‘Really? So it’s a friendly divorce. Are you just being nice to keep the maintenance cheques coming?’ She grinned and winked.
‘No! We’re… friends. He’s been my best friend for so long – and we’re not actually divorced yet.’
‘Riiiight…’
‘It’s complicated.’
‘So you said. So are you going to divorce him? Holding out for a good settlement, I hope?’
‘I haven’t really thought about it. I guess I need to get a lawyer at some point, but for now we are just ticking along. He still lives in our house. It’s not far from here.’ Jade’s mouth gaped open and Maddie felt the need to defend herself. ‘But he bought the flat for me and he pays me my salary like before, even though I’m not working right now. He’s held my job for me if I want it, says I can work from home instead of the office, because it would be awkward.’
‘For you or him?’
‘For both of us. And his girlfriend, who was his PA before everything, so…’
‘Oh my God! This just gets better.’
Why was Maddie telling her all this?
‘They have a baby together, little Jemima.’
‘So basically, you’re stringing him along, milking him for money while he plays happy families in your house?’ Jade sounded almost envious.
‘I’ve said I’ll get a new job and I think the arrangement will change when we finally get divorced and they get married, if they get married… It’s funny, but if he died now, I would get everything because I’m still married to him and I’m a partner in the business. He’s actually worth more dead than alive.’ The thought had come from nowhere and she suddenly found it amusing. She wondered if Gemma knew that. In her inebriation, it was quite a delicious concept. She smiled into her glass. Then just as quickly, a wave of hurt nipped at her, demanding to be let in.
‘Well, I say string him along for as long as you can. Divorces are expensive,’ Jade said.
‘I think she is pushing to get married, so I’m sure he’ll ask for a divorce soon enough and things will change.’
‘Yeah, I think I might have similar problems.’ Jade slurped at her wine and fidgeted. ‘God, I need a cigarette, but I’m trying to stop smoking. Do you vape?’
Maddie was feeling very drunk, but Jade now looked sober and alert, her eyes darting around and her words crisp, unlike Maddie’s rounded, slurred diction. Jade suddenly sat forward, causing Maddie to slop some of the wine over the rim of her glass.
‘You know, we should work together, make a pact,’ Jade said excitedly.
‘Oh?’ Maddie’s attention was diverted by one of her favourite episodes of Friends starting on the TV. She was glad of the distraction, didn’t want to talk about Greg and Gemma and money anymore. ‘Oh, this is my favourite episode – Monica’s hair!’ She giggled.
‘If our respective fellas try to change our agreements, we should team up. Do something to help each other out. I don’t want to be out of pocket over their mistakes with their dicks.’
‘Sure,’ Maddie said, her eyes on the TV. ‘Like what? Kidnap them and rough them up until they agree to carry on paying up?’ Maddie laughed giddily at the absurd thought of her trying to rough anyone up. Jade, on the other hand, could probably hold her own.
Jade was watching Maddie earnestly. ‘Maybe… have you ever thought about the perfect murder? How to get away with it?’
‘Can’t say I think about murdering people very often. Well, apart from Greg…’ She giggled again.
Jade stared into her glass. ‘Ben is in Mark’s will. Mark told me that once. He earned a lot on the rigs and if he died, it would go to me for Ben until he is old enough. Especially if his other kid hasn’t been born yet.’
Maddie watched Jade as she chewed on her lip, thinking it over, and chuckled. ‘Look at you, the devious criminal mastermind! Well then, you’ve got it all sorted. Now we just have to figure out how to kill them and get away with it.’ Maddie wrung her hands together like a Bond villain, playing along with Jade. ‘Maybe a sharp shove off a cliff? A poisoned vindaloo? I tell you what, if you kill mine, I’ll kill yours.’
‘Deal.’
‘I’ll drink to that!’ Maddie held her glass up and chinked it against Jade’s, then drained it.
Jade grinned at her, showing teeth stained red from the wine, and Maddie shivered, suddenly feeling cold. She felt the smile slide from her own stained lips.
Maddie had forgotten what it was like to be drunk. It had been years since she’d felt this loose, finding everything either hilarious or infuriating – and nothing in between. Her head was full of noise, like there were one hundred people whispering to her, all trying to get a word in, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. It was just a constant buzz of background noise, both pleasantly entertaining and annoyingly chaotic at the same time, and she had an urge to rest her head for a minute, maybe close her eyes, just to still the buzzing for a moment. Jade’s face swam in and out of focus, like someone was manipulating a camera lens in front of her eyes.
She drank some more wine and as the alcohol surged to her head, her stomach lurched. She staggered to the bathroom and threw up, her arms clutching the toilet bowl like a life preserver.
THEN
The music is loud in my ears, reverberating through my feet and up my legs as I stand in the corner of the room. Tracey is chatting up some guy, her head tilted to the side as she giggles and flirts. It’s a routine I’ve seen a few times in the last few weeks as she continues her search for a boyfriend before the end of term, just so that she will have someone to invite to the end of year dance. I’m hoping she doesn’t hook up with
