He laughed. ‘I don’t think she agrees with you.’
Hattie exhaled. She knew he was right, and she’d undertaken to get Lance back for Fiona. She also knew now that he had every intention of marrying Fiona and had just wanted to torture her before the wedding.
‘So you’ll be there? At the church? On Saturday?’
‘And you’ll stop interfering in what is absolutely nothing whatever to do with you?’
Hattie stood her ground but didn’t speak.
‘I’m firing you as our property hunter,’ he went on. ‘I never want to see you again, and if I do – well – you won’t like it!’
‘I’m sure I won’t,’ said Hattie and walked out of the house.
She called Sheila when she was back in the car. She didn’t really want to go all the way to the house if she could avoid it. She had a lot to think about and needed space.
‘It’s going to be all right,’ she said when Sheila answered. ‘Lance will be there. Although I should say I think it would be better if the wedding was called off.’
‘I just want what Fifi wants,’ said Sheila. She sounded exhausted.
‘Well, there we are.’
‘Hattie, thank you. I don’t know how we’d have managed without you – hang on, Fiona wants a word…’
‘Hattie?’ said Fiona, sounding painfully young and vulnerable. ‘Will you be my bridesmaid? I don’t mean walk down the aisle or anything – but come here on the morning, help me get ready? I’d love to have a friend on the day. I can’t put it all on Mum, all the doing up buttons and things…’
‘Of course,’ Hattie heard herself say. She liked Fiona a lot and she found in this moment that she pitied her too, isolated from the world by her own partner. ‘What time would you like me?’
‘After breakfast? About half past nine?’
‘I’ll be there.’
When Hattie disconnected she wondered what on earth she was getting herself into. She had to assume this meant she was wanted at the wedding though what Lance would say to that she wasn’t sure. And, of course, she had absolutely nothing to wear. She’d get in touch with Rose in the morning, she resolved.
Hattie drove home. Before she felt able to relax, however, she had to make hot chocolate. She found the bottle of whisky in the back of the cupboard and added a slug. It was going to take something powerful to get her brain to turn off, she realised.
Chapter Ten
When she picked up Xander from college the next day, he was in good spirits.
‘Hi!’ she said. ‘Did you have a good time with Luke?’
‘Yup. He’s cool.’ He paused. ‘Mum rang me.’
‘Oh, good! How’s she getting on?’
‘Fine. She likes Switzerland, I think.’
‘Great,’ said Hattie cheerily, wondering what Xander’s caveat was. She could hear there was one.
‘I didn’t tell her I was at Luke’s. I thought it might make her kick off.’
‘Oh.’
‘You know what she’s like,’ went on Xander.
‘I do, but Luke’s a very respectable person. You didn’t need to hide the fact that you were staying with him.’
‘Without you there? Does she know Luke?’
