‘I know. She stuck it out for a few months, but it wasn't ideal. And then, at the end of October, she discovered she was pregnant.' Lily grimaced. ‘Which was even less ideal. She told Keir, who told his parents. They were appalled.'
‘And?'
‘They accused Mum of setting out to trap their precious son, as if he was the world's greatest catch. Then they told her the problem needed taking care of. They said they'd pay for it to be dealt with and offered to take Mum to the clinic. But Mum said she'd sort it out herself.' Twisting a strand of hair around her index finger, Lily went on, ‘So they gave her the exact amount in cash and prepared to wave her off. That was when she told them she'd be keeping the baby. They were horrified, of course, but there was nothing they could do about it.'
There was empathy in Eddie's silver-grey eyes. ‘I hope she bought something nice with the money.'
‘She bought a clapped out blue Ford Escort – not from them, funnily enough – and spent the rest on baby clothes and a second-hand cot. Then she left Exeter with nowhere to go.'
‘No family of her own?'
Lily shook her head. ‘No brothers or sisters. Just a mother who liked to drink and gamble. When Mum went off to university, her mother sold their flat to pay off the debts she'd run up at the casino. Then she married some bloke she'd met there. They refused to let Mum move in with them. So yes, she was completely on her own.'
‘Yet she didn't give you up. That's pretty amazing. Sounds like your mum was quite a character.'
Lily smiled and nodded. ‘Oh yes, she was amazing. She stopped the car at a service station on the M5 and bought a road map, then closed her eyes and stuck a pin in it.'
‘As you do,' said Eddie.
‘Well, probably not an actual pin. I expect she just pointed with her finger. And hit Nottingham, so that's where she decided to go. But as she drove on up the motorway, she realised she'd be passing quite close to the part of the Cotswolds where Coral lived. They'd been best friends through three years of uni and she'd heard all about Stanton Langley but never got to see it. She thought it'd be nice to stop on the way, pay Coral a quick visit and let her know what was happening, where she was planning to go.' Lily spread her hands and said cheerily, ‘Well, you pretty much know the rest. Mum arrived here in the village, Coral persuaded her to stay the night … and that was it, she never left.'
‘Fate,' said Eddie, finishing his last corner of toast.
‘Exactly. I could have been born and lived my whole life in Nottingham.'
He pushed aside his empty plate. ‘So, shall we get down to business?'
Which, like a saucy Carry-On nudge, brought memories of this morning's inappropriate dream back once more. Lily felt the little hairs on the nape of her neck prickle with embarrassment. Jumping up, she took the plates to the sink and collected a pen and notebook from her shoulder bag. Then she sat back down, uncapped the pen in businesslike fashion and said, ‘Right, let's go.'
Miraculously, it didn't take long at all. Eddie told her to write from the heart, Lily jotted down what she wanted to say, and with his encouragement, the words just seemed to spill out on to the page. Twenty minutes later, it was done.
‘Wow, that was easier than I thought.' She sat back, hugely impressed with herself. ‘I expected it to take ages.'
Eddie smiled at her. ‘I knew you could do it.'
‘Do you really think it's OK?'
His gaze met hers. ‘It's better than OK. It's perfect.'
‘Well, thanks. You helped just by asking the right questions.' Lily tapped the open notebook, covered in the words she'd hastily scribbled down. ‘I'll write it out properly and post it later. Thanks so much for helping me out.'
‘My pleasure.'
‘And now I'd better get back to work.' She flipped the notebook shut.
‘That's a shame.' Eddie sat back. ‘It's kind of nice having a bit of company.' Drily he added, ‘So long as it's the right kind.'
Whoops, getting a bit hot again. ‘Well, Patsy'll be home at five.'
He nodded. ‘I like Patsy. She's great. We haven't talked about her ex-husband, but Rosa told my PA what happened. Must have been pretty rough for her.'
‘It was.'
Eddie hesitated, then said, ‘If you're not doing anything this evening, would you like to come over again?'
‘God,' said Lily with a grin, ‘you are bored.'
‘Well?' Now he was smiling too.
‘Can I ask you a question? Is that girlfriend of yours likely to be turning up at some stage?'
‘What girlfriend?'
‘Oh come on,' said Lily. ‘The one that got you hiding out here in the first place. The one married to the scary movie director.'
‘OK, she's not my girlfriend. I haven't slept with her. She threw herself at me to make her husband jealous because she knows he's been seeing someone else.' Eddie shook his head in despair. ‘Seriously, the pair of them are so messed up. And as far as they're concerned, it's all extra publicity for the film, so it's fine. Never mind what it's doing to me.'
‘Oh.' He certainly sounded as if he was telling the truth. ‘Nice people.'
‘I know. Anyway, never mind them. Will you be coming over?'
OK, how often did a good-looking famous person practically beg you to spend the evening with them? ‘I'll have to consult my busy diary,' Lily said, then rose to her feet and hoisted her bag over her shoulder. ‘Maybe.'
Eddie Tessler's eyes glittered. ‘And if you happen to call in at the shop on your way over, white chocolate Magnums are my favourite.'
Chapter 11
Patsy's first client of the morning wasn't a willing one. Her name was Tamsin, and she was perfectly happy with her hair the way it was.
‘Noooo,' she wailed when Patsy cautiously approached with the scissors. ‘Don't! I like it like DISS.'
The child's mother shook her head. ‘It can't stay like that, though, Tamsin,' she said wearily. ‘Now be a good girl and sit still.'
Last night, four-year-old Tamsin had locked herself in the family bathroom with a pair of blunt scissors and spent a happy half-hour determinedly sawing away at her straight blond hair.
Just on the one side of her head.
‘Sweetie, you have to be careful.' Patsy rested her hands on Tamsin's tiny shoulders. ‘Because my scissors are really sharp and I don't want you to get hurt.'
Tears welled in the little girl's eyes. ‘But I like my hair!'
‘Tam, it can't stay like that,' her mother blurted out in despair. ‘Everyone will laugh at you. Hair has to be the same on both sides otherwise it just looks silly.'
‘NOT SILLY,' roared Tamsin, launching herself out of the chair. Like a mini superhero she ripped apart the Velcro fastening of her cape and flung it to the ground. ‘NOTSILLY NOTSILLY, GETAWAYFROMME … '
‘Oh my God, Tamsin, you are being impossible.' Her mother rolled her eyes. ‘I'm so sorry, she's not going to let you do it,' she said to Patsy. ‘We'll have to leave it for now.'
‘That's OK. Not a problem.' Patsy picked up the discarded cape. ‘Maybe in a day or two she'll change her mind.'
‘Fingers crossed. Honestly,' said the woman, ‘I think she's trying to give me a nervous breakdown. Kids, eh? Who'd have them?'
It was one of those careless, throwaway comments you heard all the time, but to Patsy the words jarred like chalk on a blackboard. A lump sprang into her throat, and when she glanced across the salon, her gaze caught Will's for a split second before he looked away.
Tamsin's mother said, ‘Have you got children?'
Patsy willed the lump to reduce in size. ‘No, not me.'
The woman, clearly at the end of her tether, shook her head. ‘You don't know how lucky you are.'
An hour later, Patsy was putting foils into the hair of another mother, this one a not-quite-natural blond in her late twenties whose three-week-old daughter was sleeping in a new pink and grey carrying car seat. Everyone had admired little Ella, who was utterly beautiful, with downy dark hair, a rosebud mouth and delicate eyebrows that moved as she dreamed her baby dreams.
Her mother, giddy with the joy of parenthood but wiped out by the night feeds, had closed her eyes within two minutes of the first foils going in and was now also peacefully asleep.
Patsy couldn't help herself: she kept stealing glances at perfect Ella, with her tiny fingers and spiky dark lashes. If she were to pick her up, she knew exactly how that fluffy hair and silky-soft skin would feel and smell …