He's the One (4 page)

Back home Liberty’s mum Nina was up and making Brooke a snack in the kitchen. She was wearing jeans, a purple t-shirt and flip-flops, and she had tied her long auburn hair into a ponytail. She looked tanned, healthy and a good ten years younger than her actual age of forty-four. Liberty was convinced that it was her mother’s spirit and zest for life that kept her looking so young. Nina had always supported her, and helped with Brooke. When Liberty had told her that she was pregnant and was going to keep the baby, Nina was there for her in every way, never once doubting her daughter’s decision. Liberty had always had a strong relationship with her mum, and told her everything … well, nearly everything. Last night she’d called her from the restaurant and said she’d met a handsome man who wanted to take her to a party.

‘Good night?’ Nina asked with a smile. ‘I didn’t hear you come in so I’m guessing it was late.’

Liberty stifled a yawn. ‘It was. Very. Morning actually.’

‘So, how was the party?’

‘It was good.’ She couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her face. ‘And Cory is gorgeous. He’s American and he wants to be an artist.’

‘Sounds interesting.’ Nina stopped chopping up apple and glanced at her daughter. ‘Did you tell him about Brooke?’

At this reality check, Liberty’s sense of excitement fizzled out. She was not single and carefree, living for
the moment, able to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. She was a mum with zero prospects and a lot of responsibility.

She shook her head. ‘I wanted to see how it went first. Do you think I should have?’

‘I think you should do whatever feels right for you.’

Liberty rolled her eyes. Since her mum had started her course there had been many comments like this one. ‘That’s a classic counsellor comment!’ she protested.

‘What do you want me to say then?’

What she’d wanted her mum to say was that everything would be okay. No, that everything would be brilliant, and that Cory would have absolutely no problem accepting that Liberty had a child. And that he would live in Brighton … and … oh, bugger it, she didn’t believe in fairy stories. So instead she settled for the practical, ‘Do you think you could babysit Brooke again tonight so I can see Cory? I’ll bath her and put her to bed.’

‘No problem. It’s about time you went out and had some fun. And I’m away on that course next week so I won’t be able to babysit then.’

Liberty’s shift at the restaurant seemed to pass even more painfully slowly than usual. She kept checking her watch, willing the time away. Only the snatched conversations with Em made it bearable.

Back home she had a long soak in the bath and spent longer than usual on her make up. She thought of the immaculate rich girls at the party last night with their designer outfits – there was no way she could compete with them – so it was a little black dress from TopShop for her. Brooke sensed that she was going out in that way children always do and took ages to settle. She was
still awake and crying when Liberty went downstairs. She felt awful as she heard her daughter calling out,
‘Mummy!
’ No one could twist her heartstrings in the way her daughter could. She hesitated at the front door; maybe she should stay. She could see Cory another night.

‘She’ll be fine in a minute, she’s trying it on,’ Nina told her. ‘I’ll pop up in a bit. Now go!’

Liberty couldn’t afford to get another taxi, and there wasn’t a bus for half an hour, so she ended up walking the two miles to Cory’s flat, arriving late.

‘I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,’ he said when he opened the door to her. He put his arms round her waist and drew her to him, and instantly she felt a flash of lust as he kissed her. And then there was no need to talk as he led her into the bedroom and they tumbled on to the bed together, and the little black dress was soon thrown to the floor …

‘Are you hungry?’ he said, some time later. ‘I’ve made dinner, though it’s probably ruined by now.’

‘Starving.’ She hadn’t eaten all day. Her tummy rumbled as if to underline the point.

He pulled on his jeans. ‘I should warn you, I’m not the greatest cook.’

‘You have other qualities,’ she teased, admiring his half-naked body.

Liberty slipped on one of his shirts and followed him into the kitchen where there was a strong smell of burning. Cory had taken the lid off a saucepan and was frowning at its contents. She looked over his shoulder, and saw what looked like congealed brown gunk, stuck to the bottom of the pan.

She wrinkled her nose. ‘What exactly is that?’

‘It’s supposed to be bolognese sauce. It’s one of the
few things I can cook – except not tonight apparently. It wasn’t part of my plan to poison you. How would you feel about pizza?’

She laughed, charmed that any man would cook for her, even if it had turned out to be a complete disaster. Neither Luke nor Eddie ever had.

They sat on the living-room floor, leaning against the sofa, and ate pizza straight from the boxes and drank red wine. He showed her more of his pictures and she was bowled over by his talent, but still he refused to show her the picture he had drawn of her, however much she pleaded with him.

Time seemed to be on fast forward and all too soon it was half past two. Liberty just couldn’t have another day when she was too exhausted to look after her daughter.

‘I’d better go,’ she said reluctantly.

‘Why don’t you stay? I want to wake up with you next to me.’

What did she say to that?

‘I really need to go. I have to get up early tomorrow for a casting.’ She felt terrible about lying to him but didn’t know what else to say. Maybe she should have told him about Brooke right at the beginning.

‘You can wake up early here.’

‘I’m sorry, I really do have to go. All my stuff’s at home.’

He put his arms around her and kissed her. ‘Okay. Well, good luck with the casting. What’s it for?’

‘Some kind of moisturiser, I think,’ she mumbled. ‘I probably won’t get it. I hardly ever do.’

‘You’ll be brilliant. How could they not hire you on the spot?’

Because I will be looking after my daughter all day … ‘You should be my agent, you’ve definitely got more
faith in me than she has,’ Liberty told him, kissing him goodbye.

She felt like the worst mother in the world when her alarm woke her up at seven a.m. She was still half asleep as she gave Brooke her breakfast and got her ready for nursery. After dropping her daughter off she came straight home and went back to bed for two hours, which made her feel even worse when she woke up again, as if she had jet lag – well, she guessed that was what jet lag felt like, never actually having flown long haul. But there was an instant pick-me-up when she saw the green light flashing on the answerphone and played back a message from Cory, asking if she was free to go for dinner that night. She must have slept through the phone ringing.

If only
… She picked up the phone and punched in his number and was disappointed when she only got his voicemail.

‘Sorry, I can’t make tonight, busy few days. I could do Thursday?’

God, it sounded as if she was playing it cool and giving him the brush off, which was the last thing she wanted to do. But there was no more time to obsess about it as she dashed out to collect her daughter from nursery.

Em came round in the evening, with a bottle of wine and bag of Doritos. So much for Liberty trying to eat healthily … pizza yesterday and now these. Even if she landed a casting, at this rate she wouldn’t be in shape for it.

‘So come on then, I want to hear all about it,’ Em declared, pouring Liberty a large glass of white wine. She tucked her long blonde hair behind her ears and looked at her friend expectantly.

Liberty curled up on the sofa. ‘I really like him, Em. It’s the first time I’ve felt like this – ever. I mean, I thought Luke was the one, but this is completely different.’

‘No one else ever thought that about Luke,’ straight-talking Em muttered, ripping open the bag of crisps. She had never made any secret of the fact that she thought Luke was an arrogant bastard, who only cared about himself. Liberty had been too much in love to see it until it was too late … and he had trampled all over her heart and abandoned her to cope with Brooke alone.

‘But there’s something about Cory … I don’t know, I just feel we connect.’

Em grinned cheekily. ‘You mean he’s a great shag?’

‘He’s a fucking brilliant shag!’ And then Liberty paused, because that didn’t even begin to cover the powerful emotions Cory aroused in her. It wasn’t just about sex, although that was mind-blowing.

Em raised her glass. ‘Well, it’s about time you saw some action. So when are you going to see him again?’

‘Mum’s away this week, so it’s going to be hard, but I wondered if you might be able to babysit on Thursday? I haven’t told him about Brooke. And I don’t know if I want to yet, it’s too soon. I vowed I wouldn’t let her get close to anyone after Eddie left.’

Brooke had adored Eddie and, to be fair to him, he had given her a lot of attention and genuinely seemed to enjoy being with her. Until he didn’t, and Brooke had spent the following month asking Liberty constantly where he was.

She sighed. ‘But then again, it feels like I’m keeping back such an important part of myself. And I hate lying.’

Em gave her a searching look. ‘It is 1999, not 1899.
You don’t have to be ashamed of being a single mum. And you know I’ll babysit, but I think you should tell Cory. If he’s worth anything at all, he’ll understand.’

‘Yeah, exactly like Eddie, you mean?’

‘I like Eddie but he can be an immature dickhead, and he probably always will be.’

‘I don’t know, Em. And anyway, Cory’ll be going back to the States soon. I shouldn’t read too much into any of this. Maybe I should just see it as a summer fling.’

But after Em had gone, Liberty lay in bed listening to Massive Attack and ‘Teardrop’ to remind her of him.

Chapter 4

‘So what have you been up to?’ Cory asked over dinner. He had taken Liberty to a French restaurant she had always wanted to go to, but never been able to afford, overlooking the sea. The location was perfect, the food was perfect, it was perfect being there with him, everything was perfect except for this question.

How could she answer it without coming out with too many lies? The real answer would be work, looking after Brooke, trips to nursery, to the park, making cakes and pretending to be a fairy … Brooke’s current obsession.

‘Um … just working double shifts. The restaurant’s been really short-staffed this week.’ She couldn’t meet Cory’s eye as she spoke. For all her acting ability, she was the world’s worst liar when it came to her own life. She blamed her mum for that – always drumming into her how important it was to be honest. ‘How about you?’

‘Oh, you know – painting, swimming, thinking of you, painting, swimming, thinking of you.’

She smiled; it was sweet of him to admit it. And
just as she was thinking she’d got away with the lie, Cory said quietly, ‘I went into the restaurant yesterday because I really wanted to see you, but they said you weren’t working there.’

Fuck! ‘Oh, yeah, I had another casting. I don’t think it went very well, though. I’ve tried to blank it out. It’s so depressing thinking about it.’ She just hated this. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

‘Well, it’s their loss. So … any auditions coming up?’

She shook her head. The brutal truth was that there hadn’t been any auditions since she was pregnant with Brooke. Then she had landed a part in an ITV crime drama, which would have been a huge break for her. But the pregnancy had ruled it out entirely. When she had broken the news to her acting agent, after he had hammered out a good deal for her, the bastard had said that she should get rid of the baby rather than lose the role. When she’d told him what she thought of that idea, and what she thought of him, he had dropped her. Looking back, Liberty wished she had contacted the director herself and asked if there was any way she could have taken the part – actresses got pregnant all the time and directors had to film round them. But she had been too young and inexperienced, and being pregnant was a big enough event for her to deal with.

‘I’m sure you’ll get something soon.’ Cory reached out for her hand. ‘Someone as beautiful and talented as you.’

Liberty didn’t share his conviction. She looked out to sea. It was still light, the sky streaked with red and pink from the sunset. The crumbling but still elegant West Pier stood out starkly against the silky-calm water. For ages she had been telling herself that something would happen with her acting career, and so far nothing had.
But she was determined to keep going. There was so much she wanted to achieve – not just for herself, but for her daughter. She wanted to show Brooke that you could be who you wanted to be, do what you wanted to do. She wanted to seize life, take hold of it, rather than feeling it pass her by.

‘Don’t look so down, you have the rest of your life to concentrate on your career.’ Cory paused thoughtfully, then he said, ‘You might think that this sounds crazy, but how about coming travelling with me for a couple of months? I was thinking of going to Australia for Christmas and hanging out on the Gold Coast. The surfing there is fantastic. And I have friends we could stay with – it would be awesome. I think you’d love it. Acting will still be here when you come back.’

She had a sudden image of the pair of them, hand in hand on some beautiful white sand beach. It was tantalizing, but impossible. Brooke needed stability, and Liberty couldn’t give up on her dreams. She gazed at him. He was so sexy, but sometimes she felt a hundred years older than him.

Not wanting to hurt his feelings, though, she leaned over and kissed him. ‘You are adorable – and completely mad. Don’t you know how much that sort of trip would cost? I’d have to work all day, every day at the restaurant for a year, just to pay for the flight.’

He smiled. ‘I have enough money for both of us. Just think about us on the beach, in the sun, drinking beer, going surfing …’

Liberty slapped him playfully on the arm. ‘Hey, isn’t Brighton Beach good enough for you?’