I’m going to say to Josh. I can’t think of any reason to object to Aisling. She seems very nice.’
‘I don’t like her,’ said Bella.
‘Why not?’
‘I just don’t,’ she said a little sulkily. ‘There’s a little too much of that bubbly Irish charm if you ask me. And I don’t think she’s right for Josh.’
Phoebe looked at her narrowly. ‘Are you sure you’re not just jealous?’
‘Jealous? Jealous?’ spluttered Bella, spilling most of the champagne in her outrage. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! I have never been jealous of Josh, you know that. I’ve always got on really well with all his girlfriends.’
‘Mmnn, but then none of them were at all like you.’
‘Nor is Aisling!’
‘Yes, she is. I’m sure that’s why you don’t like her. You’ve only got to look at her!’
Bella turned to stare across the marquee to where Aisling was snuggling up to Josh. She obviously couldn’t keep her hands off him. Josh would hate that, Bella thought disapprovingly. He was definitely a behind-closed-doors sort of man.
On the other hand, he wasn’t exactly fighting Aisling off, was he?
She looked away. ‘I’m nothing like Aisling,’ she told Phoebe. ‘She’s got red hair, for a start!’
‘OK, but change the colour of her hair and eyes, and what have you got? She’s ridiculously pretty, has legs up to her armpits, and that glamorous look that is just so different from Josh’s previous girlfriends. Admit it, Bella, she’s practically a clone!’
Bella wasn’t prepared to admit anything of the kind. ‘What, apart from looking completely different and having completely different personalities? I’d say all Aisling and I had in common was our gender! Josh is always telling me how practical she is and how she likes doing hearty things like climbing and camping.’
Phoebe shrugged. ‘Have it your own way.’
‘Anyway,’ Bella went on, a defensive edge to her voice, ‘Josh and I agreed a long time ago that we would just be friends. There’s no question of jealousy.’
‘Didn’t you ever find him attractive?’ asked Phoebe curiously, and try as she might, Bella couldn’t quite make herself meet her friend’s eyes.
‘He wasn’t my type,’ she said.
‘Do you think you were ever his?’
Had she been? For the first time Bella found herself wondering.
‘He never said, and anyway, he always seemed to have some outdoorsy girl who didn’t fuss about her hair or wear make-up or mind getting up at six to go potholing or whatever it was they used to do at weekends. Josh and I used to make each other laugh, and we had a great time doing that. We didn’t want to spoil it by sleeping together.
‘Besides,’ she added honestly, ‘he wasn’t at all attractive then. He was a bit thin and nerdy.’
Phoebe glanced across the marquee. ‘He’s changed,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ said Bella, following her gaze. Through the crowds, she could just glimpse Josh. The lean, compact figure was at once alien and utterly familiar.
He was talking to someone out of sight, but as she watched he threw back his head and laughed, and her stomach abruptly disappeared, as if she had stumbled unawares off the edge of an abyss. The sensation of falling was so intense that Bella had to close her eyes against a sickening wave of vertigo, and when she opened them again she felt dizzy and hollow inside.
‘Yes,’ she said again. ‘He has.’
There was a silence. Frightened by the strength of her physical response, Bella drank her champagne shakily, and it was some time before she realised that Phoebe was watching her expectantly.
‘What?’ she demanded, and Phoebe held up her hands, one still clutching her champagne glass.
‘I didn’t say anything!’
That was the worst thing about friends who knew you really well. They didn’t need to say anything for you to know exactly what they were thinking!