‘And so we come to the end of our noble silence,’ said Masha. She grinned and punched the air. ‘We did it!’
Nobody said a word, but there was a gentle murmur of sound: exhalations, the shifting of bodies and half-chuckles of acknowledgement.
‘I’d like us to now slowly reintroduce conversation and eye contact,’ said Masha. ‘We shall each take a turn to introduce ourselves and speak for just a few moments about whatever comes to mind: perhaps why you chose to come to Tranquillum House, what you’re enjoying most about your experience so far and what you’ve found most challenging. Are you dying for a cappuccino or glass of sauvignon blanc? I get it! Share your pain with the group! Are you missing a loved one? Tell us about that! Or maybe you’d just prefer to deliver straight-up facts: your age, your occupation, your hobbies, your star sign.’
Masha smiled her extraordinary smile and everyone smiled back.
‘Or recite a line of poetry, if you like,’ she continued. ‘It doesn’t matter what you say. Simply enjoy the experience of speaking, connecting, and making eye contact with your fellow guests.’
People cleared their throats, adjusted their posture and stroked their hair in preparation for public speaking.
‘While we get to know each other, Yao and Delilah will distribute your afternoon smoothies,’ said Masha.
Such was Masha’s charismatic charm that Frances hadn’t even noticed Yao and Delilah stand up. Now they began to glide about the room distributing tall glasses. This afternoon’s smoothies were all the same emerald-green colour. Spinach? thought Frances with alarm, but when she took hers and had a sip she tasted apple, honeydew melon and pear, with undertones of moss and bark. It brought to mind a walk by a babbling brook in a dappled green forest. She tossed it back like tequila.
‘Why don’t you go first, Frances?’ said Masha.
‘Oh. Okay. Well, I’m Frances. Hi.’ She put down her empty glass, dipped her head and licked her teeth for lipstick. She realised she was automatically adopting her professional public-speaking persona: warm, humble, gracious, but a little stand-offish in order to repel any huggers in the signing line.
‘I came to Tranquillum House because I was kind of in a bad way: my health, my personal life, my career.’ She allowed her gaze to travel the circle. It felt strangely intimate, looking everyone in the eye again. ‘I write romance books for a living and my last one got rejected. I also got badly burned in an internet romance scam. So.’
Why was she telling them all about the scam? Blab, blab, blab.
Tony looked steadily back at her. He had more stubble than before, and his face seemed more defined. Men always lost weight so easily, the fuckers. She faltered a little. Was he sneering again? Or was he just . . . looking at her?
‘So the first five days have been good!’ All at once she was desperate to talk. She didn’t care if she gave them ‘too much information’. The words spilled from her mouth. It was like that greedy feeling of sitting down to an excellent meal when you were very hungry and after the first mouthful you were suddenly shovelling food into your mouth like a machine.
‘I enjoyed the silence more than I thought I would, it did seem to calm my thoughts. In addition to being rejected I was very upset about this really very nasty review, I was thinking about it obsessively in the beginning, but I’m not even thinking about it at all now, so that’s good, and, well, I miss coffee and champagne and the internet and . . .’ Shut up, Frances. ‘And, you know, all the normal luxuries of normal life.’
She sat back, her face warm.
‘I’ll go next,’ said the tall, dark and handsome man. ‘I’m Lars. I’m a health-retreat junkie. I indulge and atone, indulge and atone. It works for me.’
Frances looked at his chiselled cheekbones and golden-toned skin. It certainly does work for you, lovely Lars.
‘I’m a family lawyer, so I need to drink a lot of wine after work.’ He paused as if to allow time for his audience to laugh, but no-one did.
‘I always do a retreat in January because February is my busiest time of year. The phone starts ringing the day the new school year starts. You know, Mum and Dad realise they can’t spend another summer together.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Napoleon sombrely.
‘As for Tranquillum House, I love the food, love the location and I’m doing fine. I don’t miss anything much except for my Netflix account.’ He lifted his smoothie glass as if it were a cocktail and toasted the room.
Flustered Glasses lady spoke up next, although she was noticeably less flustered than she had been the first day.
‘I’m Carmel. I’m here to lose weight. Obviously.’
Frances sighed. What did she mean, obviously? Carmel was thinner than her.
‘I love everything about this place,’ said Carmel. ‘Everything.’ She looked at Masha with a degree of intensity that was unsettling. She lifted her smoothie glass and drank deeply.
Jessica spoke up next, eagerly, as if she couldn’t wait for her turn. ‘So, my name is Jessica.’
She sat cross-legged, her hands placed on her knees like a kid in a school photo, and Frances could see the cute little girl she had been not all that long ago, before she succumbed to the temptation of all those cosmetic procedures.
‘We came here because we’ve been having really very serious troubles with our marriage.’
‘We don’t need to tell everyone that,’ muttered Ben into his chest.