Before Matt could speak, Carole said, ‘Meg and Lily. Come and help me in the kitchen with the puddings.’
And off they went, leaving Matt and Felix next to the pool. Matt looked at his watch. It was already quarter to eleven and they had to be at the airport by nine tomorrow morning for a ten thirty take-off. He really did not have a lot of time left with Lily, and it wasn’t looking like he was going to get to speak to her alone any time soon.
When Meg, Lily and Carole got back with the puddings, the rest of them just goggled. Carole had made a large raspberry pavlova, a large, good old-fashioned trifle, with a lot of jelly, and a large chocolate tart. For eight people.
‘I’m going to be offended if there’s much food left,’ she said, brandishing a cake slice. ‘Everyone needs to try every pudding.’
‘You shouldn’t bully people into overeating,’ roared Norm from next to the barbecue. ‘That’s abuse.’
‘Be quiet,’ sniffed Carole.
One big portion of pudding for everyone later, Carole said, ‘Right, everyone, time for seconds.’
‘I can’t.’ Felix rubbed his stomach very dramatically. ‘I’m sorry. Iloveyour cooking, Carole, and we’re incredibly grateful for your wonderful hospitality, but it takes a lot of effort to maintain this body…’ he did an up and down gesture with his hand ‘…and I’m afraid I can’t eat more than one pudding, even for you.’
Carole’s whole face crumpled. Oh God.
‘I’d love some of the pavlova, please,’ Matt said quickly. ‘If it’s anywhere near as delicious as the tart, it’ll be amazing.’ He was going to besooverfull. Not ideal for when you needed to convince the love of your life to give your relationship another go but needs must.
Carole’s face un-crumpled.
Lily smiled at her. ‘I’mreallyfull, Carole, but I agree the pavlova looks amazing, so could I just try a tiny bit? I mean, really quite tiny. Could I maybe help myself?’ She put a miniscule amount on her plate and spread it out a bit with the back of the cake slice.
‘And I’d love to try the trifle.’ Alfredo held his plate out.
‘I must try the trifle too,’ Pythagoras said, ‘now that I’m going to be living in England.’
‘Edinburgh’s in Scotland,’ Felix said.
Finally, they’d all finished eating. Norm had been seduced over by the pavlova from his barbecue sulking station, although he’d seated himself a good ten feet away from Carole. Alfredo was leaning back against Felix on a sunlounger, Felix idly playing with his hair. Meg was sitting on Pythagoras’s lap. And Lily and Matt were sitting separately.
‘I’d love to go for a beach walk in the moonlight,’ Felix said. ‘Our last night here. Just the two of us. Look at some stars together.’
‘Good idea. Sorry, everyone.’ Alfredo stood up and held his hand out to Felix. ‘Excuse us. We’ll say good night to you now.’ They disappeared into the dark night in the direction of the beach, their arms round each other.
Meg looked at Pythagoras and giggled. ‘I’d rather just go straight to bed than waste time looking at stars,’ she said.
‘Excuseus,’ Pythagoras said, and off they went too, starting in on the smooching before they’d even left the pool area.
‘I’d like to go for a moonlit beach walk too,’ Carole announced. ‘Norm, you can help me clear all this up and then we’re going for a walk.’
‘Or,’ said Norm, ‘I could go to bed right now in a spare room. Good night.’ He nodded at Lily and Matt, not looking at Carole, and walked off.
‘Um.’ Lily swivelled her eyes backwards and forwards between Norm, Matt and Carole, who was staring after Norm. ‘We can help you clear up, Carole.’ She started loading plates and bowls onto a tray.
‘Absolutely.’ Matt started loading another tray.
When they’d got everything inside and Lily had insisted on clearing all the crumbs up to avoid wasps next to the pool, Carole – clearly having decided to leave Norm to his strop – said, ‘Like to have a nightcap with me?’
‘I thought Lily and I could also take a walk on the beach,’ Matt said.
‘Oh.’ Lily looked at him, and then at Carole.
‘Good idea.’ Carole practically shoved the two of them outside. ‘Good night, my loves. Off you go.’
And finally they were alone.
‘So.’ Matt turned to face Lily. He could just make out her features in the moonlight. ‘Walk?’
