The Seafront Tea Rooms (16 page)

‘Well, I should probably put some proper clothes on, at least,’ Pippa said, looking down at her scruffy tracksuit bottoms. ‘Dad won’t think much of this outfit.’

‘You go upstairs and get ready, and I’ll have a quick tidy in here.’

‘OK,’ Pippa said. She turned her head as she walked out. ‘Tell me it’s not going to be awful?’

‘It’ll be absolutely fine,’ Charlie reassured her.

‘Pippa, darling!’ their father said, giving her a hearty bear hug. He pulled away and looked at her, dressed now in lilac jeans and a white blouse. ‘You look OK to me. Charlie said you were in a right state.’

‘I never said that,’ Charlie whispered to her sister.

‘Only teasing,’ Henry said, ruffling Pippa’s hair. ‘Got to have some fun at times like these, haven’t you? Can’t have everyone falling apart.’

‘I’ll get the tea on, shall I?’ their mother volunteered.

‘A glass of brandy for me, would you, Paula dear? You’ve got some back there, I expect?’ Henry asked Pippa. She nodded.

‘It’s only midday, Henry.’ Paula frowned.

‘Details, details.’

Paula shepherded her grandchildren out of the front room. ‘Now, Flo and Jacob, do you think you could help me find a biscuit or two to go with our tea?’

Pippa sat in the armchair by the window, leaving the sofa for her father and Charlie.

‘So where is he?’ Henry said. ‘That husband of yours? Still cowering somewhere?’

‘He’s staying with a friend,’ Pippa told him.

‘The other woman, you mean.’

‘Dad, that’s not the way it is.’ Pippa shook her head.

‘Well, however it is, I’ve half a mind to wring his neck. Who does he think he is, walking out on his family? Turning his back on his responsibilities? Not a man at all.’

‘You don’t know the full story,’ Pippa said, crossing her legs. ‘It’s complicated.’

‘Doesn’t sound it to me,’ Henry said. ‘Your husband leaves you and you’re here making excuses for him?’

‘I’m not making excuses, Dad…’ Charlie saw that tears had sprung to her sister’s eyes.

‘Dad,’ Charlie said, laying a hand on her father’s arm and encouraging him to settle back on the sofa. ‘Pippa doesn’t need this right now.’

‘If you ask me, what she needs is the good sense to get the locks changed.’

Pippa put a hand through her hair anxiously.

‘She needs some space – time to think,’ Charlie said.

‘Fine,’ he said, sitting back and seeming to calm down a little. ‘I suppose the alternative isn’t too tempting. Not with three children. Bad enough having one grown-up daughter with no one to look after her.’

Charlie felt a dull thud in her stomach. She’d heard it before, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Pippa’s eyes widened. ‘Dad! You can’t say that.’

Pippa’s words took Charlie by surprise.

‘No point dancing round the subject, is there? You think in your retirement you’ll be able to relax, but with one daughter still on the shelf, and the other —’

‘On the shelf?’ Pippa repeated.

‘It wouldn’t have happened in my day, all this farting about with a career rather than settling down. Pippa, things might have gone arse over tit for you now, but at least you had the good sense to —’

Pippa straightened in her seat. ‘Say what you want about my life, but don’t speak about Charlie that way. You’re in my house today, and I won’t have her being bullied.’

Charlie felt a swell of delight as her sister jumped to her defence. Only a few days ago Pippa had been saying almost the same things about her. The change in her sister filled Charlie with pride. It seemed Pippa was gathering strength, transforming before her.

Their father puffed out his cheeks and then let out a stream of breath.

‘Charlie’s happy. And I for one admire her for working hard, doing something she loves.’

Henry paled. He opened his mouth to reply but no sound emerged.

Paula came back into the room with a tray of drinks. ‘Here’s your brandy, darling.’ She put a glass down in front of her husband. ‘Now, who’s for a nice cup of tea?’

There was silence in the room. Charlie suppressed the urge to giggle.

‘Did I miss something?’ Paula said. ‘Henry, you look as if you’ve just seen a ghost.’

‘God, I’m glad that’s over,’ Pippa said with a wry laugh. She and Charlie were in their pyjamas that evening, with glasses of wine and the Saturday night TV on low in the background.

‘Me too,’ Charlie said. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have asked them. I sort of forgot how bad it was. Has Dad always been like that?’

‘I think he’s worse than ever. I put it down to being retired and having more time on his hands.’

‘Is it awful that we can’t stand our own father?’ Charlie said, taking a sip of her drink.

‘No. We still love him, don’t we?’

Charlie nodded and smiled. ‘Just about.’

‘But honestly, I can’t believe the things he came out with today.’ Pippa laughed. ‘No way I’m putting up with that any more.’

‘I nearly fell off my chair when you talked back to him.’

‘He took it though, didn’t he? Kept quiet after that.’ Pippa smiled cheekily.

‘I appreciate you sticking up for me.’

‘Least I can do. Listen, Charlie, I’m sorry about the way I acted when you got here. Jealousy’s a funny old business.’

‘You? Jealous?’

‘Of course. You seem to breeze through life, while I’m busy saying the wrong thing and winding people up without meaning to.’

‘Oh, believe me, I do a fair share of that too,’ Charlie said, smiling. ‘I guess some of Dad’s, er, “charm” filtered down to both of us.’

‘Ha. Perhaps.’ Pippa laughed.

‘Poor Mum. She has to deal with it all the time, doesn’t she?’

‘Oh, she can fight her corner. In fact, I’m pretty sure that behind closed doors she’s the one calling the shots.’

‘Still, being married to a man as demanding as he is – it’s got to be hard work.’

‘Yes. It must be.’ Pippa nodded, a pensive look on her face.

‘Are you thinking about Luke?’

‘Yes.’

‘What about him?’

‘That I miss him. That I love him. That I could have done a whole lot worse.’

Pippa picked her phone up off the table and passed Charlie the remote control. ‘You know what, I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of Ant and Dec. I’ve got a phone call I need to make.’

23

Saturday 20 September

‘Over to you,’ Séraphine said, passing the laptop to Kat in the kitchen at Adam’s house. ‘I’ve set up the document, but you’re the writer, so now it’s down to you to make all that’ – she pointed at the notebook of scribbled ideas that lay between them on the table – ‘into something intelligible.’

Kat took the laptop from her and started to type. ‘Here goes. Now, the Alexandra Tea Rooms – four stars?’

‘I think that’s fair, yes. It lacked a little something that would bring it up to five.’

‘I agree. The service was polite but quite slow. The meringues are worth a mention though.’ Kat typed up their thoughts, then moved the screen so that Séraphine could see what she’d written. ‘Does that sum it up?’

‘Perfectly, yes.’

‘God, what on earth do we say about The Hideaway?’

Séraphine grimaced, then laughed.

The front door opened noisily and the hallway filled with the sound of excited chatter. Kat glanced up from the screen.

‘Hi, Séraphine,’ Zoe said, coming into the room. She was wearing jeans and a purple-striped hoodie, her hair up in a topknot.

She looked at Kat curiously. ‘This is my friend Kat,’ Séraphine explained.

‘Hello,’ Kat replied. ‘You must be Zoe.’

Zoe put down the bag she was carrying and shook Kat’s hand politely. Adam followed her through the door.

Kat recognised him immediately, and felt the warm glow of familiarity. It had been years – back at school, and waiting for the same bus in the morning – but that ruffled brown hair and the expression, somewhere between confident and shy – he hadn’t changed at all.

‘Kat,’ Adam said, a smile breaking out on his face.

‘You two already know each other?’ Séraphine asked, confused.

‘Yes,’ Kat said. She tried to recall the last time they’d seen one another. ‘And no. It’s been years. But we used to live on the same street.’

She remembered him and Euan chatting to each other on the bus, skating up and down the street. In those days she’d longed for Adam to talk to her, wished she was the kind of girl who was brave enough to engineer an excuse to speak to him. She never had, but on the days that he smiled at her, or even nodded in her direction, she’d be carried along on a cushion of happiness all day.

‘You lived with your dad,’ he said.

‘Yes. And you and Euan Hill were always in trouble, I remember that.’

Adam smiled. ‘I’m sure your memory’s deceiving you,’ he said, glancing at Zoe.

Zoe looked up at her dad, wide-eyed. ‘Is that true? Were you and Euan very naughty?’

‘I had my moments. Nowhere near as wild as you, though,’ he said, playfully ruffling her hair.

‘Adam’s a vet,’ Séraphine said.

‘And I run an unofficial sort of animal refuge,’ he added.

‘You know the lovebirds that Letty has?’ Séraphine turned to Kat.

‘They were from you?’ Kat looked up at Adam, smiling. ‘Ah, now things are making more sense.’

‘Is she getting on OK with them?’ Adam asked.

‘Yes. She’s grown quite attached to them already. She says she loves having their company. She’s determined that they have some freedom, but one nearly flew out the window the other day – luckily she managed to catch it again.’

‘It’s good that she’s letting them fly around.’

‘We’ve had dogs in here too. And a tarantula. He’s gone now,’ Zoe said.

‘Right,’ Kat said, raising her eyebrows.

‘That was a one-off,’ Adam assured her.

As they talked, Kat warmed to Adam, just as she had all those years before.

‘Dad – can I watch
Despicable Me
?’ Zoe asked.

‘Again?’

She pouted. ‘Please?’

‘Oh, go on then.’ He shook his head.

‘Thanks!’ Zoe left and went through to the front room.

‘Not that a ten-year-old calls the shots in this house or anything,’ Adam said.

Kat laughed.

Adam studied her face intently. ‘You haven’t changed.’

‘No?’ Kat said.

‘I mean, the last time I saw you you had purple hair…’ He smiled. ‘But apart from that.’

‘That was years ago,’ Kat said, laughing. ‘I must have been fifteen then.’

‘You and your dad were in the corner terrace – and in the summer he’d give me a fiver to wash his car. Does he still live round here?’

‘Yes. He’s travelling at the moment, but his home’s here.’

Kat thought how small Scarborough seemed sometimes. It was strange that their paths hadn’t crossed until now.

‘I see Euan quite often, but you…?’

‘I was living in France for a while,’ he said. ‘And my hours at work tend to be rather antisocial.’

‘Speaking of work,’ Séraphine said, coughing and pointing at the computer. ‘I hate to break up this reunion, but Kat and I have a lot to do. The reviews I told you about, Adam.’

‘We have to get these finished for Charlie.’ Kat smiled apologetically. ‘Another time.’

‘Don’t let me keep you,’ Adam said. He held Kat’s gaze for a moment. ‘It was good to see you again.’

Kat walked home that evening, wondering if it was possible for chemistry to be a one-sided thing. While she’d only seen Adam briefly, the feelings she’d had a decade ago had come back almost immediately, an attraction that meant she had wanted to stay close by. She’d felt good talking to him. She was too old to have crushes, she told herself, shaking it off.

She let herself into her flat, set up some food for her dinner, and called Jake.

‘Is Leo around?’ she asked.

‘You’re a moment too late, I’m afraid. He’s in the bath.’

‘On his own?’

‘No, what do you take me for?’ Jake laughed. ‘My mum’s with him.’

‘Ah, that’s a shame,’ Kat said. ‘I was looking forward to talking to him.’

She felt a pang of regret. She should have got home a little earlier, or called on her way. She was desperate to hear her son’s voice, and for him to know she was thinking of him.

‘Do you think you could call me back when he’s out?’ she asked.

‘We should put him to bed, I think – he’s tired out today.’

Kat resisted the urge to ask again. Leo was with Jake, and therefore he was in charge – even if his decisions didn’t suit her.

‘So what have you guys been up to?’ she asked brightly.

‘Dad and I took him to a funfair in town, he went on the dodgems with me and won a massive teddy bear in hook-the-duck. I helped out with that.’

‘Lucky Leo.’ She smiled at the image.

‘He enjoyed it a lot.’

Kat tried to rein in the emotion, the longing to hold her son in her arms again, kiss the top of his head, smell his familiar smell – Johnson’s baby shampoo and clean skin. Even though at moments like this it was hard to be apart from Leo, she felt reassured that she had made the right decision. He and his dad were bonding, and he was spending quality time with his grandparents. What kind of a mother would she be if she begrudged him that?

‘Sounds as if he’s enjoying his holiday with you,’ she said.

‘We’re having fun. He hasn’t forgotten you yet, though, don’t worry.’

She smiled. ‘That’s good. I thought he might not have forgiven me for telling him his stegosaurus was too big for his suitcase.’

‘He’s moved on already,’ Jake said. ‘My dad bought him a pterodactyl to make up for it.’

‘Fickle, fickle child,’ she laughed.

‘It’s nice talking with you, like this,’ Jake said.

It was true, Kat thought. Things had got easier between the two of them, with time. His tone hinted at something more than that though.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

‘I mean relaxed, having a laugh, the way we used to,’ Jake said.

He was right. Sometimes of an evening when she was on her own in the flat, it was impossible not to recall the time they’d spent together, drinking wine and talking. Among the difficult days, there had been a lot of good ones.