Lipstick and Lies (39 page)

‘Stevie to perfection,
’ I giggled.

‘So,’ Morag
turned the conversation back to Selina
, ‘what happened after you spotted the
pair of them in the car park?’

‘I waited for them to
drive off,
and then I followed them.’

Morag’s eye
s widened
.
‘
And d
id you manage to keep up?’

‘
Yes
,’ I beamed, ‘I’
ll make a getaway driver yet!’

‘So where did yo
u follow them to?’ asked Nell.

‘To Selina’s bachelorette pad.
A swanky building in Blackheath.
They’d obviously
gone back to hers for a bonk.’

‘And the
n what happened?’ asked Morag.

‘Well,’ I grimaced, ‘then I realised I was behaving rather ridiculously
,
and went and
fetched
the kids from school.
But one thing is certain.
Selina is messing about with my ex-husband
.
So much for
Jamie
insisting
she’s loved u
p to the eyeballs with Ethan.’

‘Loved up,’ Morag sneered.
‘The woman sounds
like a mercenary gold digger.’

‘Of tha
t there’s no doubt,’ I nodded.

‘So what’s all this about shopping for an evening dress?’ Morag
once again
topped up our coffees.

‘Oh don’t remind me,’ I groaned.
‘The
b
ank’s annual ball.
This Saturday.
Me and Jamie.
With Ethan and Selina.’

Nell blew out her cheeks.
‘Well I don’t care what Jamie says Cass.
You watch your grub.
And your glass.
I wouldn’t want that woman around anythin
g that’s going near my mouth.’

‘Don’t worry,’ I nodded, ‘her card is marked.
I might just lean over her din
ner and drop Senakot over it.’

‘That reminds me,’ said Nell
unlatching
Rosie from her breast, ‘I must get some laxatives.
Haven’t had a good poo
h since my daughter was born.’

‘Thank you for sharing Nell,’ Morag
rolled her eyes
.

‘Well it’s true,’ said Nell hoiking up her maternity bra.
‘Much as I love my darling daughter, she is definitely the last baby I shall be having.
In the first flush of pregnancy you suffer morning sickness.
I’d completely forgotten you can keep vomiting long after you think you’re finished.
And then when you’re nearing the end of the pregnancy, it completely wrecks your fanny.
Not to mention your backside.
Do you know–’

‘Nell I do
not
want to know about your haemorrhoids,’ Morag waggle
d a finger.

‘Why not?’

‘Because I want another baby and I don’t want you putting me off.
So,’ Morag turned her attention back to me, ‘tell us
both
about
the evening dress you bought.’

When I went downstairs the following morning with Eddie on my hip
,
Edna
was
already at the kitchen range
.
The aroma of
sausage and hash browns
filled the air
.

‘Good morning Cassandra dear,’ she trilled.
Just like that.
As if she’d been in our house all night long tucked up
o
n the pull
-
out bed in the study.
Not
knocking back
nightcaps
– or
whatever it was that seventy-two year old women
did
in the privacy of
another pensioner’s home.

‘Hello Edna,’ I smiled.
‘No Arthur this morning?’

‘No dear
.
’
M
y mother-in-law gave the frying pan a vigorous shake
.
‘
H
e’ll be coming over a little later.’
She didn’t quite meet my gaze.

At that moment Jamie came in.
There was a shift in the atmosphere.
As though a chill wind had blown in.
‘Morning Mother,’ he said bleakly
, before sitting
down at the table.

Edna didn’t bat an eyelid.
‘Good mor
ning Jamie dear.’

‘So,’ Jamie did a spot of noisy throat clearing, ‘did you discuss whatever it was you w
anted to discuss with Arthur?’

‘Yes thank you dear.’

‘And that warranted you staying out all night did it?’
The words were out before Jamie could st
op them.

‘Um, I think I’ll just take Eddie’s bottle up to
the
nursery and leave you two–’

‘Good idea,’ said Jamie curtly.
I hastened out of the kitchen.
Seconds later the door
closed
after me.
Oh God.
Please don’t let my husband
get stroppy
.
It was bad enough trying to stop him from losing his cool with the children sometimes, ne
ver mind a lovesick pensioner.

I went upstairs and into Eddie’s nursery.
Picking up Eddie, I plonked
myself in the rocking chair
.
Settling
my baby boy into the crook of
one arm, I
gave him his bottle.
I could hear the children scampering about in their rooms as they sorted themselves out for school.
Petra
’s radio burst into life.
Seconds later Dave Berry and Lisa Snowden were clashing
with the boys listening to Radio 1
.
The sounds of a family home.
I rocked away contentedly w
hile Eddie guzzled
from
his bottle.

Minutes later a shadow fell across the doorway.
I looked up to see Jamie standing there.
He looked white-faced.
Shocked.

‘Whatever’s the matt
er darling?’ I asked in alarm.

‘It’
s Arthur,’ Jamie whispered.

I paled.
‘Has something happened?’

‘Yes.
He’s asked Mum to marry him.’

I stared at my husband.
He looked devastated.
As though the bottom of his world h
ad fallen out.

‘Jamie?’

‘She can’t marry him Cassie.
They’ve only known
each other five minutes.’

‘Has Edn
a accepted Arthur’s proposal?’

‘Not yet.
S
he said she’d think about it.’

‘Well there you go then,’ I
said, rocking Eddie.
‘
Y
our Mum isn’t daft darling.
She’s not the type to rush into something without thinking it throu
gh.’

‘
Actually
,
I disagree
.
’
Jamie moved over to the window.
He gazed out at the Common below
.
The ground was smothered in glittering frost
.
The
bare trees add
ed
to the bleak look at this early hour of the morning
.
‘If she
thinks
things through properly
,
how come
there’s
a scaled
-
do
wn ocean liner in our garage?’

‘Well,’ I blustered, ‘granted that wa
s a bit uncharacteristic but–’

‘Uncharacteristic
!’ Jamie spluttered.
‘
It was totally impulsive, reckless and irresponsible.
I know my mother’s always been a bit eccentric
– brandishing
an egg whisk in one hand and a power drill in the other
– but
there’s a world of difference between knocking up a bookcase for the kids and buying a shipwreck with a
man she hardly knows
.
Do you th
ink Arthur’s after her money?’

‘No
,
of course not!
Why are you so against Arthur all of a sudden?
I thought you liked him.’

‘I’m not
against
him.
And he seems perfectly affable.
I just don’t want him–’

‘As a step-father,
’ I finished Jamie’s sentence.

Jamie turned his back to the window and leant against the sill.
‘No, no, it’s not that,’ he sighed.
‘I guess I’ve been so used to Mum
being
single
for decades
,
I just assumed she’d always be on her own.
It just seems strange
, after all these years,
to think of her being romantically involved with
someone.’

‘She had to get used to you being romantically involved again Jamie.
After you were widowed.’

‘Hardly the same thing though
,
is it?
I’m younger than her.’

‘Oh my God,’ I crowed, ‘you sound like a typical Neanderthal man.
Sexist.
Ageist.
Utter prejudice!’ I stood up and put Eddie over my shoulder.
Rubbed his back.
‘Whatever the future holds for Edna and Arthur, I’m sure it will be a very companionable one – whether they marry or not.
They clearly have common interests.’
Eddie emitted a man-sized belch
.

‘Well I’d just like to see a long
,
old-fashioned courtship.
That’s all.
There’s
no need to rush into things.’

‘Of course
,
darling.
I mean, we didn’t eh?
We had the
longest courtship in history.’

‘That
was different,’ Jamie huffed.

‘Absolutely,’ I nodded.
‘We were never like Edna and Arthur.
They are only in their seventies after all.
They’ve all the time in the world
,
right?’

Jamie opened his mouth to say something
,
but then appeared to change his mind.
‘I’d better get ready for work.
Selina is apparently going to be
off for the rest of the week.’

My head jerked up.
‘What’s the matter with her?’

‘Haven’t a clue.
But Ethan is concerned.
He s
aid she
’s
very out of sorts.
Pre-occupied and distant.
And p
eriodically behaving quite oddly.
He confided that Selina still sees a psychiatrist and counsellor routinely.
Apparently she hasn’t kept her last two appointments
,
but won’t talk about it.’

‘I hope he knows what he’s doing taking her on,’ I grimaced.
‘He could do miles
better than an unstable basket case
like–’

‘Now who’s showing prej
udice?’

‘Not without due cause.
’
I
pursed my lips
.
How had the conversation shifted from Edna and potential wedding bells to Selina and her
mislaid
marbles?
I placed Eddie down on his changing mat and set about topping and tailing him.
Blasted woman.
All she seemed to have done recently was invade my life.
And now, even though she wasn’t in my house, somehow her very name had conjured
up
the ghost of her presence, upsetting the harmony within my home.
I snapped Eddie into a c
lean romper suit and stood up.

‘Let’s not argue
.
’
Jamie
moved towards me.
Moments later his arms
encircled Eddie and me.
‘I know Selina will never be your best friend.
And I’m sorry you’ve recently seen so much of her.’
J
amie kissed the tip of my nose.