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out with. It's an ex-boyfriend of yours.'
    I didn't respond to this because I started
thinking frantically. Who could this be? Lucas and I had had a massive bust-up
and he was with Cleo anyway. I'd been with Paul for a year and he'd certainly
met Kerry once or twice. But wasn't he still in Edinburgh? Then it was back to
ancient history. There were a few odds and sods from college, but that was at a
time when I was hardly in touch with Kerry at all. I tried to imagine the
massive coincidence that could have brought Kerry together with some figure
like Rob from my distant past. But they hadn't even met, had they? Or perhaps
it was way back even beyond that into my primeval past at school, with someone
like Tom. That must be it. Maybe there was a school reunion . . .
    'It's Brendan,' she said. 'Brendan Block.'
    'What? What do you mean?'
    'Isn't it amazing? He's just about to
arrive. He said he thought it would be good if we all got together.'
    'That's not possible,' I said.
    'I know it might seem a bit odd
    'Where did you meet?'
    'I'll tell you,' she said. 'I'll tell you
everything. But I wanted to tell you something quickly before Bren arrives.'
    'Bren?'
    'I just wanted to say straight away, my
lovely Miranda, that Bren has told me all about it, and I want you to know that
I hope it won't be embarrassing.'
    'What?'
    Kerry leaned across the table and put both
her hands on mine. She looked at me with big, sympathetic eyes.
    'Miranda, I know that it was painful for
you when you parted.' She took a deep breath and gave my hand a squeeze. 'I
know that Bren broke up with you. He's told me how upset you were, how angry
and bitter. But he has told me that he hopes you're over it. He says he's fine
about it.'
    'He says he's fine about it?'
    And at that moment Brendan Block came into
the restaurant.
     
    CHAPTER 3
     
    Kerry met Brendan in the middle of the
room, and he bent down to kiss her lingeringly on the lips. She closed her eyes
for a moment, looking tiny beside his tall, bulky figure. She stood on tiptoe
and whispered something in his ear, and he nodded and looked across at me with
his head slightly to one side and a very small smile on his lips. He gave a nod
and walked towards me with both arms outstretched. I didn't know quite what to
do. I half-raised myself from my seat, so by the time he arrived at the table I
was crouched awkwardly with the chair jammed behind my knees.
    'Miranda,' he said. He put his hands
firmly on my shoulders, making me sink a bit lower towards my chair, and stared
me in the eyes. 'Oh, Miranda.'
    He bent down to kiss me on the cheek, too
near my mouth. By this time Kerry had managed to wrap her arm around Brendan's
waist, so she bobbed towards me too, and for one awful second we were all a few
inches from each other's faces and I could see the sweat in the divot above his
upper lip and the small scar in Kerry's eyebrow where I'd hit her with a
plastic spade when I was four and she was six. So close I could smell his soap
and her perfume and something sour in the air between us. I pulled myself free
and sank gratefully back on to my chair.
    'So Kerry's told you?' By now he was
sitting too, positioned between me and Kerry so that we were crammed around a
small segment of the table, our knees touching. He put a hand over Kerry's as
he spoke, and she looked up at him with her shining eyes.
    'Yes. But I...'
    'And it's really all right?'
    'Why shouldn't I be?' I said and realized
I'd answered a question that hadn't been asked. It made me sound tense,
rattled, which I was, a bit. Anyone in the world would have been. I saw them
exchange a glance. 'I mean, it's fine.'
    'I know this must be hard for you.'
    'It's not hard for me at all,' I said.
    'That's very generous of you,' he said.
'Typically generous. I told Derek and Marcia you would be like this. I told
them not to worry too much.'
    'Mum and Dad?'
    'Yes,' said Kerry. 'They met Bren a couple
of days ago. They really liked him. Well, of course they did. Troy