Lipstick and Lies (24 page)

Morag let out a low whistle.
‘Selina must have asked Stevie to change stables for their horsey afternoon to avoid running into Matt who
she met when she dated Jamie.’

‘Well quite,’ I said, spraying biscuit crumbs across the table, ‘
a
nd of course it’s possible all the kids would have spotted her too.
They will be there this weekend ri
ding their own ponies.’

‘Exactly.
And Matt would have told Ja
mie he saw his ex-girlfriend–’

‘And then Selina would have had an awful lot of explaining to do as to why she was out horse riding with Stevie when she’s so
in
lurve
with Ethan.
What time did y
ou get the first phone call?’

‘It was early.
About half past seven.
Don’t forget stable life starts at six in the morning.
Mucking out and wotnot.
It’s not unusual to have the phone ringing
at that hour
.’

‘And you say Stev
ie called again minutes later.’

‘Yup.’

‘So by my reckoning
, at that point
they
must have been
in her apartment together – Ethan’s apartment as it so happens – discussing their next
rendezvous
.
“How about a bit of fun?”
’
I mimicked Stevie,
‘
“a bit of
chilly
wint
e
r horse riding and then back to mine to warm up?”, and then Stevie ringing the stables and organising everything before Selina thought
hang on, I’ve been to that yard before
.
And then she probably tossed back her hair,’ I threw back my own head and shook my hair about, ‘and declared, “Oh Stevie honey-buns
.
C
hange of plan
.
H
orsey-shenanigans will have to take place elsewhere
.
W
e can’t risk bumping into your kiddie-poohs
and–
”’

‘I’m sure she doesn’t talk like that Cass.
You sound like a retarded
Hollywood
actress.’

‘And talking of kiddie-poohs, she made a comment about the children last night that got right up my nose.
It was almost like she wanted to
steal
them off me.’

‘And now you’ve lost yourself in a dire
Hollywood
drama.
Honestly Cass, sometimes your imagination is something else.
Let’s stick to the facts–’

‘Fact One,’ I put down my Hob Nob and ticked off on one hand
.
‘Stevie spent the night in that apartment –
Ethan’s
apartment.
Fact Two, Selina has started an affair with him.
Fact Three,’ I floundered.
There must be a thir
d thing.

‘Fact Three,’ Morag leant forward.
Looked me in the eye.
‘If Selina dumps Ethan and marries your ex-husband, she will be
step-mother to your children.’

‘Over my dead body,’ I growled.
‘This is one occasion where
my ex-husband’s love
life suddenly does interest me.
Th
at
woman is
driving me nuts.
Wherever I turn, she’s there.
In my face.
I can’t have Stevie falling for
Selina
.’

‘Oh don’t upset yourself so.
Stevie turns women around fas
ter than conveyor-belt sushi.’

I stood up.
Took some deep breaths.
‘You don’t understand Morag.
I’ve had a bad vibe about Selina ever since she
reappeared in our lives
.
That woman
i
s bad news,’ I
thumped
the table to emphasise
my
point.
‘You mark my words.
She’s t
rouble.
With a capital T.’

It was no good.
I needed to speak to Stevie.

After Morag had left, I tried ringing my ex at his place of work.
The telephonist told me he was out of the office and on site.
I
called
his mobile.
It went to voicemail.
So
I busied myself stripping beds
,
and tried not to shred pillowcases in frustration.
Finally, at lunchtime, I tracked Stevie down to a watering hole just off
Leicester Square
.

‘Hey Cass,’ Stevie shouted above the noise of music and City chatter.
I had a mental picture of him
perched
on a tall chrome stool popping an olive in his mouth between sips of white wine spritzer.
‘Everything okay?
Nothing
wrong with the kids is there?’

‘Everything is fine Stevie.’

‘
Ah, so this is a social call.’

‘Um.
Sort of.
I j
ust wondered if everything was
now
okay at home with
Charlotte
?
I mean,’ I studied my fingernails, ‘it must have been quite late by the time you drove back from
Greenwich
.
Was
Charlotte
cross?’

A pause.
‘She was asleep.
In the spare room.’

‘But you did see her?’

‘Well no
, not
last night.
As I said, she was in the spare room.
And I didn’t want to disturb her.
By the way, your new best friend is very charming.
Selina,’ he added.
Not th
at any explanation was needed.

‘
Selina is not my best friend.’

Stevie chuckled.
‘Well she’s clearly under the impression she is.
Holds you in very high esteem.
It was
Cass this
and
Cass that
.
Banged on and on about what a fabulous person you were, what a great house you lived in
,
and what fantastic kids you had.
Two of which are mine of course.’

Clearly Selina’s flattery was a
ll part of buttering Stevie up.

‘Well never mind that.
Getting back to
Charlotte
.
You saw her this morning?’

Another pause.
Slightly longer this time.
‘Um.
Yeah.
But briefly.
She was very frosty with me.’

The first lie.
God I was so glad Stevie was no longer my life partner.
No wonder
Charlotte
had finally naffed off.
Clearly Stevie just hadn’t realised this as yet.
Oh well.
He would tonight.
When he
really
went home.

‘Well I
hope things settle down soon.’

‘Thank you Cass.
I didn’t kno
w you cared about me so much.’

‘I don’t.
But I do about
Charlotte
.
Toodle-oo.’
I hung up.
Stared at the mobile thoughtfully.
Stevie hadn’t mentioned anything about seeing Selina again.
But thanks to Morag’s gossip, I knew the pair of them would indeed be hooking up.
I wondered which yard they’d go to.
Why did Selina want to dally with the likes of Stevie when she had a golden future all mapped out?
Why risk jeopardising it all?

I spent the rest of the day working my way through chores as quickly as a six month old baby permitted.
Edna came home just as I was about to set off for the school run.
She breezed through the door looking like Mrs Doubtfire after a stint with a bottle of sherry.
Cheeks very flushed.

‘Cassandra dear,’ she beamed.
‘Leave Eddie with me.
You’ll be able to drive a bit faster without him.’
She took my babe and gave him a resounding kiss on the cheek
, before twirling
him around a few times.
Eddie squealed with joy.
I wasn’t used to my mother-in-law being so openly demonstrative.
Or doing happy jigs.
Or grinning foolishly.

‘Okay,’ I
smiled at my mother-in-law, ‘t
hanks.
That would be very helpful.’
I needed to get back into the kids’ good books after making them so catastrophically late this morning.
‘Did you have a good meeting with Arthur?’ I ventured.
‘Discus
s lots of, um, boating stuff?’

Edna stopped dancing about for a moment.
‘Yes
,
thank you Cassandra dear.
In fact, I wanted a word with you about
our
project.’

‘Oh?’

‘I was going to go home tomorrow night
,
but–’ she hesitated.

‘What is it Edna?’

‘Well Eddie’s little rocking horse is pretty much finished.
Just a final bit of paintwork and then it can sit in his nursery ready for him to grow into.
Arthur and I would very much like to get started on the boat.
It would be wonderful if we could use your garage.
It’s so big.
An ideal working space.’

‘Of course you can Edna.
Jamie and I never bother put
ting
our cars away.
Use it for the duration.’

‘That’s marvellous.
Thank you dear.
And would you mind terribly if I stayed a few more nights.
Just while Arthur and I start
the ball rolling so to speak.’

‘Not at all.’
I paused.
Would this mean Arthur would be staying here too?
I had a sudden vision of Edna and a silver-haired gentleman
tucked up together on the pull-
out bed.
My expression must have been an open book
.
Edna immediately went to great lengths to point out
that
Arthur lived only two roads away
,
and could be here in minutes, whereas her own house was a good hour away.

‘Well I’d better get my skates on,’ I picked up the keys to the Muck Truck.
Turning to Eddie I kissed the top of my son’s head.
‘
Be a good boy for Nanny
.
’

On the drive to Boxleigh Grammar, my thoughts strayed back to Stevie and Selina.
Should I tell Jamie?
He would probably dismiss it in the first instance as nothing other than gossip by Morag.
Which of course it was.
But, I frowned, if Jamie
was
concerned, might he not feel that he should tell Ethan?
Was it fair to put him in a potentially invidious position?
And would Ethan appreciate being told?
Would
he not be
embarrassed
that
his
business
partner knew he was being cuckolded?
I sighed and leant back in the driver’s seat.
For all Morag’s talk, I needed hard evidence.
Something a little more definite than a crossed out entry in a riding school’s diary.
I signalled right and
drove
into
Boxleigh Road
.
I wouldn’t say anything to Jamie
for now
.
I’d do a bit of detective work first.
Like finding out the nearest riding school to Matt and Morag’s equestrian centre
– and
maybe paying it a visit this Sunday.

‘Ooh
,
something smells interesting,’ said Jamie.
He sniffed the air cautiously as he came through the front door.
A blast of wintry a
ir whipped around the hallway.

‘Shepherds
p
ie,’ I smiled.
‘All my own work.’

‘Jolly good
.
I’m absolutely starving.
’

I could sense my husband trying to muster enthusiasm as he shrugged off his suit jacket.
He slung
it
over the banister.
It landed on a pile of kids’ coats.
This family seemed to have a total allergy to pegs, coat hangers and wardrobes.
I made a mental note to put them
all
away
at some point, and
follow
ed
Jamie through to the kitchen.
He washed his hands at the sink
,
before parking
his bottom on a chair at the kitchen table
.