by Jill Mansell
‘Who?’
He grinned. ‘The love of my life.’
Ellie guessed who it was by the way Louisa rolled her eyes. During her interview Zack had asked how she felt about dogs. He’d then gone on to explain about Elmo, but she hadn’t seen him yet. Now she was about to.
‘Geraldine’s back from visiting friends in Brighton. She just called to say he’s coming over.’ Somewhere outside they heard a rhythmic clattering noise. Zack paused then said, ‘Five… four… three…’
‘He’d better not be muddy,’ warned Louisa.
‘Two… one…’
Another clatter, this time closer to hand, then the dog flap in the back door swung open and Louisa backed into a corner as a disheveled-looking dog burst through into the kitchen. Yelping with joy, he danced around Zack for a few ecstatic seconds before launching himself into his arms.
‘I’m not scared,’ said Louisa. ‘It’s just these stockings are eight denier. They cost a fortune.’
So this was Elmo, Zack’s true love. A three-year-old wild-haired terrier cross with attitude, Elmo resembled nothing so much as a teenager after a hard week of partying in the mud at Glastonbury. He had button-bright eyes, lopsided ears, and a jaunty manner. Not to mention bushy eyebrows and a straggly beard. As he squirmed in Zack’s arms, he did exaggerated double takes of delight.
Hmm, no wonder Louisa was looking put out.
‘I’ll wait upstairs,’ she announced. ‘Don’t be long, OK? We’re meeting the Drewetts at six fifteen.’
‘I’ll be up soon.’ Was it her imagination or did Zack visibly relax the moment Louisa was out of the room? Turning round, he pointed and said, ‘Elmo, say hello to Ellie.’
It would have been extra impressive if Elmo had actually said hello back. But she was still charmed by the way he snuffled and wagged his tail and gave every sign of being thrilled to meet her. Zack lowered him to the ground and Ellie knelt to greet the little dog properly.
‘He’s gorgeous! Hello, baby, I’m going to be friends with you! You are fab.’ She blew kisses as Elmo rested his front paws in her hands and excitedly licked her neck. Looking up, she said, ‘And he doesn’t get confused, living in two houses?’
Because Elmo was a timeshare property. Two years ago, Zack’s neighbor Geraldine had said how much she’d love to have a dog, but her bad leg made it impractical. Zack, in turn, had told her that he’d always wanted a dog but the hours he worked and his frequent trips abroad meant it would be unfair on any animal. The next day, in true entrepreneurial fashion, he had come up with the solution and a week after that Elmo had entered their lives.
‘It works fine. He has the best of both worlds. Geraldine’s at home most of the time. We have matching dog flaps into our kitchens.’ Nodding out of the window, Zack indicated the specially lowered section of wall separating their gardens. ‘Elmo just hops over when he fancies a change of scenery. If I’m working too hard, he’ll go and see Geraldine for a bit of company. If he wants a walk, he comes back here. We share vet’s fees and make sure we keep track of who’s feeding him, otherwise he’d end up the size of a barrel.’ His gaze softened like a proud father’s as he watched her scratch the dog’s comical ears. ‘He likes you.’
‘Well, good. I like you too.’ Ellie kissed Elmo’s whiskery eyebrows and got her chin licked in return. ‘You’re so… huggy!’
‘Zack?’ Louisa’s voice drifted down the stairs. ‘Come on, you need to get changed before we leave. We mustn’t be late.’
***
‘So, first day at work. How did it go?’
‘Pretty good. Busy.’ Ellie was in bed; she put down her book and looked at Jamie, lying on his side across the end of the bed with his head supported on one elbow. ‘I think I’m going to enjoy it.’
‘You’re moving on.’ Jamie’s gaze was intent.
‘Your dad said that. But I don’t feel as if I am.’ It was hard to explain, but part of her didn’t want to move on; the prospect made her feel guilty. ‘I still love you. I’m never going to stop. It’s a new job, that’s all. With people who aren’t going to treat me differently because of what happened.’
Jamie said easily, ‘Zack sounds all right.’
‘He is all right.’
‘What’s the girlfriend like?’
‘Louisa? Confident on the surface, insecure underneath. Wishes I was thirty years older. It’s funny, she doesn’t trust me. If only she knew.’
Jamie grinned and flicked back his streaky blond hair. ‘If only she knew what a sex maniac you are?’
‘I meant what a eunuch I am. Zack couldn’t be safer with a lesbian nun.’
‘I used to know a joke about a lesbian nun.’
Ellie pulled a face. ‘I know you did.’
‘I can’t remember how it went. You’ll have to ask Todd.’
‘But then he might tell me.’
‘Don’t be like that. My jokes are hilarious.’ Jamie pretended to make a grab for her feet beneath the duvet, because in the old days he would have tickled them mercilessly by way of punishment. But since that couldn’t happen now, all he could do was pretend.
‘Todd’s coming over at the weekend.’
‘Good. I’m glad you two are talking again.’
Ellie felt warm and comforted; of course he was glad. Wasn’t that why she’d done it, safe in the knowledge that it was what Jamie would have wanted?
‘It was your dad. He was the one who set it up.’
‘But you did your bit. You made the effort. I’m proud of you.’
‘Don’t make me cry.’
‘Oh, baby. I love you.’
‘Me too.’ She wiped away the tear that was sliding out of the corner of her eye.
‘You’re doing OK. Get some sleep now. Night, baby.’
Ellie closed her eyes and felt the aching loneliness well up inside her chest. ‘Night.’
Chapter 15
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked forward so much to seeing someone again. It almost felt like a date. As he made his way up the hill, Tony had to force himself to slow down. He wanted to see if she was there but didn’t want to be panting and gasping for breath when he reached the top. Or red in the face. Apart from anything else, the color would clash with his purple shirt.
Then he climbed the last section of the hill and there she was, sitting in the same spot as yesterday but this time with her easel facing further to the west. Tony stopped to look at her and felt his heart lift. She was wearing a long emerald-green dress today, with some kind of bright pink necklace around her throat and flat pink sandals on her feet. There was something about the way she held herself, the sense of how supremely comfortable she was in her own skin, that was utterly beguiling. Just looking at her made him want to smile. And not because she was giving him a free painting…
Martha spotted him as he made his way towards her. She waved her paintbrush in greeting and called out, ‘Hooray, you turned up!’
Her voice was mesmerizing, warm and velvety and redolent of the Caribbean.
‘Did you think I wouldn’t?’ Up close, he saw that the necklace was composed of huge uneven pebble-shaped beads painted a dazzling shade of fuchsia pink.
‘No, I thought you would.’ Martha smiled. ‘I hoped you would. Otherwise I’d have lugged this thing all the way for nothing.’ Leaning to one side, she reached down for a flat canvas bag lying on the grass.
Tony’s heart began to beat faster as she slid her smooth brown arm into the oversized bag and drew out the completed painting, professionally double-mounted on ivory bevel-edged board.
‘I still can’t believe you’re doing this. You didn’t have to have it mounted.’
‘Oh, shush, that was no bother at all, I did it myself.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘I’m a demon with a Stanley knife. Anyway, it finishes it off nicely. You can choose your own frame. Here, take it. Have a proper look. It’s yours.’
The added pen and ink detail enhanced the quirky characters she had observed yes
terday afternoon. The result was charming, and captivating in every way.
‘I have no idea how to thank you.’ Tony shook his head. ‘This means a lot to me. You don’t know how much.’
‘I’m just happy you like it. And I certainly do know how much it means.’ Reaching up to touch the pink necklace, Martha said, ‘I felt exactly the same way when my son made me this.’
OK, that explained the lumpy pink pebbles. Tony wondered how old she was. Had she had her son when she was in her early forties?
‘Of course, that was a while ago.’ Answering the unspoken question, she said, ‘He’s twenty-eight now, and a criminal lawyer. It embarrasses him no end that I still wear it. Which is always good fun. But every time I touch this necklace, I see him as clear as day, sitting at the kitchen table in his little shorts, rolling up the clay to make the beads, then painting them with my brand new bottle of nail varnish.’
Tony nodded, a long-forgotten memory flashing up of the day Jamie had rushed home from school and presented him with a clay pot. Glowing with pride, he’d announced, ‘It’s a thumb pot, Daddy! We made them with our thumbs! You can keep your cufflinks in it!’
What had happened to that funny little blue pot? He had no idea. OK, don’t think about Jamie now, don’t mention his name, don’t announce that you had a son too, but he died. It would only create awkwardness and bring the mood crashing down.
Instead he said, ‘It’s a great necklace. It has character. I took a look at your website, by the way.’
Took a look. That sounded as if he’d glanced at it, clicking casually through the pages for a few seconds before moving into something else. Whereas in reality he had pored over them for almost two hours. It wasn’t the glitziest of sites; indeed, it was a modest, home-built affair with no photos of Martha herself and only the briefest of introductions to her work, along with the gallery of paintings past and present. Potential buyers were requested to send an email. Each of the paintings was a delight, as individual and heart-warming as the one he was currently holding in his hands.
‘And…?’ She clutched her chest in mock terror. ‘I always get nervous when people say that. It’s like being back at school and your teacher saying he’s read your essay.’
‘Well, you get an A plus from me. I’m officially a fan of your work.’ Tony paused. ‘And I’d like to buy more. But this time you’d have to let me pay for them.’
‘Really?’ Martha looked delighted.
‘Really.’
‘Now I feel like a drug dealer. Giving you the first taste for free, making sure you come back for more.’ She searched his face. ‘Seriously, so long as you aren’t doing it just to be polite.’
Tony said gravely, ‘I’m very rarely polite.’
She smiled. ‘Which ones would you be interested in?’
‘The swimmers in Hampstead Ponds. The one with the fireworks on the Thames. Possibly the wedding party.’
‘Oh, sorry. That one’s sold.’
‘Oh.’
‘But there are plenty more at home.’ Martha brightened. ‘I haven’t got round yet to putting them on the website. They’re still waiting to be photographed.’
‘Right.’ He nodded slowly. ‘Well… I’d be really interested in seeing them.’
‘OK, great.’ She carried on painting.
What did that mean? Tony said, ‘So, will you put them on the website? Or is there some way I could get to see the actual paintings?’
Martha sat back and surveyed the half-finished scene on her easel. ‘Is that what you’d prefer?’
‘Yes.’
‘We can go now, if you like. If you have time.’
‘I have time.’ It was what he wanted, more than anything. ‘Are you sure this is OK?’
She smiled. ‘If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t say it.’
Together they packed away her things. He folded up the easel and the collapsible chair. Martha slid everything else into her canvas carrying case. They headed down the hill and she said, ‘It’s a mile and a half from here. Can you manage that on foot?’
And Tony, who never walked anywhere in LA because… well, because no one there ever did, said, ‘Are you calling me decrepit?’
***
She lived on Lanacre Road in Tufnell Park, in a terraced redbrick house with bright hanging baskets either side of the topaz-yellow front door.
‘Why doesn’t it surprise me that you have a yellow front door?’ said Tony.
‘Ah, I’m a lady of color.’ Martha opened the door. ‘It’s one of life’s joys. Come along in.’
He inhaled the light summery scent she was wearing as he followed her into the living room. Cleverly, she hadn’t overdone the color. Three walls were white, one was a vivid shade of peacock blue. The sofa was upholstered in bottle green velvet, and there were white rugs on the polished wooden floor. Bookshelves were crammed with books. There were paintings on the walls and bowls of flowers everywhere.
‘They’re not yours.’ He indicated the framed paintings.
‘I couldn’t hang my work in my own living room. That would be too weird.’ Pulling a face as she unloaded her canvas bag, Martha said, ‘Like a novelist choosing to read their own book.’
Tony glanced once more around the room. ‘You don’t have a TV?’
‘Not for years now. I listen to the radio. Sing, sometimes.’ She smiled. ‘Now, I can either cart everything down here or we can go upstairs to see my paintings.’
She genuinely had no idea who he was. Charmed by her manner, by her character… OK, by pretty much everything about her, Tony put down the folded easel and the mounted painting she had given him and said, ‘Let’s go up and have a look at them, shall we?’
The front bedroom had been converted into a studio. Here were the paintings, propped up against all four walls, some familiar to him from the website, others not. The sun streamed in through the windows, another easel was set up in the center of the room and paint-spattered white sheets covered the carpet.
‘They have to be there,’ Martha apologized, ‘because I’m such a mucky pup. Mind you don’t trip on them. Now, let me talk you through the paintings you haven’t seen before.’ Resting her hand on his arm and leading him towards them, she said confidingly, ‘I tell you what, see if you can guess which one’s my favorite.’
From that moment on, Tony was lost. It was almost impossible to concentrate on whatever it was she was saying. All he could think of was how close she was to him, how wonderful she smelled, how unbelievable it was that she could make him feel this way. Yesterday he hadn’t known her. Now he did. She had a voice like honey and a smile capable of lighting up any room.
‘…Well?’
OK, he needed to pay attention. ‘Well what?’
She surveyed him with amusement. ‘Have you been listening to me at all?’
‘That one. That’s your favorite.’ He pointed to a painting of a picnic on the beach.
‘I just asked you what color your walls were. Where you’re going to hang them.’
‘Oh, sorry. I’m distracted.’ Should he say it? Could he? Bracing himself, Tony said, ‘By you.’
‘Me? Why?’
‘Because you’re such a lovely surprise.’ Did that sound completely ridiculous? Well, it was true. Aloud he said, ‘You don’t know how happy I am to have met you.’
Martha looked away, then back at him. Finally she exhaled. ‘Me too. You’re a very nice man.’
‘It’s not just me, feeling it?’
She shook her head and swallowed. ‘Not just you.’
‘I want you to know that I don’t make a habit of doing this.’ Reaching for her hand, he stroked the brown ringless fingers. ‘But I want to do it now.’
The next moment she was in his arms and he was kissing her, and it was like being twenty again. Martha’s soft body pressed against his, her silver bracelets clinking as she ran a hand through his hair. She was trembling with emotion. He wanted to carry on holding her and kissing her for ever. God, she wa
s so beautiful…
‘Tony?’ Breathlessly she pulled away to study his face. ‘Are you single?’
He nodded. ‘Divorced many years ago. I’ve been on my own for a long time.’
‘Me too.’ He felt her sadness. The next moment it was dispelled. ‘And I want you to know that I’ve never done this before either.’
Another kiss, then she led him out of the studio and across the narrow landing. Her bedroom was smaller, ultra-feminine in shades of cream and gold.
Tony turned her to face him. Wonderingly, he stroked her face. ‘You’re sure this is all right?’
There was a world of emotion in her golden eyes. Her voice unsteady, she whispered, ‘I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.’
Chapter 16
An hour had passed. Possibly the most incredible hour of his life. When he said, ‘OK, there’s something I have to tell you,’ Tony saw a flash of fear.
‘What?’
‘I probably should have said this before. But it’s all right, it’s workable.’
Martha had gone very still. ‘Tell me.’
‘I don’t live here in London. My home’s in Los Angeles.’
She sank back against the pillows. ‘Oh. That’s a long way away.’
‘But we can sort something out. I want to keep on seeing you. I hope you want to keep seeing me. I can come over every few weeks. I don’t know, maybe you could come out and stay. There’s plenty to paint, believe me.’
‘You work over there?’ She searched his face. ‘What do you do?’
‘I’m an actor.’
Her eyebrows went up. ‘Really? Any good?’
‘Pretty good, yes.’
‘Successful?’
‘Yes. Yes, I am.’
Martha thought for a moment then said slowly, ‘Are you famous?’
He nodded.
She broke into a huge smile. ‘Well, that explains it, then! While we were on our way back here, I saw a couple of people looking at you. But more than just a normal look, you know? More interested. I thought it was because you were so attractive. But it wasn’t, was it? They recognized you. Oh my God, what’s your name?’