Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (27 page)

‘What a charmer he was,’ Laurie said, voice heavy with sarcasm. ‘He found the notes in my desk and told me straight away how pathetic and deluded I was. Ha. That it was you Aiden fancied. It hurt, but of course he was right – a couple of weeks later Aiden asked you out.’

Rachel took in Laurie’s words. All the things that had run through her head, last night and on the way over here – none of them were real. Her marriage was still solid. Her oldest friend hadn’t betrayed her, or at least not in any way that really mattered. The tight ball of tension in Rachel’s stomach started, slowly, to release.

‘You two are meant for each other, Rach.’ Laurie smiled. ‘Aiden was devoted to you then, and I’m sure he is just as much now. You’re the one he’s always been in love with. I saw that the moment you got together. Aiden had made his choice; it hurt, but I understood. After a couple of weeks – OK, to be honest, after a few months –’ she laughed, wryly – ‘I stopped obsessing about him and moved on.’ The ghost of a smile appeared on her lips. ‘And on … and on.’ Rachel smiled back. In the Upper Sixth Laurie had blossomed physically and hadn’t held back in enjoying the attention, working her way through the best-looking guys in their year. ‘But I still wanted so badly to be you.’

Rachel looked at her friend in disbelief, ‘Really?’ she asked. Rachel had never been anything special. She hadn’t been to college, had a career. Not like Laurie – independent, go-getting, glamorous Laurie. Rachel paused for a moment. Rachel might not be Laurie, but she’d achieved a few things in the past month, hadn’t she? She thought back to Lily’s flat, the redecoration she’d helped to do – she’d enjoyed every minute of it, and the end result looked really good. Maybe she could do something for herself after all. Diana had always had faith in her abilities. But until now, she hadn’t believed in them herself. She realised that she wasn’t Laurie’s less successful opposite – she was a strong and capable woman ready to start her own working life.

‘Forgive me?’ Laurie asked, hopefully.

Rachel took Laurie’s hand across the table and held it. ‘If you’ll forgive me, for doubting you.’

Laurie squeezed her hand gently and smiled. ‘Well, thank God for that,’ she said, ‘because there’s something else I need to talk to you about. And we’re going to need some wine for this one, believe me. It’s about Milly.’

Rachel flagged down a black cab on the high street, near to Clapham Common. She gave the driver the address of Laurie’s flat and climbed inside. She’d said goodbye to Laurie at the tube, and the two of them had hugged. What Laurie had told her about Milly had come as an enormous shock, but with Laurie’s support and advice she felt strong enough to try and deal with the situation. Everything else had been forgotten as the two of them focused on what mattered most – making sure that Milly was OK, and that she didn’t get hurt.

The taxi made slow progress down Clapham High Street, braking as Christmas shoppers dashed out into the road, hurrying over to M&S for festive booze and food. Rachel willed the road to clear. The short journey dragged, and the meter clicked up – but Rachel couldn’t care less about the money. All she cared about was getting back to Milly, and talking to her.

When she got back, she went straight to Milly’s room.

‘Milly,’ she whispered. Then, hearing her daughter’s ‘Yes’, pulled the door open.

Milly was lying on the bed in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a white T-shirt, her head buried in one of Laurie’s
Vogue
magazines.

‘Love,’ Rachel said, ‘have you got a minute?’

‘Hi, Mum,’ she said. ‘Sure. What’s up?’

Rachel took a seat on the edge of the bed.

‘Is it about Granny?’

‘No,’ Rachel said, taking off her boots, ‘nothing like that. Your granny’s recovering well.’

‘OK,’ Milly said, sitting up cross-legged on the bed. ‘Good.’

‘I went to see Laurie.’

‘Did you? But – how come …’ Milly said. ‘If she’s down here … how come we’re not …’

‘She’s staying with her aunt for a few days, while we wait for Granny to get completely better.’

‘OK,’ Milly shrugged. ‘Weird that we’re still here, but whatever.’

‘Milly,’ Rachel said, taking a breath. ‘I know it’s not been an easy time, and me and your dad have been caught up worrying about Granny.’ Rachel thought back on the times Milly had seemed withdrawn, or even upset, and Rachel had just let her go to her room. ‘Is there anything that you want to talk about, Mills?’

‘No,’ Milly said, closing the magazine and putting it down on the carpet.

‘Are you sure? I’m not just talking about here in London. Is there anything back home—’

‘Mum,’ Milly snapped. ‘I’m fifteen. I’m not a kid any more.’ She gave her mother a glare. ‘I don’t have to tell you everything.’

‘Mills, I don’t want to pry. But I want to help you, if anything’s going on.’ Rachel saw that her daughter’s eyes were watery with tears. But Milly seemed determined not to say a word.

‘Milly – who were the balloons really from?’ Rachel asked gently, pointing to the wilting metallic cluster in the corner of the room.

‘Why are you hassling me again?’ Milly said, wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them up towards her.

‘Because I care about you. And so does your dad,’ Rachel said, putting a hand on Milly’s arm and looking her in the eye.

A flush rose in Milly’s cheeks. ‘OK. They’re from a guy. From home. Who likes me.’

Rachel braced herself. She needed to go on, but she didn’t want to push Milly away.

‘And do you like him?’

‘I don’t know,’ Milly said, looking down. ‘I thought I did. But now I’m not sure. I’ve only met him once.’

‘Milly, this guy,’ Rachel said. ‘He’s quite a bit older, isn’t he? I don’t think—’

‘How …’ Milly said, her cheeks flaring red. ‘How do you know that? Have you been snooping in my things?’

‘No,’ Rachel said, ‘I would never do that.’ She tried desperately to back-pedal. She couldn’t risk Milly shutting down. ‘It’s just I’ve heard—’

‘What business is it of yours …’ Milly started, then tears began to spill over her bottom lids. ‘What do you mean? What have you heard? What did Laurie tell you?’

‘I need to know,’ Rachel said, trying to stay calm. ‘Are you planning on seeing him again?’

Milly’s voice trembled. ‘I don’t know. I mean I liked him when I met him,’ she said. ‘He seemed nice. But now – I don’t know. There’s something weird about him. He’s been really pushy about meeting up. Kate and Emma told me he’s been asking them stuff about me. It’s started to freak me out. I think I might have made a big mistake,’ Milly said, biting her lip.

‘It’s OK, darling,’ Rachel said. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong.’ She put her arm around Milly as her daughter’s tears started to fall.

Milly deserved to know the full story, Rachel decided, and so when Milly had calmed down Rachel told her what had happened with Laurie.

Milly’s jaw dropped. ‘The total, utter …’ she started, indignation taking the place of her tears.

‘Obviously Laurie had no idea he’d been in contact with you. But then she saw a text from you on his phone.’

‘God, that’s so out of order,’ Milly said, her face colouring. ‘It’s embarrassing. What a freak.’

‘I agree,’ Rachel said. ‘But Mills, I’m confused. The thing I’m wondering is what was a smart girl like you doing with a guy that much older in the first place?’

Milly shrugged. ‘He didn’t tell me his age.’

‘But you met him in the pub, apparently? When have you even been to the pub?’

‘I went with Kate, once, before we came here. Look, I told you. I’m bored in Skipley. There’s nothing to do there – and now I’m at my new school I don’t even get to see Kate unless we go out. I met this guy and he offered to drive me to places, I thought maybe I could go somewhere outside the mind-numbingly dull village we have to call home.’

The words struck at Rachel’s heart. It was as if Milly really hated the place.

‘I want to get out, Mum,’ Milly said, ‘and I thought this guy might be the answer. But it was stupid. It was never really him I was interested in, Mum. I just wanted something exciting to happen to me for once. I’ve tried to tell you and Dad how bored I am in Skipley, but you always just gloss over it.’

It was true that Rachel hadn’t taken Milly’s protests seriously. She’d dismissed them as Milly being spoiled. But, by ignoring her daughter’s frustrations, she’d made things worse.

‘OK,’ Rachel said. ‘I can see your point. I should have listened earlier – it was easier for me to tell myself that you were fine, rather than accepting things are different now. You’re growing up, and maybe we haven’t adjusted to that yet. Once your dad’s back, I think we should all talk about this.’

Aiden got home late from the hospital and tried to get into bed without waking Rachel. She heard him and instinctively moved towards him, touching his shoulder. ‘How’s your mum?’ she asked him, still half-asleep.

‘She’s good,’ Aiden whispered. ‘Amazing, actually. Good old Mum, from the look of her you’d never know what she’d been through.’

‘That’s great,’ Rachel whispered back. In her sleepy mind she knew that there was something else she should mention to him … but the thought drifted away. It could wait until the morning, whatever it was.

‘I love you, you know,’ she said, curling in towards him and feeling the warmth of his chest, touching his hair. He kissed her gently on the mouth. ‘I love you too, Rach.’

CHAPTER
30

Friday 22nd December

Aunt Clara and her family had a cherished annual tradition – Christmas karaoke. It was one of the reasons that Laurie had stopped visiting her aunt during the festive season. But this time, there was no way out.

Laurie was staying with Clara and that meant playing by her rules. The twenty-second of December was karaoke night – all the women from Clara’s beauty salon, Andrea’s schoolfriends and the neighbours from their street were called upon to shout their lungs out to eighties Christmas hits at the local karaoke bar. The one saving grace was that at least it had private rooms, minimising the risk of Laurie being spotted by anyone she knew.

Laurie felt a pang of regret as she thought of what would be happening over in central London that same night. It was the Seamless Christmas meal, and Danny and Laurie’s colleagues would be at Nobu, her all-time favourite restaurant. She’d wondered yesterday about calling Danny and seeing if she could still come along – but it didn’t feel right. He’d made her take a break, and she wasn’t going to go crawling back just for the sake of a slap-up meal.

After dinner, she and Andrea got ready and Clara called friends to arrange last-minute details. She’d put her Santa hat on over roller-perfect curls and her flashing Christmas tree earrings, even though she was still in her dressing gown at this point.

‘Do I really, really—’ Laurie protested.

‘Yes, you do,’ Andrea said, in a tone that made it clear there was no room for argument. ‘This is my life, Laurie – I do this every single year. And just this once you can make it slightly – slightly – more bearable for me. There’s no way you’re getting out of this one.’

Laurie wrinkled her nose, then rifled in her handbag for her make-up.

‘Stick this gold glitter gel on you and it’ll make Mum’s day.’

Laurie reluctantly put a little glitter on her shoulders and collarbone. Andrea took it off her and mischievously plastered it all over her cousin’s cheeks.

Aunt Clara peeked around the bedroom door. ‘Wow – you look pretty!’ she exclaimed.

Laurie glanced in the mirror. She looked like an actual bauble. Well, if you can’t beat them, she thought to herself, join them.

However, after a few Raspberry Margaritas, Laurie turned into a total microphone-hog. Her sultry rendition of ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ brought on a roar of applause and whistles that were near to deafening. From that point onwards there was really no stopping her – Blondie, Tina Turner, Cheryl Cole, she was strutting around to all of them.

‘Give it to me!’ she shouted, laughing and grabbing the mic from Andrea, who had been dithering for about five minutes about what to sing.

‘We’re all glad you’re enjoying yourself,’ Clara said, physically restraining her. ‘But snatching’s not really in the Christmas spirit, is it, darling?’

By the end of the evening, Laurie had nearly forgotten Patrick Carter even existed. She leaned on Andrea’s shoulder in the taxi home, trying to stop everything from spinning. Skipley had been about more than him – she had done it, she had finally learned how to relax. Her mini gap year had worked: Laurie had found herself.

‘That was funnnnn,’ she shouted out to the three women in the cab. ‘Where are we going next? Clubbing? Let’s go clubbing! YAY!!’

A message came through on her mobile, she slurred an excuse to the others as she read it, squinting to focus. It was from Danny.

Laurie, Merry Xmas. We’re all missing you tonight.

‘Ha, good,’ Laurie said out loud, to no one in particular. She read on.

Quick work update – the new Navajo bags were only held back a few days – total hit with the Christmas market. Exceeded our expectations. And the faulty bags – well, get this. Someone in-house leaked a photo and it went viral – people thought the logos were an anti-capitalist protest?? There was a rush on our Dalston sample sale and we sold the lot in a morning. Gillian’s saying something about anti-branding being the new branding … But, listen, it’s been crazy without you. We need you. Gillian asked just now if we could talk about you coming back sooner. Start of Jan? What do you say? Dx