Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Nothing.
Maybe she was out in the garden at the back. Lila looked to each side of the house, but there were fences at both, stopping anyone from getting to the rear of the home. Fuck. Irritation mounting, she pulled her phone from her Mulberry Bayswater and dialled the number once again. Ring ring.
She could hear the chirp of the phone inside the house. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Then Ken’s voice cut in again, asking her to leave a message. Nothing. Again, fuck.
She strutted back to the car, threw her bag across to the passenger side and then climbed in, making a conscious effort to think about this rationally. The house was empty. The carwas there. So chances were that Bernadette hadn’t gone far. Go or wait? Wait. She hadn’t come all this way to have wasted her time. Throwing lipstick caution to the wind, she picked up the salad and finished it, eating slowly, chewing every mouthful twenty times as her mother had always told her. That passed fifteen minutes or so. Still nothing.
She finished the water. Still nothing. And now, she was beginning to feel the need to pee. Damn it.
Another five minutes. Still nothing.
She just about needed to be peeled from the roof of the car when the ring of her mobile phone cut into the silence.
She checked the screen. Head office again. What was it with them today? They were driving her nuts. She flicked it straight to voicemail. There was no way she wanted to get into a conversation about orders, or travel, or team-building bloody sessions, in case Bernadette came back and she lost her window of opportunity. And now she definitely needed to pee.
Trying to take her mind off it, she picked up her phone and flicked on to her Facebook – 206 likes for her last post, and they were about fifty – fifty as to red or pink.
She scanned the comments. One said,Stunning either way, hunni!Lila checked the name of the person who’d posted – nope, no idea. She’d never met them in her life.
Another one.Wow, looking great as always! #beautygoals #princess #babe.
She’d never actually met the person who wrote that one either, although they made it sound like they hung out every night after work.
She had over 2000 Facebook friends and she actually only knew about fifty of them. As for true friends? Well, none of them really. She’d never needed friends. The girls at school and university had all been so jealous, she’d never botheredkeeping up with them, and then she’d met Ken, and landed this job, and – before her dad moved back here full time – she did loads of things with her mum, so her life just seemed to roll on without the need for anyone else. Some people might think it was a bit strange but it suited her just fine.
The buzz of the adoration gave her enough of a high to dilute the annoyance that she was wasting her time here.
But she really, really, needed to pee.
Sod it, she couldn’t wait any longer. She was furious. Bloody Bernadette wrecking her plans again. Today was proving to be an absolute bust and she had to redeem at least some of it. She checked the clock. Three-forty.
She’d hoped that she would have a long, lazy afternoon with her mum, or an even longer, sexy afternoon with Ken if his surgery schedule changed, so she hadn’t made her usual Friday afternoon appointment at the salon. Still, Suze would definitely find a way to fit her in for something. Anything.
Horns blared as she did a swift U-turn then sped back in the direction she’d come from. Salon, it was. She could take care of everything else later.
Friday rush hour traffic was really building up now, so what should have been a fifteen-minute journey took twenty-five. And oh, she now needed to pee so badly. She practically abandoned the car outside the salon – one of the junior staff could come and move it – before dashing in, straight past a surprised Suze at reception and rushing into the loo.
An exhalation of relief later, she checked her reflection in the mirror, washed her hands and then returned to the desk.
‘Hey Suze!’ she chirped breezily. Just because she was having – lunchtime quickie aside – a completely shit day, didn’t mean the rest of the world had to know about it. ‘Doyou have a slot for a blow-dry? Maybe an updo? I know I don’t have an appointment, but I just feel the need to be pampered.’
Suze greeted her with a smile that didn’t quite reach the eyes. She’d always suspected Suze wasn’t her greatest fan, but she got a thirty per cent discount in here because Suze and Cammy had been friends for, like, ever. Although, like his friendships with Josie and Val, Lila didn’t get it. It wasn’t like they were particularly interesting. And why did he need female friends when he had her?
‘That’s so spooky, you walking in right now. Someone was in here, just a few minutes ago, and asked for you.’
‘Really, who?’
Suze shrugged. ‘I didn’t get her name. Really pretty. Maybe thirty. Blonde. She had an accent – sounded like Inverness or Aberdeen. I always get the two of them mixed up. Anyway, she said she was a friend.’
Lila quickly flicked through her mental Rolodex for a clue but there was nothing. ‘A “friend” friend, or a Facebook friend?’
Suze shrugged again, her attention already back on the computer at the desk. ‘No idea. I prefer to wait until the second appointment before I hold them down and grill them for every detail of their lives.’
Lila fought the urge to bite back with a bitchy retort.
As for the ‘friend’ who had asked for her? It could be anyone. A few of the nurses and a couple of the doctors she’d interacted with in hospitals or at conventions were from up north, so it could be one of them. Or perhaps it was someone who had come across her on Facebook and liked her page – one of those strangers who acted like her very best friend.
‘Anyway, I told her to pop in next door and speak to Cammy, soyou might want to talk to him. It was only about ten minutes ago, so she’s probably still there.’
