Don't Want To Miss A Thing (38 page)

‘But I always end up on my own. I was going to take Molly away on holiday with me and she wasn’t interested. What’s that?’ said Vince as she put a small glass tumbler in front of him.

‘Whisky. It’ll make you feel better. My treat.’

‘I’m driving.’

‘One is fine.’

Not a great drinker, Vince tried it. The whisky was surprisingly nice. He said, ‘Thanks very much,’ and watched as Lois turned away to serve another customer. She was wearing a black dress printed with huge pink roses. The neckline was ruffled and elasticated so as to expose her tanned shoulders and impressive cleavage. She looked over-the-top and brassy, like a parody of a good-time girl, in her bright pink court shoes with scuffed heels. But she was being kind to him and there was a warmth to her character that was making him want to stay and talk some more.

If he went home now, what would he do? Nothing.

Apart from bear the brunt of his grandmother’s unspoken disappointment.

Again.

‘You’ve finished your drink.’ Lois was back and the other
customer had headed outside, leaving them alone once more. ‘Would you like a coffee?’

‘No thank you.’ Vince stared at the empty tumbler, then raised his head and gazed steadily at her. ‘I’ll have another Scotch.’

Chapter 47

‘I thought I’d better give you a call,’ Lois whispered into the phone. ‘Let you know.’

‘Oh God.’ At the other end of the line she heard Molly heave a sigh. ‘I thought he’d just go straight home. How is he?’

‘Bit drunk. Not too bad. Not causing any trouble.’

‘I can’t believe this. He isn’t the getting-drunk type.’

‘He’s drowning his sorrows. So you’re not interested in coming over, talking things through with him?’

‘No,’ said Molly. ‘Look, I’m sorry, but there’s really no point. It’s over.’

‘Am I allowed to ask why?’

‘You know what? I don’t even know the answer. On paper, he’s perfect in every way. Vince is kind and thoughtful and handsome . . . he even treated the rust spots on my car. But he just isn’t right for me.’

‘OK.’ Lois softened. ‘Well, these things happen. I’m sure he’ll live.’

‘Damn, he’s got his car with him. You’ll have to call a taxi to take him home. Don’t let him drive.’

Watching Vince through the doorway, Lois said, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t.’

It was one o’clock in the morning. Lois was wide awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling with her brain in overdrive.

At eleven thirty the rest of the customers had left. The taxi she’d ordered for Vince had been a no-show. She’d finished clearing the bar and cashing up for the night and still it hadn’t arrived.

‘It’s all right, don’t worry about me.’ Somewhat the worse for wear but not wildly so, he’d said, ‘I’ll sleep in my car.’

‘You can’t do that. Look, you can have the spare room.’

Upstairs, he’d stood in the doorway and watched her pull out the sofa bed. Lois had taken sheets and a duvet out of the airing cupboard and said, ‘This won’t take me two minutes to make up. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Anything else you want, just say.’

‘Really? What I want more than anything is for someone to want me.’

Lois turned to look at him and saw the expression on his face. His chiselled, oh-so-handsome face.

And that particular expression.

‘You mean Molly?’

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘Wow, this isn’t a situation I’m used to. You’re not the kind of woman I’d usually go for.
At all
.’

‘Thanks.’

‘But you’re actually very attractive . . . sexy . . . God, sorry, listen to me. I shouldn’t be saying this.’

Lois’s heart was racing now. ‘You can say it if you want to.’

‘Can I?’

‘Yes. You know, you’re not so bad yourself.’

Ooh,
bold
.

They gazed at each other in mutual astonishment. Vince was swaying slightly. Lois’s mouth had gone dry.
Where had this come from, bursting out of nowhere?

The next moment they’d launched themselves at each other and begun to kiss. Just like that, with virtually no warning at all. The adrenalin had coursed through Lois’s body and there had simply been no stopping them. Out of the spare room with the unmade-up sofa bed and into her own bedroom . . .

And now it was an hour and a half later. The alcohol had caught up with Vince and he was fast asleep, out for the count beside her. But not before they’d done it twice.
Twice!

It had been a while for both of them, it turned out. His relationship with Molly, Vince had admitted, hadn’t got that far. Which Lois was glad about. Although when she’d confided that she hadn’t slept with a man for the last two years, she’d known he hadn’t believed her. This came as no surprise; when you looked like she did, everyone tended to assume you were a good-time saloon girl, always up for a bit of fun with anyone who happened to show a passing interest in you.

Oh well. She was used to it. Whereas in reality the number of men she’d slept with was almost laughably small. And they hadn’t been the most charming characters either. She’d always managed to go for the brash swaggering bullies who ended up treating her like dirt and on more than one occasion had become physically abusive. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that she’d begun to find decent, polite,
gentle
men attractive. The drawback being that, thanks to her own brash exterior and upfront manner, she always seemed to scare the decent gentle types rigid; the moment she demonstrated the smallest amount of interest they ran a mile.

Until tonight.

In the darkness, Lois broke into an unstoppable smile. Talk
about a turn-up for the books. Vince was everything she could have dreamed of. And somehow, miraculously, he had decided he liked her too. Well, enough to spend the night in her bed, which was an excellent start.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew the situation wasn’t ideal, what with Vince having arrived here fresh from being dumped by Molly, but never mind that now. The basic attraction was there, she just knew they’d be perfect for each other.

Sliding closer to him as he slept peacefully beside her, Lois revelled in the blissful warmth of his body and, still smiling, felt her eyelids begin to close. Little by little she could win him round, she was sure of it.

Life was looking good . . .

Lois’s internal alarm clock woke her, as it always did, at six thirty. Easing herself out of bed, she washed, brushed her teeth, tousled her hair, applied a touch of smoky eyeshadow and mascara, made two mugs of tea and slid back under the covers.

Mmm, he even smelled gorgeous
.

Lightly running her fingers across his torso, she leaned over and murmured huskily in his ear, ‘Good morning . . .’

Vince’s eyes snapped open. He sat upright like those toy snakes that burst out of a tin. The look on his face when he realised where he was made Lois wish she hadn’t witnessed it.

Talk about abject horror.

‘Oh God, what’s the time?’

‘Six forty-five.’

‘I have to go. I’m late for work.’

This wasn’t true; he’d told her last night he didn’t have to be at the office until nine. It was also a million miles from the romantic fantasy she’d concocted about them waking up in each
other’s arms and Vince whispering between kisses, ‘Well, good morning to you too, isn’t
this
a nice surprise?’

And maybe,
just maybe
, wondering aloud if it might be permissible today to phone in sick.

Instead, a small part of her soul shrivelled with shame as he rocketed out of bed, grabbed his discarded clothes and stammered, ‘I’m s-so sorry, I’ve never done anything like this before.’ The next second he’d locked himself into the en-suite bathroom and Lois just knew he was struggling to get dressed, Benny Hill style, faster than the speed of light.

When the door opened again, she was waiting for him.

‘You don’t have to apologise. We had a nice night together, didn’t we? And there’s still plenty of time before you have to leave. Why don’t you let me cook you a full English?’

‘Really, no.’ He was unable even to meet her gaze.

‘But I’ve already made you a cup of tea. Look, it’s here!’
Oh God, listen to me, I’m practically begging
.

Vince blurted out, ‘You don’t understand.’ He gestured at her, then at himself, then the bedroom. ‘This isn’t the kind of person I am. I got drunk last night and did something I never do.’ He was now visibly hyperventilating with fear. ‘Please don’t tell anyone.’

‘I won’t.’ Lois held the mug of tea out, forcing him to take it. Politeness winning over panic, he glugged the tea down in one go, his face flushing red with pain when he realised just how scalding hot it still was.

‘Right, I have to go now.’ He fumbled in his jacket for his keys, palpably relieved to locate them.

‘I enjoyed last night.’ It sounded completely pathetic but she couldn’t help saying it.

‘Um, me too, thanks for everything. You’re very . . . nice.’ He
darted forward and jabbed a kiss at her cheek like a panicky woodpecker.

It made Lois, who never cried, want to cry.

‘I am, actually. Nicer than you think.’ She managed a brief smile to mask the pain of rejection.

‘I know, I know.’ Vince, clearly longing to be gone, said, ‘You won’t mention anything to Molly, will you?’

It was evidently killing him that he’d made such a complete fool of himself, getting drunk and ending up having sex with the kind of woman who wouldn’t normally feature on his radar.

Lois shook her head. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t.’

After he’d left, she went to wake Addy who slept at the other end of the landing. While Addy was brushing her teeth and Lois was downstairs making breakfast, Molly phoned.

‘I just saw him driving out of the car park. Everything OK?’

‘Fine. The taxi didn’t turn up last night so I made up the bed in the spare room.’
Well, this much was true
.

‘Thanks.’ Molly sounded relieved. ‘So he wasn’t any trouble?’

‘No trouble. He was a bit drunk and a bit upset, but that’s all.’

‘Poor Vince, I feel bad about that. He’s a good person and finishing with someone’s always horrible.’ Sounding resigned, anxious, Molly said, ‘What I really hate is when they won’t take no for an answer, like Graham last summer. Remember when he brought me that massive fish?’

‘Don’t worry, I don’t think you’ll have that problem with Vince.’ Having watched from the bedroom window as he’d screeched out of the pub car park at fifty miles an hour, Lois was enveloped in a wave of sadness. ‘I’m pretty sure we won’t be seeing him again.’

Chapter 48

Amber liked loud music but this music was so loud it felt as if it was being injected directly into her brain. The floorboards were vibrating beneath her feet, her head was pounding, someone had spilled a drink down the back of her shirt and someone else had just staggered backwards and trodden on her foot.

‘
Ooow
,’ wailed Amber but no one could hear her above the noise. The party was being held in a squat belonging to Carter, a friend of a friend of Beeny’s. Well,
belonged
probably wasn’t the right word. It had been occupied by him and a few others, and tonight they’d invited over what felt like everyone they’d ever met.

It was impossible to count how many were here, because of all the different rooms in the place; it was dark and crowded and disorientating. One thing was for sure though, the invited guests didn’t like to wash much.

Also, Doss had given her a drink that hadn’t just been beer; when she’d started stumbling around, losing her balance and bouncing off walls, Beeny had said, ‘Ha-ha, there was a ton of vodka in that too!’

She’d laughed because everyone else was laughing, but then Beeny had rolled her another spliff and when she’d shaken her
head he’d curled his lip and said, ‘What’s the matter, Lady Amber? My stuff not good enough for you?’

Beeny had changed; she really didn’t like him any more, but he was Doss’s friend so they still had to hang out together.

‘Shut up, Beeny, leave her alone.’ Phil, another new friend of Beeny’s, put a reassuring arm round her. ‘Lady Amber don’t have to smoke your crappy skunk, man. Not if she don’t want to.’

That had been twenty minutes ago but she’d now managed to lose sight of everyone she knew. It was time to go and find them. Hazily, feeling as if she was having to crawl through the fuggy smoke that hung in the air, Amber made her way up the broad curving staircase. Swaying and knocking against the newel post, she mumbled, ‘Sorry,’ which was such a Lady Amber thing to say. Phil was the one who’d started calling her that, apparently because she sounded posh compared with the rest of them. OK, up the uncarpeted stairs and along the landing. Wow, so many doors,
so many
. . . let’s start with this one . . .

When Amber realised what she was seeing she stopped dead in her tracks. There was no furniture in the bedroom other than a dirty mattress on the floor with people huddled around it. Phil had been kneeling with his back to her; when he turned, Amber saw the syringe in his hand. Then her horrified gaze took in the fact that one of the people on the mattress was Doss.

Someone was shouting, ‘What’s going on?’ and it took her a moment to realise the words had come from her.

Doss had his shirtsleeve rolled up and a tourniquet wrapped round his skinny upper arm. Shaking her head in disbelief, Amber yelled, ‘What are you
doing
?’

‘Oh Christ, can someone get fucking Lady Amber out of here?’ This came from a stringy-haired girl she’d never even spoken to before.

But Doss was holding out his other arm, beckoning to her, his own voice soft and hypnotic. ‘It’s OK, babe, it’s all cool, you have to try this. It’s, like, the most amazing stuff.’

‘Are you mad? It’s heroin!’

‘Yeah, but you’re saying that like it’s a bad thing.’ His dark eyes glowed with love and warmth as he closed his fingers around hers. ‘But once you give it a chance, you’ll see what I mean. Go on, babe, try it, Phil’s got loads and he’ll let you pay him back.’

So this was why Doss had borrowed her last fifteen pounds – and why he’d never repaid the twenty he’d borrowed the other week. It also explained those bruises she’d seen on his inner arm. Oh God, this was a nightmare. There’d been the occasional mention of other drugs before now, but she’d had no idea it had come to this. Amber’s brain was still fogged but her eyes were wide as she stared from Doss to Phil.