A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon [140]
She was only planning to do it for a few seconds, but she had to keep her face pressed into Tony’s shirt for quite a long time because she was crying, which caught her completely by surprise, and while she wanted everyone to know that she was welcoming Tony into her family, she didn’t really want them to see her weeping helplessly in the arms of someone she’d met ten seconds ago.
Then she heard Katie shrieking delightedly, “Tony. Fucking hell. You came,” which did distract people’s attention.
133
George came to a halt in front of David on the far side of the dining room and stood with his legs apart and his fists clenched.
Unfortunately, David was facing in the opposite direction and did not realize that George was standing behind him. George did not want to ask him to turn round because asking for anything would suggest that David was the dominant animal. Like dogs. And George was meant to be the dominant animal.
Nor did he want to grab David by the shoulder and forcibly turn him round because that was what people did in fights in bars and he wanted the encounter to be concluded with as little fuss as possible.
So he stood, tensed, for some seconds until the woman David was talking to said, “George,” and David turned round and said, “George,” and smiled and juggled his little cigar into his drink hand and held the other out for George to shake.
George found himself shaking David’s hand and saying, “David,” which was not part of the plan at all.
“You must be very proud indeed,” said David.
“That’s not the point,” said George.
The woman slipped away.
“No,” said David. “You’re right. Everyone says it. But it is rather a selfish way of looking at it. Whether Katie’s happy. That’s the important thing.”
Christ, he was slippery. George was beginning to see how he had wormed his way into Jean’s affections.
To think that he had worked with this man for fifteen years.
David raised an eyebrow. “Mind you, Sarah was telling me that Katie and Ray are paying for all this themselves.” He swept an arm over the room as if he owned it. “Now that is a canny move, George.”
He had to do it now. “I’m afraid—”
But David interrupted, saying, “How’s the rest of life?” and George’s head was starting to spin a little and David sounded so earnest and so caring that George had to fight back the urge to confess to David that he had cut himself with a pair of scissors and ended up in hospital after finding his wife having sexual intercourse with another man.
He realized that he was not going to ask David to leave. He did not have the strength. Morally or physically. If he tried to eject David he would probably cause a commotion and embarrass Katie. Maybe doing nothing was for the best. And surely today, of all days, was one during which he should put his own feelings to one side.
“George?” asked David.
“Sorry?”
“I was asking how things were going,” said David.
“Fine,” said George. “They’re fine.”
134
Katie pushed the salmon out of picking range.
She quite liked the idea of ending her wedding day not feeling bloated, and she wanted to leave a bit of space for the tiramisu.
Ray was idly fondling her leg under the table. To his left Mum and Alan were talking about hellebores and ornamental brassicas. To her right Barbara was telling Dad about the joys of caravanning. Dad looked very happy indeed, so he was presumably thinking about something else at the same time.
They were sitting about six inches higher than everyone else. It was like something off the telly. The waitresses in their white jackets. The clink of posh cutlery. The little rumble of canvas.
It was weird seeing David Symmonds seated on the far side of the marquee, chatting to Mona and dabbing the corners of his mouth with a napkin. She’d pointed him out to Ray and now she was going to ignore him, like she was ignoring the barking from Eileen and Ronnie’s dog which had been relocated to a nearby garden and was mightily pissed off about the fact.
She licked her fingers and cleaned the bread crumbs from her side plate.
Tony and Jamie were still holding hands