The Real Romero(76)

                Her heart was preparing to soar and she had to school her features into just the right level of indifference as she pulled open the door.

                ‘My dear!’

                ‘Antonia...’ Milly forced a smile but she was taken aback to find his mother on the doorstep. She hadn’t spoken to Antonia since the split, and she felt guilty now about that, because they had developed a strong bond in the short time they had been in each other’s company. ‘I...eh...have been meaning to get in touch with you...’

                ‘You look a little peaky, my dear.’

                ‘Please, come inside. I... What brings you to London? I didn’t think that you would be okay to travel overseas...just yet. Can I offer you something? Tea or coffee?’

                ‘I thought I might surprise my son with a visit,’ Antonia confided. ‘And a cup of coffee would be lovely, my dear. Decaf, if you have it. Caffeine any time after six in the evening ruins my sleeping patterns.’

                ‘That reminds me: well, I guess you’ve come... I would have called...’ To further compound your disappointment by filling in all the gaps Lucas might have left in the saga of why we had broken up? Added to the story of personality clashes, simmering rows and different hopes and dreams?

                ‘It’s even nicer seeing you face to face, Milly, my dear. I’ve missed having you there at the house. It felt rather empty and quiet after you and Lucas left. Of course, I was in tremendous spirits, but nevertheless... How quickly we become accustomed to having pleasant company around us.’

                Milly could feel her face getting redder and redder and her body hotter and hotter.

                ‘Well, you look amazing,’ she said truthfully, even though the tremendous spirits may have taken a recent battering.

                ‘I feel it. I guess I’m just buoyed up by Lucas’s turnaround.’

                ‘His turnaround...?’

                ‘Finally coming to his senses and seeing the value of settling down.’

                For a confusing few seconds, Milly was appalled at the question that had instantly sprung into her head: Who was he planning to settle down with? How fast could one man move when it came to women?

                ‘So—and I know I’m being an interfering old witch here—but I came over so that I could sit you both down together and find out when I can start looking forward to the big day...’

                * * *

                ‘The big day, Lucas...and I’m quoting here. So what in heck’s name is going on?’

                Milly had finally managed to get hold of Lucas, who was personally protected from hassle with anyone he might not wish to talk to by an army of people in charge of security checks. She actually had his direct line but, the second she had been redirected, she had had to engage in the usual barrage of questions from his guard dogs.

                She was in a filthy temper by the time she actually heard his dark drawl at the other end of the line, which was possibly why her stomach didn’t instantly go into nervous knots.

                For the first time since he had walked out, Lucas felt alive at the sound of her voice and that, in itself, was bloody infuriating.

                ‘I have no idea what you’re going on about, Milly. You can’t commence a conversation in mid-sentence and expect me to instantly be clued up.’