‘So there is something to share, then?’ Espie’s eyes twinkled.
‘We really are just friends, Mum – me and Luca.’
Espie gave her a skeptical look.
‘Okay, friends with benefits – but still just friends.’
‘That’s such a pity. Because I have my eye on this amazing hat…’
‘I’m not getting married just because there’s a hat you want to buy. But your birthday’s coming up…’
‘Oh, by the way, if Luca’s coming to my party, make sure to tell him he’s not to buy me a present.’
‘Okay.’
‘Tell him he’ll be turned away if he does. I’ll show him the door. Zero tolerance.’
‘Okay, okay! I’ll tell him.’
Claire was just about to get into bed that night when Mark rang on her mobile. It was only nine thirty, but she was exhausted after all the fresh air and lack of sleep the previous night.
‘Hi. Good weekend?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, really nice. The weather’s been amazing.’
‘Same here.’
She told him about last night’s party, carefully editing Luca out of the proceedings and telling him it was ‘my friend Ali’s birthday’ – which was strictly true. Mark had gone to Brighton with ‘the gang’ for the weekend.
‘So how’s your mum?’ he asked.
‘She’s good – doing really well.’
‘Only I was wondering if you could come over next weekend, by any chance. I have to go to New York the week after that, and I’m dying to see you.’
‘Oh.’ Claire was taken aback, her mind flying in several directions at once. Was she ready for this? Would it mean the end of her and Luca? Was she off work next weekend? Would she sleep with Mark? Could she get a cheap flight at such short notice? How would Luca feel about it? Could her mother cope on her own for a couple of nights? ‘Yeah, that should be doable,’ she said finally.
‘Great!’
‘I’ll just look into flights and stuff and get back to you. Okay?’
‘Brilliant! I’m really looking forward to seeing you again.’
‘Yeah. Me too.’
When they hung up, her mind was racing. She knew she could take the weekend off – Yvonne would be happy to cover for her. And her mother would be fine on her own: she had plenty of friends and neighbours around who would keep an eye on her and help her with anything she needed in terms of shopping. Maybe Jim would even stay for the weekend. So that wasn’t a problem.
But what about her and Luca? It was ridiculous to think he’d even care, since he’d been coaching her for this very moment. So why was she feeling guilty?
26
Claire called round to Luca’s as planned on Tuesday evening after work. She had booked a flight for Friday afternoon, and had decided to count the weekend as two dates, so Saturday would be her fifth date with Mark. Now she just had to tell Luca.
She arrived laden with carrier bags, as usual. Since her mother had come home and Claire no longer spent the night at Luca’s, they had been eating takeaways or ready meals rather than waste time cooking – sometimes forgoing food altogether to spend more time in bed. But Claire still found a pretext to buy groceries, sneaking food into Luca’s fridge when he wasn’t looking, or pretending she had simply got carried away in the supermarket.
‘No point in letting it go to waste,’ she’d say, as she filled his cupboards.
‘So – good news!’ he said, as he let her in. ‘The gallery sold one of my paintings today.’
