Sasha frowned. “That surprises me,” she said. “She’s been so contrary recently.”
“I didn’t notice that,” said Bruce.
“Well, quite frankly, she worries me,” Sasha went on. “And I wondered if you had any suggestions. You’re in her age group.
You might see something I’m missing.”
Bruce scrutinised the menu. He was not sure whether he liked this line of conversation.
“Let me give you an example,” Sasha went on. “At the ball, Lizzie won dinner for two at the Prestonfield Hotel. Now any normal girl would ask a friend along to join her. Lizzie didn’t do that. No, she telephoned the hotel and asked them whether instead of a dinner for two she could have two separate dinners for one. Can you believe that?”
Bruce thought for a moment. “Perhaps she wasn’t in the mood for company,” he said. “We all feel like that sometimes.”
“But that’s how she seems to feel all the time,” said Sasha, showing some exasperation. “She seems to make no effort to get friends. Or a decent job, for that matter.”
“People are different,” said Bruce. “She’s not into drugs, I take it? She’s not running around with a Hell’s Angel, is she?
Well then, what have you got to complain about? What do you want her to do anyway?”
“I want her to find a circle of friends,” said Sasha. “Nice young people. I want her to have a good time. Maybe get a boyfriend. An outgoing type, who’d take her places. Give her some fun.”
Bruce looked down at the table and moved his fork slightly, to make it parallel with his knife, as an obsessive- compulsive might do. She means somebody like me, he thought. Well, if the point about all this is to see whether I’m available, the answer will have to be no. There are limits to what one should do in the line of duty.
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“She’ll meet somebody,” he said airily. “Give her the space.
Let her get on with it.”
“But she does nothing,” said Sasha. “How can she meet somebody suitable if she won’t go out with people? She needs to get into a group. You wouldn’t be able to introduce her . . .”
Bruce did not allow her to finish her sentence. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m very much involved with an American girl at the moment.
I’m not really socialising in a crowd. I used to. But not now.”
For a few moments the disappointment registered on Sasha’s face, but she quickly recovered her composure. “Of course,” she said. “I hadn’t intended to ask you. I just wondered if you knew of anybody she might get to know. Parties, perhaps. That sort of thing.”
“Sorry,” said Bruce.
“Well, let’s not think about it any more. I’m sure you’re right.
She’ll sort herself out. Now, what are you going to have?
Remember this is on me!”
They ordered their lunch, and a bottle of Chardonnay. They talked, easily, and in a friendly way. Sasha told a most amusing story about a scandal at her tennis club, and Bruce passed on a piece of office gossip which Todd had not mentioned to her –
something about one of the secretaries. Then they talked about plans for the summer.
“Raeburn was thinking of going to Portugal,” said Sasha. “We have friends with a villa there. It has a tennis court too.”
“I like tennis,” said Bruce. “I used to play a lot.”
“I bet you were a strong player,” said Sasha. She pictured him for a moment in tennis whites. His arms would be strong; his service hard to return.
“Moderately,” said Bruce. “I need to work on my backhand.”
“Don’t we all!” said Sasha. “But look at your wrists. They’re ideal for tennis. Look.”
She reached out and took hold of his wrist playfully. “Yes,”
she said. “A real tennis player’s wrist. You should keep up your game.”
It was at that point that Todd came in. He had arranged to meet a colleague from another firm for lunch, to discuss,
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very tentatively, a possible merger. He did not see this colleague, who was late, but he did see his wife, sitting at a table in the window, holding hands with that young man from the office.
For a moment he did not move. Bruce looked up, and saw him, and pulled his wrist away from Sasha’s grasp. She looked round in astonishment and saw Todd, who was beckoning to Bruce.
Bruce stood up, shocked. ‘I’ll explain to him,” he mumbled.
