Okay, so she had a point. And yes, he’d thought it strange at first that she detailed every aspect of her life online, but so what? She enjoyed it. It was a hobby, and she got a buzz from the interaction. He had zero interest in Facebook or Instagramor any of the social media sites, but if Lila enjoyed them, where was the harm?
Cammy was about to issue an irritated rebuttal when Josie followed the criticism up with… ‘Although… wouldn’t have minded that in my day. It would be good to have photographic evidence of how I looked before I went grey, developed wrinkles and my baps headed south.’
A woman at the next table froze, unsure if she really had just overheard that correctly. Couldn’t have. Not from that elderly lady.
‘Val, please change the subject and get her off my case,’ Cammy pleaded, still laughing. ‘World politics. Religion. Brexit. Wrestling. Anything at all. I beg you.’
Val knocked back the last of her vino before she spoke. ‘I’d love to help, but you know it would take a bigger force than me to make it stop.’
Josie ignored them, filling up her glass, then Val’s. Cammy stuck to water, fearful that they would deploy a back-up plan to get him so pissed he’d crash out before he could propose.
‘Previous boyfriends, then?’ Josie continued the interrogation.
‘Erm…. Well… ah… No one serious.’ He immediately realised he should have known better than to try to bluff that one out in front of women with lie detection sensors that went off like car alarms at the first hint of a fib. He immediately cracked and surrendered the truth. ‘Right, so you’re not going to like it and don’t judge her…’
‘Of course we won’t, love’ said Val, as she and Josie pursed their lips, judgemental heads on, ready and waiting.
‘She had a long-term relationship before she met me. Over six years.’
He tried to leave it at that. Stop there. He even picked up his fork and dug it into the last chunk of tortilla, before the heat of their steely stares forced him to abandon the idea.
‘Okay, so the guy she was seeing was married.’
Josie practically started a Mexican wave. ‘I knew it. I knew there was something. Sometimes you just need to dig deep, don’t you Val?’
Val, in fairness, was looking more concerned than outraged.
‘But I’m not judging, son,’ Josie added, serious again.
‘And neither am I,’ Cammy said pointedly. ‘Would be a bit hypocritical, wouldn’t it?’
They all knew what he was referring to. Years ago, when Mel’s first marriage broke up and he told her he was in love with her, they both acknowledged that there was a connection between them that went further than friendship. But then, before they could take it much further than a kiss, she’d found out he’d been having an affair with a married woman all along and backed off.
That kind of stuff didn’t fly with Mel. After everything she’d been through with her husband, she hated cheats and she hated liars. Especially when she discovered that he was the liar who’d been sleeping with Suze, the woman who’d been Mel’s sister in law and best friend for years, and they’d both been covering it up. Yep, he’d been having a long term, meaningless fling with a member of Mel’s family. There was no coming back from that. Instead, devastated that he’d blown it, he’d taken off to LA and put it all behind him. Some might find it weird that he now owned a shop next door to Suze’s salon, and they were still good friends, neither of them ever mentioning their misguided affair, but that was just life. They were all adults and it was a long time ago. Although… the tortilla got stuck somewhere above his stomach as he acknowledged that, even now Mel was nothing more than a memory, he still missed everything about her. Most of all he missed her friendship. The same went for Stacey. She had been his best mate in L.A., before he’d developed deeper feelings for her. Those emotions had long returned to something platonic, but the deep bonds they’d formed as friends for ten years still remained.
A thought struck him – did he have that kind of friendship with Lila?
He immediately realised the comparison was unfair. He’d known Lila for six months. She was beautiful, they’d fallen madly in love, had a great time together, and she’d made coming back to Scotland and starting all over again so much better than he’d ever thought it could be. Okay, so they didn’t have that deep friendship bond, but they had so much more.
Jesus, why was he even thinking this stuff? Bloody Josie! She was getting into his head and it was driving him nuts.
He dived back into the conversation. ‘So… Lila had an affair, I had an affair, now we’ve both learned from our mistakes. Maybe we are pretty well suited after all, eh Josie?’
Josie didn’t answer, just topped up her sangria glass again.
He’d been looking forward to tonight so much, but the sheen was definitely starting to wear off. Lila had sounded a bit subdued on the phone too. She was usually well up for a night out and a nice dinner somewhere flash, but she’d been more than a bit reluctant, even now that her mum and dad were coming. Or maybe he was just reading too much into it because Josie was deploying her mind-warping tactics on him.
He checked his watch. After three p.m.
‘Right ladies, let’s head to the restaurant and make sure everything is set up there, and then we just need to nip over to the shop and pick up my suit.’
Val nodded. ‘That would be great – I’ll pop in and see Jen while we’re there.’ Jen was Val’s adopted daughter, who owned Sun, Sea, Ski.
Cammy paid the bill and they headed off to tonight’s venue, Cammy modifying his stride so that the click of Josie and Val’s high heels could keep up with him. Josie and Val were unusually quiet as they walked – no doubt hatching a new derailment strategy. He was relieved when they finally got there, with no mention of abduction or protest marches.
The restaurant, Grilled, was one of the most beautiful in the city, a throwback to a more glamorous era, with chandeliers and intimate booths. Dinner for two cost about as much as a flight to Majorca, dinner for four would cover the return journey, but hey, it was going to be worth it for the romance, the tranquillity, the perfect ambience of it all. Besides, it was Lila’s favourite restaurant, mainly because it was frequented by celebrities and she could take surreptitious selfies and post them on social media.
Hang on, that made her sound really shallow. Although, he supposed, sometimes she could be. But then, so could he. There was a reason that he never left the house without stopping at a mirror to check he looked good. There was a reason that he enjoyed the finer things in life. There was a reason thatFake Bakeprofits in Glasgow had increased since he’d moved back to the city. And there was a reason that he was planning to propose to his beautiful girlfriend in the flashiest restaurant in town. Did it make him a bad person? No. Did it make him perfectly suited to Lila? Hell yes.
