A Surprise Party

A Surprise Party

Greg had told Millie that he was arranging a little ‘surprise’ for her on the first Saturday in August, in the evening, so not to make any arrangements. Not that Millie usually made arrangements nowadays. Saturday nights were usually slumped-in-front-of-the-TV-pigging-out-nights.

Greg and Millie had been an item for a couple of years and it was almost two years ago that they moved from their separate flats in Leeds to live together in this rented house in a village on the outskirts. In that time Millie had seen less and less of her best friends. They’d been moving on. Leah for instance had had a baby six months ago with her partner Paolo. Lauren had moved away to live with her new beau , Dean, and Keira had recently told Millie on the phone that she’d just got engaged to Jack, though they hadn’t set a date for the wedding yet.

It was a week or so after Millie had told Greg about Keira’s engagement that Greg announced his little surprise and Millie had felt a fluttery feeling in her stomach as the evening approached.

What she didn’t know was that Greg had phoned these three closest friends of Millie’s to invite them round, with their partners, for a little surprise party. After all, they didn’t see so much of each other now, he told them, and Greg remembered that when he first went out with Millie, the four of them — Millie, Leah, Lauren, Keira — had all been so close.

They all agreed that it was a wonderful idea. Lauren, for instance, who’d moved to Manchester to be with Dean, said they’d book in a hotel and make a weekend of it. Leah’s parents agreed to babysit; since the baby she and Paolo hadn’t had a night out, so they were really looking forward to it.

Keira had been the most difficult one to phone because she and Greg had been a pair and lived together for a year or so. It was through Keira that Greg had first met Millie and Leah and Lauren. And after they’d split, when things had cooled off and Keira was with Jack, it had been Keira who’d suggested, to both of them, that Greg and Millie might be suitable for one another.

At first, Greg had been furious at the suggestion. Keira and Millie might have been best friends but they were chalk and cheese. Keira was tall and bohemian with a little bit of the hippy in her. Millie was smaller, rounder and more homely.

Once Greg had had time to consider the situation more carefully he phoned Millie to ask her out and things moved on from there. But in the next two years the four friends had drifted into new lives and they hadn’t had the double or triple or quadruple dates Greg had imagined.

Lauren had moved to Manchester, Leah had had a baby, and Keira, who was a good singer had formed a duo with Jack who was a semi-pro guitarist. They were busy rehearsing and performing at gigs and open-mic nights and often travelled.

At seven, the doorbell chimed. Greg jumped up like a flash to get it. It was Paolo and Leah.

‘Look who it is!’ Greg announced. Millie was genuinely surprised and delighted and she and Leah had much to talk about. Paolo was Italian and smarty dressed in black trousers and purple shirt and his influence had rubbed off on Leah who was looking sleek in a black dress.

Twenty minutes later, the doorbell chimed again. Greg was out the blocks and returned to the living room to announce, ‘Look who it is! Lauren and Dean!’

Ten minutes later, Keira and Jack completed the company, Jack bringing his acoustic guitar with him. Keira was in sandals and long summer dress, Jack, pony-tailed, in t-shirt and jeans.

By eight they were under the gazebo in the back garden. They sat on plastic chairs around a plastic table, sipping wine and lager, nibbling nuts, until the takeaways that Greg had ordered arrived. There was both Chinese and pizzas, set out on the table, help yourself, buffet style.

Millie relaxed even more then because although she was delighted to see her old friends again and the chance to catch up, they’d just been that doubt in her mind about what they would do for food, about what exactly Greg had planned. But Greg had taken care of everything. He brought out ice cream for desserts, chocolates, more wine. It was a warm evening, the sun shining, warming Keira’s and Millie’s bare arms.

Millie felt warm inside too. As Greg flitted in and out the house from gazebo to kitchen any doubts she’d had had been assuaged. She knew that Greg and Keira’s relationship had been tempestuous, but that had probably been down to Keira’s fiery nature as much as Greg, though Greg could be a bit impetuous and strong willed. In the early days of their relationship, before they’d moved into the house, Greg had suggested to Millie that they move to the States or Australia, just pack their jobs in and go look for work over there.

Millie thought it was a preposterous idea. She liked her job as a teaching assistant at a primary school and Greg had a well-paid job in IT, though he said he’d easily find a job abroad. Millie talked him down and the next thing he wanted to move out of Leeds and into a village which was more feasible.

But in the two years they’d been together, Greg had calmed down, become more sensible and Millie believed that had been her own quiet influence.

As dusk approached and the eight of them got up and mingled in twos and threes, walking about the garden, Millie was distracted from her conversation with Leah and Lauren by Greg and Jack and Keira getting animated by the apple tree and caught enough of their conversation to know it was about music and jamming.

Greg also played the guitar and had had dreams of making it in the music industry but he wasn’t as talented as Jack. That hadn’t stopped him boasting about his own ability, though, and it was Greg who’d suggested to Jack he bring his guitar and they might jam together.

Soon they were all indoors and Jack and Greg had got their guitars out and the others had to halt their conversations and listen whether they wanted to or not. They did a guitar version of ‘duelling banjos’ and then some bluesy thing, Greg strumming the rhythm and Jack picking out the melody, proper lead electric guitar show-off stuff on acoustic guitar. Greg beside himself that he was playing with a semi-pro, even if he was the bloke who’d stolen Keira from him.

Then Keira and Jack sang a couple of numbers from their repertoire before Paolo and Leah said they’d best be going, after which Millie collected empty glasses and cups and excused herself to load the dishwasher in the kitchen. Jack, noticing she’d missed a couple of glasses on the floor by the sofa, picked them up and followed her into the kitchen, pulling the door closed behind him.

Greg watched him leave from his chair by the window and then turned his attention to those left in the room — Lauren and Dean on the sofa and Keira in one of the armchairs. They were quiet now as if they’d run out of things to say and Greg realised that this was his opportunity and the whole charade of the party would be wasted if he didn’t seize the moment. It was now or never.

He stood and and moved purposely towards Keira, knelt on one knee before her, and taking her hand before she realised what was happening said, ‘Marry me, Keira. Don’t marry Jack. It’s not too late.’

Keira withdrew her hand sharpish and had she not been so taken aback might have slapped him. As it was she leaned back, carved her hand through her hair which she grasped in a fist before releasing it. She looked past Greg to Dean and Lauren who were looking down and still as statues.

Then the door to the kitchen opened, Greg leapt to his feet and Jack appeared. Dean and Lauren stood up, so did Keira, who said to Jack, ‘We’re going.’

‘Yeah, we need to be moving too, don’t we Dean?’ Lauren said and they gazed into each other’s eyes.

Greg moved swiftly to the kitchen and said, ‘Our guests are leaving, darling, aren’t you going to say goodbye?’

Millie came through all flustered, drying her hands on a tea towel. The guests had picked up their bags and Jack was zipping his guitar into its case.

Millie saw them off at the door, the women hugging, hasty goodbyes and promises to be in touch and meaningful glances directed Millie’s way. Greg hung back in the living room, his lusty goodbyes had been returned with tepid ones and furtive glances.

‘That was a bit sudden,’ Millie said when they were gone.

‘It is well gone eleven,’ Greg said, looking at his watch.

It was Lauren who phoned Millie on the Monday when she knew Greg would be at work.

‘Are you alone?’ she said. ‘This is really awkward, but you’re my friend and I have to tell you.’

Later, that afternoon, Jack phoned. He didn’t even consider if Greg would be there, though he wasn’t. It had happened when Jack and Millie were in the kitchen together but Keira wouldn’t make it up. ‘You need to know, Millie.’

Millie felt sick that day. Her hands were shaking and her mind was racing through the past two years with Greg, trying to dredge up any clues that he hadn’t got over Keira. He’d be home in a couple of hours and she started to panic about what she’d say or if she’d say anything at all. Keira had always been a bombshell. This was a bombshell and Millie had a lot of thinking to do.