Caught in the Act by Gemma Fox Page B

interested in.
    Netty nodded. ‘I know, I know,’ she said, as if she could read Carol’s mind—except perhaps for the freckle thing. ‘Strange but true. Can you imagine what Adie would have said if he’d known? He would never have let me live it down. It doesn’t bear thinking about. Between you, you would have made mincemeat of me, and despite what you think I’m not as tough as I look. So I just admired and lusted after him from a distance.’
    â€˜ You lusted after Peter Fleming? ’ said Carol.
    Netty pulled a don’t-push-your-luck face.
    â€˜OK, OK—so are you excited about seeing him again?’ Carol asked struggling to gain some ground.
    Netty shook her head. ‘Nope, not so much as a flutter. You see, unlike you, I’ve already tried living the dream.’ She said the last few words in a hideously camp American accent and waved her hand dramatically across themirror, tracing the arc of a cartoon shooting star.
    â€˜re ally?’ said Carol, aware that her mouth was open, aware that with one eye made up and the other one bare she looked daft, but who cared. ‘You tried living the dream with Peter Fleming ?’
    â€˜Don’t say it like that,’ growled Netty. ‘ Yes , with Peter Fleming. I did see him again, we did meet up. It was maybe ten years ago, in a supermarket of all places. By coincidence we were both home for a visit, so we had a coffee and—well, we flirted and laughed and reminisced about the good old days and then I’m buggered if he didn’t ask me out. He said he had always had this thing about me and that he thought our meeting up again was fate.’ Netty paused.
    Carol waved her on. ‘For God’s sake, don’t stop there—what happened?’
    Netty pulled out an eye pencil. ‘Fate has got a very nasty sense of humour. It was a total and utter disaster. We had nothing in common, nothing at all, zilch, zippo, nada. They had all gone, my fantasies, my dreams—his too—just ashes, dust, a mirage.’
    â€˜Oh, Netty,’ murmured Carol as she heardthe catch in Netty’s voice. ‘I’m so sorry. I’d no idea.’
    Netty snorted. ‘Don’t look like that. It was fine. re ally. Take my advice. Monday morning, take a look in the bathroom mirror, and see if anything has changed.’
    â€˜Do you think I should say a few words now?’
    Carol swung round in surprise, snapped back to the present by Diana’s voice. ‘What?’
    Diana, sitting beside her, was clutching a notepad. ‘I re ally ought to have said something before supper started, but I would have liked everyone to have been here.’ She glanced round the room, heaving with the rest of the cast and crew. Miss Haze had taken her place on the top table, alongside Mr Bearman. Only Macbeth and Lady Macduff were now conspicuous by their absence.
    â€˜I think you should go for it,’ said Carol, nodding. ‘God alone knows what time—’ she tripped clumsily over Gareth’s name—‘the others will be getting here.’
    â€˜That’s true.’ Diana nodded and, clearing her throat nervously, got to her feet. A little further down the table Adie obliged by banging a spoon against one of the institutional tumblers. Theroom quietened for an instant, Diana reddened and then beamed at the assembled group. When people realised who it was, there was a lot of good-natured rumbling and whistling and clapping, which swiftly faded into a warm convivial silence.
    â€˜Good evening,’ Diana said hesitantly. ‘I’m not very good at this kind of thing; I’m much happier behind the scenes but I would like to say how wonderful it is to see everyone again. Thank you for making the effort to drive all this way. I was worried you might not come or that only a few of you would say yes—but it looks at the moment as though we will be having a hundred per cent