Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (22 page)
As she looked up at the banner again a huge smile spread over her face. ‘Did you do that, son?’ she asked Zak, pointing. He nodded. She held her arms out and he dashed over for a hug. With her arm still around him she looked at Rachel, Milly, Jay, Sean and Nikki. ‘And all this,’ she said, sweeping her arm from the walls to the new cushions on her sofa. ‘This was you?’ They nodded.
‘My home. It looks like my home again. All ready for Christmas.’ She walked around and saw the snakedraft excluder. ‘Ooh,’ she said, ‘I’ve been wanting one of these!’
‘But this must have cost …’ She accusingly narrowed her eyes at Jay.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ Jay said, holding up a hand. ‘You’ve been looking after all of us for years. Just let us look after you for once. This is from all of your neighbours.’
‘Well I think I better say thank you then,’ Lily said, smiling at everyone in the room. ‘Thank you.’
Nikki turned the music up on Lily’s stereo, and Rachel poured out lemonade and Cava for everyone in the room. Lily was sitting on a sofa in her living room, holding up the cushions to inspect them, and talking with Milly about which things she’d done.
A knock came at the door, and Zak answered it. ‘Hope we’re not too late?’ Siobhan said, stepping into the room and revealing Aiden behind her. ‘Of course not,’ Lily said, waving them in. ‘Come and join the house-warming. The bar’s open,’ she laughed, pointing to Rachel.
‘This place looks terrific,’ Siobhan said to Nikki, admiring the yellow trim on the walls. ‘Did you and Milly help do this? Wow, perhaps it’s you two who should be running Art Club.’
‘Great job,’ Aiden said to Rachel, as she passed him a glass of fizz. ‘This must have taken you hours.’
‘There were a few of us,’ Rachel said. ‘How was it at the hospital?’ she asked.
‘The same,’ Aiden replied. ‘I read to Mum a bit, the story Milly started. But then I got a call from Simon and had to handle that. I let the client know that we were behind on the interiors due to that damaged delivery, and while they understood, they weren’t at all happy. We should still be able to get them in for Christmas, but the furniture’s not going to be there – we really need to give them something extra as a sweetener.’
‘I see,’ Rachel said. ‘That’s interesting. Come over here, there’s something I’d like to show you.’
She led Aiden over to the customised shelving Jay had put in. He ran a hand over the top shelf, and crouched down to look at the drawers and cupboards at the bottom, nodding appreciatively at the smooth way they opened. ‘Is this hand-made?’ he asked.
‘It is,’ Rachel said, motioning for Jay to come over. He arrived as Aiden got to his feet. ‘And here’s the man who made it.’
‘Jay,’ Aiden smiled in surprise. ‘Would you be up for taking on a new commission?’
Rachel and Aiden had found a cosy table for dinner in the corner of Capelli’s, a nearby pizzeria. Zak and Milly were sitting opposite them.
‘So, what do you think?’ Rachel asked Zak as he bit into a slice of American Hot.
‘Delicious,’ Zak said, wiping a hand roughly over his mouth. ‘Why can’t we go out for pizza every day?’
‘Well, it would give us a break from cooking,’ Rachel said, reaching over to wipe away some tomato sauce with a napkin that he flinched away from. ‘But I think you’d get tired of it.’
‘I could never get tired of going out in London,’ Milly said, fiddling with her hoop earring. After the high of the party at Lily’s, she seemed to have slumped into a bad mood. ‘It’s better than being buried alive in Skipley.’
Rachel raised an eyebrow.
‘I’m serious,’ Milly protested. ‘Did you know you can walk around it in half an hour? The whole place. Kate and I did it the other day. We timed ourselves. To prove that we really were living in the smallest, most boring place on earth. Look around you, Mum. London is so much better. Nikki’s always doing cool things. There’s stuff happening here –’ she waved an arm towards the window, to point out the overflow of people from a Thai café opposite – ‘Can’t you see it? Laurie says London is the best city in the world,’ Milly said.
‘Oh, she does, does she?’ said Rachel.
‘Yes, and she said if I’m serious about wanting to work in fashion I should come and do some work experience down here.’
‘Right. Rachel thought back to what she’d overheard Milly say about a boy back home. ‘And do you talk to her a lot, Laurie?’
‘Yeah, sometimes,’ Milly said, with a shrug. ‘We email. She’s pretty easy to talk to. She’s not like other adults; she’s interested in the same kind of stuff that I am. You know, its like she’s younger. She’s fun. She’s not like you.’
Rachel glanced over at Aiden for support, but he was emailing on his iPhone, probably updating Simon on the situation with the furniture. His half-eaten pizza had been forgotten.
‘People know how to dress here,’ Milly went on, motioning with a dart of her eyes at the group of girls laughing and chatting at the table next to them, layered in scarves and accessories, with perfectly styled hair and make-up. ‘It’s not like back home where you’ve just got Doris’s boutique.’
‘Milly,’ Rachel said, sternly, ‘I’ve had just about enough of this. You don’t know how lucky you are. Stop complaining and finish your pizza.’
‘Thanks for the support,’ Rachel said to Aiden, as they walked home. Milly and Zak walked up the street ahead of them.
‘What?’ Aiden said, putting his phone away and looking up. ‘What support?’
‘Exactly. Did you even hear what Milly said back there?’
‘Something about Skipley?’ Aiden said, still looking distracted. ‘I had to let Simon know about Jay’s furniture, send over his website so we can start to look at a time frame.’
‘She hates it. And on top of that, she seems to think I’m the most boring mother in the world – nothing like Laurie, apparently.’
‘I guess Laurie is quite young, isn’t she, in her way?’
‘What do you mean?’ Rachel snapped.
‘I just mean I can see why Milly gets on with her, admires her or whatever. And there’s the whole fashion thing they have in common.’
Rachel ignored his comment. ‘There’s a boy,’ Rachel said, ‘someone in Milly’s life – I heard her talking with Nikki about it. I’m wondering if that’s why she’s been acting differently.’
‘A boy?’ Aiden said.
‘Yes—’ Aiden’s phone rang in his pocket and he took it out and answered. Rachel sighed.
‘Simon, hi – yes, what do you think? The finish is outstanding. I’m thinking if we offer them some quality bespoke pieces, they might forgive an extra few days on the schedule. Jay says he can work quickly …’
From:
[email protected]
Hi Carter,
I’ve thought about what you said and I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t fancy any of Nikki’s friends, I promise! I guess it was stupid of me, writing that message. I should have seen you could take it the wrong way. But I haven’t been thinking about anyone but you. Here’s my mobile, by the way: 07834 384347.
I hope you are OK.
Milly x
The next day, Thursday, Rachel poured Zak some Rice Krispies and milk into a bowl and made a pot of strong coffee. She flicked on the kitchen radio, and turned it up.
‘Ten shopping days till Christmas,’ the DJ announced jauntily. ‘How ready are you feeling?’ Rachel poured coffee into her mug and took a seat next to Zak. ‘Here, to get you in the mood, is a little song by Slade …’
‘When are we going home, Mummy?’ Zak said, loading up his spoon. Rachel had known the words would come at some point, but as he looked at her, wide-eyed, there was still a tug at her heart. ‘It’s nearly Christmas, isn’t it?’
She thought of what they’d be doing if they were back in Skipley – they’d have bought a tree by now, and would be decorating it as a family.
‘You like it here, don’t you?’ Rachel said, taking a sip of coffee and trying to lighten the mood. ‘And we’ve still got the dinosaurs to go and see.’
‘I do like it,’ Zak said. ‘And I guess I do want to see the dinosaurs. But we don’t have a Christmas tree. It’s not really much like Christmas.’
‘I know, darling,’ Rachel said, touching his arm. ‘I’m sorry. I know it’s not like usual. We’re going to go home just as soon as we can. But Granny Bea needs us down here right now.’
A knock came at the front door and Rachel got up to answer it, giving Zak a kiss on his head. She opened the door to find a young delivery man on the landing in front of her, holding a bunch of silver helium balloons.
‘Balloons for you,’ he said with a smile, holding out an electronic pad in Rachel’s direction. ‘Could you sign for them please?’
‘Oh no,’ she said, smiling in surprise. ‘I mean, yes, of course I can sign for them, but they’re not for me – they must be for my mother-in-law.’
She signed the pad and handed it back. The delivery man took it and checked his clipboard.
‘“For Milly”, it says here.’
‘Milly?’
‘Yep, that’s what it says. Merry Christmas,’ he said, passing the silver-ribboned bunch of balloons to her.
‘And to you too.’
Confused, Rachel took the balloons to her daughter’s room. She thought again of the snatch of conversation she’d heard between Milly and Nikki. There was ‘a guy’, someone in Milly’s life, that she wasn’t telling any of them about. And this was the proof. She tried to recall any names Milly had mentioned, boys at her new school – no one came to mind.
Milly answered the door, bleary-eyed with sleep. ‘Balloons,’ she said, looking at them in puzzlement.
‘They’re for you,’ Rachel said, passing them over. They bobbed against the ceiling and Milly searched among the ribbons for a note. She finally found the envelope and opened it, reading the note inside.
‘Who are they from?’ Rachel asked.
‘No one,’ Milly replied.
‘No one?’ Rachel said.
‘What, Mum?’ Milly snapped. ‘Why do you have to be so nosy?’
Rachel felt a flush rising to her chest. Anger and hurt competed inside her. ‘You used to tell me things, Milly,’ she said. ‘I know you need your space, but do you have to shut me out all the time?’
‘It’s none of your business,’ Milly hissed, slamming the door in Rachel’s face.
Milly, Did you like your balloon surprise? Cx
Yes, thank you x
From:
[email protected]
Pretty short text – maybe email was better after all … So are you coming home soon? I want to see you on Christmas Eve.
Carter
Aiden was in the shower. Rachel sat down on their bed and pulled her folded pyjamas out from under her pillow. On autopilot, she took off her jewellery and got undressed, throwing her clothes in the laundry, and slipped into her pyjamas. Pulling off her hairband, she shook her hair loose, then brushed through it quickly, then massaged night cream into her face. She thought of the way Milly had spoken to her. It still stung. Had she pushed things too far? Should she be giving Milly more privacy? Without Aiden to talk to about it she’d lost all perspective.
Perhaps just a chapter or two of a novel, to help her nod off, she thought. She scanned Laurie’s shelves;
The Great Gatsby
and
One Day
jostled for space among
Vogue
annuals and art books. Then she spotted that, tucked away, lying horizontally across the top of the other books and pushed towards the wall, incongruous with Laurie’s minimalist style, was a battered paperback copy of Jilly Cooper’s
Riders
.
Rachel pulled it from the shelf, smiling to herself as memories flooded back. She and Laurie must have been about fifteen, around Milly’s age, when they’d read it – old enough to know better, but young enough to giggle over the naughty bits. Laurie had found it on her mum’s shelf and brought it into school, laughing at the cover – a woman in tight white riding trousers, a man’s hand on her buttock. Rachel was pretty sure it was the same copy – Laurie had hung on to it all this time. They used to sneak off to the girls’ toilets and read sections of it there. Hadn’t they scribbled some notes on the inside cover?
The noise of the shower stopped. Rachel opened the cover – they’d not only turned down the page corners, but given each sex scene a mark out of ten. She remembered how the metal doors of the other toilet cubicles had clanked shut again and again in the time that they’d been locked away in their own, reading.
Rachel flicked through the pages, a warm rush of nostalgia coming over her as she saw underlined phrases. When she got to the back page, she saw that there was a white envelope wedged in there. As she went to take it out, the bathroom door opened and she hurriedly tried to shove the book back on to the shelf. She felt like a naughty schoolkid. As she struggled to get the book back in place, the envelope inside fell to the floor.
She bent to pick it up from where it had landed on the carpet. Purple writing and hand-drawn hearts covered the back of it, and as she flipped it over, she instantly recognised Laurie’s rounded teenage handwriting, the ‘i’s dotted with little circles. Her breath caught as she read the name there: Aiden.
Rachel lay in bed next to Aiden in the darkness, her heart racing, until she finally heard his breathing deepen. Slowly, she lifted the duvet, crept out of bed and went back to the bookshelf. She reached for the envelope she’d hidden in a rush.
