‘—whenever I needed the cash. But I haven’t done one for months, and definitely not since we’ve been together.’ Scott’s eyes were pleading. ‘I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you the truth, but it’s not something I brag about.’
Angie’s head tilted. ‘Do they pay well?’
Scott nodded. ‘A day on set equals a month as a trimmer. But I promise I’ll not do any more. I’m getting kind of old for it now anyway. And while I’m thinking about age …’
‘Ooh, nice segue,’ whispered Zach to Lottie.
Angie shook her head and turned away from Scott. Everyone else suddenly tried to look busy. ‘Right. Show’s over. You must have better things to do.’ She tried to shoo Lottie out, but Lottie picked up the carving knife and pointed at the ham – she was busy. Zach got out of his mother’s way and disappeared into the hallway with Emily and Joe.
‘You’re forty-eight?’ Scott seemed to be trying to work something out.
Angie let out a tinny laugh. ‘Zach was always rubbishwith numbers. He failed his Maths GCSE first time. Don’t take any notice of him.’
Lottie kept her head down and prayed Scott didn’t think to ask her.
‘I thought we were trying for a baby,’ said Scott, his voice gentle and full of hurt. He leaned back against the cupboards.
Lottie concentrated on slicing the ham super thin. She wished she could escape with the others, but she really did need to get this job done otherwise there’d be no lunch.
Angie pushed her hair behind her ears and gave him a soft smile. ‘Oh, my dear Scotty. Weweretrying. We still are.’ Lottie didn’t want to think about that. ‘But the thing is, I think I’m going through an early menopause.’Not that early, thought Lottie.
‘Early menopause. You poor thing – why didn’t you tell me?’ Scott took her hand.
Angie went all coy. ‘I wasn’t sure. And it’s the sort of thing that has most men running for the hills.’
‘You know I’m here for you, right?’
‘I do. And who knows? We might strike lucky. I’m happy to keep trying if you are.’ Lottie wished she had some earplugs. She was staring at the ham so hard she thought her eyes might bleed. Now seemed like as good an opportunity as any to put a few things straight.
‘Scott.’ His head jerked in her direction. ‘My mother is frequently misguided. Her vegan deception is a prime example. She was trying to impress you.’ Before he could respond, she turned to her mother. ‘And you really need to learn to be yourself. You always try to be what you think others want you to be. It never works, because eventually the real you comes out. People should accept you as you are. Both of you.’
Angie was blinking back her surprise at Lottie’s words. Scott slunk an arm around her waist and they silently smiled at each other. It gave Lottie a warm feeling to witness the acceptance. Maybe her mother was getting better at choosing men; she’d had enough practice.
Angie pulled Scott close and kissed him. It was barely on the right side of public decency and Lottie nearly lost a finger when the carving knife slipped.
‘Shit. Bugger me that hurt,’ said Lottie, and the kissing couple pulled apart.
‘Let’s take this upstairs,’ suggested Angie, all doe-eyed. She led Scott from the kitchen and they left Lottie to sort out her cut finger on her own.
Lottie wrapped a piece of kitchen towel around her bleeding finger and dashed outside to do a proper job of disposing of the pregnancy test box. She hoped that for now that was very much forgotten.
Lottie was adding the final touches to lunch when Emily came into the kitchen. There was an Everest of ham sandwiches, a separate platter of ham slices and ham and cheese on cocktail sticks. She’d made tomato and hummus sandwiches for Scott and put a big label on the plate with his name on it. There was also the last of the cheese board, Dayea’s lumpia, crackers, sausage rolls, crisps and a pineapple – she still wasn’t sure what she had been meant to do with the pineapple, but it made quite a nice table ornament. She figured the spread should keep the ravenous horde at bay until dinner.
‘Thank you for earlier,’ said Emily. ‘I really thought the game was up. I owe you.’
Lottie waved her thanks away. ‘It’s fine. But watch out because my mother’s memory is better than an elephant’s.She is preoccupied now, but she’ll be back on the case later. I guarantee it.’
Emily looked concerned, and rightly so. ‘Where’s she gone?’
‘Her and Scott are making up so she’ll be busy for a while. Thankfully.’
Emily flopped down on a kitchen chair. ‘This is turning into such a mess. I’m sure Zach knows something is wrong. He’s acting all odd around me. Do you think he’ll guess the test was mine?’
‘No. The good thing about having an overdramatic mother is that you automatically assume anything like that is her trying to draw attention to herself. So you’re good on that score. Also, he’s a man. They’re notoriously slow on the uptake on things like this.’
‘Thanks. I don’t want anything to spoil what I already have. Although I’m still a bit worried about what Jessie heard him say to Joe yesterday. I love Zach and Jessie.’
The fact that there was no pause between their names told Lottie all she needed to know. Anyone who Zach was considering proposing to needed to take him and his daughter as a package and it was clear that Emily did.
