‘Just a little something for you from Daisy.’
Lena blinks in surprise. Daisy has never given her a present before. She peels off the turquoise paper, gasping at the delicate beaded earrings. ‘I love them,’ she exclaims, and Tommy smiles.
‘She made them herself. We conferred on colours, although actually…’ He laughs. ‘She didn’t listen to a word I said.’
Lena strides to the mirror and fixes them on, examining the beads in bright blues, greens and pinks. The joyous colours she loves. ‘They’re perfect,’ she says, welling up now and already picking up her phone to call Daisy.
‘They are,’ Tommy agrees. ‘And so are you.’
Joel moves out two days later to a friend’s across town. He takes his studio kit so he can work from Mark’s, holed up in his dingy box room for God knows how long. It’s shameful of course, having to crash at a mate’s. But what hurts Joel most is that Martha and Fin – although certainly surprised – accepted the new situation without copious tears or even saying very much at all. But then, separation is hardly unusual among their friends’ parents. And Shelley has handled it with her usual thoughtfulness, suggesting that she trims her work hours so she’s always around for the kids after school. Not that they’re little ones, of course. ‘But it feels important,’ she explained to them all, when she chaired their excruciating family meeting, ‘that I’m around as much as I can be at the moment.’
Her job seems safe for now but Shelley suspects it’s time to try something new, to stretch herself and spread her wings. A more senior role at another care home is coming up later in the year, and she plans to go for it. Hopefully by then, everything will feel more steady at home. But for now, as the days and then weeks spin by, her family settles into its new shape, and a newway of doing things. Running their home is a team effort now – between her, Martha and Fin.
‘They’ve risen to the challenge,’ she tells Michael when they chat. They have fallen into a pattern of texting, just light and friendly messages that always make her smile. Somehow, one always seems to land when she is feeling wobbly. Then every week or so, usually late at night when his guests have gone to bed, they’ll talk at length. She’s found herself looking forward to these calls, when she’ll curl up on the sofa with a glass of wine. ‘Martha will be leaving home next year and Fin won’t be far behind her,’ Shelley tells him now. ‘Really, it was time to stop running around after them. I keep telling them I’m giving them life skills,’ she adds, and he laughs.
‘Good for you. You know they’re going to thank you in the long run.’
‘I do hope so.’
‘Youknowso,’ he says, and her heart seems to lift. ‘Honestly, you’re amazing. They’re lucky have such a brilliant mum.’ At times like this Shelley can hardly believe that she’s spent so little time with Michael, face to face. Because now it feels as if she has known him forever.
Meanwhile, when Joel sees the kids it tends to be out at a Vietnamese place, where they order copiously and chatter away, strangely more open and relaxed with each other than when he was at home. Perhaps they feel a little sorry for him, now that he no longer has his studio or even a proper home of his own. He doesn’t know. They certainly don’t go into the ins and outs of the split, and he’s relieved about that. As far as he is concerned it should remain a taboo subject whenever they’re out together. Of course Joel misses his family but in time, when he’s found a flat and he and Shelley have dealt with the finances, he reckons he’ll be okay. After all, as he wrote in his secret document:We only have one life to live and everyone owes it to themselves tosqueeze the maximum fun and joy out of it. Once your one life is gone, it’s gone.
He’s musing on this now as he and Martha and Fin leave the restaurant, full of noodles and tofu and spicy peanut sauce. And that’s when he spots her. Carmel with a ridiculously good-looking man strolling along the street towards them.
He’s way younger than Joel. He’d put him at mid-thirties tops. Joel quickens his pace, aware of Martha shooting him a curious look, and he turns his face away to avoid eye contact with the dazzling couple. But somehow his gaze is still pulled around to the left, and as they pass each other, he sees a small smile playing on Carmel’s crimson mouth. And then they’re gone.
42
APRIL
Lena didn’t want to get married. At least, she didn’t want to get married at High Elms, with the poached chicken in tarragon sauce and a load of terrible speeches and Annabelle Huntley making disparaging comments about her dress.
His mother had only said it as a joke, Tommy insisted. But that had been the final straw. They’d been up in Berkshire on a visit and Annabelle had badgered Lena about her wedding dress, asking to see a photo, saying it would be ‘their secret’. ‘We don’t want our outfits to clash, do we?’ she’d said. Heaven forbid, Lena thought darkly. And finally she’d given in and shown her a picture of the beautiful knee-length velvet dress she’d chosen, with the help of Shelley and Pearl, in a little vintage shop in Hackney.
Get married in red, wish yourself dead.
Lena was glad, actually, that she’d said it because her mind was made up then. The High Elms wedding was cancelled and, with Tommy in full agreement, they planned a small, casual ceremony at the registry office in Hackney Town Hall. Tommy’s parents refused to attend but he said sod them, silly fools. ‘We’ll have a far better time without them there. Let’s do it our way.’
And that’s what they’re doing on this bright and blue-skied April morning. Pearl stands next to handsome Brandon as confetti flies all around them like snowflakes. He and Abi broke up at Christmas. Although Pearl has managed not to grill him about it, she gets the feeling that Brandon had been swept along into a living-together situation, way before he was ready. Perhaps he’d been flattered that someone as loud and confident as Abi had wanted to be with him. But he’d seemed overshadowed, she realises now. He is obviously happier now – more like his old self – and is busily applying for better paid jobs with the plan to move into a house with his mates in the summer. Pearl will miss him of course, but it’s time. He is twenty-two now and the image of his dad. He loves Abi as a friend but he’s ready to do things his way now.
‘Thanks, Mum,’ he said, after Abi had moved in with a girlfriend.
‘What for?’ Pearl asked, although she knew of course. A week or so later a brand new Tom Ford lipstick arrived in a jiffy bag addressed to Pearl.Love A xx, was all the note said. But it meant so much more.
After the wedding ceremony everyone adjourns to a bar where they’ve booked a room for the reception. There’s a casual buffet and everyone drinks and laughs and Shelley makes a brilliant speech, kicking off with reminiscences about when the three women met, on a magazine in Soho, when the world was at their feet.
‘That was really good, Mum,’ Fin murmurs when she sits back down.
‘You think so?’ Her eyes are shining with tears.
‘God, yeah. You were amazing. I never knew you could speak in public like that!’
Martha beams at her and Shelley squeezes her hand. The party revs up then, growing more boisterous as dusk fallsbecause, even though they’re all grown up now, everyone still loves to party. Lena’s parents and brothers and sisters especially. There’s no stopping the Manchester contingency tonight. Pearl dances with Lena’s dad, and Shelley dances with Lena and Tommy and Brandon and Daisy. Then suddenly it’s Pearl and Niall who are dancing together. He protests that he’s not much of a dancer, but is giving it a go anyway. And Shelley, ever keen to document everything, takes photos with her phone and sends them immediately to Michael at Shore Cottage. He replies straight away.
Michael
Looks brilliant! Really looking forward to seeing you next week and meeting the kids. Sure they’ll be okay being stuck out in the wilds for a week?
