chocolate pudding and you’ll realise how perfect we are together
‘Thanks,’ Dougie cut into her happy fantasy, ‘but I can’t.’
Oh. Unable to hide her disappointment, Lola blurted out, ‘But I’ve made chocolate pudding with real custard!’
He smiled, just slightly, and shook his head. ‘Sorry. I’m seeing Isabel tonight.’
Bring her up here, thought Lola, we can drown her in homemade custard. God knows, we’ve got enough of the stuff.
‘Shall I get that for you?’ Seeing that Lola’s hands were wet, Sally picked up the ringing phone.
‘Hi ... no, this is Sally .. . oh hello, you! Yes thanks, the baby’s fine!’ Beaming, she said,
‘Where are you, still in New York? Oh, right. No, she’s busy cooking, we’re having a dinner party this evening ... hey, why don’t you come over? Don’t be daft, of course you can — Lola’s just invited my brother but he’s busy.’ Covering the receiver Sally whispered, ‘That’s all right, isn’t it?’
What else could Lola say? ‘Fine by me.’
Sally hung up a couple of minutes later. ‘There, all sorted, EJ’s on his way.’
‘Great.’ Lola forced a smile because she’d have preferred Dougie.
‘And I’m off? Doug took out his car keys and headed for the door. ‘Have a good time.’
‘Damn,’ exclaimed Sally, rummaging through the blue holdall. ‘Did you see him do it?’
Lola was busy frying shallots in butter. ‘Do what?’
‘There was a small dark green photo album in here five minutes ago. And now it’s disappeared.
Bloody hell, my rotten sneaky Artful Dodger of a brother has only gone and sodding well half-inched it.’
By ten o’clock everyone had eaten as much as they physically could and there had been no culinary disasters. On the surface it seemed like a successful dinner party, buzzy and fun, but as far as Lola was concerned it wasn’t going according to plan. Nor could she help wondering what EJ was making of it. Gabe, despite being as charming as ever, was definitely distracted and quieter than usual. He’d been checking his watch all evening, as jumpy as a cat. Sally wasn’t behaving normally either; possibly in an attempt to make up for Gabe’s air of distraction she was talking and laughing with that bit more enthusiasm than usual, gesturing vivaciously with her hands as she chatted away, laughing more loudly than usual and generally behaving like an overexcited teenager in the grip of a girlie crush.
Which was slightly weird, seeing as there wasn’t anyone here for her to have a crush on.
Mystified, Lola reached for the jug and poured herself another glug of custard. Unless Sally secretly fancied EJ ... crikey, could that be it? Was that possible? When he was wearing those trousers?
Damn, why couldn’t Doug be here now? That would help take her mind off the realisation that, across the table, her wonderful plan to get her parents back together wasn’t going according to ...
er, plan.
It was deeply frustrating, trying to keep an eye on them and listen to what they were saying, but doing it subtly so they didn’t notice.
And now they weren’t even chatting to each other; her mother was talking to EJ and Gabe, while Nick and Sally were trading holiday stories. Honestly, it was as if neither of her parents was even trying.
Chapter 33
’Do you know what might be helpful?’ said Blythe when Lola tackled her in the kitchen. ‘If you could just stop watching us all the time.’
‘But I can’t help it! 1 want to watch you!’
‘Well, it makes us feel like two giant pandas in a zoo, with everyone waiting for us to mate.’
‘Mum! Eeuuw!’
Blythe smiled faintly. ‘See? That’s how I feel too.’
‘About Nick? But he’s my father.You were in love with him,’ Lola protested. For heaven’s sake, they’d mated at least once. ‘Twenty-eight years ago,’ Blythe reminded her.
‘And now he’s here again!’ Lola couldn’t understand how her mother could be this uninterested in Nick. For herself, finding Dougie again had brought all the old feelings rushing back stronger than ever.Yet for Blythe it simply wasn’t happening, which was frustrating beyond belief.
‘Look, if your father and I had gone ahead and got married back then, we’d have been divorced by the time you were three. I know that now’ Blythe went on as Lola opened her mouth to protest. ‘I’m old enough to know it for a fact. Look at yourfather and look at me.’ She gestured at herself, at her wild red hair and pink glittery blouse, the crinkled leaf-green skirt that so strongly resembled a lettuce. Then, flipping a hand towards the living room, she said dismissively, ‘And there’s him in his trendy clothes, with his hair cut by Gordon Ramsay.’
Startled, Lola said, ‘What?’
‘Oh, you know who I mean.’ Her mother’s tone was scornful. ‘Some celebrity hairdresser chap off the telly.You see, that’s the difference between us, love. Nick went in one direction, I went in the other. Neither of us are the same people we were back then. And now he’s turned into the kind of person who thinks it’s normal to spend a hundred pounds on a haircut. I mean, can you imagine? Talk about a fool and his money soon being parted!’
For heaven’s sake, would you listen to her? ‘Mum, you can’t say that.’
‘I can say anything I like, love.’
‘About me?’ Nick appeared in the doorway, causing Lola to clatter coffee cups into their saucers.
‘About your hair,’ Blythe said cheerfully.
