Sugar Secrets…& Guilt Read online

  “Ahem, yes, once… years ago,” said Sanjay Joshi, shifting in his seat and looking slightly unsettled by the conversational turn in the proceedings. “Nina and I went before the children were born, as I remember.”

  “Yes, that’s right. It was a lovely city,” agreed his wife, almost allowing an amiable expression to slip on to her face. Quickly, she regained her composure and beckoned her youngest daughter into the room. “Ah, thank you, Sunny-just put the tray down there, please.”

  Sunny lay down the tray of coffees on the low table, with a look of blank confusion on her face. For once, her older sister knew exactly how she felt.

  “And what brought you to Winstead?” Maya’s mother asked, passing Alex a cup.

  “Thanks. I was actually lecturing in Manchester when I heard about this position. I really liked the idea of a complete change: living in a smaller town instead of a city—”

  “Mmm, yes, we were the same,” Nina Joshi chipped in.

  “—and I liked the idea of working at an Adult Education Centre too. I find that when people come to studying later in life, they’re often a lot more motivated.”

  “Very true,” said Sanjay Joshi, as both he and his wife nodded their agreement at Alex’s words.

  The importance of education and study… wow-does he realise just how much he’s pressing the right buttons with my parents? wondered Maya, staring in awe at her boyfriend.

  Hardly daring to breath in case she disturbed the gently defrosting atmosphere, Maya tried to make sense of what had happened since Alex had turned up on the doorstep. Her parents had been instantly taken aback by his courteous manner. And although they’d initially stated their disapproval in no uncertain terms, Maya could see that they were running out of steam when confronted by Alex’s repeated assurances about respecting their daughter, and accepting their restrictions on the relationship.

  This wasn’t going at all how Maya had expected. But as she allowed herself to relax a little, she cast another quick look at her parents’ faces. Definitely less disapproving and angry than before, but the glint of steel in her mother’s eyes showed Maya that she hadn’t heard the end of it yet…

  CHAPTER 18

  ALL BACK TO MATT’S

  “Hey, Sonja.”

  “Hey, Mr DJ. How are you doing?”

  “Yeah, whatever,” said Matt non-committally as he strolled through from the living room to the kitchen with the walkabout phone held to his ear.

  “I can’t wait for your party tonight. You couldn’t have timed it better; it should really…” Sonja’s voice dipped to a whisper on the other end of the line, “…do the business and help cheer Cat up.”

  “Good. How’s she doing anyway? She totally flipped out on Thursday, didn’t she? Poor Billy played a lousy set after that, he was so shaken up by her reaction…”

  “Yeah, well you can’t blame her for being a bit jumpy, I guess.”

  “A bit jumpy? I’ve never had so much beer thrown over me since the night she chucked a pint in my face!”

  He knew Sonja would be smiling at the other end of the line.

  “Yes and that was a long time ago, and-if I remember rightly-you definitely deserved that drenching!”

  “Maybe…” Matt grinned. “But I’m only fooling around. Listen, I just wondered if you two wanted to come over this afternoon and help me get this place ready for tonight.”

  “Ready? What do you mean? You’ve let it become a pigsty while your dad’s been away and you need a couple of mugs to come along and hoover and clean the loo before the guests arrive?”

  “No. I’ve just decided to do the place up a bit. Really go for it.”

  “Cutting it a bit fine, aren’t you? Deciding on Saturday afternoon that you want to redecorate your den for a party that’s happening the same night?”

  “I know, but so what?” shrugged Matt, knowing full well that he’d left it too late. But in the last few days, he hadn’t seemed to be able to get his head into gear about anything. “Anyway, I didn’t say redecorate. I just want to make it more… partyish.”

  “Uh-huh,” sniggered Sonja at her friend’s limp explanation. “And what’s brought on this plan for the party balloons then? It’s not someone’s birthday, is it?”

  Only my mother’s, thought Matt bitterly, but that doesn’t count.

  “I just fancied a change-make it different. That’s all. So, do you and Cat want to come over?”

  “Can’t.” Sonja dropped her voice again, “Mum’s taking me and Cat out for lunch, and then we’re going shopping. She thought Cat could do with a bit of a treat after what she’s been through.”

  “Right, of course,” frowned Matt. “Well, let’s try to make tonight a good one then-to cheer Cat up.”

  “Definitely. Till later!”

  Matt slumped down on a kitchen chair and stared around him. So far, he’d only had the notion that he’d like to do the place up for the party. How that was going to happen, he hadn’t figured out: he had beens relying on Sonja’s enthusiasm and Cat’s bizarre sense of style to help him sort something out.

  “Better get some ideas together,” he told himself. “And fast.”

  “Vikki! You made it!” Cat greeted her friend as she clomped down the polished wooden stairs into Matt’s den.

  “Sure did!” smiled Vikki, gazing around the vast room as she joined the two other girls.

  “Look at your hair-it’s amazing!” exclaimed Cat, eyes wide at her friend’s waist-length black extensions.

  “Very Naomi Campbell, isn’t it?” said Vikki, giving them a theatrical twirl. “And you look great Cat. Here, give me a hug, you idiot. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about what happened!”

  “It took her long enough to tell me!” Sonja chipped in, once the mutual cuddle was over.

  “It’s so good to see you-let’s try and have a good time tonight, yeah?” Vikki boomed at the cousins. “And look at this place-wow!”

  Matt’s efforts at party interior design had consisted of borrowing sets of lights out of Central Sounds music store (it helped that he’d invited every member of staff along) and rigging them up in every downstairs room. Guests arriving in the hall were met with a disconcerting strobe light and, once their eyes had got used to that, there was the living room (flashing primary colours), the kitchen (bathed in shades of red), the conservatory (deep blue), and even the toilet (a mini strobe). At the heart of the party was Matt’s den, illuminated with slowly rotating golden orbs and a battery of candles perched along the bookshelves in tall, gothic holders.

  “This place is amazing!” exclaimed Vikki. “Hey, Cat-which one of your boy mates is Matt again? I know you introduced him to me before, but I can’t remember what he looks like. I’ve got to meet him. Hell-I’ve got to marry him!”

  Cat and Sonja both cracked up at Vikki’s expression. They hadn’t seen Matt since they’d arrived half an hour before, but there were so many people at the party already, and the music was so loud down in the den, that they just supposed he was mingling upstairs, within earshot of the doorbell.

  “He must have answered the door to you. He’s the tall one with the dark hair. The one who acts like he’s God’s gift to girl-kind!” said Sonja wickedly.

  Of course, that wasn’t strictly true these days: Matt’s parties B.G. (Before Gabrielle) had tended to be his own happy hunting ground for willing girls to get off with. But since he’d fallen heart-first for Gaby (and then been dumped) he wasn’t nearly so brash and cocky.

  “Oh, no one answered the door to me: it was wedged open,” shrugged Vikki, tossing her hair back with a jangle of her fine, multicoloured Indian bangles. “I guess it saves anyone having to do door duty.”

  “I s’pose…” replied Sonja, wondering if it was wise to leave the place as an open house. Matt seemed to be acting like a real airhead at the moment.

  Still, it’s Matt’s place. He knows best… she decided.

  “Comfy?”

  “Kind of. But I don’t know h
ow I’ll get out of this thing…”

  Alex’s long, lanky frame looked comical as he languished in the pink, blow-up chair. Maya had settled herself on his lap, her legs draped over one inflated chair-arm, her back leaning against the other.

  “Who says you’re allowed to get up? I’m perfectly comfy,” Maya teased, manoeuvring herself to get comfier still.

  “Oi, don’t do that!” protested Alex as the seat bounced around under him. “I’ll get seasick!”

  “Oh, don’t be a wimp-everyone’s fighting for a turn on one of these!” giggled Maya, deliberately bouncing up and down.

  “Oooof! Stop it, you!” Alex laughed, gathering her up in his arms. “Anyhow, what’s with all these blow-up chairs? Was there a closing down sale in the Blow-Up Chair shop?”

  “Very funny,” said Maya, turning and looking round at the other fat seventies-style novelty seats dotted around Matt’s den. “He says he bought them to brighten the place up, same as those stage lights he’s got rigged around the house.”

  “I know you can get these pretty cheap now, but he must have shelled out a fair amount of money to get five of them,” mused Alex. “Matt must have more money than sense. D’you think he’d lend a poor, underpaid lecturer a few quid?”

  “Don’t say you’re underpaid in front of my parents!” Maya smiled. “You being a financially secure, responsible adult is the only reason they grudgingly approve of you!”

  “Yeah… nice to know they trust a geriatric like me with their precious eldest daughter.”

  “Don’t be silly! You’re not all that ancient!” she giggled.

  “I feel it here tonight, that’s for sure,” said Alex, his eyes drifting across the packed room. “Look at this lot-I don’t know how to dance to any of this music!”

  Maya sighed light-heartedly. “I don’t like this stuff either, Alex. And anyway, there are plenty of people here about your age-like those two blokes over there; Matt’s friends from the music shop.”

  “Uh-huh-there’re two of them and about a hundred people who can’t be over eighteen!”

  “Alex, the only person in danger of making a big deal about our age difference is you-I mean, even my parents have come round to thinking that it’s a plus, for God’s sake!”

  Alex looked suitably contrite.

  “Yes, oh wise one,” he muttered jokily. “And looking round at some of the morons here tonight, I think your parents should be delighted you’re going out with me. After all, you could be bringing home one of these.”

  “Don’t be horrible!” Maya chastised him. “I know most of these people! And don’t tell me you never went to parties when you were seventeen!”

  ‘“Course I did!” said Alex, looking hurt. “And I drank too much beer and acted stupid. I still do now! I’m just talking about those kind of guys…”

  Maya looked in the direction he was nodding and realised that the bunch of lads bouncing around in the middle of the room yelling and shaking cans of beer till they shot sprays of foaming beer into the air were people she’d never clapped eyes on before.

  “OK-you win. I don’t know those lads; I don’t know where Matt dragged them up from,” Maya shrugged, sending a small ripple through the bouncy chair.

  “Could you imagine your mum’s face if you came home with that one over there?”

  The boy Alex was referring to was standing in the middle of the lairy lads, his head tilted back, gargling beer till it streamed down his cheeks, while a couple of his mates egged him on.

  “Forget my mum,” said Maya drily. “If I was stupid enough to go for someone like that, I’d ground myself for a month…”

  The downstairs loo was busy, so Cat nipped upstairs to the bathroom, looking forward to the cool elegance of the room, after the noise and crush of downstairs.

  Normally, she loved Matt’s parties, but tonight-no matter how many compliments she got over the new top her aunt had treated her to-she felt oddly underconfident.

  “I’ve got to get over this…” she muttered to her reflection as she reached for the tap. “One stupid little incident cannot spoil my whole life.”

  She wrinkled her nose suddenly and dragged her gaze away from her own reflection down to the sink… and grimaced at the vomit that was coating it.

  “Urrrgh!” she groaned, then glanced frantically around the room. She noticed the cupboard under the sink and hauled its louvered door open.

  “Bleach…” she said with satisfaction.

  Holding the big blue bottle with her fingertips, she stood as far away from the sink as she could, unloading half the contents on to the porcelain, followed by a flick of the hot tap.

  Who would be disgusting enough to do that-and not even have the decency to clean up after themselves? she thought as the steam from the hot water billowed up and obscured the mirror.

  Her mind immediately turned to the rowdy bunch of lads who had been running around the place. She hadn’t seen them before and neither had Sonja. Sonja had collared Matt in the kitchen at one point and tried to ask about them, but he’d shrugged and not seemed bothered. Sonja said he’d seemed distracted, distant; she’d even wondered if he was drunk, but she couldn’t be sure.

  I should try and talk to him, Cat decided, remembering his touching concern for her on Thursday at the Railway Tavern. She felt a sisterly concern for him in return. Maybe he was going through a bad patch missing Gabrielle, or maybe… who knew?

  “Hey!” came a yell and a hammering at the other side of the door. “Get a move on in there!”

  Cat jumped and reached over to turn the tap off. Hurriedly, she shoved the bleach bottle back in its place and strode over to the door.

  “All right, babe?” smirked the lad leaning on the door frame as she tried to squeeze past him on to the upstairs landing.

  “Excuse me,” she muttered, finding her way barred. The smirking lad was moving from side to side, blocking her way.

  Cat felt a fluttering of panic in her chest. She didn’t know this boy and she didn’t like the way he was leering at her.

  “You going in or what, mate?” came a male voice from the landing. “‘Cause I’ll go if you’re not. I’m desperate.”

  “What?”

  Cat’s tormentor turned to eyeball the plumpish guy in specs who’d interrupted his fun. It gave Cat the split second she needed to slip past him and speed away down the stairs to the safety of her friends.

  “Hey, that’s got to be good news,” said Kerry, staring over at the two figures chatting next to Matt’s vast CD collection in the corner of the den.

  “Mmm, I know,” beamed Maya, watching happily as Billy and Alex talked and joked. “And Billy was really sweet earlier when I bumped into him in the kitchen. I don’t know what’s changed, but it looks like he’s decided to be normal with me and Alex again.”

  “I’m so pleased everything’s turning around for you,” said Kerry, putting her arm round her friend and giving her a squeeze. “And it’s good news about your parents too!”

  “I know. I can’t quite get my head around it yet!” Maya replied, ducking her head around slightly as the view of her boyfriend became obscured by the crowd of dancers in between them. “Not that they’re exactly jumping for joy-and they’ve been pretty quick to lay down the law with us…”

  “How?” asked Kerry.

  “Well, we had to agree that we’d only see each other twice a week, and I’ve got to agree a time to be home by. But then, I’ve always had to do that, even when I’m just out with you lot.”

  “And they really don’t mind that Alex is a lot older than you?” Kerry asked.

  “No, they seem reasonably OK about that. I think it’s even a bit of a plus point.”

  “Is that a cultural thing, do you reckon?” Kerry suggested. “Like, I know your parents aren’t traditional or anything, but is it more common in Indian culture for a girl to marry someone a few years older?”

  “I don’t know,” shrugged Maya. “Maybe. I’d ask them if that’s the c
ase, but I’m too scared to rock the boat! I’m just so glad that they’ve been the way they have. And of course, I shouldn’t say this, but…”

  Maya gave a wicked smile that was more like one of Catrina’s trademark Cheshire Cat grins. Kerry wondered what was coming next.

  “…it’s a good slap in the face to my less-than-lovely little sister!”

  “Did it spoil her fun? Everything working out for you in the end?”

  “Oh, I think so. I think she was hoping for a screaming match and for me to be banished to my room for a year. The fact that my parents and me and Alex ended up sitting around making small talk over coffee was a lot less entertaining than the huge row she’d hoped for!”

  “Well,” said Kerry, moving towards the crush of dancers and pulling Maya with her, “maybe she’s not here to see this, but let’s spite her some more by having the most fun we can!”

  “Great idea!” laughed Maya as she began to move to the music.

  “Cat’s been gone a while-do you think she’s OK?”

  Still dancing, Sonja nodded at Vikki, then leant forward so she could be heard above the track that was booming from the speakers.

  “Yeah, she’s probably just stuck in a queue for the loo, that’s all.”

  Vikki seemed pacified, but leant over with another question.

  “She seems a bit quiet. How’s she been?”

  “OK-she’s staying with us till her mum gets back from holiday tomorrow, and my whole family have been making a total fuss of her.”

  “Didn’t her mother want to cut short her holiday when she heard?” Vikki frowned.

  “She doesn’t know about it yet. Cat spoke to her on the phone and said she was just a bit lonely in the flat and that was why she was staying with us. I mean, what happened was horrible, but she’s fine and didn’t want to worry her mum, I guess.”

  “How did she get on at the police station yesterday?”

  “All right. The policewoman who interviewed her was really nice,” replied Sonja. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see—”