The Chocolate Lovers' Club (22 page)

‘I’m fine, Hilary,’ I say.

Crush scooshes me backwards and silently climbs onto the loo in front of me. What’s he doing? I give him a look and he puts his finger to his lips to quieten me, then he points to the gap at the bottom of the cubicle door. I have to hold onto his thighs to stop him wobbling. His groin is perilously close to my mouth. My heart is banging in my chest and it’s only partly because Hilary the Hun is prowling just outside the door.

Marcus’s mother’s head does, indeed, appear at floor-level. Bloody hell, she is actually trying to peep under the loo door. What does she think – that I’ve got a man in here! Oh. But then I have.

‘Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?’ she says under the door.

‘Slightly dodgy tummy,’ I tell her quickly.

‘Must be all the excitement,’ she replies.

Must be because your husband’s trying to cop a feel of my growler.

‘I’ll be out in just a minute,’ I say. ‘Don’t wait for me. Tell Marcus that I’m okay.’

Then she leaves and you don’t know how relieved I am that she didn’t decide to pay a visit to the facilities while she was here. I don’t think I could have coped. No one should be forced to listen to their future mother-in-law having a wee.

When the door closes behind her, Crush jumps down from the loo seat. I am almost faint with relief.

‘That was fun,’ he says. ‘In a pervy sort of way.’

‘How did you know that she’d look under the door?’

‘Those sort of women always do,’ Crush tells me – though quite where he has gleaned this knowledge from, I have no idea.

‘Buggeration.’ I hold my head in my hands. ‘What sort of a family am I marrying into?’

‘I have to be going,’ Crush says. And even though we’re in a toilet, Aiden Holby kisses me quickly and firmly on the mouth. ‘Enjoy the rest of your evening,’ he says with a grin as he breezes out of the cubicle.

But he knows damn well that I won’t.

Chapter Forty-Seven

N
one of us know what to say. We’re sitting in Chocolate Heaven, but even a plate of Clive’s finest champagne truffles is failing to soothe us. Our mood is sombre in sympathy with our friend’s terrible tragedy.

Nadia is dressed in black. Her face is pale and drawn. She’s picking at a chocolate without enthusiasm. Eventually, she gives up and pushes the plate away from her. ‘Toby’s body is due to arrive back later today,’ she says into the silence. ‘Could one of you come with me?’

‘We’ll all come,’ I say. ‘We should never have let you go to Las Vegas alone. This is just awful for you.’

‘I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,’ Nadia admits. ‘And I don’t know what I would have done without you all.’

I can’t take much credit myself, but Chantal has been absolutely wonderful. She’s stepped into the breach once again, looking after Lewis and helping Nadia with the organisation of the funeral. Why is it, at a time when all you want to do is fall to pieces, there’s so much paperwork to complete? This has all been a living nightmare for Nadia, but she’s coping incredibly with it. I don’t know that I’d have been so stoic in her situation.

‘Does this mean that Toby’s debts are cleared?’ I venture. Not a nice question, but I know that we all want to ask it. I hate to think that Nadia will still be struggling with financial problems on top of everything else.

‘I wish.’ Nadia sighs. ‘I went to see the solicitor this morning. The bank could chase me for all of Toby’s debts if they want to play hardball. She’s going to try to negotiate for me just to pay off a proportion of it.’

‘How can the banks be so heartless?’ Autumn wants to know.

‘It’s business,’ Nadia says with a weary shrug. ‘The trouble is, if they come after the estate, there’s nothing there. The house is mortgaged up to the hilt, we owe money everywhere – including to Chantal. Even Toby’s work van is financed. He’d managed to rack up ninety thousand pounds’ worth of debt on twelve different credit cards – all on internet gambling sites.
Ninety thousand pounds
,’ she stresses. ‘How could he do that? He blew another forty grand in Vegas trying to claw something back.’ Her expression is bleak. ‘Needless to say, it didn’t work. If the banks choose to pursue me, they could make us homeless.’

‘You’ll always have a place with me,’ Chantal says.

‘Thanks.’ Nadia tries a wan smile, but tears are quick to follow it. ‘I just keep wondering if there was something more that I could have done. Was there something I could have said to stop him?’

‘Nadia,’ I tell her as I clasp her hand in mine. ‘You know that you did everything possible. Please don’t beat yourself up over this.’

‘Part of me is grieving for the loss of him,’ she says. ‘Part of me hates him for leaving me and Lewis in such a mess. And part of me is simply relieved that he won’t be able to gamble any more. I don’t know which emotion to deal with first.’ Nadia rubs her hands over her face. ‘My brain feels as if it’s about to explode.’

‘We’ll help you through it,’ Autumn promises. ‘That’s what we’re here for.’

‘I had to get out of the house today,’ Nadia continues. ‘It just feels so empty without Toby there. I keep expecting him to come through the door.’

‘It’s going to take a long time for that feeling to stop,’ Autumn tells her. ‘Just keep talking to us about it, don’t bottle it up. You know we’ll do all we can. I’ll make you a blend of aromatherapy oils to help you sleep.’

‘I have full-hit Temazepam sleeping tablets helped down with a slug of cooking brandy which seems to be doing the job.’

Autumn nibbles at her nails anxiously, then she touches the plaster at her throat.

‘Looks like you’ve got some troubles of your own, honey,’ Chantal says softly to her. ‘Cut yourself shaving?’

Autumn shakes her head. ‘Threatened by one of my dear brother’s business associates.’

Another worried glance does the rounds. ‘This sounds as if it’s getting pretty heavy, Autumn,’ I tell her.

She nods in agreement. ‘I think this time, Rich is way out of his depth.’

‘And you’re getting dragged into it.’

She nods again. ‘There was some thug waiting for me
when I got home from the hospital last night. Wanted me to pass on a message to Richard.’

‘So, how is he?’

‘Better,’ she says with a weary sigh. ‘I’m going to see him later.’ She fingers the plaster again, subconsciously. ‘Pass on his message.’

I sink back into my chair and pick another chocolate. ‘We could do with some good news.’

‘Well,’ Chantal says with a smile as she pats her tummy protectively, ‘I felt baby Hamilton move for the first time this morning. It was great. I think I’m finally getting used to this baby lark.’

‘How are things with you, Lucy?’ asks Autumn.

‘Same old, same old,’ I say dismissively. ‘I spent half of last night in a loo in an Italian restaurant after being groped by Marcus’s dad with Crush’s testicles an inch away from my mouth while Marcus’s mother tried to look under the door.’

Is it a measure of my tortured life that my friends accept this garbled tale without question? ‘Now I’ve got to phone both of my parents and their chosen life-partners and invite them to the wedding. God, I hope they’re too busy to come. Would it be wrong to wait until a few days beforehand to ask them?’

‘Lucy, you are silly,’ Autumn chides. ‘What prior commitments would possibly stop them from coming to their daughter’s wedding?’

‘Golf, bridge, tennis. All of these could be factors. If it’s the club championship for any of them, then I’m onto a dead cert. Even my mother having a long-standing
hairdressing appointment could make her think twice.’ Come to think of it, they’ll get on brilliantly with Hilary and Dave. ‘My mum and dad haven’t been in a room together since their divorce. I can see blood up the walls. We’ll be lucky if they survive the day without killing each other.’ Then I feel bad about mentioning anything to do with killing, with Nadia so recently bereaved.

‘At least we’ve got something to look forward to,’ Nadia says, thankfully ignoring my gaffe. ‘It’s only the thought of your wedding that’s keeping me going.’

‘I’m dreading it,’ I say – for reasons that are too varied and complex for me to even start thinking about.

‘It will all work out perfectly,’ Chantal says. ‘You wait and see.’

Nadia is also quick to reassure me. ‘You’ll make a beautiful bride.’

‘I do hope so.’ I swallow a champagne truffle for comfort. ‘With my luck, the universe will conspire against me getting down that aisle at all.’

Chapter Forty-Eight

‘
H
e said that you’d got something that belonged to them.’ Autumn had just finished telling Richard the story of her encounter with the late-night knifeman. Her brother had gone paler by the minute.

‘He held a knife to my throat.’ She pointed, unnecessarily, at the plaster covering her wound. Then she realised that this was probably the same man who’d given her brother this beating and she wondered whether, this time, she’d got off rather lightly.

‘I’m sorry, sis. I never meant for this to happen.’

‘Is it true what he said? Have you got something that belongs to them?’

Richard tried to shift slightly in his hospital bed, holding his ribs in pain. He looked away from her.

‘So, that’s a yes?’

‘I’ll sort it as soon as I get out of here.’

‘Will they be prepared to wait that long?’

‘They’ll have to.’

It was bold talk, maybe foolhardy. But, at least she reckoned Richard would be safer in here than anywhere else. Autumn folded her arms, hugging them round her body.
She was missing Addison. She was missing being held. Since Richard had been in here, she’d hardly seen him. Now it was time to rectify that.

‘What is it that you’re hiding? Money? Drugs?’

‘The less you know about it the better, Autumn,’ he said. ‘But I promise you. I’ll fix it, once and for all. You didn’t go to the police?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘Stupidly, I didn’t.’

‘Good girl,’ Richard said with a sigh of relief.

Her brother seemed to be out of danger now, even though he was still very weak. He was pale and sweating, and there was a tremor to his hands whenever he reached for his glass of water. Autumn wondered how much of it was to do with his injuries or whether he was suffering from the sudden withdrawal from his drugs. To be honest, she didn’t really want to go into details with him. He was suffering and that was all she needed to know. She’d had enough of sitting by his bedside. Addison was right, there was only so much she could do to protect him. The rest had to come from Richard himself, otherwise she was going to worry herself into an early grave on his behalf.

Autumn stood up. ‘Sleep,’ she said. ‘That’s the best thing you can do. Sleep. Get strong and get out of here.’

‘Don’t go,’ her brother begged. ‘Stay here. I feel better when you’re around.’

‘I have to leave,’ she told him as she kissed him goodbye. ‘I’m due at work shortly. You’re not the only person in my life, Richard. There are other people who need me.’

Her brother didn’t look very enamoured of that state
ment, but he’d have to live with the knowledge – just as she had to live with the knowledge that whatever she did for him, it was never going to be enough.

It was good to get back to some kind of normality. Having a knife put to her throat had shaken Autumn more than she cared to admit. Back in the sanctuary of her workshop, she toyed with a piece of peacock-blue stained glass; the depth of the colour reminded her of a tropical ocean, soothing her troubled spirit.

Fraser looked up at her. ‘Penny for them, miss.’

‘Sorry, Fraser,’ she said, with a smile at one of her favourite clients. ‘I was miles away.’

‘It’s good to have you back.’

‘And it’s good to be back. How’s that suncatcher coming along?’ Her student held up his work proudly. All his months of attending here with the sole object of chatting up Tasmin hadn’t been entirely wasted. An unexpected byproduct was that, at long last, he was starting to become quite a reasonable artist with his stained-glass creations. Well, they didn’t instantly fall to bits any more, which Autumn took as progress. ‘That’s great, Fraser. Really great.’

The young man glowed with pride. So often these kids were just lacking a little praise and encouragement in their dark lives. Finding one simple thing that they were good at could, in a few lucky cases, open the floodgates and turn their lives around.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Addison standing in the doorway watching her. ‘Hi, there,’ she said.

His eyes went to the plaster on her neck, but he said
nothing. ‘Did Fraser tell you that we’ve got him fixed up with a job?’

‘No.’ Autumn beamed with delight.

‘Engineering apprenticeship,’ their client said, puffing his chest out. ‘Start next week.’

‘And you’re going to be there on time every morning and stay there all day,’ Addison said with a warning note in his voice.

‘Sure thing!’ Fraser frowned. ‘D’ye think I’m a wee idiot?’

‘I’m going to call you every morning,’ Addison promised. ‘Just to make sure that you’re up on time.’

‘Tasmin can give me a nudge in the ribs. That always wakes me up.’

Ah, Autumn thought. So progress has been made on that front too. Romance had clearly blossomed while she’d been away and, suddenly, it felt as if she’d been away for months, not weeks.

Tasmin came over to join them. She was wearing bright pink eye-shadow that matched her lipstick and her slashed T-shirt. Her jet black hair hung over her deathly white face and yet another new stud had been added to the collection on her lips. The girl leaned against Fraser with a casual disdain. She held out a bracelet for Autumn. ‘I made this for you, miss.’

The silver wires twined delicately round tiny pieces of polished kiln glass in pastel shades. ‘That’s fantastic,’ she said. ‘Is it really for me?’

Tasmin sniffed to hide her embarrassment. ‘We’ve kinda missed ya,’ she admitted grudgingly.

‘Isn’t this wonderful?’ Autumn said to Addison as she
slipped the bracelet onto her wrist and admired it. The glass sparkled as it caught the light.

Her boyfriend certainly looked impressed and she let her hand rest on his, wanting to feel closer to him as they both admired Tasmin’s artistry. Addison acknowledged her touch with a warm smile which made Autumn’s tummy flip over.