‘Sorry,’ said Lola. ‘My mother’s turning into a bit of a delinquent.’
Nick shrugged. ‘That’s OK, Blythe’s entitled to her opinion about my hair, just as I’m allowed to have an opinion about her skirt. Would you like me to carry that coffee through?’
‘Thanks.’ Lola passed him the tray.
‘Maybe I wore this skirt because I knew it would annoy you.’ Blythe beamed.
Lola said, ‘And maybe you’re about to get a pot of coffee tipped over your head. Could you please be nice to each other or should I put you at opposite ends of the table?’
‘Hey, we’re fine.’ Nick’s tone was reassuring. ‘Just having fun.’
‘Of course we are.’ Giving Lola a conciliatory hug, Blythe said, ‘Don’t take any notice of us.
Dinner was gorgeous, by the way. And I do like EJ, very much.’
Lola wondered if Sally did too.
‘He’s a good chap.’ Nodding in agreement, Nick said, ‘Is he wearing those trousers for a bet?’
Back in the living room, Lola poured out the coffee. Gabe drained his in one scalding gulp and jumped to his feet. ‘Right, I’m off to work.’ A
‘Now?’ Lola said. ‘But it’s nearly midnight.’
‘Colin wants me to get some shots outside Bouji’s. It’s somebody’s birthday there tonight.’
Sally the Queen of OK! magazine said eagerly, ‘Ooh, whose?’
‘Um ... can’t remember.’ Combing his hair with his fingers and shrugging on his battered suede jacket, Gabe said his goodbyes, gave Lola a thank-you kiss on the cheek and headed for the door.
‘Um ... Gabe?’
He turned, eyebrows registering impatience. ‘Yes?’
Lola cleared her throat. ‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’
‘What?’ He looked blank.
She pointed to the coffee table behind him. ‘Might help if you took your camera.’
‘OK,’ said Lola an hour later when it was only the two of them left. ‘On a scale of one to ten, and I know he’s an older man so it isn’t easy, but how attractive would you say my father is?’
Ten! No, twelve! No, six hundred and ninety-eight! Whoops, better not say that. Mentally reminding herself that she was several glasses of wine beyond sober, Sally gave the matter serious consideration and said carefully, ‘Well, he does have his own hair and teeth, so I would say ... sevenish. And nice clothes .. . OK, maybe seven and a half.’
‘Exactly.’ Lola thumped the dining table in agreement. ‘That’s what I think too. And for an older man, seven and a half’s perfectly respectable, it’s a good score. But when I asked Mum earlier, she said three! I mean, three.And she wasn’t being horrible, it’s what she really genuinely thought.’
Hooray.
‘He’s not fat, he’s not a skinny rake,’ Sally went on. ‘Maybe even an eight.’
‘OK, now you’re getting carried away.’ Dismissively Lola shook her head. ‘He’s only my father.
But the point is, how can my mum not fancy him? All those feelings she once had — where did they go?’
‘No idea. Maybe they evaporated.’ Sally shrugged and dripped wine down her chin. ‘Just vanished. Like Doug’s feelings for you.’
Lola winced. ‘Don’t say that! Do you have any idea how much it hurts to hear you say that?’
‘But it’s true. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.You can’t force Doug to change the way he feels about you. And you can’t make your mum fall back in love with your father.’ Especially when I want him.
‘You’re being mean. OK, how many marks out of ten would you give EJ?’
There was an odd, intense look in Lola’s eyes as she asked the question. Sally, topping up their glasses, sensed that this was important to her. Lola must be keener on EJ than she was letting on.
And he was good fun ... in a speccy, nerdy, wealthy kind of way.
In a generous mood – and because it was in her best interests to make Lola happy – Sally said,
‘Honestly? Nine.’
‘Nine!’ Lola looked incredulous.
‘Why not? He’s lovely. Oh my God, what is that on your head?’ Having been idly flipping through one of the albums Blythe had brought along to show Nick, Sally was distracted by a photo of Lola, aged about seven, wearing a black leotard and unflattering black skullcap with huge pink and black ears attached.
‘I was a mouse in the school play. Don’t make fun of me – I was the star of the show. Do you like EJ?’
‘I just told you, of course I do.’ Turning to the next page, Sally snorted with laughter at a snap of Lola on a trip to the zoo, leaping back in fright as an elephant investigated the ice cream in her hand with its trunk.
‘No, but do you like-like him?’
Sally looked up; it was on the tip of her tongue to say no, the only man she like-liked was Nick.
She could say it, couldn’t she? Just blurt it out, then Lola would know and she wouldn’t have to hide her feelings any more ... Oh God, but what if it caused an upset? Lola hadn’t yet given up on the idea that she could get
