by Jill Mansell
‘She did. You went into the shop and bought diamond earrings for, like, ten million pounds or something.’
‘I meant after that.’ Enjay winked at AJ and behind him Flynn stiffened.
‘She didn’t say.’ Gigi’s eyes were widening. ‘What happened?’
‘Oh, nothing major. Bit of kissing, that’s all. But pretty nice.’
‘No!’ Gigi let out a squeal. ‘I don’t believe it!’
Enjay shrugged. ‘It’s all on camera. Or you can ask Harry. He was there.’
Oh great, drag me into it.
‘Right, sorry, could you take your hands off my daughter?’ Flynn reached out and for a moment looked as if he was about to forcibly remove Enjay’s arm from Gigi’s shoulder. He stopped short of physical contact but gazed levelly at him. ‘Thank you.’
Enjay waited a couple of seconds then let go of her. ‘Just being friendly, man. Not doing anything wrong.’
‘Maybe not. But I’d be grateful if you didn’t do it anyway.’
‘My my.’ Enjay half-smiled. ‘Something’s bothering you. And to think I just spent a fortune in this store of yours.’
‘I can cancel that. Feel free to take your custom elsewhere.’ Flynn stood his ground.
‘Dad!’
‘You must think you’re pretty special,’ Enjay continued silkily, ‘if you’re talking like this while my crew’s here.’
Flynn’s jaw tightened. ‘You must think you’re pretty useless if you’d stand back and let them fight your battles for you.’
Shit, thought Harry who never swore, not even inside his own head. Oh good grief, and now man-mountain Maz was lumbering back into the shop in search of the next case, and AJ was clenching his oversized knuckles . . .
‘Hey, no problem. It’s cool.’ Enjay raised his hands and stepped away from Gigi. ‘She’s your daughter and I respect that. You can trust me, man. I give you my word.’
Harry waited. Everyone did. Finally Flynn exhaled and visibly relaxed.
‘OK.’
‘See?’ Enjay winked at Gigi. ‘Your daddy’s still lookin’ out for you. That’s a good thing. Shows he cares.’
‘Shows he’s bossy, more like.’ Gigi was torn between pride and teenage embarrassment.
‘No hard feelings, man. Come along to the party tomorrow night. Right, we need to head off now. Three houses to look at and the realtor’s waiting for us.’
‘Realtor?’ Gigi’s eyes were bright. ‘You mean estate agent? Oh wow, are you buying somewhere in Bath?’
‘You never know. If the right place comes up.’ Enjay signalled a genial goodbye to the two of them as the group made their way out of the shop. ‘See ya, guys.’
‘See you tomorrow,’ Gigi said eagerly.
Harry waited until they were all ensconced in the car. Then he shook his head at Enjay. ‘I thought he was going to hit you.’
‘Honestly?’ Enjay sat back and sprang open the ringpull on a chilled can of Coke. ‘For a moment back there, so did I.’
‘And you aren’t looking to buy a property in Bath.’ The viewings had been arranged purely in order to provide more material for the show; as the producer had explained, TV audiences like nothing better than to see footage of amazing homes they could never afford to live in themselves.
‘Never say never.’ Enjay ramped up the volume of the music. ‘This is life, man. Anything can happen.’
‘Codswallop,’ said Harry. ‘You only said it to wind up Flynn.’
The word codswallop amused Enjay no end. ‘I like winding people up. It entertains me.’
‘For goodness sake, why?’
Enjay raised his mirrored shades and regarded him with affection.
‘Oh, Harry, don’t tell me you ain’t noticed. That guy made out he was bothered about me and Gigi, but it wasn’t her at all. What really made him mad was when I mentioned the thing with Lara.’
When Lara arrived home from work on Friday, there was a picnic hamper sitting on the doorstep. Lifting the lid – it was a beautiful wicker hamper and her stomach was rumbling – she folded back the white cloth to reveal amazing picnic food, asparagus quiche, assorted tiny sandwiches, chilled wine, mushroom frittata, mini Scotch eggs and individual pots of hulled strawberries with clotted cream.
It was like the best present ever. And really, so many sandwiches . . . chicken and bacon, rare roast beef, smoked salmon and cream cheese . . . surely one or two would never be missed?
OK, three. Skilfully peeling back the cellophane, Lara helped herself to one of each kind then covered the rest up again. She glanced longingly at the mini Scotch eggs but exercised iron control. Mustn’t be greedy. Unless the hamper was a present for her, in which case she could go crazy.
The next moment she heard a male voice inside the house and hurriedly closed the wicker lid. Then the door was pulled open and she came face to face with Joel, looking more than ever like a fallen blond angel.
‘Oh, it’s you. Do me a favour and tell Evie to sort herself out.’ He looked upset and resentful, and was wearing a cream linen jacket and jeans. ‘One day she might change her mind and discover she’s left it too late.’ As he said it, he picked up the hamper and marched off down the drive.
Lara grabbed the door before it swung shut and let herself into the house. Evie was pacing the living room like an ex-smoker desperate for a cigarette.
‘Let me guess. He wanted to take you out for a romantic picnic, and you said no.’
Evie heaved a sigh. ‘This isn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. I’m all up in the air. I think I’m sorted, then Joel comes along and it’s like he puts my heart in a blender.’
‘Are you hungry?’
‘No.’ Evie abruptly stopped pacing. ‘Actually, yes, I am.’
‘Damn, I should have stolen more.’ Lara took the hand out from behind her back and said, ‘They were calling out to me from inside the hamper. You have them.’
‘We’ll share. Thanks.’ Evie took a bite of the chicken sandwich, chewed and swallowed. ‘That’s really nice.’ She looked miserable. ‘Oh God, why do I feel so crap?’
‘Tell me what he said to you.’
‘He said I think someone better’s going to come along, but who knows if that will happen? What if it doesn’t? Maybe I’ll regret being like this and wish I hadn’t been so stubborn because I could end up with some complete no-hoper like the guy he saw me with outside Brown’s.’
‘Well, that’s rubbish, because you said Ethan was nice. You got on well together.’ Lara was indignant. ‘You liked him. Just because he’s not as pretty as Joel, what does that matter? Honestly, what a bloody cheek.’
Evie flung herself down on the sofa and covered her face. ‘OK, this is what makes it worse. I didn’t say it before, but I more than liked Ethan. I wasn’t expecting it, but I ended up really liking him. We had such a good time. It gave me confidence, you know? I didn’t feel like such a failure. And I thought he’d be in touch. I really expected him to call.’ She slid her hands away and shook her head in defeat. ‘But guess what? He didn’t. I’ve waited and waited all week and it hasn’t happened, so now I feel like a complete failure, a hundred times worse, and maybe Joel’s right, I can’t expect to end up with anyone at all.’
‘Oh, don’t say that. You will. Men are just stupid sometimes.’ Lara tore the final sandwich in half and said, ‘Just keep telling yourself it’s not you, it’s them.’
‘OK.’ Unconvinced, Evie said, ‘Although right now it definitely feels like it’s me.’
Evie’s mobile burst into life thirty minutes later while Evie was upstairs. Seeing Joel’s name on the screen, Lara impulsively answered it.
‘OK, before you say anything, this isn’t Evie. She’s in the shower. And you telling her she’s never going to meet someone else as good as you isn’t fair,’ she told Joel. ‘You can’t browbeat her into taking you back. You need to leave her alone.’
‘But I love her.’ Joel sounded as desperate as Evie.
‘
You cheated on her!’
‘Anyway, that’s not why I’m calling. I just tried to return the hamper to the deli and they wouldn’t take it back. There were three sandwiches missing. I suppose that was you.’
‘OK, two things,’ said Lara. ‘One, you left the hamper on the doorstep. When I got home there was a teenage boy running out of our drive. When I asked him what he was doing I couldn’t make out a word he said because his mouth was full. And two, you can’t take fresh food back to a shop because you don’t want it any more. That’s just wrong.’
‘Yes, they said that too. I didn’t know. Bloody hamper cost a fortune.’ He sounded crestfallen. ‘Anyway, sorry about accusing you.’
‘That’s all right. What are the sandwiches like?’
‘Nice. I just tried one. To be honest, I’ve lost my appetite now.’
‘Oh, that’s a shame.’ Lara was sympathetic. ‘Aren’t there any other girls you could get to go on a picnic with you?’
‘No there aren’t. And stop having a go at me,’ said Joel.
‘I’m not having a go. It’s just that Evie’s really hungry. And it seems like such a shame for all that lovely food to go to waste.’
The opportunity to get back into Evie’s good books did the trick. Within minutes Joel had dropped off the hamper.
Well, waste not, want not.
‘What’s this?’ Half an hour later, Gigi arrived home.
‘Picnic.’ Evie was devouring strawberries and cream.
‘Indoor picnic.’ Lara patted the space next to her on the tartan rug spread out on the living-room floor. ‘This way we can watch Coronation Street.’
‘And EastEnders,’ said Evie.
‘Without having to fight off all the wasps and mosquitoes.’ Lara pointed to the last segment of out-of-this-world asparagus quiche. ‘Try that, you won’t believe it.’
‘Not the only thing I didn’t believe today.’ Collapsing down beside her, Gigi said, ‘Enjay told us what happened yesterday!’
Oh bum. Lara had really hoped he wouldn’t.
‘And now you’re going all red,’ Gigi crowed. ‘So it did happen. Mu-um!’
Honestly. If she could be reincarnated with just one improvement, it would be the ability to remain calm and not blush. ‘It wasn’t me.’
‘It was you. You kissed him.’
‘He kissed me. For about half a second. And I didn’t join in,’ said Lara. ‘He was just playing a game.’
‘Yeah, I guessed. Ha, it was funny though. Dad wasn’t pleased either.’
‘No?’ That caused a jumble of emotions to stir themselves up.
‘I thought for a moment he was going to hit him.’
‘What?’
‘Oh, not over you. That was because Enjay had his arm around me.’ Gigi took a greedy bite of Scotch egg. ‘You know what he’s like. Mum, these are fantastic!’
Honestly, Enjay made Jack Nicholson look shy and withdrawn. Lara said, ‘Oh well, another week and he’ll be gone.’
‘That reminds me. He’s throwing a party at the Ellison tomorrow night.’
‘Why?’
‘Just more camera fodder. Basically it’s his way of apologising to all the other guests he’s managed to annoy. We’re invited too.’ Gigi’s gesture encompassed the three of them. ‘He wants all of us there, to dilute the old crones.’
Ooh, opportunity. Lara looked across at Evie and said, ‘We’ll definitely go. You might see Ethan.’
Then her phone rang and she jumped, as she always seemed to be doing at the moment. What with still not having heard from James Agnew and waiting for the DNA results from the laboratory, she was turning into a nervous wreck.
But it was only Don, calling to ask her to open up the shop tomorrow morning because one of his crowns had come loose and he needed to visit the emergency dentist first thing.
Lara hung up, then called James Agnew’s number again. No answer. If the foreign woman was still there she was no longer even bothering to pick up the phone.
Where was he?
Was he ever coming back?
Had he died?
As they headed over to the Ellison on Saturday evening, Lara said, ‘Look, I can’t help it, I know I keep going on about this, but you know how sometimes you have a dream and it just makes so much sense? Seriously, it’s like this one was an actual sign.’
‘You do keep going on about it. Mum, give it a rest,’ Gigi scolded. ‘Poor Evie, she won’t be able to look at him.’
‘OK. Sorry.’ Lara mimed zipping her mouth shut. It had been amazing, though; last night she’d dreamed that Harry and Evie were married! To each other! And they’d been completely perfect together, despite having to live in a stripy circus tent and do their washing-up in a paddling pool. But none of that had mattered, Harry had been relaxed and laughing, they’d held hands and barely been able to leave each other alone, and as she’d knelt on the grass outside their tent, washing the dishes in the blue plastic paddling pool, Evie had merrily announced, ‘Thank goodness I didn’t marry Joel.’ Prompting Harry to add with genuine relief, ‘Thank goodness I divorced Lara!’
Oh, and there’d been a baby dolphin leaping around in the washing-up water too. Read into that what you will.
The party was being held in the ballroom. Both Maz and AJ were filming as hotel guests, staff on their evening off and other invitees from heaven knows where milled about. Music was playing, but not the bleeding-ears kind that had caused all the complaints in the first place. Tonight it was Frank Sinatra all the way. Enjay, having scrubbed up like nobody’s business, was wearing an immaculate bespoke grey three-piece suit, dazzlingly white high-collared shirt and brogues you could see your reflection in. He was also sporting diamond cufflinks, and an eye-boggling diamond-encrusted fob watch on a chain. As you do. He was currently wielding a microphone and singing ‘New York’ to a terrified-looking woman in her seventies clutching a champagne flute of orange juice.
‘Poor thing,’ Gigi murmured.
Lara said, ‘He’ll probably try to kiss her in a minute.’
‘Here’s Harry.’ Evie gave her a nudge. ‘Don’t mention your dream.’
OK, she wouldn’t. But it was intensely frustrating when you suddenly realised something brilliant and weren’t allowed to make it happen. Couldn’t Evie see she was right?
‘Hello. Having fun?’ Unlike dressed-to-the-nines Enjay, Harry was wearing a pair of chinos and a beige Flying Ducks shirt.
‘Not yet. I want to know what really expensive champagne tastes like.’ Lara waylaid a passing waitress and helped herself to a glass from the tray. ‘Hmm.’ She took a glug and concentrated hard. ‘Tastes like cava.’
Harry said, ‘That’s because it is. The cheap stuff’s in the glasses on the trays that are being taken around. The real deal’s still in the bottles, being poured out for the important guests so they can see the labels and be suitably impressed. Put that down,’ he instructed Lara, ‘and we’ll get you some of the fancy stuff.’
‘Here, you can have this one.’ Lara handed the glass to Gigi. ‘Your taste buds won’t know the difference.’
‘Don’t do that,’ Harry warned as Enjay launched into the next song and Gigi waved to him across the room. ‘If you’re not careful he’ll come and serenade you. Everyone’s scared it’s going to be them next.’
‘If he sings at me,’ said Lara, ‘I’ll join in. That’ll make him stop.’
Despite the decided weirdness of the occasion, over the course of the next hour the various guests began to relax. Alcohol loosened their inhibitions, some people began to dance and a hatchet-faced old man who looked like a tax inspector took everyone by surprise when he joined Enjay onstage and sang like Dean Martin.
Once the Rat Pack medley was over, Evie watched as Enjay resumed chatting to the guests, working the room. It was an exercise in PR and the power of charisma. The scantily dressed girls in their twenties were doing their best to attract his attention but Enjay was concentrating his efforts on the difficult guest
s. And winning. Give it a bit longer and he’d have them up dancing to a bit of hip hop.
‘Everything OK?’ Harry came over to join her. Thank goodness he didn’t know about their adventures last night inside Lara’s head. Lara might have decided they’d make a great couple and Harry was lovely – in lots of ways he was exactly the kind of man she should go for – but at the moment all she could think about was Ethan.
Ethan who hadn’t contacted her since their kind-of date a whole week and a half ago. Having expected to feel nothing, the connection they’d made had been startling. She’d really thought it was mutual too. Why hadn’t he been in touch?
Anyway, never mind that now. Evie said, ‘I’m fine. And it looks like everyone’s enjoying themselves. How about you?’
‘Well, I’m not going to be singing, that’s for sure. But I may venture on to the dance floor at some stage.’ Harry paused. ‘In a sedate fashion, of course. Nothing too wild.’
Evie smiled; his brand of understated charm really was captivating. ‘You wouldn’t want to be wild.’
‘I know, I’d only end up doing my back in.’ Harry glanced at her. ‘Although Lara did say I should ask you to dance. How does that sound? Not right now, of course. But maybe later?’
He was only asking her because Lara hadn’t been able to resist sticking her oar in. Evie pulled a face. ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to be polite.’
‘I’m not just being polite.’
Which was, self-evidently, the only possible response a genuinely polite person could make. Evie said, ‘Fine then, maybe later when you’re feeling brave enough. We’ll try really hard not to step on each other’s feet.’
The ballroom was situated in the west wing, bright, gilded and high-ceilinged and with full-length French windows opening out on to the sweeping terrace. The other end of the hotel was altogether darker and more enclosed, with narrow wood-panelled corridors and smaller rooms.
Evie emerged from the ladies’ cloakroom and rather than head straight back to the party decided to do a bit of casual exploring first. There had been no sign of Ethan this evening but he could still be here. She hadn’t asked a member of staff; the last thing he’d want to hear was he was being pursued by that desperate female he wasn’t remotely interested in. There again, she was an invited guest at a party being held in the hotel, which meant she had a valid reason for being on the premises. Which meant if she happened to bump into the owner of the hotel whilst exploring the facilities, it didn’t make her a stalker.