"So Sarah tells me you were at Trinity College?" I said.
"English Literature," Malcolm confirmed, taking a sip of the Gigondas. He had good taste in wine. It went beautifully with the peppered steak fillets we were eating
"After that I got a job with Lewis Perkins," he continued. "That's where we met."
He meant where he had met Sarah. I had just about kept in touch with her through Facebook since we had been at Cambridge together. That was how I knew that she was in publishing, and that she had married the managing director of the company she had also gone to work for, a year ago.
Malcolm grinned with pride, looking at me and then at Sarah. He had done well, reaching the top of the company he had joined, earning the salary that had got him this house, and marrying a beautiful English girl. Not bad for a Jamacian born lad who grew up on a housing estate in Brixton. He had every reason to be pleased with himself.
He sliced into his steak, carving off a bite sized chunk, and adding some of the sweet potato mash and a mange tout before raising his fork to his mouth.
"But you met Sarah at Cambridge, she tells me," he said.
"We were in the same year, studying History," I confirmed.
"So did you two...?" he asked, with a meaningful smile. "Not that it matters. I mean these things happen."
I shook my head ruefully.
"No," I said, glad to able to say it truthfully given the circumstances, even though it had always been one of my regrets that I had kept things at the level of friendship, and never tried to get Sarah into my bed.
"Just good friends," I added.
I glanced at Sarah. She still wore her hair long, apart from the fringe above her eyes. The straight black strands fell behind her back, framing her face, her milk white complexion contrasting with the darkness of her lashes and brows, her ski slope nose as cute as ever, her brightly glossed lips just as full and succulent.
The look she gave me in return was curious, somehow acknowledging that things could have been different, possibly might be still.
The table was large enough for six, immaculately laid, Malcolm and myself at either end, Sarah between us, exactly mid-way on one of the longer sides, crisply dressed in a white blouse and grey skirt, as if straight from the office, a solid silver choker collar around her neck, a decorative slave ring centred at the front, her back as straight as her hair.
We talked some more, Sarah and myself catching up on the ten years since we had last seen each other, Malcolm getting to know his wife's newly reconnected friend, while I got to know more about my friend's husband of two years.
It was the first and only time that at dinner in someone's home, I experienced table service, the food brought to us, and plates cleared away, by a girl in her early twenties, blonde hair tied up under a white maid's cap, wearing a black maid's uniform, the skirt short enough to reveal an inch of thigh above black stocking tops. No suspender straps. Self supporting.
Someone else, I guessed, had to be working in the kitchen, preparing the food, later sending out the chocolate mousse, and then the cheese platter with which we finished off the meal.
"You'll stay over, of course," Malcolm said.
I had not expected that. My instinctive response was that it would make life easier, saving me the fifty minute drive back to my London apartment and since it was a Friday evening, getting back the next morning would not be a problem. I still played the social niceties, saying that I did not want to impose, but giving in when Malcolm insisted that it would give us more time to get to know one another, and that I would enjoy the breakfast that their cook would provide in the morning.
After we had had coffee, Malcolm offered a tour of the house. I had already been impressed by the hallway with its central staircase that separated to either side half way up, returning back on itself to the landing above, and the large combined lounge and dining room where we were sitting, with its view of the lawns and the woodland beyond.
More red wine in hand, we toured the remainder of the ground floor, another large reception room, a book lined study, a billiards room, complete with green baized billiards table, a home cinema, gym, and to finish off a fully glazed swimming pool, complete with jacuzzi and sauna.
"You know," Malcolm said as we stood on the tiled surround to the pool, "one of the things I have learned is that if you are fortunate in life, you should enjoy it to the full, and share what you have acquired with those whose company you enjoy. Don't you think?"
I looked forward to being in Malcolm's position, and having so much to share. I may be comfortably off, but with what I guessed was ten years start on me, Malcolm had made his way up to the top one or two percent.
"I'm just impressed," I said, sidestepping his question about whether accumulated possessions ought to be shared.
"It's a fundamental principle," Malcolm said. "It's the way I was brought up. My parents taught me to share. They learned it in Jamaica, from their parents before them, going way back. Two hundred years ago my family didn't own a thing. We were owned. Anything people managed to acquire,, they shared. Even the women were shared. You could marry, but your wife was owned, and if the master wanted he could enjoy her, or offer her to his guests. Makes you think. Doesn't it?"
Sarah had walked with us as Malcolm had given me the tour. She was standing close, in black stilettos and stockings, the hem of her skirt just above her knees, her blouse no longer as crisp, the humidity in the poolroom softening the fabric so that the outline of her nipple stubs was just visible, even under her bra.
For a second time I took in the silver choker collar she was wearing. It was an inch wide, and was a close fit around her neck. Given that it was solid, I wondered how it was put on, or removed. The decorative ring fixed in front was also curious, the kind that would be used to fit a lead onto a larger breed of dog, but in silver, not canine steel.
She saw me glance at her, and her eyes went to the tiled floor.
I still had not answered Malcolm's question, and I was still taking in his own thinking, about what had been the norms two hundred years ago.
"I guess I've not had the same background to think of things that way," I said.
Malcolm laughed.
"I'm playing with you," he said. "That was then. This is now. But I'm not a poor kid from Brixton any more."
"No," I said. "That I can see."
"So," Malcolm said. "It's too early for bed. We could have another drink in the lounge and talk some more, or if you're brave enough, we could use the jacuzzi, which Sarah and I love to do to relax after a meal. What would you like?"
If a host makes clear what he and his wife like to do, it is only polite to go along with them.
"If you have some swimming shorts I could borrow,.." I said.
"No need," Malcolm smiled reassuringly. "We never bother. Not even with guests. I'll let Sarah show you which room you'll be in, and get you a robe. Come down when you're ready. Do you like a port?"
"Sounds good," I said, realising that I was committed with no way back.
"So," Sarah said as we went upstairs, using the right hand branch of the staircase to reach the landing, "what do you think of Malcolm?"
"He seems a nice guy," I said.
"He is," she said. "That little speech he made goes deeper than he pretends, but I guess you'll find that out soon enough. But he's an amazing guy, so don't judge him, please."
I gave her a look.
"Why would I judge him?" I asked.
She didn't answer. Instead she led me to the room I would be sleeping in, a king size bed facing the window, burgundy wall behind the bed, the other walls a soft cream, white bedlinen with burgundy pillows and a folded burgundy throw laid horizontally across the bed. Beyond the bed there was an en suite shower room, slate grey tiles, black towels, black robe.
"Someone has good taste," I said.
"Malcolm," she said. "He's a perfectionist. It's what got him where he is in the firm."
"I guess it might be why he married you," I said.
"I couldn't possibly comment," Sarah said. It was an in-joke from a comedy show we both knew from years before.
"You were quite a catch, you know," I said.
"You never tried."
"I didn't want to risk our friendship."
"Then I hope you won't judge me either," she said. "Not for anything. And remember, I love the guy."
What judging her had to do with anything, I had no idea, but she started backing out of the room before I could ask her what she meant.