Promoted: to Wife and Mother

matchmaking.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be good. But it’s OK if I flirt with him a little, isn’t it?’

Perdita couldn’t understand why Millie seemed to find it all so amusing. Her best friend wasn’t usually this irritating, and she was beginning to wish that she had never mentioned Ed. If Millie carried on like this, Ed would probably think that she was too silly for words.

In fact, she was beginning to wish she had never thought of the lunch at all. She couldn’t really concentrate on anything and every time the doorbell rang, her heart would go into a frenzy, only to sink abruptly when it only turned out to be Rick or Peter and Jane. Then, when she was sure it must be Ed at last, it was only Grace. By the time he did arrive, her nerves were shredded.

Taking a steadying breath, she opened the door. The Merricks had met Roz and Emily on their way in, so there were six of them standing outside the door, but Perdita saw only Ed, and the sight of him was like a punch, sending the air whooshing from her lungs so that she was left clinging to the door handle for support.

‘Hi,’ she said weakly.

They all trooped in and the next few minutes were taken up with introductions and getting everyone a drink. Then Perdita had to do all the last minute business with the lunch so she barely had chance to say more than hello. Not that they seemed to be missing her in the other room. She could hear them all talking and laughing and, whenever she went through to put something on the table, Ed seemed very relaxed.

Millie certainly hadn’t wasted any time moving in on him, Perdita noted peevishly as she went round topping up glasses. The two of them were nose to nose on the balcony and she had to smile very brightly to show that she didn’t mind at all. She had hoped to fix Ed up with Millie, hadn’t she? She just hadn’t expected Millie to make her interest quite that obvious, or Ed to respond quite that quickly.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t pleased for them, Perdita told herself, but Ed might at least have shown Grace some attention. The fact that Grace seemed to be enjoying herself perfectly happily with Rick and the other couple was neither here nor there.

She took the bottle out to the balcony and refilled their glasses. ‘Is everything all right out here?’

‘Lovely, thank you.’ Millie beamed and waggled her eyebrows meaningfully in a way that Perdita decided to ignore.

‘I’ve just been admiring your flat,’ said Ed. ‘It’s a wonderful location on the river like this. The light is wonderful.’

‘I like it,’ said Perdita. She wasn’t standing that close to him, but she was desperately aware of him. He was wearing chinos and a pale blue linen shirt with short sleeves and she could see the hairs on his forearms glinting in the sun. His eyes were creased slightly against the light, and he looked relaxed and fit.

He looked wonderful.

For a friend.

‘I love coming here,’ Millie said. ‘It’s always so calm and stylish, like a haven. My house is a tip-if your teenagers are anywhere near normal, yours probably is too,’ she added to Ed, who grinned.

‘I haven’t seen the carpet for a while, I have to admit.’

Oh, well, if they were going to get into comparing parental horror stories she might as well go, thought Perdita, forgetting that their similar experiences were precisely the reason she had thought Ed and Millie would get on.

‘I’ll just go and check the rice,’ she said with a sparkly smile to show that she didn’t feel at all excluded.

‘Can I do anything to help?’ asked Millie.

If she said yes, Ed would go and join the others, but, on the other hand, Millie would know that was why. Perdita was much too proud to give Millie the slightest excuse to suggest that she might be jealous.

‘No, you stay here and entertain Ed,’ she said airily instead, but it was hard work keeping the smile pinned in place as she turned to go inside.

Millie watched Ed watch Perdita go and smiled to herself.

‘It’ll be a fantastic lunch, you wait,’ she said to him chattily. ‘Perdita is a really good cook.’

Ed transferred his attention back to Millie. ‘I get the sense that Perdita is good at a lot of things.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ said Millie, considering the matter honestly. ‘She’s hopeless at sport or any outdoorsy stuff and, although she’s efficient, she’s not actually very practical-she’s much too impatient. But what she does, she does with style,’ she finished with an affectionate smile.

‘Yes, I can imagine that,’ said Ed. ‘You obviously know her very well.’

‘We were at school together,’ Millie told him, ‘and we’ve been friends ever since. Perdita is the best person I know. She can be a bit prickly sometimes,’ she acknowledged fairly, ‘but you don’t want to take any notice of that. You won’t find a truer friend. I would never have got through my divorce without her. My kids have always adored her too. She never talked down to them, even when they were little, and, of course, she can be very funny, which they love.’

‘I’ve noticed that,’ said Ed with a smile. ‘Mine liked her too.’

‘Perdita always gives the impression that she’s on top of the world, but she hasn’t had that easy a time of it. Her mother’s a real worry now, and her brothers are completely useless, just leave everything to Perdita.’ Millie paused. ‘Has she told you about Nick yet?’

The grey eyes sharpened. ‘No.’

‘Ah.’ said Millie, and left it at that.

CHAPTER SEVEN

ED WATCHED Perdita moving in and out of the kitchen. Her dark hair swung glossily, her brown eyes were bright and that big, generous smile lit up the room. She was wearing jeans with a white shirt instead of her usual bold colours but she was still the most vivid person there. Everyone else looked faintly muted in comparison.

It was hard to believe now that he had found her brittle and faintly off-putting at first. Had he really disapproved of her? He had certainly tried, Ed remembered ruefully.

She was so different from Sue, whose loveliness had been utterly natural. Sue had been fair and fresh-faced with a sweet expression. For someone so pretty, she had had an extraordinary lack of vanity, Ed remembered affectionately. Sue’s attention had been lavished on the children rather than herself, and she would never have spent the money Perdita clearly did on clothes or the time on grooming.

Ed had always imagined that Sue was his model of a perfect woman. On the rare occasions when he’d thought about meeting someone new, he’d somehow assumed that he would be looking for someone like her. Perdita was everything Sue hadn’t been and yet…and yet…

He liked her. This flat was distinctively hers, Ed couldn’t help thinking as he looked around him. It exuded brightness and warmth and a stylish, quirky charm, the way she did.

He felt better just being here.

Of course, Perdita herself had made it pretty clear that she wasn’t interested in a serious relationship. She had told him outright that she just wanted fun, and she wasn’t likely to look to a middle-aged widower like him for that!

On the other hand…there had been an unmistakable crackle in the air between them at times. Ed could still remember that brief kiss they had shared by her car. It had been so tempting to kiss her lips, to see how she tasted, to discover if her mouth was as warm and generous as it looked, but at the last moment he had lost his nerve, had very properly touched his lips to her cheek instead.

He wished he hadn’t. He wished he had kissed her the way he had wanted to. But then, that might have made things awkward, Ed reflected. Perhaps it was for the best. He wouldn’t be here otherwise, on their first proper social outing since they had arrived in Ellsborough.

It wasn’t just the kids who had left friends behind in London, and they were finding it much easier to settle than he was. Not that everyone in Ellsborough hadn’t been pleasant, but when you were forty seven and had a houseful of teenagers and a new job to preoccupy you, it was hard to find the time to make new friends. Ed hadn’t appreciated how much he had missed having someone to talk to until Perdita had come round. It would be a shame to jeopardise that.