‘Oh look,’ said Flo, before Eunice could launch into a full-blown interrogation, ‘there’s Margot, I promised to introduce you to her. She’s dying to meet you!’
Nairn House always held a huge and impressive summer fair in order to entertain the current residents and hopefully attract future ones. It was advertised widely and all sorts of entertainment was provided throughout the day. Luckily the weather for this year’s fair was perfect, drawing even more visitors than usual. The stalls were busy, the grounds were immaculate, the pink and white striped tea tent was bursting with customers and a ballroom dancing display was proving popular, the visiting troupe currently enthralling their audience with a racy tango.
‘Hello, darling,’ said Margot when Flo and Zander caught up with her at the jewellery stall. ‘And hello you.’ She eyed Zander with interest. ‘If you haven’t already heard the old dears gossiping about you, the general consensus is that you’re quite the dish.’
‘Thank you,’ said Zander, shaking her outstretched hand. ‘So are you.’
Was there anything nicer than observing two people you liked being introduced and instantly getting on well together? Secretly glowing with pride and satisfaction, Flo examined the jewellery laid out on the velvet-covered trestle tables and listened to Zander and Margot chatting easily to each other. She was distracted for a few minutes by one of the residents asking for help with a bracelet clasp. When she turned back to Flo and Zander, she saw them waiting for her.
‘Right, we’re having a competition to see which of us knows you best.’ Margot indicated the table beside her. ‘We’ve each chosen the necklace we think you’d prefer. Now you have to decide.’
‘OK. And which one did you choose?’
Margot shook her head. ‘Come on, I’m not going to tell you that.’
‘So I’m going to end up offending one of you.’
‘You won’t,’ said Zander, ‘because we’re grown-ups.’ He nodded at the necklaces. ‘Go on, choose.’
The one on the left was composed of midnight-blue and silver stones, a double strand that caught the light and swung elegantly from her hand. Flo put it back down and picked up the one on the right, shorter and rounder in shape, made up of clusters of tiny seed pearls interspersed with white glass beads.
‘OK, I love them both. But I love this one more.’
‘Ha!’ Margot clapped her hands. ‘Good!’
‘I chose yours?’
‘No, mine was the blue one. I’m glad you prefer Zander’s.’ Her eyes bright, Margot said, ‘Shows he knows what he’s doing, proves he’s the right man for you. Now, what’s that stall over there? Is it Splat the Rat? Excellent!’
For the next hour they toured the plant, cake and bric-a-brac stalls, and watched small children on the old-fashioned roundabout and older ones throwing themselves around the bouncy castle. A steel band played calypso music, a girl sang Celine Dion songs, a juggler juggled with vegetables, then a street-dance troupe put on a break-dancing display. Zander won a coconut on the coconut shy. They drank rum punch and ate home-made cakes. ‘Whoops,’ said Flo in an undertone as two people, one young and one old, made their way past them.
‘Who’s that?’ Zander murmured.
‘The old one’s Beryl and the embarrassed-looking one is her granddaughter Julia. She’s the one who’s been having that torrid affair with you behind my back.’
‘Ha.’ He smiled at Julia as she glanced across at them. ‘Poor thing, her neck’s gone all blotchy.’
Annie rushed up to them. Her spiky bleached-blond hair was quivering around her head, and she was wearing a leopard-print tank top, tight white jeans, fluorescent pink lipstick and giant hoop earrings that jangled as she spoke.
‘Oh my God, I’ve just seen the fortune-teller! She told me I was going to go on holiday somewhere hot beginning with B and meet the man of my dreams in a nightclub! And where am I off to next week? Only Benidorm! On my life, she’s the real deal!’
‘That’s brilliant,’ said Flo.
‘I know! I can’t wait to get there now – about time I found myself a decent bloke! Have you been to the fortune-teller yet?’
‘Well no, I—’
‘Oh but you must. Seriously, go now while there isn’t a queue. Come on, she’ll tell you everything you need to know!’
Annie practically dragged her over to the tiny yellow and white striped tent, and Flo found herself being unceremoniously bundled inside.
‘I’ll take your handsome young man over to the tea tent and get to know him better.’ Annie linked a proprietorial arm through Zander’s and waved goodbye. ‘Come and find us when you’ve finished, if we haven’t run off to Benidorm by then!’