She shrugged. ‘I haven’t talked to Chanel in weeks.’
‘Weeks? Why? She’s our next door neighbour and your best friend. How could you even manage that?’
‘Chloe’s always voice-messaging with Jessica these days,’ Ben informed me.
‘But what about Chanel?’ I insisted.
Chloe shrugged again. ‘Chanel is jealous that I have a celebrity friend and she doesn’t.’
My mouth fell open. ‘Chloe, I’m happy that you and Jessica have bonded – that’s brilliant. But please don’t forget who your people are.’
‘Yada, yada, yada,’ she muttered as she disappeared up the stairs and into her room. Teenagers. You just couldn’t win.
That night Emma came over, looking haggard.
‘Are you all right?’ I asked as I poured her a glass of Merlot.
‘No, I have to tell you something, but I’m afraid it will ruin our friendship.’
I stopped in mid-pour. ‘Oh, God, is it Chloe? Has she been rude to Chanel? I’m so sorry, she’s been a brat for weeks now and does nothing but voice-text Jessica, but Chanel does not deserve to be treated like that. I’ve had a word with Chloe who is going to apologise and…’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said.
That was Emma. Always downplaying things, when I knew she was as upset as I was by Chloe’s behaviour.
‘Em?’
Emma had buried her head in her forearms on the table.
‘There’s something else, isn’t there? What’s wrong?’
She looked up at me. ‘You know I love you, right?’
‘Of course. And I love you and Jack, too. I love our little Three’s Company thing. And I apologise if in the next few weeks I’ll be busy, because Luke O’Hara will be arriving soon – I hope – to work on the script. But once Luke and Jessica have gone I can go back to my normal life and we can resume our dinners together with Jack.’
‘You’re avoiding him, too?’
I sighed. ‘I’m not avoiding anyone, Emma. There is so much work behind this script that I didn’t expect. I am overwhelmed, is all, but I promise you things will get back to normal.’
‘It’s not just that, Nina…’ she said.
I sat down. ‘What is it then, Em?’
She hesitated, biting her lip, and then smiled. ‘Don’t listen to me, Nina, I’m just cranky and exhausted,’ she whispered. ‘And I’ve only got one kid and one bloody job. How do you do it? Because I can’t take it anymore…’
It was like looking in the mirror during one of my cold nights up in the eaves by myself, listening to the rain pinging into the bucket and wondering how much longer I could get away with it before the roof buckled under the pressure of the next storm. It was a waiting game, and the object was to see it out.
‘Of course you can, Em,’ I soothed. ‘You’re just having a mother’s moment, is all. We all do. Even married people are exhausted. I know I was.’
‘But at least back then you had someone to share your problems with,’ she insisted, taking a deep breath. ‘Don’t you ever wake up in the middle of the night, hankering for a warm, strong body to anchor yourself to, if not for some good, hard sex?’
Good question. It was the answer that was bad. Because no, I didn’t. I was completely dead in that department. But as far as loneliness was concerned?
‘Of course, we all do, Em. But just have faith. You will meet someone fantastic, because you are fantastic. You just need to put yourself out there a bit more. Let’s go to the Northwood parents’ parties. There’s some new dads this term,’ I said, ruffling her hair.
She lifted her head. ‘I’m not going with you.’ She pouted. ‘They’ll all be gaga over you. If I didn’t love you, Nina, I swear I’d hate your guts.’
‘What a daft idea, Em! Besides, you know I don’t feel comfortable with all those pretentious people who only speak to me when they needed something.’ (Shit, I’d almost forgotten to make them those arancini I promised for the festival.)
‘They’re actually not that bad once you look past all that,’ she defended.
‘Then why don’t you let someone there set you up?’
‘Me? No. What about you? Are you interested in anyone at the moment?’
I laughed. ‘Me? I wouldn’t recognise romance if it clobbered me over the head with a cricket bat.’ And that was the truth.
*
Days turned into weeks, and still no word from Luke. By day twenty-three, I was just about ready to scream, but Chloe beat me to it.
She came screeching through the front door, not bothering to remove her wellies as a brown trail followed her into the living room where I was sitting at my idle computer waiting for a miracle to happen.
‘Mum! MUM!’ she screamed. If it hadn’t been for the ecstatic look on her face and the complete change of attitude towards me, I’d have cringed at the streaks on the carpet. But what was that she was waving under my nose? A large envelope. My hand shot to my heart. It was either that, or bad news from somewhere. But it had to be my contract. Bad news usually came in small envelopes.
‘It’s arrived! Your contract!’
‘What? Let me see!’
I tore at the envelope and besides a thirty-seven-page contract, there was a hand-written note that I read in one breath:
Dear Nina,
Sorry it took so long, but here it is. With this contract you agree to put up with me. I hope you won’t regret it!
I will be arriving in Penworth Ford at the end of the month and will be emailing you details of my hotel.
Can’t wait to see you!
Luke x
I looked up at Chloe whose face was bright red with excitement. Meeting Luke and Jessica had changed her attitude big time, and I was grateful for it. Hopefully the encounter would change a lot of other things, too.
17
The Predator
The next day after I returned from dropping the kids off at school for their final week before their summer break, Phil appeared on my doorstep, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. His hair had
