You And Me, Always(11)

‘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  …