Having a Ball (14 page)

##

From: Olivia Gornall

To: Tom Blackwood

You are unbelievable Tom
Blackwood. Unbelievable.

It was hot outside, but inside the kitchen was sweltering. Under Priya's
careful instructions, Stevie, Alice and Evelyn were busy making Sri Lankan nibbles.
Evelyn and Alice were carefully wrapping lamb filling and lightly curried vegetables
in pastry, while Stevie and Priya stood next to the stove, deep-frying them until
golden brown. The little patties looked delicious, but the heat near the stove was
making Stevie sweat. Even the little cotton vest she was wearing seemed like too
much clothing.

Priya, dressed in white cotton and linen, seemed to be suffering the heat
with much more grace, although Stevie noticed her wiping the odd bead of sweat
off her face using a hanky.

"Last batch." Alice handed Stevie a plate of neatly pinched triangles full of
vegetable filling.

"Thanks." Stevie pulled out the current batch and dropped them gently
onto paper towel to drain before easing the fresh ones in.

"Do you need a hand Gran?" Without waiting for an answer, Alice
returned to the table to help Evelyn with the circular ones that contained
meat.

Through the open windows came the chimes of an ice cream van. In the
simmering kitchen, the idea of ice cream sounded unbelievably welcoming.

"Ooh. Ice cream," said Alice.

Priya looked up from her frying. "Why don't I treat us all?" She nodded
towards her coat, which was hanging off the back of a chair. "Can you get them
Alice, please? My purse is in the right hand pocket. I'll have a Magnum."

"Priya, you don't have to do that." Evelyn passed her friend a stacked
plate.

"After all this hard work you're doing, it's the least I can do."

Alice grinned and skipped off. Evelyn watched her leave, smiling. "She
thinks she's so grown up," said Evelyn. "But show her an ice cream van and she's
ten years old again."

Stevie laughed. "Isn't everyone?"

* * * *

They took their ice creams to the garden, Alice carrying a spare one. As
they clattered down the metal steps, Stevie could see Tom, who was supposed to be
sorting out the rose garden, lying on the grass underneath one of the magnolia
trees, his arms folded underneath his head and his eyes shut. His t-shirt had lifted
up to reveal a small stretch of toned stomach. A few wisps of hair lead to the
waistband of his jeans. She looked away, seeking out the rose garden instead.

Tom thought she was too young to do this job. Drooling over him like a
lovesick teenager was not going to help her change his mind. No, Tom was out of
bounds until well after this job was over. Any consideration of his attractions had
to be squashed quickly and efficiently.

Alice skipped across and laid the packet on the exposed skin of Tom's
stomach. "Hi Uncle Tom, we brought you an ice cream."

Tom yelped and sat up. He made a lunge to grab Alice, who jumped
nimbly out of the way.

"Cheeky mare." He gave his niece a mock frown before picking up the ice
cream. "White chocolate. Nice. Where did these come from?"

"Present from Priya." Alice flopped onto the ground next to him.

Stevie smiled at the picture of family familiarity. She turned back toward
the rose garden. The plants had been cut back and tied up so that the pathways
were clear. It must have been hard work getting all that done. At this rate at least
the rose garden would be useable come the night of the ball.

"Does it meet with your approval?"

Stevie turned round to find Tom watching her.

"I was just thinking it looked lovely. You've got through much more than I
expected."

Tom seemed pleased. "That's me. A regular He-man when I put my mind
to it." He tore the wrapper off his ice cream.

"What's a He-man?" Alice pulled out her phone. With her ice cream held
in one hand, she checked her email with the other.

"He-Man," said Tom. "Like the cartoon."

Alice looked at him blankly. They both turned to Stevie, who shrugged.
"Before my time. Although I think Marsh had some toys. There was a tiger and
some sort of skeleton thing."

"Skeletor," said Tom. "One the scariest villains ever." He glanced from one
girl to the other and threw up his hands. "I can't believe you've not heard of them.
Kids. Honestly!"

"Whatever." Alice continued using her phone.

Stevie sat on the other side of Alice, where she felt she might be free from
the temptation of staring at Tom. His comment about kids rankled. It meant he still
thought of her as very young, despite the fact that she was now an adult. It seemed
to be a curse on her that all men would think she was still a child. She stretched her
legs out in front of her and closed her eyes. A breeze passed, cooling her down. She
tilted her head back and let it waft over her, revelling in the feeling.

For a moment there was silence, apart from the rustling breeze and the
muted beeps from Alice's phone. Stevie opened her eyes. Her ice cream was
starting to melt, she took a long lick to catch the drip that was making its way
towards her hand. Hearing what sounded like a cough, she turned, just in time to
see Tom's gaze move away from her. He turned to eating his ice cream with
ferocious concentration.

Stevie wondered if he was thinking about their conversation the night
before. Judging by the deep shadows under his eyes, he hadn't slept much at all. Her
glance flicked to his hands. No sign of a tremor. Perhaps gardening was doing him
good.

There she was, thinking about him again. She forced herself to turn her
attention to the far end of the garden and think about what else needed to be done
for the ball. They still had a lot of tickets to sell if they were going to make any
money.

Beside her, Alice gave a little snigger.

Tom reached out a foot and poked Alice with his toe. "What's
funny?"

"Dad," said Alice, still giggling. She read off the screen. "Apparently he
thinks he's found a new sort of beetle. He's all excited about it. He's wondering
whether to call it..." She read it off the screen. "
Acilius danieli
or
Acilius
blackwoodus
" She shook her head. "My parents are so lame."

When Stevie looked at Tom, he rolled his eyes.

"I guess it would be rather nice to have something named after you," she
said to Alice.

"The Blackwood Beetle?" said Tom.

Alice giggled. "That's really funny. I'm going to email Dad and suggest
that."

"Don't tell him it was my idea. He'll think I'm taking the piss." Tom's gaze
flicked to Stevie and back. "Which, of course, I would never dream of doing."

Alice slurped up the last of her ice cream and started munching on the
cone, while still typing with one hand. "There. See what he says to that. He'll be all
about beetles when he gets back. You have no idea how boring he and Mum can get
when they talk about bugs."

Stevie thought of her brother, but refrained from saying anything. For a
moment there was silence. Tom's face had clouded over. She wondered if he was
thinking about his successful older brother.

"When are your parents back?" she asked Alice.

Alice waved a sticky hand. "A few weeks. They'll probably go home for a
week and then to the institute before they come here to get me."

"They seem to go to some exotic places to look for these things," said
Stevie. "Don't you ever wish you could go with them?"

"Ugh. And sleep in a tent in the middle of the jungle? With, like, huge
spiders and mosquitoes and things? No thanks." Alice sighed. "Most of my friends
go to fun places like skiing in the Alps."

"Dangerous sport, skiing." Tom gestured with his Magnum. "Og broke her
collar bone last year."

"Og?" Alice frowned. "Is that your friend from school? What's her real
name? It can't possibly be Og."

"Olivia."

"I bet she has a cool job."

Stevie had to smile. "What qualifies as a cool job, in your opinion?"

Alice stared into space. "Well, something interesting and cool. I mean,
your job's pretty cool--organising parties. I bet you get to go to lots of interesting
people's houses and meet famous people."

"I guess so. I did when I worked for my friend Louise." She'd met one
famous person. And then there was Pete, but she'd met him at a wedding, not in the
course of work, so perhaps that didn't count.

"You're job's pretty cool too, Uncle Tom," said Alice.

"It is?"

"Yeah. You know, working in the city. Power lunches. Corporate
do's."

"It's not all like that. We have to do some work in between too." Tom's
eyes were twinkling.

Alice waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, but I'm sure it's worth it."

Stevie didn't hear Tom's reply, because her phone rang. It was a woman
from the Triphoppers office. "We'd like to buy two tickets to your ball."

"Okay. Where do you want me to send them?"

The woman rattled off an address.

Stevie checked around her. There wasn't a pen or paper in sight. "Um, I'm
really sorry, but can I call you back for the address? I don't have a pen on me at the
moment." Oh God, this was embarrassing.

The woman sighed. "Why don't you email me and I'll send it to you. It's
Sharon at triphoppers dot com."

"I'll do that, thanks."

"And
Cause Celeb
Will be there?"

"Absolutely."

She hung up and punched the air. "Yes!"

"Who was that?" said Alice.

"Guess who is coming to our ball." Stevie was grinning so widely her
cheeks hurt.

Alice sat up a little straighter. "Someone famous?"

Stevie nodded. "Someone you like."

"Ashby? Off Triphoppers."

"Er...no. Very close though. Pete," said Stevie. "And someone from
Cause Celeb
. Hopefully with a photographer in tow."

Alice shrieked. "Oh my God. Oh my God." She pulled her phone out and
started typing frantically.

"What are you doing now?" Tom wore a puzzled frown.

"I'm telling people on the forum." Alice held up a hand to stop him saying
anything else. "In a minute."

Tom shook his head. "That's pretty impressive. How did you manage
that?" he said to Stevie.

"I phoned up Triphoppers and told them
Cause Celeb
were
coming," said Stevie.

"And how did you get
Cause Celeb
to agree?"

"I told them someone from Triphoppers would be coming."

Tom stared at her for a moment. "That's..."

"Devious?" Stevie raised her eyebrows. "Cheeky?"

"Well, yes, but I was actually going to say 'genius'." He gave her an
appraising look. "It must take some balls to pull off a stunt like that."

Stevie inclined her head modestly, accepting the compliment. "Mind you,"
she said. "It did help that I had some contact with Pete already. He's a friend of
Jane's."

"Jane is?"

"My sister-in-law."

"Oh yes. Marshall's wife." He made a face. "Marsh was always such a
quiet, spoddy sort of guy. I can't imagine him married to someone who used to
hang out with pop stars."

"Who's Marsh?" Alice still had her head bent over her phone.

"My brother."

Alice looked up. "Hang on." She pointed her phone at Tom. "You know her
brother?"

Tom shrugged. "We were at Uni together."

Alice's head swung round to look at Stevie. "So your brother is the same
age as Uncle Tom? I thought you were, you know, young." She looked Stevie up and
down, as though searching for signs of aging.

Stevie laughed. "I'm twenty-two," she said. "There's an eight-year age gap
between me and my brother."

Alice frowned as she did a mental calculation. "So he's thirty."

"Nice to see that expensive education isn't wasted," said Tom.

Alice gave him a playful kick.

Tom smiled. His gaze moved towards Stevie and his smile faded. He stood
up and dusted off his jeans. "I'd better get back to work."

* * * *

From: Olivia Gornall

To: Tom Blackwood

So, how are things going
with the jailbait girl?

##

From: Tom Blackwood

To: Olivia Gornall

She is NOT jailbait! She's
22.

##

From: Olivia Gornall

To: Tom Blackwood

Whatever. Now tell me what
happened.

##

From: Tom Blackwood

To: Olivia Gornall

Nothing's happened with
Stevie and nothing is ever going to. I don't do commitment and she's
not the sort of girl you shag and leave. So nothing is going to
happen.
I just wish she wasn't so damned attractive. I was
watching her eating an ice cream this afternoon. Honestly, if you're
trying not to find someone sexy, watching them lick an ice cream in the
sun is NOT a good thing to be doing.
Luckily my niece was there
being her usual teenage self, so I tried to talk to her
instead.
Incidentally, I can't believe Alice is the same kid I used to
swing around and play helicopter rides with. What happened to that
sweet little girl? She's 90% attitude now.

##

From: Olivia Gornall

To: Tom Blackwood

Woah. I've never known you
to have such scruples before. You must really like this girl. Perhaps it's
love.

##

From: Tom Blackwood

To: Olivia Gornall

That's not fair. I always make
sure the girls know that I don't do commitment. Most of them are fine
with that. The ones that aren't... well, things go no further.
I don't
do love. I like Stevie. It's not often I meet a girl I find attractive that I
can't have. That's probably what's bugging me. I'll get over it as soon as
she's not in sight anymore.