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Noah was grateful that Kitty didn’t try to
talk him out of his decision at a time when it wouldn’t have taken
much to change his mind. He was about to leave when she called him
back.

“
What about Maxine?” she
asked.

Chapter Seven

Maxine walked home in a euphoric daze,
repeatedly fingering the envelope in her hand, hardly daring to
believe what was in it. Everyone told her she was bound to get the
grades she needed for Jesus, which only added to the pressure.
She’d had sleepless nights, worrying that she’d let everyone down,
but all that was behind her now. She’d done it! A broad smile split
her face as she anticipated sharing the news with Noah. He said
he’d call round in his lunch break, and she wondered if he’d be
waiting for her when she got home.

It wasn’t Noah sitting on her doorstep but
Cassie. Maxine quelled her disappointment, determined that nothing
would spoil her special day.

“
Hi, Cassie,” she said, beaming.
“Hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“
Five minutes, that’s all.” Cassie
stood and brushed the back of her skirt down.

“
I can hardly believe it but I got
straight A’s.” Maxine brandished the envelope containing her
results. “Isn’t it fantastic?”

“
Well done,” Cassie said with a
marked lack of enthusiasm. “I knew you would.”

“
Easy for you to say,” Maxine
responded, rolling her eyes. “You’ve no idea how worried I’ve
been.” She opened the door and ushered Cassie in ahead of her. “I
must just ring Mum and tell her. She’s away on an Open University
residential week, but I know she’ll be on tenterhooks. Has Noah
called whilst you were waiting, by the way?” She looked round as
though expecting him to appear from behind the sofa. “He said he’d
drop by.”

“
No, I’ve not seen him today but,
as it happens, it’s him I’ve come to talk to you about.”

“
Oh yes.” Her mother’s mobile was
switched off so Maxine hung up without leaving a message. “What
about?”

“
I’m getting married,
Max.”

“
Congratulations, Cassie! No
wonder you’re looking so radiant today.” Maxine beamed, genuinely
pleased for her friend. “So you’ve decided to accept Graham after
all. I’m sure you’re doing the right thing. I know you had the
jitters a few weeks back when he started hinting about marriage
but, really, you two are made for each other.” She frowned. “Hang
on, though. What’s this got to do with Noah? You said you wanted to
talk about him.”

“
Listen to me, Max, I’ve got the
most fantastic news. It’s not common knowledge yet but, obviously,
since you’re a good friend to us both you’ve got to know because we
want you to be at the wedding. So Noah left me to come round and
tell you.”

Maxine felt the furrow on her brow deepen.
There was something about the malicious glint in Cassie’s eye that
worried her. “What are you talking about, Cassie?”

“
About Noah, of course! It’s not
Graham I’m going to marry, silly, it’s Noah.”

Maxine’s stomach lurched as the gist of
Cassie’s announcement struck home. Her vision blurred, and she
simply gaped at her, too stunned to speak a word.

“
I knew you’d be delighted for
us.” Cassie whirled about the kitchen. “We’re mad about each other,
you see, and Daddy’s arranging for us to get married at Caxton Hall
as soon as possible. Noah says he can’t wait for Mummy to arrange a
white wedding, which she’s a bit miffed about, but I’m too happy to
care.” Maxine remained rooted to the spot, still staring inanely at
Cassie. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me, Max?”

“
I…I—”

“
Noah won’t accept Daddy’s offer
of a flat as a wedding present, but that’s just his silly pride
getting in the way. I’ve said I’ll live on Broad Street if that’s
what he really wants, but I don’t expect it’ll be for long. I
popped into an estate agent this morning as a matter of fact.” She
flapped a sheaf of papers under Maxine’s nose. “Someone’s building
modern flats on the site of the old grange. The ground floor ones
have adorable little gardens of their own and they’d be just
perfect for us.” Cassie paused in her ramblings and glanced at
Maxine. “Max, are you all right?”

Almost in slow motion, the cup in Maxine’s
hand fell to the tiled floor and shattered. She mouthed something,
but no sound escaped her lips.

“
What’s wrong, Max, aren’t you
glad for us?” Cassie puckered her brow. “You’ll still be Noah’s
friend, and mine. You’ve gone a bit pale. Are you all right?” She
paused, looking mystified. “Surely you didn’t think you were
anything more than Noah’s friend, did you?”

Maxine fled from the room, clasping a hand
over her mouth. With Cassie’s cruel words resonating in her ears,
she only just made it to the bathroom before she threw up, reaching
again and again until her throat was sore and there was nothing
left inside her. She sank to the tiled floor, rested her pounding
head against the cool porcelain, and waited for the tears to
come.

As betrayals went, this one took pride of
place. The man she loved and who’d given meaning and shape to her
existence didn’t really care about her at all. In fact he cared so
little that he’d not even bothered to tell her himself. For Cassie
to break the news today of all days was the ultimate kick in the
teeth. She never would have thought Noah capable of such cynical
cruelty, which showed how little she actually knew him. Was it
asking too much to let her enjoy this rare moment of glory? To
revel in the spotlight for once in her life? Couldn’t they have
delayed the announcement for just one more day?

She’d seen the callous side of Noah’s nature
time and again in the dismissive way he dealt with the women who
pursued him, but it wasn’t something she’d ever thought to
experience firsthand. She wondered at her naivety as the tears
still refused to come. Instead she felt numb, used, humiliated—and
then nothing at all. Blessed oblivion. Struggling to her feet she
staggered back to her room and sank into a chair, staring through
unseeing eyes at the neat back garden.

Cassie had taken herself off. Just as well
because at that moment Maxine couldn’t trust herself to be in the
same room as her. She hated Cassie for her duplicity, hated Noah
and the persuasive charm that had encouraged her to believe his
lies, but most of all she hated herself for falling for them.
Nothing he’d said to her had been true. Nothing. Not even his
supposed dislike of her former friend. All the time she thought
he’d been having casual flings with different women and he’d been
spending his time with her.

Realizing what a trusting idiot she’d been
caused an agonizing pain to grip her. She wailed aloud, wishing she
was dead. The terrible sound shattered the peace in the unnaturally
quiet house and drifted through the open window, echoing round the
garden. Maxine didn’t think she had the strength to survive such
gut-wrenching agony.

Why?

Why had he befriended her and led her to
suppose she mattered to him when all the time he was screwing her
slender ex-friend. So much for him not caring about her bulk! It
obviously mattered to him as much as it did to just about everyone
else in this size-conscious world.

Maxine had no idea how long she sat motionless
in that chair. She didn’t hear the phone ringing every ten minutes,
nor did she hear someone pounding at the front door. The tears
still refused to come, but gradually her turbulent emotions were
replaced by an enveloping calm that helped her reach a decision.
She couldn’t stay in Colebrook. Not even for another hour. She
never wanted to see Noah, or any of her former friends, ever
again.

A frenetic energy replaced her inertia. She
tracked her mother down at her course in Brighton and listlessly
relayed the results of her exams.

“
Mum,” she said, once her mother’s
congratulations dried up, “I’ve changed my mind. You’re right,
there’s not much point in hanging around Colebrook for the rest of
the summer. I might as well go to Derek’s immediately and
familiarize myself with Cambridge. Besides, I expect Gwen would
welcome some help with the children.”

“
Of course, darling, whatever you
want.”

Maxine knew from her mother’s distracted tone
that she’d already lost interest and was thinking about something
else. “I’ll probably be gone by the time you get back,” she
said.

Breaking the connection, Maxine searched out a
train timetable from amongst the jumble in a kitchen drawer. Good,
if she hurried, she could be in Cambridge by tea-time. She rang
Gwen, who congratulated her on her results and said, with feeling,
that she’d welcome her with open arms. Maxine phoned for a mini-cab
to pick her up in half-an-hour and then set about packing. Hardly
aware of what she was doing, she threw a few clothes into one
carryall, not caring what she took because no one ever looked at
her. She hesitated a little longer over her books, but even the
selection of those didn’t delay her for long. When the cab driver
honked his horn outside she was ready to go and lugged her bags in
the direction of his car, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead as
she left her childhood home for the last time.

* * * *

Two days after Maxine’s results came through,
Noah still hadn’t tracked her down. It wasn’t like her to go
missing, so he wondered if her results had been disappointing. Even
so, surely she’d want to talk to him about them? Something was
obviously wrong, and if he hadn’t been so wrapped up in self-pity
he’d have realized it a lot sooner.

He trudged up the path to her mother’s
bungalow for what felt like the hundredth time in two days and was
relieved when the door opened after his first knock. Mrs. Small had
let herself go recently and was now larger than Maxine. She was at
her most eccentric best today in a colorful caftan, mauve streaks
in her hair and grubby sneakers on her small feet.

“
Oh, hello, Noah, how are you?
Splendid news about Maxine’s results isn’t it, but then I always
knew she’d achieve straight A’s. She the cleverest of us all, you
know.”

“
Yeah, I do know.” He grinned
broadly at this confirmation of her success. “Is she
here?”

Mrs. Small quirked a badly-plucked
eyebrow.

“
No, didn’t she tell you that she
changed her plans? I am surprised. I thought you’d be the first to
know. She’s gone on up to Cambridge early to settle in and help
Derek and Gwen with the children.”

Noah was appalled. “No, she didn’t tell me.
When did she go?”

“
Oh, I’m not sure really.” Noah
clenched his fists at her lack of maternal concern. “I was away,
but she must have gone almost as soon as she got her results, I
suppose.”

Noah’s mind raced. She’d never leave without
telling him first. Something must have upset her badly to make her
take off like that. And there was only one thing it could possibly
be. Feeling a violent rage sweep through him, Noah somehow managed
to say goodbye to Mrs. Small and get out of the bungalow. It was
almost the end of his lunch break but he was too angry to care
about being late back. He had to get to the bottom of this and see
if there was anything he could do to repair the damage.

Noah didn’t like the thought of being married
to Cassie, but was stoically determined to do what he thought was
right. The irony of the situation didn’t escape him. He entered
into sexual liaisons as casually as most people go to the local for
a pint, but everyone was lax about sex nowadays. The guys on the
building site never talked about anything else. Even the supposedly
happily married ones weren’t averse to taking advantage of any
opportunities that came their way. So who could blame him, a single
bloke at the height of his sexual prowess, for doing the
same?

When he eventually made a mistake, as any
gambler adept at calculating odds would know was inevitable, Noah
couldn’t turn his back on his responsibilities. His views—the
product of deep-seated insecurities brought about by his
unstructured childhood—were too entrenched for that. And so he put
his hand up, prepared to face the consequences of an impetuous
decision he would always regret.

He reached Cassie’s house and found her there
alone, sunbathing topless by the pool. Her face lit up when she saw
him. Noah barely noticed her bouncing tits as she sat up and leaned
toward him.

“
Noah, what a lovely surprise!”
She reached up to kiss him but he turned his face away.

“
Have you seen Max since she got
her results?”

“
Oh yes, didn’t I tell
you?”

“
No,” he said through tightly
gritted teeth, “it must have slipped your mind.”

“
Oh well, I certainly meant to but
there’s been so much going on that I forgot.”

“
Cut the crap and just tell me,
Cassie.”

She blanched at his tone but conjured up a
bright smile and spoke again. “She got all A’s, which of course we
expected. Isn’t it great!”

“
What else did you
discuss?”

“
Well, obviously, I told her about
the wedding, and—”

“
You did what!”

“
Darling, I thought you’d want her
to know. Did I do wrong? Are you cross with me?” She put on the
little girl voice that already grated on his nerves and wound her
arms round his neck. He pushed her violently away. “After all,
she’s such a great friend to us both that I thought she’d be
delighted. Besides, I knew you’d want her to be at the
wedding.”