Chapter 3

Eve was waiting for me when I arrived at her home. It was a very different woman to the one I had seen before. The gold chain was there, over a check shirt, and she was wearing jeans. You can tell with jeans, good brands fit well; cheap ones look as if they are a sum of parts not actually related. Eve's jeans were more than good, I doubt if there was much change out of four hundred quid for them. Her lips were glossed with just a little lipstick; apart from that her face was bare of make-up. Her sunglasses were parked up in her dark brown hair. She looked younger without the make-up. Eve asked me to come in and carry the hamper to the car. Yes! A Hamper and it was heavy. My mind marvelled with anticipation of delicious things. Eve, though delicious, was not included in my mind's menu.

Once on our way, Eve became chatty.

"I had to sneak these jeans in without Aubrey seeing them. He would have a fit if he saw me wearing them."

"Why? You look damned good in them."

"Thank you, John." There was pleasure in her voice. "Aubrey thinks that Jeans are down-market, and therefore no wife of his should wear them." I made no reply to that, and it seemed that Eve didn't expect one, as she carried on. "I am really looking forward to the concert; do you know what they will be playing?"

"Yes, I had a look at the flyer they sent. There's 'Morning' and 'Solveig's song' from Peer Gynt, Tchaikovsky's overture to 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'After the Storm' from Beethoven's Pastoral. I hope that isn't prophetic. Then after the break it's all rousing stuff, 'Jerusalem', 'Pomp and Circumstance' we get to sing along. There's more, but I can't remember exactly what."

"So you sing as well?" I grinned.

"I mouth the words. My singing voice is somewhere between Lee Marvin and Harpo Marx."

"Wasn't Harpo the one that never said a word?"

"Exactly, that's advice that should apply to my singing." Eve was grinning.

"You haven't heard me sing yet."

"I doubt that one false note could come from someone as lovely."

"The day is complete already. You have paid me two lovely compliments, more than I have had in years. Every girl should keep a literary man in tow." She sighed.

The next question was the one that women will ask of any single man.

"Do you have a girlfriend, or significant other?" I smiled a little at the expression significant other. I was well aware of the rumour sometimes circulating around Sunrooms, that I may be gay. No reason apart from my being thirty-one and single. Then of course there was my liking for the arts. Why is it that an appreciation of music and literature inevitably leads to rumours of homosexuality? Aubrey I am certain was the root of most of this gossip.

"At the moment I am between girlfriends, and no significant other." Eve was smiling.

"I thought you would pick up on that wording. Aubrey thinks you're gay, probably one of the reasons why he was not unhappy with you escorting me to the ballet and today. I didn't tell him you're not."

"Oh! And how do you come to that conclusion?" Eve was grinning.

"Women know." I could not see her face, I was driving, but I could hear the inflexion in her voice. "You looked me in the eye, and your eyes opened wider, which means you liked me. And, even though you did it on the sly, you looked at my breasts as well, more than once. Gay men don't tend to do that. I was rather flattered, as you seemed to like what you saw. It made me feel desirable again. I liked that."

What did she mean by that? Made her feel desirable again. For me the conversation was getting too personal. I cleared my throat, which for some unaccountable reason had got dry.

"Did Aubrey get off alright?"

"I would imagine that my husband is getting off as we speak." She replied bitterly. I could say little at that point. I understood the slang expression, yet hearing it from Eve's lips was quite a shock. My silence spoke more than words could. Eve broke the silence.

"Oh come on John. You know as well as I that there is no Fenestra seminar this weekend." I prevaricated.

"Well, no official one."

"John. Don't be kind to Aubrey. I can assure you that under the same circumstances he would happily drop you right in it. Besides I am fairly sure what my husband is doing this weekend, and next week I shall know for certain."

"What do you think is happening?"

"I am not going to say until I have the proof. If it is as I think, then I will go to my solicitor and start divorce proceedings. Please keep that confidential, John. I won't tell what he's doing as you have to work with him. That wouldn't be fair on you."