‘It’s real Californian redwood – the hot tub,’ Daphne said proudly, perhaps to boost her father’s morale; neither Ellie nor Theo was impressed by Ed’s purchase. ‘It cost $995! I saw the bill.’
‘Yes, well, there’s lots of pumps and pipes and so on,’ said Ed with a mildly shifty air. ‘It looks simpler than it is. And then there’s all the bubbling business – you get a hydromassage at the same time.’ Jane felt shocked to hear of so much money being spent on a glorified bath in the garden. ‘It’s the nearest you can get to being out in the wilderness at a volcanic hot spring, gazing up into the universe. And that’s not to be sniffed at – even in a back garden in Putney.’
The teenagers did the clearing up – grumbling, but it was agreed that Ed and Ellie would have first go in the tub. Jane spotted them from the kitchen doors, moving shadows as they got undressed, and then, once they were in the water, she saw the glowing tip of whatever they were smoking.
‘Definitely hash,’ said Theo, eyeing his parents. ‘Old hippies. I suspect Ed’s preparing for one of his “nocturnal perambulations”. He always likes to be “in the mood”.’
‘A bit Jack-the-Ripperish,’ laughed Daphne. ‘Not sure I’d want to come across him stoned out of his head down a dark alley.’
‘Claims it nourishes the muse,’ mocked Theo. ‘I don’t know how he or Ellie get anything done. I find the stuff makes my mass-times-the-acceleration-of-gravity go berserk and I can’t get up.’ He smiled at Liam, who looked knowing.
‘OK, Theo, stop trying to impress,’ said Daphne. ‘We’ve heard that witticism before.’ She rolled her eyes at Jane. ‘He just means it makes him feel heavy.’
Jane didn’t care about the explanation; she was looking at Liam’s full lips and the evidence of minor shaving activity around them. Daphne continued to needle her brother. ‘And if you can’t handle it, poor little poppet, maybe you’d better go and work out some more theories. There’s a good boy.’ Theo didn’t react, merely taking a cloth and wiping the table with excessive care, as though he had more serious things to think about. The five-year gap between him and Daphne gave him the edge in ignoring her provocations.
The parents came back indoors wrapped in towels and carrying their clothes. Their eyes were glassy pink. Ed said it was even better than he remembered. ‘A revelation.’ Ellie looked quite pleased too and they both left the room to go upstairs.
‘So, it’s our turn!’ said Daphne. She fetched some towels and the two girls went out into the cold, uninviting garden. The hot tub had been positioned near to the plane tree, as far as possible from the house but without being exposed to the river. ‘It feels like going into the wilderness,’ said Jane. They left their clothes on the tree-house ladder, then tiptoed gingerly across the damp, slightly muddy grass, and ascended the wooden steps. The water was astonishingly hot. ‘Mega death bath,’ said Daphne, groaning as she lowered herself into the frothing bubbles. Jane followed her, submitting to the pain and then letting out a similar moan as her body relaxed into the heat. They leaned back against the edge, their arms along the redwood rim, peacefully paddling their feet and gazing at the mandarin-tinged clouds above the city.
They had been there long enough to stop talking and sink into a silent but companionable reverie, when Jane spotted a figure making its way through the dark garden. Without her glasses she couldn’t tell who it was, but it soon became clear. Ralph wasn’t as jovial and pretentious as usual. ‘Oh, I’m so glad you’re here.’ He was evidently speaking in the singular and addressing Daphne. ‘Hello, Jane. How are you?’ His voice lost its urgency and interest as he acknowledged her presence and Jane raised a wet hand in greeting, not replying. He was leaving for New York in a few days and, privately, Jane believed it was a great idea. It was horrible to see Daphne like his pet dog, his toy.
‘I’m getting pretty hot,’ Jane said, wiping her face. ‘I’ll go in now. What about you?’
‘I’ll stay a bit more.’ Daphne was so predictable sometimes, but Jane couldn’t face hanging around watching them play agonised lovebirds.
‘Bring a towel over for Jane, could you?’ Daphne pointed to the towels and Ralph obligingly brought one, holding it for Jane and looking politely to one side – the hypocrite. She covered herself as much as possible – not like subsequent hot-tub evenings, when she and Daphne ran naked around the night garden, bodies pink as boiled prawns, feet dirty from the grass, arms stretched up to the moon like pagans dancing. Daphne could do that for her; lull or lure her into forgetting about her size and her awkwardness, into feeling free and wild. This time, though, Ralph had ruined it. Buoyancy gave way to gravity, as she put on her glasses and picked up her clothes, making sure the white pants she’d folded and hidden under her trousers didn’t show or fall to the ground.
In the bathroom on the first floor, she locked herself in, dropping the towel and examining herself in the mirror: skin flushed, eyes bright as coloured glass, breasts full, legs long. Not so horrible. She cupped her breasts, squeezing them together to create a cleavage. On a shelf above the basin were various bottles she supposed belonged to Ellie. She opened a cream and smoothed it on to her face, then took some perfume and anointed her wrists and earlobes as she’d seen her mother do before an evening out. When she emerged, dressed and wreathed in musk, Liam was coming up the stairs.
‘Was that fun?’
‘What? Oh, yeah, yes the hot tub’s amazing. Are you going to try it?’
‘No, it’s not really Theo’s thing.’ He paused and she could tell he was observing her differently to other times – as if she’d moved up a level by way of a sacred water ritual.
‘I was just going up to Daphne’s room for a bit. Want to come?’ She felt daring. If Daphne could play games, so could she.
‘OK.’ He made it sound casual, his voice high and non-committal, but he was looking intently, sizing her up.
They went up to the top floor, where Daphne’s north-facing room overlooked the garden and the river. Jane resisted the temptation to go to the window and peer past the orange curtains to the shadowy figures at the hot tub. Before she had a chance to change her mind, Liam said, ‘Can I kiss you?’ He took a piece of chewing gum from his mouth and threw it accurately into the wastepaper bin.
‘OK.’
He started gently, his lips to hers, his mouth minty from the gum. Then his tongue met hers and it was like electricity – a circuit of wires connected and creating new energy. He stroked her breasts and pulled her closer, leaning back next to the door that was hung with clothes. She spotted the dress Daphne had stolen from Biba, its broad, horizontal stripes blurring as she removed her glasses. Liam took off his too and flicked the light switch so they were left in darkness. Everything disappeared as they kissed harder and deeper in a hanging jumble of dresses and shirts, which smelled of Daphne. It was almost as though Daphne was there, or as if she had melded with Jane to become one girl. Time evaporated. Trains rumbled past like thunder, making the door tremble and transferring the vibrations to her spine.