Dolly gazed at her. ‘You don’t like champagne,’ she pointed out. She knew Annie didn’t drink alcohol or have any tolerance for it. And you know what? You don’t look much like celebrating, either.
‘No?’ Annie gave a harsh laugh. ‘Well, maybe it’s time I started.’
The waiter returned.
‘Tea for us both,’ said Dolly, and he went off to fetch it.
Annie was staring at the envelope. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said faintly.
‘I thought it was what you wanted,’ said Dolly.
No, what I wanted was for him to stop behaving like a jealous manipulative arsehole, thought Annie. And instead, I got this.
‘So what happens next?’ asked Dolly when Annie didn’t answer. She had watched this, the war between Annie and Max, escalating over several years. The arguments, the confrontations, then the courts, the decree nisi. Now it looked as though the final shot had been fired.
‘He’s moving out,’ said Annie, struggling to keep her voice steady. ‘He’s at the Holland Park house as we speak, getting the last of his things together.’
‘So you’re keeping the house?’
‘Of course I’m keeping the house. It’s my bloody house.’
‘Where’s he going then?’
‘He’s got the place in Barbados, he’ll go there.’
Dolly nodded. Their tea arrived, along with scones, jam, cream, tiny chocolate cakes, finger sandwiches and raspberry Bakewell tarts. Annie looked at it all, so lovely, so appetizing, and felt sick.
‘I never wanted this,’ she said, poking the envelope with her finger. ‘I just wanted…’ She faltered to a halt.
‘What?’ prompted Dolly.
Annie shrugged. How could she bear to go over it all again? To explain that her visits to Annie’s nightclub in Times Square, New York, had been viewed with extreme suspicion by Max. She’d been so proud of the club, so pleased with it, it was hers and hers alone. But he had killed her pleasure in it. Every time she went over there, he behaved as though she was betraying him in some way and was cold to her for days after. It was maddening. He travelled on business, and you didn’t catch her behaving like a moron.
‘You know what finally finished it for me? He had me followed,’ Annie said. ‘It was this time last year.’
Dolly stared in surprise. ‘What? You didn’t tell me that.’
‘I’m telling you now. It was in New York. I had a feeling I was being watched. Then I caught this bloke trailing me. I grabbed him. It was a private detective, Max had hired him. He seriously thought I was having an affair.’
‘For fuck’s sake,’ said Dolly, too fascinated to even start in on the cakes. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Oh, wait. Not… Alberto Barolli?’