As he was walking out, however, someone else was sauntering in with no regard for his status, brushing him to one side without a care. The guy stood back against the wall, confused by the dismissal. ‘Hey,’ he said, clearly annoyed.
Lexi looked up. As did Julia.
Walking into the party was Julia’s next-door neighbour, Amber Beddington. All cool with her pitch-black hair, maroon lacy bra showing through her snakeskin silk vest, skin-tight leather leggings and buckled boots, complete disregard for the heatwave. She always looked like she’d just rolled out of bed, smelling of cigarettes and heavy Chanel. Her kohl-rimmed eyes were all-knowing and her skin was lined like she’d seen what the world had to offer and sampled the majority of it.
Lexi visibly acquiesced in her presence. ‘Amber, hi. You made it. I didn’t think you were going to come.’
Amber strolled casually towards them, eyeing the decorations, expressionless.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ Lexi gushed. ‘We’ve got killer negronis.’
Amber huffed a laugh. ‘No, you’re OK.’ She paused when she got to them, reaching into her back pocket to get something out. ‘I just came to return this,’ and she handed Lexi the note that had been sellotaped to the battered VW van out the front. ‘I presume it’s yours?’
Lexi took a step back, ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was your van. If I had I wouldn’t have written anything.’
Amber shrugged. ‘It’s not my van. I’m borrowing it.’
The fact Lexi was apologising more for whose van it was than the fact she’d left a note in the first place wasn’t lost on Amber, her expression openly mocking.
As Lexi’s pettiness seemed to grow in the silence, the note crumpled in her hand, Lexi got more flustered, retying her hair, shaking out her bracelets, trying to compose herself as best she could standing in just her bikini. ‘Seriously, Amber, I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have done anything. God, what a psycho!’ she berated herself. ‘Please, have a drink, let me make up for it.’
Amber shook her head, ‘No thanks.’ Then she gave the kitchen one last glance, did a little laugh that seemed to undercut all the effort that had gone into the party in one fell swoop, said, ‘Enjoy,’ then turned and disappeared outside.
‘Oh God.’ Lexi put her head in her hand. ‘How embarrassing. Amber of all people.’ She looked at Julia. ‘You know she’s a buyer for Emerald House? The private members’ club?’
Julia did know that.
‘I’ve been hoping she’ll get me in one day. Now it’ll never happen. Shit, why did I have to write that bloody note?’ Lexi tipped her head back at the ceiling. ‘Damn.’ There was a pause. Julia didn’t know what to say. Then taking a deep breath, holding it for five and exhaling, like something she’d learnt on a relaxation podcast, Lexi clapped her hands together and said, ‘OK, it’s OK. Right, where was I? What are we doing? Oh yes, you’re doing canapés. I’m finding something to wear.’ With that, she nipped off up the acid yellow staircase.
The caterer was ushering one of the young waitresses outside with her silver platter of miniature roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, then she turned to Julia and said, ‘You need to get going with that salmon!’
Julia turned to follow when she saw her phone ping on the kitchen island. She glanced at the screen, it was a message from Alicia: Found dress, hun.
Immediately Julia realised it wasn’t her phone. That Lexi had picked up hers instead and this was Lexi’s. She grabbed it and called out, ‘Lexi, I’ve got your phone. Alicia’s found your dress.’ But there was no answer. She put the tray of canapés down on the kitchen counter and went out into the hall. She was just about to call again when another message popped up, Yeah Julia will do it for you, she’d kiss your ass if you asked her to
Julia paused.
The sound of laughter and the smell of cigarette smoke flooded in through the front door where the mini olive tree party was in full swing. She could hear Lexi upstairs, opening and shutting wardrobe doors. But mostly Julia could hear the sound of her heart thumping in her chest.
She knew Lexi’s PIN code was a simple default 1243 – ‘Two kids and a blonde brain… I can’t remember anything more difficult than that!’ Julia had laughed that hers was exactly the same and with brown hair and no kids she had no excuse for the simplicity. A conversation about how they had always been able to remember the most convoluted phone numbers as kids had ensued and they’d blamed mobile phones for the demise of their memories while simultaneously scrolling through Instagram.
Now Julia’s fingers hovered over the keypad of Lexi’s phone. Did she even want to read any more? Of course she did. How could she not? Upstairs Lexi was singing along to the song the DJ was playing. There was the clatter of the caterers behind her. Julia was aware she was meant to be handing out canapés.
She turned to shield herself from any onlookers out the front and pressed the PIN code numbers.
It appeared that Lexi, Alicia and Nicky had a spin-off WhatsApp group called CEDAR LANE BLONDES.
Already Julia felt a stab that it didn’t include her. She just had a bog-standard message thread with Lexi. The only Cedar Lane WhatsApp group Julia was on was the main one that campaigned against the new Sainsbury’s and reminded them when bin day was going to be late.
Her eyes scanned the messages. Looking fast. Aware that Lexi was upstairs, that she was prying, that anyone could see her, but feeling a desperate, craving sickness to read:
Lexi: That dress Julia is wearing is DEFINITELY in Whistles. I saw it, too!
Alicia: Why lie? So weird. And was she ACTUALLY wearing the same shoes as you?
Lexi: *Sigh* Yeah. She does it all the time, totally copied the swimsuit, too.
Alicia: I knew it! Well what is it they say, imitation is sincerest form of flattery…
Lexi: Yeah but really f*cking annoying. Haha.
Nicky: The dress isn’t Whistles. I saw an H&M label when she took it off.
Lexi: I never shop in H&M. The material is so cheap.
Nicky: Ditto. And what about that at the hot tub…
Lexi: Poor Charlie!
Alicia:
Lexi: Shit!!!!! One of the bloody waitresses has cut her finger off. I NEED A WAITRESS.
Alicia: Actually cut her finger off?
Lexi: No. It was like a tiny sliver, TOTAL drama queen. Do you think it would be bad to ask Julia to waitress? BTW is my dress by the hot tub?
Julia was horrified. She felt sick. It was like seeing all her worst insecurities there in black and white. She didn’t know what to do. Some guests barged past her on their way out the front. She looked up disoriented.
‘The salmon needs to go, NOW!’ Vanya, the caterer, called.
As if on autopilot, Julia went back into the kitchen. Closing WhatsApp, she turned Lexi’s phone off and put it back where it came from, then she picked up the tray of salmon blinis that were waiting on the table.
She tried Lexi’s trick of taking a deep breath and counting to five but it did nothing. She tucked her hair behind her ears, the tips still damp from the hot tub, and then she headed out with the tray of canapés, pushing through the crowd of people in the open plan living room, past the giant photo of Lexi and Hamish dancing at their wedding, past the custom neon wall light – a scrawl that read Live, Love, Lexi on the exposed brick wall – out into the oppressive heat of the garden.