You And Me, Always(24)

Mimicking her in a squeaky falsetto, the auctioneer said, ‘What was that? Four hundred from the mouse in the room?'

Above the sound of laughter someone else shouted, ‘Four twenty.'

Lily already had a buyer lined up for the life-sized black and white  cows; they had a regular customer with a weakness for such quirky items  and a huge garden to put them in. Already backing out of the room, she  yelled, ‘Four fifty,' then pressed answer and said, ‘Hello?'

This time, thank goodness, not in a helium voice.

‘Hi, it's me. Eddie.'

‘I know it is.' Despite the fact that she was trying to squeeze between a  pair of enormous men in scratchy tweed jackets, she found herself  grinning like an idiot. ‘Hi.'

‘Four seventy,' cried a new voice right behind her.

Oh bugger. Twisting round, Lily raised her free arm and yelled, ‘Five hundred.'

‘Sorry?' said Eddie.

‘Five hundred from the little mouse with the curly hair,' the auctioneer announced. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, any udder bids?'

‘Five twenty,' shouted Lily, flustered.

‘Whoa, little mouse, not your turn! Hold your horses,' said the auctioneer. ‘Or should I say Friesians!'

‘What on earth's going on?' said Eddie.

At least he couldn't see how much of a flap she was in. Pressing the  phone tighter against her ear so she could hear him above the sound of  everyone else laughing at her mistake, Lily said, ‘I'm at an auction.'

‘Sounds like a rowdy pub. What are you buying?'

‘Two cows.'

‘Seriously?'

‘Not real ones. Life-sized models. Hang on a sec.' Someone else was  bidding five hundred and twenty pounds now. Covering the phone, she  countered with ‘Five fifty.'

‘How dare they bid against you?' Eddie sounded amused. ‘So rude.'

‘I know, it's a shocking breach of etiquette.'

‘Want me to call back later?'

‘I'll be done in just a minute if you're OK to hang on. SIX HUNDRED!'

‘Ow, my ear.'

‘Whoops, sorry.' This time she'd forgotten to cover the receiver.

‘Six hundred and twenty,' said the auctioneer.

‘Seven hundred pounds,' said Eddie.

‘Don't do that, you'll get me muddled again.'

‘Seventeen hundred.'

‘Stop it.'

He was laughing now. ‘Seventeen thousand.'

‘Seven hundred pounds,' Lily called out, to counteract the woman across the room who had just bid six fifty.

‘Any advance on seven hundred?' The auctioneer gazed around, gavel raised. ‘Is that it? Are we all done at seven hundred?'

‘Yes we are,' shouted Eddie, causing Lily to snort with laughter.

There were no more bids. The gavel came down and the auctioneer said,  ‘Well done, little mouse, the cows are yours. And I reckon you deserve a  pat on the back. Get it? A pat on the back!'

In her ear Eddie said, ‘He's amazing. Someone should give that man a headline spot at Caesar's Palace.'                       
       
           



       

Lily squeezed past the people at the back of the auction room and made her way outside.

‘There, I'm in the car park. I can hear you properly now.'

‘Sit down, make yourself comfortable.'

‘It's a car park, not the Savoy Hotel.' But there was a stone step to  one side of the building; Lily took up occupancy and stretched her legs  out in front of her. It was both surreal and lovely hearing Eddie's  voice again. ‘Where are you, anyway?'

‘In LA.'

‘Wow, really?' She already knew where he was, thanks to all the diligent  cyber-stalking. He'd flown over there three days ago and was in talks  with James Cameron about appearing in his next movie alongside Sandra  Bullock. Oh my life, just imagine.

‘You mean you haven't been googling to see what I'm up to? My ego just crashed and burned.'

‘I may have checked once or twice. Definitely no more than twenty-seven  times.' Why, why did she blurt things out without thinking them through?  It really wasn't doing her any favours. She kicked off her flip-flops  and gazed sadly at her dusty feet. He'd think she was a stalker now for  sure.

But Eddie was laughing. ‘Thank you for resurrecting my ego. Even if  you're only saying it to make me feel better. Can I tell you something?'

‘If you must.' She felt herself begin to relax.

‘I've missed talking to you. Missed our chats. I thought maybe you'd text or call. But you haven't.'

‘I thought you might call me, but you didn't.' In for a penny.

‘I was waiting for you.'

‘I'm a girl.'

‘Don't give me that. You're not shy.'

‘I'm not shy,' Lily agreed. ‘But you're the famous one. I'm the civilian.'

‘Oh right, fair enough.' He sounded surprised.

‘Do you always wait for girls to phone you first?'

‘Yes.' Of course he did.

‘Well then,' said Lily. ‘There you go.'

‘That's me told.' He was smiling, she could feel it. ‘Maybe this is what I've missed. Anyway, did you hear back from that guy?'

‘Johnny Depp? Yeah, he kept phoning and calling round but I've taken out  a restraining order now.' The initial shock of hearing from Eddie had  subsided, and they were falling back into their easy, jokey way of  carrying on.

‘Glad to hear it. How about your mum's boyfriend?'

‘Which one?' For some reason it felt like a test. If he could remember the name, it meant he was properly interested.

‘Are you checking to see if I was paying attention? Declan,' said Eddie.  ‘Declan Madison. And I want extra points for the surname.'

Pleased, Lily said, ‘Ten extra points and a silver star.'

‘Silver? Why not gold?'

‘You only get gold if you can tell me his birthday.'

Eddie laughed. ‘Has he been in touch?'

‘Better than that. He turned up, spent the whole day with us. Honestly,  it was fantastic. He brought photos of him and Mum together. And he had  stories, so many stories. It was just brilliant, we really hit it off.  Even when we weren't talking about Mum, he was still great company.'  Lily did her best to make Eddie understand. ‘Telling me about his  sisters and his nephews, and everything he's done in the past. You know  how sometimes you meet someone and it's so comfortable it feels like  you've known them forever? It's weird, but it was exactly like that. And  the way he talked about my mum  …  oh God, I don't know how to explain.  It just kind of got me. It meant so much.'

‘I can tell.' Eddie sounded amused. ‘That's great. I'm so glad. So will you see him again?'

‘I hope so. He said we will.' Suddenly struck by a thought, Lily said, ‘Hang on, what time is it where you are?'

‘Three forty-five. In the morning.'

‘Oh my God, why are you even awake?'

‘Jet lag. It's hideous.'

‘Are you in bed?' For some reason she'd been picturing him sitting in an office in a smart suit.

He laughed. ‘I am. You sound shocked.'

‘I am shocked. I thought you had clothes on.'

‘Sorry. Tell yourself I'm wearing striped pyjamas.'

‘And a long woollen dressing gown. And old men's slippers.' It wasn't working at all; her brain knew better.

‘How's Patsy?'

‘Good. She's got another date lined up for tomorrow night, and this one definitely doesn't ride a tandem. She's checked.'                       
       
           



       

‘Wise move.'

‘Oh, and Dan's back for the next few weeks. He had an accident and broke  his collarbone. And his foot. It was his girlfriend who gave the game  away about you staying at Patsy's, by the way. Dan's only just found  out. He's really sorry.'

‘That's OK. It was bound to happen sooner or later.'

Lily could hear the lot numbers rising inside the hall; she had more  items waiting to be bid on. ‘Look, I'm going to have to get back to the  auction  …  Coral will shoot me if I miss out on the lots she's after.'

‘I'll let you go.' Eddie's voice softened. ‘It's been nice to chat. Maybe you'll call me next time.'

‘Maybe. What are you doing today?'

‘Nothing much. Having lunch with Sandra Bullock.'

Of course he was. It was a hard life being a film star. ‘Poor you,' Lily  said cheerfully. ‘And here's me wondering how to squeeze two model  cows, a dining table and sixteen Victorian chimney pots into the back of  a van. If I'm lucky, my lunch will be a doughnut and a mug of tea.'





Chapter 22



Patsy checked her face in the rear-view mirror and redid her lipstick  before climbing out of the car. It never stopped being scary, but at  this moment the possibilities were limitless. Secretly, she had high  hopes for this evening's blind date. You never knew, this could be it.