‘That’s a good idea,’ Tommy says, then turns to Catherine. ‘Um, you’re welcome to come if you like?’
‘That’d be great,’ Daisy enthuses. ‘Please, Mum. You’ve never been to Victoria Park!’
It’s just a park, Tommy wants to clarify. Just a normal east London park with a lake and people wandering about with dogs and it’s nothing special!
‘Okay,’ Catherine says brightly. ‘If you’re sure I won’t be getting in the way…’
‘’Course you won’t,’ Tommy assures her. So off they set, and as they reach the park gates, he starts to relax. He loves his life with Lena. Often, when he wakes before she does, he studies her fine features, her long dark eyelashes and perfect mouth, and he can’t believe he had the good fortune to meet her. That night out with his friends – the wife’s-away cereal munchers – changed his life. His confidence had been shot to pieces when he and Catherine split, and over the past four years Lena has helped to piece him back together again.
However, being with Daisy triggers a different sort of feeling in him. And Catherine too, he realises now as they follow the path towards the lake. Lena is great with his daughter, asking her all about her friends and her studies and occasionally picking up books for her that she thinks she’ll enjoy. However, while Daisy is perfectly pleasant in return, Tommy senses her holding back, erecting a little barrier between them.
That’s okay, he’s reassured himself. Lena is his girlfriend and they’re getting married – but Catherine is Daisy’s mum. And now, as they cut alongside the lake towards the new pizza restaurant, and then step into the glass structure and inhale delicious aromas of oregano and freshly baked dough, Tommy experiences a feeling that eludes him, most of the time.
It’s afamilyfeeling. A sense that, although their marriage didn’t work out, he and Catherine have made a great success of raising their daughter together and maintaining a friendship too. How many couples can say they’ve managed that?
Alongside swigging gin and lamenting over his divorce, a favoured pastime of Tommy’s mother’s is to pit her sons against each other. Charlie’s done this, Harry’s done that. Ben’s been invited to a garden party at the Palace! Although comfortably off, and nowadays extremely happy, for much of his life Tommy has felt like a failure. However, sitting here choosing pizza with Catherine and Daisy is creating a feeling in him that he’s doing okay. And that he isn’t such a failure after all.
Bright winter sunlight is streaming into the restaurant, and an enormous tree is almost entirely covered in tiny silver baubles. Christmas music is playing; that jingly tune about Frosty the Snowman that’s pretty corny really, but which Tommy finds very jolly and festive.
‘See my new phone, Dad?’ Daisy whips the device from her pocket and shows it to him.
‘Very nice!’ He examines it dutifully before handing it back to her.
‘Early Christmas present.’ Catherine winks at Tommy across the table.
‘Oh, of course.’ He knows the deal. He’ll pay for it and is perfectly happy to do so.
‘Mum,’ Daisy commands, ‘go round there and sit next to Dad. This camera’s amazing. So much better than the old one. Let me take a picture of the two of you…’
‘Oh, d’you have to, darling?’ Catherine laughs and jokingly covers her face with her hands.
‘PleaseMum. We’re never all out together like this.’ So, with an indulgent smile, Catherine quickly smoothes her highlighted hair and gets up and sits next to Tommy.
‘Closer!’ Daisy waggles a hand as if directing a shoot.
Tommy looks at Catherine and edges a little closer, causing his chair to grate noisily across the floor. ‘God, you two. Why are you so awkward?’ His daughter laughs, and Catherine laughs tooand puts her arm around Tommy’s shoulders. He feels himself flushing and his heart rate accelerating as she pulls him closer, pressing her cheek against his.
‘Smiiiile!’ Daisy sing-songs.
Obediently, they both smile on demand, and before they have resumed their original positions at the table, Daisy has posted the picture on her social media.
She holds out her phone so they can see it. ‘What a lovely photo!’ Catherine exclaims, peering closely. ‘Not too bad for a couple of oldsters, are we, Tommy?’ But Tommy isn’t registering whether or not they’re ageing well. He is thinking,It’s only pizza, don’t panic; there’s nothing wrong with popping out for a spot of lunch!And of course Lena won’t mind that the minute she’s gone off to Scotland he’s on Instagram with his cheek jammed against Catherine’s, with the caption ‘Rare pic of parents together!!’ accompanied by a flurry of red hearts.
18
Pearl is almost disappointed by how little care or attention Niall Dixon seems to need or want. Together with Shelley and Lena she had quickly beckoned him out of the torrential rain and into the warmth of the cottage. But he seemed a little baffled by Pearl’s rushed explanation that they would be looking after things during his stay, and clearly wasn’t in the mood to chat. She registered intensely blue eyes behind his wire-rimmed spectacles and offered him a hot drink, which he declined politely.
‘I stopped for one about an hour ago,’ he explained.
‘So are you here on a walking trip?’ she asked, insisting on taking his wet jacket from him and hanging it on a hook near the Aga to dry. Pearl can’t help wanting to take care of people to the point of fussing sometimes.
‘Kind of,’ Niall replied. ‘I’d planned a hike today but…’ He nodded towards the window. It was as if it was being hosed from above.
‘Not the weather for it,’ Shelley suggested.
‘Exactly. So I’m sorry to arrive early,’ he added. ‘I can go for a drive if you like?’
Pearl assured him that his room was all ready, and that he was welcome to settle in right away. ‘It’s not like those olden-day B&Bs where you’re slung out into the rain until teatime,’ she joked.
