‘I decided back then that I would never get married and be dependent on someone else for my happiness.’
I was quiet for a moment, watching him stare out of the window, lost in his unhappy memories.
‘How’s your mother now?’
‘Now? God, she’s fine. As strong as an ox and completely terrifying. Striding about the countryside in her plus-fours with her Labrador. Blimey. You’d never believe she had an episode like that now, but to me that makes it even more terrifying. How can love fell someone like that?’
‘It must have been a terrible shock. It must have been horrendous for you all.’
‘Yes.’ Anthony nodded. ‘But it’s a long time ago now.’
‘The flipside, of course,’ I said, after a moment’s silence, ‘is that to have been so destroyed by the loss of your father shows they had built something wonderful together. He must have made her very happy during their marriage. Would you really deny that happiness just to spare the pain?’
‘Yes,’ Anthony answered without hesitation. ‘Happiness can be found in lots of places. Good food, a nice pint, a night out with the lads, solving a crime, sex.’
‘I like how sex is right in there with solving a crime.’
He laughed.
‘But if you asked your mum if she wished she’d never met your father, I’m sure she’d say no. If she could live her life again, she’d choose to have that time with him all over again, I’m sure, even if it meant she would have to endure the pain of losing him a second time.’
Anthony frowned. ‘Well, of course she would. She was in love with him. My plan is to avoid falling in love altogether and live a long and happy life.’
‘You might not live a long and happy life. You could die just the same as anyone else. Not falling in love won’t change that.’
‘I know that. I’m not trying to cheat death.’ He sat back and laughed. ‘The dead are the lucky ones in some respects. It’s those who are left behind, picking up the pieces of their lives and crippled by grief, who suffer the most. I’m trying to avoid that. Going through that pain. Getting broken like my mother was.’
‘But to avoid that means living only half a life. You’re denying yourself the joy and happiness that your mum and dad must have had before he was taken from her.’
‘But we’ve already covered the fact that happiness can be achieved in lots of ways.’
‘Of course, and that’s fine so long as you’re not denying yourself the possibility of falling in love if it were to come along.’
Anthony frowned and looked sideways as though he didn’t understand what I was saying.
‘For instance,’ I went on, ‘the relationships you’ve had in the past: did they simply fizzle out? Or did you walk away when you felt them moving towards something more serious?’
He looked suddenly shifty. ‘Fizzled out.’
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him. ‘Hmm.’
‘Well, look, truly, I’ve never met anyone I could see myself spending the rest of my life with, so if I did walk away when I felt things starting to get more serious, then it was the best thing to do and probably saved everyone a lot of heartache.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Look, I’m very upfront about myself. I’m not the marrying kind. I rarely stay in one place for very long, and I like that. I like new places, new faces, moving about. I make no apologies for that.’
‘Wow! I bet you get loads of dates with chat-up lines like that.’
‘Well, I obviously don’t put it quite like that.’ He laughed and looked out of the window. ‘One’s got to get one’s leg over every now and then.’
I threw my head back and laughed. ‘You are unbelievable!’
‘Well, not many girls ask the questions you ask.’ He smiled, grudgingly. ‘And now I fear that my dance skills were wasted and I’ll never get you into bed.’
‘You’re right there.’
‘Damn it. If only I could lie.’
I chuckled. ‘If only.’ I leaned back and looked at him and he smiled.
‘You’re a very unusual woman, Miss Jones.’
‘How so, Mr Bascombe?’
‘The way you dress, for a start.’
‘Oh, you’re going to start on that, are you? You’re not going to get me into bed, so you’re going to criticise my dress sense?’
‘Absolutely not. I think you look amazing. I like that you don’t dress like everybody else.’
I frowned, remembering what he’d said about his mother. ‘Does your mum really wear plus-fours?’
Anthony laughed. ‘I guess you’re never going to find out.’
‘Have you taken any of your girlfriends back to meet her?’
‘Nope. In fact, my mother probably thinks I’m gay and that’s fine by me. My brother’s provided grandchildren so she’s not that bothered about me these days.’
‘Do you see her?’
‘Yes, of course I still see my mother. I’m not a complete monster.’
‘Where does she live?’
‘You’re so nosy.’ He sat back and looked at me, shaking his head. ‘She lives in Shropshire.’
‘Not far then.’
‘No, not far. And no, I’m not taking you.’
I laughed. ‘Did I ask to meet your mother?’ Scraping back my chair, I started pulling on my coat. Anthony eyed my body with appreciation and heat flooded my body. ‘Come on, let’s go,’ I said, brightly, ignoring the look as best I could.
We went back out into the sunshine, our feet crunching on the gravel path. To my surprise, the car park was full and a white, beribboned Rolls Royce was parked at the bottom of the steps.
‘Oh my goodness, the bride’s here!’ I glanced at my watch. ‘I can’t believe that’s the time already.’
‘Time flies when you’re extracting people’s deepest, darkest secrets,’ Anthony said, drily.
‘Hardly!’ I laughed.
I watched as Julie was helped out of the car by her father. Her ivory-lace gown fitted tightly all the way down before splaying out as it touched the floor.
‘Oh wow, she looks lovely. And she’s holding the flowers. They look great. Don’t they look great?’
‘They do indeed look great,’ Anthony said with mock gravity. I nudged him but felt too emotional to do anything else. Tears were welling in my eyes and my nose was starting to run. Fumbling for a tissue, I blew my nose noisily and sniffled a little.
‘You’re not crying, are you?’ Anthony peered at me in horror and then turned and looked around him as though searching for an escape route. ‘Why do women cry at weddings? I’ll never understand.’ He straightened up and watched as the bridesmaids’ car drew up. ‘I understand why men cry, of course.’
I laughed and nudged him again. ‘It’s not that, really. It’s just we never really get to see our flowers in use. We make them up, and then they go off and do whatever job and make whatever impact they’re supposed to do, but we never get to see that. So it’s really special to actually see the bride arrive with her bouquet.’ I wiped a finger beneath my eye and sniffed.
‘You get to set up the tables and altar, don’t you?’
‘Occasionally. Sometimes Dave just delivers them and the staff at the venue put them out.’
‘I take it Dave doesn’t treat you to a slap-up scone after you’ve delivered flowers together?’
‘No, never,’ I giggled, my eyes still on Julie as she walked up the steps, holding her dad’s arm. I felt like tiny shooting stars of happiness were zinging around my body. ‘Don’t you feel anything?’ I asked Anthony, turning towards him.
‘Ice-cold terror?’
‘Don’t be daft.’
‘Seriously, I feel like running inside and shouting “don’t do it, you fools”.’
‘No, you don’t. It’s beautiful, pledging your love to someone.’
‘Gah! Awful.’ Anthony shuddered.
‘Your time will come, Basc
ombe.’
‘You want a bet?’
‘Yep.’
He laughed and started walking across the car park towards his car. ‘Knowing my luck it’ll be you.’
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
Chapter Six
I slipped into the passenger seat of Anthony’s car, still amused by what he’d said. To my shame, I had a burning desire for it to be true. Maybe I could be the one to make Anthony fall in love. But even as I was thinking this, I was telling myself not to be ridiculous and to stay well away from this beautiful but damaged man. It was all right feeling sorry for him, but I’d experienced enough heartache and disappointment in this past year.
Anthony started the engine and pulled away while I checked my reflection in the tiny mirror in the sun visor. My eyeliner was smudged but my mascara was mercifully still intact. I repaired what I could with a tissue as Anthony drove back along the road towards Chester.
I felt quite at home in Anthony’s car. He put on the radio and groaned as a Christmas song came on. ‘Bloody Christmas.’
‘I don’t suppose you’re going to the Christmas lights switch-on tonight?’ I flipped up the sun visor and sat back in my seat.
‘Strangely enough, no.’ He glanced across at me.
‘There’s a parade.’ I did jazz hands to add a bit of pizzazz.
‘Oooh!’ He did mock-excited jazz hands back before returning his hands to the wheel. ‘Still a no.’
‘Mum and I are going out for something to eat after work, then we’re watching the parade. Bobbi was coming, too, but I’m not sure she’ll be up to it now. I hope she’s okay. She doesn’t drink much usually. Especially when she’s coming into work the next day. Maybe someone spiked her drink.’
‘Maybe. But if she doesn’t drink much usually, perhaps she’s just more susceptible to getting drunk. She’s very thin, isn’t she? That won’t help either.’
‘I suppose. Hopefully she’ll have managed to sleep it off by now, though.’
‘How well do you know Bobbi?’
‘Pretty well, I think. She’s lovely to work with and a really talented florist. I think she’ll go far.’
‘What about her home life?’
‘I don’t know much. Her mum’s a teacher at the college. Her brother’s still at school. I think their dad left them when they were small. She doesn’t talk about it much, though. She talks about her friends mostly, and the boys she fancies. Not that she goes out often. That’s why I was so surprised this morning. Still, it’s not like she does it every week.’ I looked across at Anthony. He was staring straight ahead, watching the road. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘Oh, no reason. I was just wondering.’
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. ‘You’re a detective. Detectives never just wonder.’
‘Detectives often just wonder. Don’t be silly.’
‘You know something, though, don’t you?’
Anthony sighed and rubbed his right hand up his left forearm. I watched the hairs stand up on end before he brushed them back down again. ‘Well, as you pointed out, I am a detective and I am looking for your ex-fiancé. So I ran a bit of a check on the girl who works with you, just to check she wasn’t involved with him, too.’
‘And?’
He sighed. ‘I shouldn’t really be telling you this, but social services are involved with her family and she’s been issued with vouchers for a foodbank.’
‘A foodbank? Why would Bobbi be using a foodbank?’
‘Well, because her family can’t afford to eat, I presume.’
‘Oh my God! Don’t I pay her enough?’
‘I don’t know. But I assume, since she’s still living at home with her mum and her brother, that there’s some kind of problem with her mum.’
‘Oh no.’
‘But you can’t tell her you know. If she hasn’t told you, she mustn’t want you to know.’
‘That’s awful that she feels she can’t confide in me.’
‘It might be a pride thing more than anything else. I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.’ He sighed and shook his head. ‘In fact, I know I shouldn’t have told you.’
‘No, I’m glad you did. Maybe there’s something I can do. I don’t know what but there might be something. I doubt we’d be able to increase her wages by much, though.’
‘Well, you don’t want to make her feel like a charity case. Just see if there’s anything subtle you could do. Like giving her spare toiletries, or food you’re not going to use.’
‘Oh, okay. Good idea.’
Anthony turned into the gated entrance to the car park and parked in his usual parking space.
‘Thank you once again,’ I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and climbing out.
‘You’re welcome. I’ll go and check on Bobbi, but I’m warning you, if there’s any sick I’m coming to get you.’
I laughed. ‘I’ll send my mum.’
Going back into the shop, I felt a bit sorry that my time with Anthony was over. I’d really enjoyed his company. I knew I’d have to be careful around him. He’d be easy to fall in love with and he’d given me enough information to know that it wouldn’t end well for me.
‘Hi, Mum,’ I called, taking off my coat and hanging it on the peg. ‘Everything all right?’
‘Yes, fine.’ She appeared in the archway and peered into the back room. ‘We’ve been quite busy. Did you get the flowers there all right? You’ve been quite a while.’
‘I know. Anthony was hungry so we stopped for something to eat.’
Mum’s eyes flashed and her lips twitched into a smile. ‘Oh yes?’
‘Yes,’ I said, ignoring the undertone. ‘And then, on the way out, I actually saw the bride arriving with her bouquet. It looked gorgeous. Do you want to see the photos I took of the table centrepieces? They look lovely.’
‘Did you take one of the bride?’
‘No, I didn’t think. I felt like it was a bit intrusive, actually, especially as she didn’t know I was there.’
Mum took the phone off me and looked at the photographs I’d taken. ‘Oh, they look lovely, don’t they?’
‘Yes, really nice against the white tablecloths.’
‘Did you ask Anthony to come to the Christmas lights switch-on tonight?’
‘I did, but he doesn’t like Christmas, so he said no.’
‘He doesn’t like Christmas?’ Mum looked dismayed.
‘No. His dad died at Christmas time so it brings back bad memories.’
‘Oh no! Poor man. Still, he’d have to get over that if he had children.’
‘I don’t think he has plans to have children, Mum. Nor get married. Didn’t he tell you that this morning?’
‘I’m sure you could change his mind.’ She nudged me and winked.
‘Mother!’
There was a knock on the back door and Anthony stuck his head round.
I looked up in alarm. ‘She hasn’t been sick, has she?’
‘No, I just came to say she’s awake and looking better. I’m making her some toast and she’ll be down in a bit.’
‘What a kind man you are, Anthony.’ Mum beamed at him. ‘Thank you so much for all you’ve done today.’
‘It’s my pleasure. I’ll send her down as soon as she’s done.’
‘There’s no rush. Oh, and Anthony? Rachel was just telling me you didn’t want to come to the Christmas lights thing tonight, but you could still come out for tea with us? It’s only a quick pub meal, but we’d love for you to join us.’
Anthony hesitated and glanced at me. ‘Actually, yes. That would be lovely. Thank you.’
‘Marvellous. We close at half past five so we’ll give you a knock then.’
‘Great! See you later.’
Bobbi came back down to work, looking much more alive than she had earlier. I watched her curiously, wanting to ask if everything was all right at home and if I could help in any way. But
I knew I couldn’t. She didn’t want me to know and I had to respect that. Instead, she chatted freely, telling us about the party at her friend’s house she’d been to last night and how a boy had taken her number. The afternoon passed quickly and it was soon time to close up the shop. Butterflies swirled in my stomach as I locked the door and turned off the lights. Mum and Bobbi were already pulling on their coats in the back room.
‘Is someone going to give Anthony a knock?’ I said, collecting my bag from the side.
‘We thought we’d leave that to you.’ Bobbi gave Mum a sly smile.
‘Don’t be silly. Go on up and knock.’
‘Oh no, we really think it should be you that does that.’ Mum and Bobbi giggled together like schoolgirls.
‘Okay then!’ I rolled my eyes to show it wasn’t really a big deal. Shoving my arms into my coat sleeves, I went out into the darkness and climbed the steps to Anthony’s apartment.
‘Hi!’ he said, opening the door almost immediately.
‘Hi, are you ready?’
‘Yes, I’ll just get my coat.’
‘Great, I’m just locking up, so…’ I turned away and trotted back down the steps, more to hide my blush than anything else. I really needed to pull myself together, but it was hard when Mum and Bobbi were watching from the doorway below, exchanging looks and nudging each other.
‘Hi, Anthony,’ they chorused as he shut his front door and came down the steps.
I shook my head slightly. They’d only seen him a few hours ago.
‘Hello, ladies. Where are we eating then?’
‘Only in the pub next door. Come on, I’m starving.’
It was a blustery night and specks of rain splattered against our faces as we walked. Anthony walked next to my mum, chatting about the apartment. Bobbi linked arms with me.
‘I’m sorry about this morning,’ she said. ‘I feel really bad about not being able to work.’
‘Don’t worry about it. We’ve all been there.’
‘It’s really unprofessional, though.’
‘Honestly, Bobbi, don’t worry about it. It’s not like you do it all the time, is it? Just don’t do it again and we’ll forget about it. How’s college going? I haven’t asked you about it for ages.’
Meet Me Under the Mistletoe Page 9