‘See, youhavebeen googling,’ he announces with a note of glee.
‘Okay,’ I concede. ‘I might have a little bit. And I get that she’s an influencer …’
‘D’you know what an influencer is?’
‘Yes, of course I do, Charlie.’ I smile. ‘Where d’you think I’ve been?’
His mouth twitches with amusement. ‘That’s it, then. That’s what she does.’
‘Yes, but what’s she actually famous for?’
‘What d’you mean?’ He looks genuinely confused.
‘I mean, what does she do?’
‘She’s an influencer!’
‘I know, but—’
‘Mum, that’s it,’ he says with a shake of his head. ‘That’s her thing. People don’t have todoanything anymore. I mean, they don’t have to sing or act or do anything particularly amazing. They just have to …be.’
‘Yes, I get that, but—’
‘And people want to know all the details of their lives,’he continues, in full flow now, ‘like what their house is like, and what they eat and where they go on holiday. So they share all that and their follower numbers increase until they have a few hundred thousand. Then they’re in the magazines …’ Magazines? I didn’t think anyone bought them anymore. And Charlie only ever readsNew ScientistandAstronomy Now!What does he know about this kind of stuff? ‘And they’re asked to endorse things and do collabs and paid posts,’ he adds.
Collabs? Paid posts? Has my social-media-shunning son been abducted and replaced by this replica with the same deep brown eyes and dark hair, outgrowing its cut, who seems to be surgically attached to a yellow T-shirt with a pineapple on the front? For years now, virtually all of Charlie’s attentions have been funnelled into the properties of the stars and planets; the physics of the solar system. He has a proper telescope that he begged for at the age of thirteen, and forensic knowledge of astronomy courses offered in universities all over the UK. The fact that he is also aware of Esther Burton’s social media presence is as amazing to me as Remy’s Parisian hotel adventure. ‘And it all kind of snowballs from there really,’ he says with a shrug.
I sip my lemonade. ‘Right.’
‘So, what’s her dad like?’ Charlie asks with studied nonchalance. Clearly, he’s trying to hide his curiosity about James.
‘He’s a really nice guy,’ I say lightly. ‘He’s a vet—’
‘Yeah, you said.’ Amusement glints in his eyes. Have I been going on about James a bit too much?
‘Are you okay with me showing him around, love?’ Because of course, that’s all I’m doing, showing him around the island.
‘’Course I am,’ Charlie retorts. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘I just wondered. Because if you weren’t—’
‘Mum, it’s fine,’ he says, draining the last of his lemonade. Then: ‘D’you think you’ll see him when we’re back home?’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’ As if the possibility hadn’t even occurred to me. ‘He’s in London—’
‘That’s not far, though, is it?’ he asks.
‘And we’re both busy!’
‘’Course you are. You’re far too busy,’ Charlie says with a smile – a proper smile that’s rarer than a four-leaved clover these days. And it lifts my heart.
CHAPTER TEN
JAMES
Who knows what’ll happen when we’re thrown back into our normal lives? I keep telling myself to just ‘live in the moment’ as everyone seems to say these days. And that seems preferable to wondering if this lovely thing will end when I fly back home.
Instead, I’m trying not to think that far ahead. I’m just focusing on all these wonderful times I’m having with Lauren as we get to know each other, bit by bit.
