Lily was subdued, and Will positively morose, but Dee made up for both of them with her inane chatter-and he had called
As far as Alice could tell, she had absolutely nothing in common with Will or Lily. It was hard to imagine anyone less suited to dealing with a quiet, withdrawn child, she thought disapprovingly. Still, if Dee’s particular brand of silliness was what Will wanted to come home to in the evening, that was his business. She was only thinking about Lily.
Unable to bear Dee’s inanities any longer, Alice leant over to Lily. ‘Would you like to come and see my shoes?’ she whispered as Dee talked on, and Lily nodded. She took the hand Alice held out quite willingly and trotted beside her to the bedroom, where a selection of Alice’s favourite shoes had been spread out on the bed.
‘Which ones do you like best?’ Alice asked, after Lily had examined them all seriously.
After much thought, Lily selected pair of black high heels with peep toes and floppy bows covered in polka dots.
‘Good choice,’ said Alice approvingly. ‘They’re my favourites too. Why don’t you try them on?’ she added, and watched as Lily slipped her small feet into the shoes and turned to look at herself in the mirror.
‘Wait!’ Alice rummaged in a drawer and pulled out a diaphanous sarong. Tying it round the little girl, she draped some pearls over her and added her favourite straw hat with its wide brim. ‘There!’
She stood back to admire the effect, delighted by the look on Lily’s face as she studied her reflection. The sullen expression was gone and, animated, the piquant face looked positively pretty beneath the hat.
Will would like to see her like this, Alice thought. ‘Let’s show the others,’ she suggested casually.
Biting her lip as she concentrated on her balance, Lily teetered down the corridor. ‘May I introduce Miss Lily Paxman?’ Alice announced grandly as she flung open the door.
There was a chorus of oohs and aahs, and a broad smile spread across Lily’s face. Alice happened to glance at Will just then, and the expression in his eyes as he watched his daughter smile brought a lump to her throat. She would never be able to accuse Will of not caring about Lily now.
Feeling as if she had intruded on a very private moment, she looked away and caught Roger’s eye.
‘OK?’ he mouthed.
Alice nodded and went over to stand next to him, leaving Beth and Dee exclaiming over Lily. Dee, in particular, was going completely over the top with her compliments. Probably trying to impress Will, Alice thought sourly. Too bad Dee didn’t know that Will didn’t go in for gushing sentimentality.
At least, he never used to. He had changed so much that for all Alice knew sweet, fluffy women were just his type nowadays. He certainly didn’t have much time for sharp, astringent ones, that was for sure.
Without quite being aware of it, Alice sighed.
‘What’s the matter?’ asked Roger.
‘Oh…nothing.’
Not wanting to look at Will, Alice watched Beth instead. ‘She’s fantastic with kids, isn’t she?’ she said, and Roger’s smile twisted as his eyes rested on his wife.
‘She loves children.’
Roger and Beth had never talked much about their inability to conceive, but Alice knew how much having a baby would mean to both of them. She tucked her hand through Roger’s arm and leant against him, offering wordless comfort. ‘It must be hard for her at times like this,’ she said quietly. ‘For you, too.’
‘It’s just that you can’t help imagining what it would be like if it was your own child dressing up…’ Roger trailed off, and Alice hugged his arm closer in silent sympathy. He and Beth were both so easy-going and good-humoured that it was easy to forget that they had their own problems to deal with.
On the other side of the room, Will watched Alice standing close to Roger and frowned. Only a moment ago he had been feeling grateful to her. Lily’s smile might not have been meant just for him, but still it had warmed his heart, and it was down to Alice, he knew. She had been able to connect with his daughter in a way that eluded him.
But, when he looked at her to try and indicate his gratitude somehow, he saw that she wasn’t even aware of Lily any more. Instead she was leaning against Roger, her arm tucked through his and her head on his shoulder. It was a very intimate pose.
Too intimate for a man whose wife was only a few feet away.
Will glanced at Beth, who was smiling at Lily as she adjusted her hat. She seemed unaware of Roger and Alice over by the window, but Will had noticed a fleeting expression of sadness in her face more than once now, and he wondered how much Beth knew, or guessed, about her husband’s feelings for Alice.
It was a long time since he and Roger had shared that drunken evening, but Will had never forgotten the look in Roger’s eyes as he confessed the truth. He couldn’t remember where Alice had been, but Roger had just split up with yet another girlfriend, and Will had been deputed to help him drown his sorrows and provide a shoulder to cry on.
‘I don’t want him to be alone,’ Alice had said. She’d always been very protective of Roger, which was ironic in its own way, Will reflected.
It had been very late and very dark when Will had helped a reeling Roger home at last. He had never known if Roger had meant to tell him that all the other girls were just an attempt to disguise how he felt about Alice, or if the next day he had even remembered the truth he had blurted out. Neither of them had ever mentioned it again, but Will couldn’t shake the memory of the bleakness in Roger’s face.
‘I’m just her friend,’ he had said, slurring his words. ‘I’ll only ever be her friend.’
Had Roger decided to settle for second best with Beth? Will hoped not. He liked Roger’s wife. She deserved better than that.
What was Alice doing, snuggled up to Roger like that? Will scowled. Did she know how Roger felt about her? Had she guessed?
‘I’m looking for Mr Right,’ she had told him with that bright, brittle smile he hated. Easy to see how Roger might fill that role for her. He was kind, loyal, funny, the rock Alice had fallen back on more than once. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine the scales falling from her eyes as friendship turned to love…
But Alice wouldn’t do that to Beth, would she? Will’s frown deepened. The old Alice would never do anything to hurt her friends, but what did he know of her now? The old Alice wouldn’t have stood that close to Roger, either.
She would have been standing close to
Will pushed the thought aside and got abruptly to his feet. ‘It think it’s time we went,’ he said.
‘What did you think of Dee?’ Beth asked Alice when Will had chivvied a disappointed Lily and Dee out to the car.
‘Not much,’ said Alice, unimpressed. She felt oddly disgruntled. It wasn’t that she had wanted to see Will, but he could have stayed a bit longer instead of rushing them off like that. It wasn’t very fair on Lily. ‘She tries too hard. You can tell she’s desperate to impress Will.’
Beth looked at her strangely. ‘You can?’
‘Well, it’s a classic, isn’t it?’ Alice sniffed. ‘Child, nanny, single father…alone together on a tropical island…Of
‘It’s interesting you should say that,’ said Beth. ‘I wouldn’t have said that she was the slightest bit interested in Will. He’s too old for her.’
‘Old?’ repeated Alice, outraged. ‘He’s not
‘I expect that seems old to Dee,’ said Beth, choosing not to comment on how well Alice remembered Will’s age. ‘She can’t be much more than twenty. I’d say she was much more impressed by that hunk who taught her how to snorkel yesterday. Didn’t you hear her going on about him?’
‘No.’ Alice frowned. She wasn’t as openly friendly as Beth, and had frankly tuned out most of Dee’s prattling. She wasn’t quite ready to believe that Dee had no interest in Will, either. He might be a bit older, but Dee could hardly have failed to notice that he was an attractive man-any more than Will would have missed the fact that she was young and very pretty. One could accuse Will of being lots of things, but unobservant wasn’t one of them.
‘I don’t know how Will could possibly have thought she would make a suitable nanny,’ she said crossly.
Beth laughed. ‘Nannies aren’t buxom old ladies in mob caps any more, you know! Dee is young and friendly and enthusiastic. I expect Will thought she would be fun for Lily to have around.’
