After explaining to Kev what Suzanne had suggested, which meant spending the weekend together in her company and his friend Rob's, he'd told me that he would have to check because he thought there was a family occasion that weekend. Initially I wasn't too concerned, but as time passed and he still didn't know if he'd be free I became, not concerned but (with hindsight, perhaps belatedly) I began to suspect something wasn't quite what it should be. At least, it certainly wasn't flattering.
Summer passed and so did the weekend with our friends. My 18th birthday was being discussed at home. I was asked if I wanted presents or a party. Not having had a party since my 8th birthday, I asked for that although I didn't have a great number of friends to invite personally. As the party was to be held at our house, it was going to be a relatively small party.
Obviously Kev, Suzanne, Rob, Teresa would be invited. I also wanted to invite some school friends, Carol, Morag and Kim along with any partner or friend they wanted to accompany them. My sister, who's almost 8 years older, said she'd want to invite a number of her friends and so would my 18 months younger brother. From the lists they had, it seemed we'd have plenty of people attending. As my birthday fell on a Saturday, I'd also be able to have the party on the 'big day' itself.
I think it was at the end of July that Suzanne told me she needed to speak to me about something important. We weren't seeing as much of each other as we had done, no longer going out on double dates. She rang and asked me to come around to her house one evening. When I did, she told me that she and Rob had called round to Kev's house and she'd met his wife - Charu.
