‘Sure, you can keep saying that. But I was there.’ Turning her attention back to her brother, Lena went on, ‘Trust me, they were serious. If you believe her, you’re an idiot. She wants this flat for herself and she’ll stop at nothing to get it.’
Exasperated, Flo said, ‘You seriously think I’d marry someone for a flat?’
‘Why not? I bet you can’t believe your luck, throwing yourself at my brother and actually managing to get him interested. Next thing we know, you’ll have accidentally got yourself knocked up. By the time he’s bored with you, it’ll be too late, you’ll have your legal rights. And that’s it, bang goes this flat. My brother wouldn’t think of this, but I do, because I’m smart and I know what women are like.’
Women like Giles’s wife, presumably.
‘OK, that’s enough,’ said Zander. ‘You have to leave now.’
‘You’re so gullible.’ Lena’s words dripped with derision. ‘And she’s not too bright either. Have either of you even worked out how I knew it was you hiding in the bedroom?’
This was greeted with silence. Evidently delighted, Lena said smugly, ‘See? You have no idea. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you.’
OK, talk about frustrating.
‘Really not bothered.’ Shaking his head, Zander turned away.
‘You’re dying to know,’ Lena jeered.
Flo, who definitely was, forced herself not to ask.
‘You didn’t know for sure.’ Zander’s tone was dismissive. ‘It was just a lucky guess. Off you go.’
Lena turned and stalked towards the stairs. In the hallway, she halted and looked at them.
‘In there.’ Unable to resist it, she pointed through the half-open kitchen door. ‘Next time, you might want to hide the tin.’
And with a satisfied smirk, she headed back down the stairs.
Once the front door had slammed shut, Zander clasped his hands together behind his head and closed his eyes. A few moments later he said, ‘Now you start to see what my sister’s like.’
‘Well, I kind of already knew,’ said Flo.
‘I’m warning you now, she’s going to get worse.’
‘She was right about the tin, though.’ In the kitchen, Flo picked up the printed silver canister of Lost Malawi tea from the Rare Tea Company. This was Zander’s favourite blend; he ordered a regular supply online and had brought this tin over with him the other evening. ‘Dead giveaway. Didn’t even occur to me to hide it. All my fault.’
‘Or mine, for being fussy about what I drink.’
Flo tried to smile, because last week she’d teased him about his inability to tolerate the ordinary tea bags she used. But the elephant was right there in the room between them and she needed to address it.
‘Look, you have to believe me. Lena’s wrong about what she overheard at the restaurant.’
Zander wanted to trust her, she could tell, but there was a wary expression in his blue eyes.
‘Your friend didn’t say it?’
‘Well, she kind of said it. But it was only a joke, I promise. I definitely haven’t hatched an evil plan to get pregnant, force you to marry me, then divorce you and live happily ever after in this flat.’
‘Right. Well, that’s a relief.’ He nodded briefly, then put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Anyway, not a great start to the day. Shall we change the subject?’
‘Might be an idea,’ said Flo.
But as the day wore on, although Lena wasn’t mentioned again, the elephant remained indelibly in the room, and Flo knew that a tiny percentage of Zander’s brain was wondering if what his sister had told him might contain an element of truth.
* * *
Dearest Rose,
I do love your way of answering questions. Hopefully you’ll be able to help me with mine.
Here are my three things:
I was born and raised in Wolverhampton.
My hobbies are cake-making and gardening.
If that makes me sound incredibly dull, I used to work as an acrobat in a travelling circus. (I’m sixty-five and can still walk a tightrope!)
Now, here we go with my story. My husband died ten years ago. We were very happy together and I never imagined I’d meet – or even want to meet – anyone else.
But by some miracle, it happened eighteen months ago, and honestly, it’s been so wonderful I can’t tell you. His name is Bill, he’s sixty-eight, also a widower, and he feels like my soulmate. We love each other’s company and would like to move in together, maybe even get married.
Now for the problem – Bill’s son and daughter. Basically, I’ve tried my best, but they disapprove of everything about me. They have money and I don’t. I live in a council flat and speak with a Wolverhampton accent. To add insult to injury (apparently!), my name is Tracey.