Clare came back into the room, her face all pink and blotchy. Miles took her gently by the arm.
'Come on, pussycat,' he said. 'Time to go home.'
It was something of a relief when they'd gone.
'What a strange girl,' said Daisy, and we all knew exactly what she meant. 'Not unpleasant,' she went on, 'just a little peculiar. Not really comfortable in this type of social situation, is she? And the way she dresses is rather odd, too. Beige isn't exactly her colour, is it? Makes her look as though she's suffering from some form of liver malfunction.'
I recognized the reference to liver malfunction as one that Clare herself had made. Everyone except Susie giggled. 'You're not being fair,' she said.
'But you could tell there was something weird about her the moment she walked in,' said Luke. 'When Miles told us about the hospital, it all made sense.'
'I wouldn't underestimate Clare,' I said. 'She knew what she wanted, and she went ahead and got it.'
'What do you mean?' asked Susie.
Everyone was looking at me expectantly. I spun out the pause for as long as I dared.
'She got what she wanted,' I said again. 'She got the guy.'
Daisy nodded thoughtfully. 'Miles is quite a catch,' she acknowledged. 'Or at least he used to be.'
'But she didn't look terribly happy,' said Susie. 'I bet you anything you like that he's cheating on her.'
'Maybe so,' I said, helping myself to the last of the wine. 'But it looks like a happy ending to me.'
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anne Billson is a film critic, novelist and photographer whose work has been widely published.
Her books include horror novels Suckers, Stiff Lips and The Ex, as well as monographs on the films John Carpenter's The Thing and Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One In.
In 1993 she was named one of Granta's 'Best Young British Novelists'.
She has lived in London, Tokyo, Cambridge, Paris and Croydon, and currently lives in Brussels.
She has three blogs:
multiglom.com (the Billson blog)
catsonfilm.net (a blog about films that have cats in them)
lempiredeslumieres.com (a blog about Belgium)