CHAPTER SIXTY
‘Remember I’ll be at Daniel’s again this weekend?’ Mum calls from the open door of her room one Friday a few months later as I’m getting ready to go to the Pilates studio to teach a class.
She’s packing her bag and I’ve just noticed a very nice set of red-lace lingerie poking out the top as I walk in to say goodbye. I glance away and try not to make an obvious gagging noise at the thought of my mum and Ollie’s dad getting it on. That sort of childish behaviour would be beneath me. Sort of.
‘He’s picking me up from work in his new car,’ she goes on.
‘What car’s he got?’
‘I’m not sure, Princess. The roof goes down, and it’s red.’
I laugh. Daniel has unending money, a fact that Ollie definitely played down when we first met, now I think about it. I remember how quick Ollie was to jump on the ‘Ben has a trust fund’ train, when we all started ribbing him about that. What a good deflection by the one whose lawyer-dad was really,reallyloaded.
‘I don’t know how he doesn’t get infuriated driving in and out of the city.’
‘I know. But he doesn’t get much chance to drive,otherwise. Although I think we’re going to a members’ club for a dip in the pool, so Daniel’s driving us to that. I must pack a bikini.’ Mum glances around, looking for her swimwear.
‘Third drawer down. I washed it and put it back, after the last time he took you to a spa.’
‘That was the rooftop pool at The Ned,’ my mum says wistfully. ‘Verynice.’
‘I hear it is.’ That was my life. I’ve given it all up. Mostly. Now it’s my mum’s life.
‘Ollie’s coming down on Sunday for a roast dinner. Staying the night too. Do you want to come?’
‘No, thanks,’ I say immediately. I can’t see Ollie ever again – a fact I’ve not quite embraced. But I know I have to do this. For my own good. And for Ollie’s too. Anything else would be cruelty. To both of us.
I never told Mum what happened, or didn’t happen, between me and Ollie at the restaurant. I didn’t want to upset her with yet another of my romantic fails when she was finally –finally– on the up with someone.
‘All right then, darling. What will you do over the weekend?’ Mum asks.
‘Probably the same thing I do most weekends. I’ll teach a few classes, come home from the gym by way of that new sushi place and then watch something trashy on Netflix. Then Liv and I will message each other all night long about it.’
‘How is Liv? How’s Sam?’ Mum zips her bag closed and stands up straight. I know how this conversation is going to go. It heads the same way every time.
‘Still going strong,’ I say, as usual.
‘And you’re still OK about it?’ Mum asks, as usual.
‘I’m more than OK about it. We have a deal, remember?’
My mum smiles. ‘Oh yes, godparent to their firstborn. I’ve not forgotten.’
‘Liv might have forgotten, though. So I’ll remind her about that, at around eleven tomorrow night while we’re texting.’
‘I love you, Princess,’ she says, moving towards me and taking both my hands in hers. ‘I wish you could be as happy as I am.’
‘Thanks, Mum. It’ll happen for me one day.’
‘I would love some grandchildren at some point, so …’
‘Mum!’
‘I’m joking,’ she says, taking hold of her bag.
‘No, you’re not.’
Then she looks at me seriously. ‘Do you want me to stay? I’m away with Daniel so much that he won’t mind if I cry off this time.’
