‘Caro!’ Kylie blurted. ‘Oh, she was lovely. Is she a friend?’
Rod’s firm grip on a large roller he was currently inserting prevented her from shaking her head. ‘No, I’ve no idea who she is. She went next door to Cammy’s shop to ask for me there too. Did she mention me?’
Kylie threw a quizzical look at Rod. ‘I don’t think so, did she?’
‘Nope, not that I heard,’ he said, while holding several grips between his teeth.
‘Did she say anything at all?’ Lila asked. The truth was, she didn’t much care, but she was mildly curious and it passed the time to chat to these two. It wasn’t like she was doing anything else or had anyone else to speak to.
Kylie thought about it for a moment. ‘She said she was a teacher. Down for the day from Aberdeen. Don’t think she’s been to Glasgow much before. Fairly sure when she left here she was going for a train home. She was really nice. Lovely, in fact. My favourite customer today.’
That made Lila bristle again. So this stranger was, so far, one of the most beautiful faces Suze had seen, and Kylie’s favourite customer of the day. Lila hated her already.
Her phone rang, interrupting her irritation, and the office number flashed up once again on her screen. She flicked it to voicemail. Technically, it was after five p.m., so she wasn’t strictly at work, but she still didn’t want to speak to someone at head office with the rumble of hairdryers and the cackle of chat in the background. She’d phone them on the first day back after Christmas. Whatever it was could wait.
Kylie was focussing on her eyes now, so Lila closed her eyelids, enjoying the excuse to drift off. This would be her life soon. Staying beautiful for her man, just as her mum had done for her whole life. Her dad had taken it for granted, but she’d seen how much effort her mother went to every time he was coming home. And every time, he’d walk into the house, throw a passing smile at his daughter, and then kiss his wife like she was the only woman in the world. That’s what Lila wanted – to feel like she was the only woman in the world. Cammy tried, but he didn’t have the presence, the maturity, to make her feel that way. She wanted a man she could look up to, somebody who really was a man to respect and admire. Her dad had been a management consultant, someone important. Ken was a surgeon. Neither of them ran a shop selling the latest in gents’ thongs. It was a different circle altogether and it was the one that she wanted to live in. The one she belonged in.
She kept her eyes closed, enjoying the solitude of her thoughts, when another realisation dawned. If all went to plan and she left Cammy for Ken, she’d no longer be welcome here. Unfortunate. Suze’s underhand and barely concealed dislike aside, the staff were great and the thirty per cent discount didn’t hurt. On the bright side though, she’d never have to see any of Cammy’s other friends again. No Josie. No Val. No Jen from the shop along the road. No hipster Digby. She wouldn’t miss anything about them at all, especially the look on Cammy’s face when anyone mentioned the girl he used to work with. Mel. Lila didn’t know much about her – wasn’t interested – and Cammy didn’t like to talk about her. All she knew was that they had a brief thing, it didn’t work out, and Cammy went off to Los Angeles. Mel lived in Italy now, or maybe France. And she was married to… something clicked. ‘Rod how long have you worked here?’ she asked.
‘About eight years.’
‘Did you know Mel who owned the shop next door?’
‘Of course. Yeah. She lives in Italy now. Got married to Josie’s son. The guy who used to be a partner in this place.’
Ah, that was it. Things hadn’t worked out with Cammy and Mel, and she’d married Josie’s son. If that wasn’t weird and incestuous, Lila didn’t know what was. Besides, worse than that, in the only photo Lila had ever seen of the famous ‘Mel’ she looked completely… plain. Unremarkable. She didn’t even have any make-up on. Honestly, some people should learn to make an effort. Anyway, soon she’d be able to put this whole crowd behind her and she’d never have to think about them again. She couldn’t wait.
The noise and heat of the standing dryer that Rod had put over her head must have made her drift off, because the nextthing she heard was Rod’s voice saying, ‘Okay, how does that look?’
Lila opened her eyes and immediately scrutinised the image looking back at her. The hair was huge and fabulous. A side parting instead of her usual middle one, then tumbles of gigantic waves falling down over her shoulders, but backcombed at the sides so that they swept out to emphasise her cheekbones.
Grudgingly, she had to admit that Kylie had done a good job on the make-up too. The eyes were a medley of blacks and greys, with just a hint of silver on the upper and lower lids to bring out the blue of her eyes. She’d applied false eyelashes that looked like mascara brushes, thick and sweeping upwards, making her eyes appear even bigger than they were. The cheeks were beautifully contoured and the lips were a pale shade of pink gloss, but subtly outlined into the perfect pout. Not bad. Not bad at all.
In fact, she was ravishing. Ken wouldn’t be able to resist her. Absolutely not. And his wife would see that she couldn’t compete the moment she set eyes on her. She checked her watch. Just after six p.m. She didn’t need to be at the restaurant until eight – that’s if she even went. It would depend on what happened in the next hour.
She’d warned Cammy she had one more appointment, but of course she hadn’t told him the whole truth.
She wasn’t going to a hospital for a meeting with a cardiac surgeon.
She was on her way to deliver some bad news to the wife of the love of her life.
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
21
Caro
The hotel she’d had a gin and tonic in had no rooms available that night, so she’d hit a hotel bookings website looking for a reasonable deal. City centre. Within walking distance of here and the restaurant. What was it called again? Grilled. Yep, walking distance to there.
There were a few hotels nearby, most of them well out of her price range. Then she hesitated. Wait a minute, what exactly was her price range? She had money in the bank, and this was, undoubtedly, an exceptional event in her life. The problem was that she just didn’t go in for lavish hotels and expensive nights out, designer clothes or celebrity hangouts. Maybe tonight should be an exception.
This was potentially a seminal day in her life. Besidesthat, she’d had four gin and tonics and her decision-making skills had gone to crap, so she was giving herself a pass on the sensible choices front.
Before she had the wherewithal to stop herself, she booked a night in the Hilton, twenty minutes walking distance from her current location, twelve minutes walking distance from the restaurant. And because it was a same-day booking, she actually got a rate that wasn’t going to give her sleepless nights when this was over.
After she’d made the booking, she checked out Lila’s recent posts. A pink dress, Roberto Cavalli, for dinner tonight.Bugger. Once again, she was reminded that jeans and Converse were hardly going to match up to the occasion and now it was – dammit, six o’clock. Why hadn’t she done something about it two gin and tonics ago? She already knew the answer. Third drink. Fourth drink. The time had just got away from her and now the shops would be shut. Clearly she hadn’t thought this plan through. She’d brought down a change of clothes in case events had compelled her to stay the night but they consisted of a different top and fresh underwear. Not exactly a sequined cocktail dress that would make her blend in in a trendy restaurant.
She went to the concierge in the hotel to beg for help.
