Secret Schemes and Daring Dreams (11 page)

‘Like I said, we don't do parties,' Jake repeated. ‘But – well, maybe if he wants to talk about it on Wednesday when the rest of the guys are there, we'll see.'

He stood up and flexed his shoulders. ‘Got to go, Auntie,' he said, smiling at Mrs Bates and planting a kiss on the top of her head. ‘Sitting here won't find us somewhere to stay.' He paused, his hand on the doorknob. ‘Say, why don't you come to The J Tree as well? You've never heard us play live.'

‘That's sweet of you, dear,' his aunt replied, ‘but to be honest, it's not my sort of scene and I get so tired by the evening. But Lily would love to go, wouldn't you, poppet? And you don't work on Wednesday nights.'

‘Wow, yes that would be great!'

Mrs Bates turned to Emma. ‘You'd give her a lift, wouldn't you?'

‘Well, I would, but it's Lucy's birthday and we'll probably be going on to another club or —' She stopped as she saw Jake eyeing her closely. ‘. . . But I'm sure that'll be fine,' she finished. Falling out with Jake at this point was not a good idea and, if enduring Lily for one evening meant getting Split Bamboo for the party, it was a small price to pay.

‘Bless you, dear,' Mrs Bates went on. ‘Poor Lily – she doesn't have much fun with me like this.'

‘Mum, just stop that,' Lily ordered. ‘We have a great time. And I'm not going anywhere till I've found someone to come and sit with you. And I'll leave a nice
salad and a glass of wine, and we'll get you ready for bed before I go and —'

It struck Emma that Lily's life really wasn't a bundle of laughs.

‘I'll ask my dad to pop in and see you too,' Emma said on impulse. She wasn't sure her dad would be around, but at least making the offer made her feel better.

‘I do hope the boys find somewhere nice to stay,' Mrs Bates said as Jake left. ‘They can't afford much and there's four of them. I don't like the idea of some grubby hostel.'

Suddenly, everything clicked into place in Emma's brain.

‘Mrs Bates,' she murmured, smiling her most endearing smile and patting her hand the way she'd seen them do on
Holby City
and
ER
, ‘don't you worry. I think I have the perfect solution. Just leave it with me.'

‘Emma, you're a star!'

‘That is just the coolest idea!'

Adam and Lucy sat side-by-side on the steps of Lucy's chalet later that afternoon and gazed up at her admiringly.

‘See why I had to come over and tell you to your face? Neat, isn't it?' Emma agreed, squatting down beside them. ‘Dad's chuffed because the band is staying in the eco-lodges – that way he gets them into the show without it looking contrived – Jake's over the moon because Dad's waiving the rent and I reckon now there is no way the band can refuse to play at Freddie's party. So come on – where do we go to celebrate?'

‘Nowhere, sadly.' Adam sighed. ‘We're both on duty this evening – I'm teaching raft-building for tomorrow's raft race, and Lucy's helping with the campfire sing-along.'

‘Ye gods, you two lead riveting lives!' Emma teased, gazing round at the groups of kids playing rounders or clambering over the assault course. ‘All looks like pretty hard work to me.'

‘Not half as hard as some of the lives these kids lead,' Adam replied solemnly. ‘I've got a boy in my football squad who looks after his blind mum and dad – and he's only nine. A charity paid for him to come and it's the first time he's had a chance to be a kid.'

‘A bit like Lily,' Emma murmured thoughtfully. ‘You don't realise, do you? I mean, what with our lives and stuff.'

‘No,' Lucy replied. ‘You don't.'

For a moment, the silence was broken only by the shrieks of delight from the kids on the bouncy castle.

‘So how is your other scheme going?' Lucy said smiling, anxious to lighten the mood. ‘You're not really serious about getting Theo and Harriet together, are you?'

‘Theo? Theo Elton?' Adam butted in. ‘He's with Verity Price – although don't ask me what he sees in her. She's a right little tart.'

‘Which is why he's not with her now,' Emma informed him, deciding not to mention that it was Verity who chucked Theo. ‘And why Harriet is so perfect for him.'

Her mind went back to the way Harriet had chatted non-stop when she got back to Emma's house earlier that afternoon.

‘Theo was just so lovely with Mum,' Harriet had told her, kicking off her shoes and sinking down on to one of the rattan chairs on the terrace. ‘He chatted away —'

‘You mean, you took him to meet her?'

‘When he came to fetch me,' Harriet had explained. ‘He insisted on going and saying hi. Mum doesn't normally like strangers coming, but she really took to Theo.'

‘More than Rob?' Emma had asked, working hard to keep her voice disinterested and neutral.

‘Oh, Rob's never been to the hospital,' Harriet had replied, glancing at her watch. ‘I haven't said much about Mum's illness to him.'

‘But you felt able to tell Theo, who you only met yesterday?' Emma had murmured. ‘That's interesting.'

‘Well, yes – I mean, no – I mean, I will tell Rob, of course, it's just that I didn't want to put him off.'

‘I can see that.' Emma had nodded wisely, as her mobile phone bleeped. ‘Obviously, if you're aware that Rob's that shallow —'

‘I didn't say that,' Harriet had interrupted hastily. ‘He's just not really keen on hospitals.'

‘But if he was keen on you . . . oh, don't listen to me.' Emma had said theatrically, pulling her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and noting with some satisfaction how Harriet's expression changed to one of confusion.

She had scanned the text message.

Have you got Harriet's mobile number? Theo x

She hadn't been able to restrain a gasp of delight.

‘There, I told you Theo was keen – if you don't believe
me, look at that!' she had cried, thrusting the phone under Harriet's nose. ‘Shall I send it to him?'

Harriet had nodded so rapidly that she resembled a plastic dog in the back of a Robin Reliant.

‘Wow! I mean, do you really think he likes me?'

Emma giggled as she remembered Harriet's joyful expression. She rammed her sunglasses on top of her head and turned to Lucy and Adam.

‘So I did,' she told them, having left out the bit of the story involving psychiatric hospitals and divided loyalties. ‘And then I came over here and left them to it.'

‘Bring them along on Wednesday,' Lucy suggested with a grin. ‘Then I can see whether all this is just a figment of your imagination.'

‘OK, cool.' Emma nodded standing up and brushing bits of grass from her shorts. ‘Oh well, I suppose – good grief, what's that noise?'

She winced as the screech of a siren sent a flock of starlings flying from the trees.

‘The klaxon for supper,' Lucy told her. ‘Got to dash. I'm on sausage duty.'

‘The way some people choose to spend their summer defies belief,' sighed Emma. ‘I'm going home to wax my legs and watch
Fifteen Love . . .
See ya!'

CHAPTER 6

‘
GUESS WHAT
?'
HARRIET CRIED, BURSTING FROM THE
sitting room on Monday morning as Emma was waving goodbye to the last of the weekend guests. ‘George has just said I can play the piano – you know, the baby grand in the back sitting room? It's fantastic – we had to sell ours. Well, no, that's not true. They came and took it away because Dad didn't keep up the payments.'

Too much information, thought Emma. She'd have to teach Harriet that, while honesty was great in theory, there were times when it was best kept under wraps.

‘Lovely,' she said. ‘By the way, that was such a cool idea of yours – about the photos on the website.'

‘Oh, that.' Harriet smiled. ‘It wasn't my idea – I saw it on Mum's hospital website. You know, nurses in starched caps pushing old-fashioned bath chairs alongside modern-day therapists, that kind of stuff.'

‘Well, anyway,' Emma persisted. ‘Theo's thrilled. By the way, did he phone you after I texted your number?'

Harriet nodded. ‘He wanted me to help choose which
of your tennis pictures to put on the website.' She giggled. ‘They're really ace . . . oh ha, ha! Ace? Tennis?'

Even their sense of humour matches, thought Emma and then winced at her own choice of words.

‘I told him to put music on the website,' Harriet went on. ‘You know, the right period for each picture. He's asked me to sort it for him.'

‘Brilliant!' Emma had to confess that Harriet was a constant source of amazement. She looked so dippy and yet she had some great ideas, which of course was exactly what a guy like Theo needed.

‘The pictures of me were just practice shots,' she said. ‘It's you he wants to photograph. He said you were really pretty.'

‘He did? Really?'

‘Mmm,' Emma murmured. ‘Which is lovely, considering.'

‘Considering what? That I'm not really pretty, you mean? Well, I know —'

‘No, silly. Considering he's so desperately in need of someone to love him.'

Harriet's eyes widened. ‘Theo is? But he's so fit – surely he's got a girlfriend?'

Emma composed her features into what she hoped was an expression of muted compassion. ‘Had,' she whispered. ‘Treated him brutally. Awful. Can't say more but he just needs to know people care.' She glanced at her watch. ‘Gosh – is that the time? Must dash. So – if he asks for help with photos and stuff – well, you will sort of . . .'

‘Of course I'll help. Poor guy – and he's so lovely.'

Emma left feeling that the day had got off to an exceptionally good start.

‘Look, Theo, much as I'd love you to keep taking pictures of me, I simply can't let them go on the website,' Emma was saying to Theo ten minutes later after he'd cornered her in the hallway and asked her to pose in the rose garden. ‘My father would go ballistic.' She paused, wondering how to make her excuse sound convincing. ‘See, Dad says he doesn't want my name associated with anything that's not one hundred per cent environmentally OK. You know, what with him being high profile and stuff. He loves the Knightleys to bits but the hotel isn't exactly eco aware and —'

‘Right.' Theo nodded. ‘I can see his point. But it was such a good idea of Harriet's.'

‘So use her,' Emma went on. ‘It might help to boost her self-esteem. And she's free all day.'

‘You are kind,' he said. ‘I'll do that then.'

‘Oh and by the way, Lucy's invited you and Harriet to The Jacaranda Tree on Wednesday. You up for it?'

‘You bet!' he replied. ‘Hey, I could take some shots for the teen bit of the website. That would spice it up a bit! From Croquet to the Club Scene – great caption, eh?'

‘Brilliant.' Emma smiled. ‘See you.'

At ten o'clock on Tuesday morning, Emma was sitting at her dressing table plucking her eyebrows when her phone rang.

‘Emma? Where the hell are you?'

She held the phone away from her left ear and
continued plucking with her other hand. ‘In my bedroom. Not that it's any business of yours,' she informed George.

‘Actually, business is exactly what it is. Mrs Paxton-Whyte is here with Annabelle,' he hissed. ‘Wedding plans? You said you'd take on Mum's role and Mum is never late!'

Emma chucked the tweezers to one side and kicked herself for looking inefficient in front of George. ‘OK, tell them I've been on the phone to some rather upmarket florists.'

‘Have you?'

‘No, of course I haven't, but they don't know that. George just do it, OK? I'll be there in ten minutes.'

An hour later, having resisted the urge to burst out laughing at the thought of the robustly built Annabelle Paxton-Whyte dressed as Titania for her
Midsummer Night's Dream
wedding (‘My fiancé is going to be Oberon and my bridesmaids will be fairies – isn't that blissful?'), Emma was hurrying down the drive to pick up her car and go into Brighton for some serious retail therapy. (The excuse she'd given to George was the need for gossamer-like tulle in sugar pink for the tables, but the main attraction was Gear Up's sale.) As she reached the gates, a white Porsche 911 shot round the corner from the lane narrowly missing clipping her on the toes.