2
“Hey, folks,”Carole said. “I wasn’t expecting you. I’m just in the middle of clearing up after painting the kitchen.”
“We’re not staying long,” Nina said, marching into the hallway with determination. “I just wanted to drop by with some good news.”
“You were painting the kitchen, you say?” her father asked. “Let’s have a look.”
Carole waved them through and was pleased with their exclamations about the transformation in the kitchen.
“Very neat work you’ve done here, Carole,” her father said, inspecting the paint job. “Well done. It looks brilliant.”
“And so much brighter, too,” Nina added. “You chose the perfect colour, Carole. I must admit, when you said you’d opted for white paint, I worried it might look rather dull and cold. But it looks wonderful.”
“I think so, too. Once I hang one or two colourful framed prints here and there, it’ll look even better.”
Her parents admired the freshly painted kitchen walls for another moment. Her father, a tall, lean man in his early sixties, nodded with approval as he surveyed the work, his soft grey eyes taking it all in as he commended her cutting-in work aroundthe cabinets. Her mother also continued to glance around the space, smiling as she remarked on this and that, but Carole could see from the way she fussed with the light summer scarf tucked around her neck that she was mentally preparing for the conversation she’d come here to have.
Carole watched her mother with wry amusement, taking in her perfectly made-up face and styled hair. At fifty-eight, Nina never went anywhere without her face and hair done to perfection, and she put even more effort into her appearance when she was preparing to do battle, which, Carole realised, was exactly what her mother was here for.
Best just to get on with it,Carole decided, and gestured to the kettle. “Can I make you a tea or coffee?”
Nina waved away the offer. “No, I can see you’re still clearing up after all your busy redecorating work, and I don’t want to get in your way. I’m just here with a quick piece of good news about your cousin’s wedding next weekend, and then we’ll leave you in peace.”
Carole braced herself, relieved that her sister had warned her in advance about her mother’s shenanigans. Forewarned was forearmed.
“Oh?” Carole said, feigning innocence. “What good news is this?”
“Well, I know things have been difficult for you since you and Greg separated,” Nina began. “What with moving out of London and buying this place and getting over the whole break up.”
“It’s been a busy time, for sure,” Carole said evenly. “But I wouldn’t say it’s been difficult. It’s a nice fresh start.”
“Well, yes, of course it is. But it’s not easy ending a relationship.”
“Actually, it was fairly easy,” Carole replied. “Things were over between us and it was time to move on. I’m glad Greg is in the past now.”
Nina seemed a little stunned by this admission.
“Our Carole is made of tough stuff, aren’t you?” her father said, his expression filled with pride. “I told you she was doing fine, didn’t I?”
“Well, of course she’s doing fine,” Nina said. “But that doesn’t mean she isn’t sad about things having come to an end.”
“I’m truly not sad, Mum,” Carole said. “Anyway, what’s any of this got to do with Zara’s wedding? You said you had some good news?”
Carole watched her mother’s expression rearrange itself as she sought to regain the upper hand in the conversation. Nina clearly hoped that Carole would have admitted to some lingering melancholy over breaking up with Greg, which would have provided a handy segue into the wedding date set-up Jane had told her about. With that line of attack absent, Nina was forced onto the back foot.
“Uh, well… it occurred to me that when your cousin sent out the wedding invitations all those months ago, you and Greg were still together,” Nina said. “Now that you’ve separated, I realised that you no longer have a plus-one to bring to the wedding. So, you’ll be thrilled to hear I’ve found someone you can take with you in Greg’s place.”
Nina grinned, clearly delighted at delivering this news, her eyes dancing as she waited for Carole to respond. Across the kitchen, her father shuffled his feet and cast Carole an apologetic look from beneath hooded brows.
“I see,” Carole said. “And who is this random person you’ve unearthed?”
Nina tutted. “He’s not somerandomperson and I certainly didn’tunearthhim. His name is Bradley Godfrey, and he’s the son of my friend, Helena. He’s a lovely young man. I think you may have met him, haven’t you?”
Carolehadmet Bradley Godfrey and realising that this was the man her mother intended to pair her off with as a date for her cousin Zara’s wedding made her even more grateful for Jane’s advanced warning of what their mother was up to.
Carole had chatted briefly with Bradley Godfrey at her parent’s anniversary party last year. Greg had been with her at the event, their relationship rocky but not beyond hope at that point. While Greg was chatting with the other guests, she’d found herself in Bradley’s clutches.
Bradley turned out to be a self-obsessed dullard who had an exceptionally high opinion of himself, and who had talked at Carole non-stop for almost fifteen minutes when they’d crossed paths at the buffet table. He’d told her all about his job as a financial analyst, the Jaguar he drove, the golf club he belonged to, the exotic holiday he’d recently enjoyed, and had looked set to continue talking about himself long into the night had Carole not excused herself to join her sister for the anniversary toast to their parents.
