Chapter 36
Gazing around wildly, Mimi spotted Felix over to the right of the DJ’s decks, fiddling with the little GoPro he’d been using on Boxing Day to film the karaoke over at the Swan. Felix would be devastated too. And as for poor Cora . . . surely Cal wouldn’t land it on her like this, would he?
For that matter, where even was Cora? The other girls were still dancing energetically, but Cora and Lauren had now vanished. Mimi prevaricated; should she find them and discreetly warn Cora that something might be about to happen, or was her own overactive imagination running away with her? Oh God, what should she do? Because if it happened and Cora was left in a state of shock, her whole birthday would be spoiled. Maybe warning Cal not to do anything was the best way to go, if she could manage to say it without admitting that she already knew about his and Lois’s—
‘Mimi!’
It was like trying to drive off without realising the handbrake was still on. As Mimi began to head over to Cal, a hand grabbed the back of her leather belt, halting the momentum and hauling her back.
When she swivelled round and saw that the human handbrake was Cora, her first thought was that she’d somehow found out too.
‘Oh Mimi, quick, can you come with me? Something so gross has happened and I need you to help!’
But it wasn’t that kind of gross. In the ladies’ loo, half the sink and most of the floor in front of it was smeared with sick. Away from the sink, Lauren was leaning against the tiled wall, looking pea green and embarrassed.
‘She threw up,’ said Cora, in case Mimi wasn’t familiar with the concept. ‘We tried to clean it up but it just keeps, like, kind of spreading everywhere. And Lauren’s mum isn’t here yet so I didn’t know who else to ask, then I thought of you.’
It was the kind of compliment no one really wanted to be on the receiving end of. Mimi looked at Lauren. ‘OK, first thing, why have you been sick? Are you ill?’ Because the other night she’d watched an episode of Casualty and the vomiting teenager had turned out to be suffering from viral encephalitis.
‘I ate eleven sausage rolls,’ Lauren confessed shamefacedly. ‘For a bet.’
‘Plus all those orange Smarties,’ Cora reminded her.
Lauren nodded and finished wiping her mouth with a paper towel. ‘And three cans of blue lemonade.’
Well that explained the colour.
Mimi dispatched Cora to the utility room to collect a mop, bucket and spray cleaner, then made a start with the towels in the dispenser.
Cora returned with the cleaning equipment. ‘Honestly, thanks so much for helping us. They’re playing my favourite song now.’
‘Oh, but Lauren’s still looking a bit pale—’
‘“Waterloo”!’ bellowed Lauren, chucking a handful of mint Tic Tacs down her throat before darting around the sick on the floor with all the agility of Mo Farah. ‘Quick, we’re missing it!’
‘Cora, just a sec, I wanted to say—’ But Cora flung her a pleading look and allowed Lauren, no longer pale green, to bundle her out through the doorway. All Mimi had time to call out before the door swung shut behind them was, ‘Don’t jump up and down too much.’ Which was a bit like returning home after six months away and asking your dog not to bark.
Out in the hall, the entire village now appeared to be singing and dancing along to “Waterloo”. Alone in the bathroom, Mimi opened the windows and mopped and squeezed, then wiped and rinsed and polished until all the blue sick had been cleared up and the floor was so spotless and shiny you could . . . well, maybe not that.
Leaving the windows open, she returned the cleaning things to the utility room and made her way back to the party. The DJ had now moved on to ‘Money, Money, Money’ and everyone was bellowing the chorus as they bounced around the dance floor in their bright outfits and multicoloured wigs. The revolving glitter balls bounced light off the heaving mass of sequins, and Otto was leaping like a ninja, desperate to reach the balloons two teenage boys were batting back and forth just above his head.
Mimi’s heart lifted at the sight of Marcus dancing with Maria – a bit awkwardly, it had to be said, but it was good that he was joining in.
Right, this was a party; she needed to relax and join in too. Spotting Lois standing on her own by the buffet, she made her way over. ‘Come on then, are we going to show these kids how it’s done?’
But Lois, barely glancing in her direction, murmured, ‘No thanks, not just now,’ and when Mimi followed the direction of her gaze, she realised that – surprise, surprise – all her attention was on Cal.
Again.
Moments later, Cal turned his head and winked – actually winked – at Lois.
Mimi felt sick. For God’s sake, they were behaving like a pair of teenagers.
Suddenly the music paused. The DJ grabbed his mic and shouted, ‘OK, everybody, if you could all move back a bit now and pay attention, the father of the birthday girl has a little something he’d like to say. Over here, Cal, step up and take the floor.’
Mimi felt sicker.
As Cal took the mic from the DJ, whistles and cheers filled the hall. He grinned around at everyone. ‘Don’t worry, it isn’t going to be a long speech. I just wanted to thank you all for coming, and to say how lucky I am to have the best daughter in the world. And Cora might not remember this, but last summer she did tell me there was something she’d love to see . . . so I’ve done my best today to make it happen.’ He turned to the DJ. ‘Look, could you turn the music down? I’m trying to say something deep and meaningful here.’
The DJ raised his hands. ‘It won’t turn off. The button’s broken.’ As the opening chords of ‘Voulez-Vous’ filled the air, he shrugged helplessly. ‘Sorry, mate, I can’t make it stop.’
The music was getting louder and louder. Next to her, Mimi could feel Lois actually quivering. Cal did a few jokey experimental dance steps, then said into the mic, ‘Nope, can’t manage this on my own, going to need a hand . . .’
And as the music reached maximum volume, Lois left Mimi’s side, threading her way through the crowd until she reached Cal. He grinned, placed one arm around her waist and swung her into a spin that caused everyone to erupt in shrieks of incredulous delight as they realised the DJ had been in on it all along. It also swiftly became apparent that this wasn’t simply a case of two people dancing together and hoping for the best; every step, every turn and swirl had been choreographed, and they were moving exactly in time with each other to the music as everyone around them whooped and clapped, amazed that it was happening at all and blown away by the fact that it was so good.
Because Cal and Lois were putting on an impressive display; they’d clearly spent a lot of time practising the moves. Watching them, Mimi marvelled at the skill and determination this must have needed, especially for Lois, who had always been so painfully self-conscious about her leg. A lump formed in her throat, because Lois was looking transformed, like the vibrant, confident, beautiful girl she used to be before the accident, and it was just the most miraculous thing to witness. Which had come first, she wondered: had they started secretly seeing each other and then decided to learn the dance? Or, like so many of the contestants on Strictly, had dancing together for so many hours on end been the catalyst for their relationship?
But it was Cora’s reaction that was the most unexpected. There she was, on the edge of the dance floor, clapping and laughing, seemingly thrilled by the surprise that had been sprung on her and completely unfazed by the fact that her father was dancing with Lois.
The dance came to an end and the applause was thunderous. Felix, who had filmed the whole thing, was clapping too and Mimi saw him furtively wipe a tear from his eye. Cora raced over to Cal, who lifted her into his arms and swung her round.
When he eventually put her down, he took the mic from the DJ again. ‘So last summer, Cora showed me one of those surprise dances on YouTube and said how much she wished she could see one happen in real life. Which gave me the idea to do it. Oh, and massive thanks to Lois for agreeing to join in, so I didn’t have to get up there on my own. Wasn’t she brilliant?’
When the party and the general dancing had resumed, Cora came over to Mimi and led her outside. As they sat together on one of the wooden benches beneath the flowering chestnut trees, Cora took a slurp of cherry Tango and said, ‘Lois isn’t Dad’s girlfriend.’
Mimi’s stomach did a helter-skelter swoop. ‘Really? How do you know?’
‘I asked him this morning. I decided I had to, because it was my birthday and it was just killing me. I needed to know the truth, so I just came out with it, and he hugged me and told me she wasn’t his girlfriend. So then I made him promise he wasn’t lying and said he had to swear on my life, and he did. So then I told him I’d seen Lois going into his studio and he said he couldn’t tell me why because it was a big surprise, but I’d find out this evening at my party.’ Cora dramatically ran out of breath, then refilled her lungs with air, a beaming smile simultaneously spreading across her face. ‘And that’s it, that’s what they’d been doing in the studio this whole time – practising the dance. They’re just friends. I got it all wrong. So that’s good, isn’t it!’
Just a bit.
‘Very good.’ Mimi nodded and gave Cora’s thin shoulders a reassuring squeeze.
‘I meant to tell you earlier but I forgot,’ Cora continued blithely. ‘Because it was my party and I was just busy being happy and dancing . . . and then Lauren ate all those sausage rolls and was sick, so I didn’t think of letting you know. Anyway, you know now.’
‘I do.’ Mimi smiled, because Cora could have no idea how great a relief it had been for her too.
‘Here’s Dad.’ As Cal spotted them and made his way over, Cora called out, ‘I was just telling Mimi about me getting it wrong. I talked to her about it last week.’
‘Sweetheart, Felix wants to get some video of you with the cake before it’s cut up, and Lauren’s brother wants to FaceTime his gran so she can see you having fun. I said I’d find you and send you in.’
‘OK, I’ll do it now.’ Cora jumped up and ran inside.
‘Lauren’s gran broke her hip, so she’s stuck in hospital.’ Cal took Cora’s place on the wooden bench.
‘I heard. Poor thing.’
He looked sideways at her. ‘So, you’ve spent the last week thinking there was something going on between me and Lois.’
Talk about getting straight to the point. Mimi nodded. ‘Well, yes.’
‘That explains it then.’
‘Explains what?’ Her mouth was dry.
‘The way you were when we were working in your garden. I knew there was something bothering you, but had no idea what it was.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘You really thought we were secretly seeing each other?’
From here, Mimi could smell the citrus tang of his cologne. She shrugged. ‘I was shocked, but all I had to go on was what Cora told me. And you and Lois were secretly seeing each other, to be fair. Just not for the reason we thought.’
‘I can’t believe Cora saw Lois coming into the garden and me letting her into the studio. We thought we’d planned everything so well. There was no music to hear because we wore headphones. It was like a silent disco.’ Cal paused. ‘But what I really can’t believe is that you thought I’d do something like that to Felix. He’s my friend.’ He gestured with an upturned palm. ‘I just wouldn’t.’
‘I know, and that’s why I was so shocked when Cora told me. But it all added up and she made me promise not to say a word. I couldn’t ask you. I couldn’t ask Lois either. I thought the two of you were going to make some kind of big romantic announcement tonight . . . I’m so sorry,’ Mimi blurted out, because he was looking more horrified by the second.
‘You think I’d do that to my own daughter? On her birthday?’
‘I didn’t think you’d do that,’ Mimi exclaimed helplessly. ‘But it seemed as if it was going to happen anyway.’
‘I would never do anything like that,’ said Cal.
‘You wouldn’t.’
‘Lois is a friend. There’s nothing going on between us. Never has been, never will be.’
She nodded vigorously in agreement and with more than a bit of relief. ‘I know.’
‘The reason we kept the dance a secret was so that it could be a surprise for everyone. I told Felix this morning, just so he wouldn’t think there was something up.’
‘Right.’ As she nodded, Mimi saw Lois coming towards them, her pink and green dress swirling around her legs as she walked.
‘It was Lois who had the idea of me learning a dance,’ Cal went on. ‘And I was the one who decided she should do it with me.’
Lois arrived at the bench with a grin. ‘And I was the one who said not in a million years, no way could I do that and no way would I even try it, not after that time I ended up flat on my back like a beetle.’
Mimi hadn’t been there, but she’d heard about it from Lois, who had tried to dance at a wedding on the prosthetic leg she hadn’t yet had a chance to get properly used to. So mortified had she been by her ungainly tumble that she’d vowed never to dance in public again.
Up until today, she never had.
‘But Cal persuaded you,’ Mimi said. ‘And now you’ve shown everyone you can do it, and they’ve seen how brilliant you are.’
‘Well, not brilliant, but I did OK. I’m proud I managed to get through it in one piece. All thanks to this one here.’ Lois beamed at Cal, then turned back to Mimi. ‘Did he tell you about Cora thinking we were secretly seeing each other?’
‘I did.’ Cal nodded.
‘God, can you imagine?’
Cal said drily, ‘Oh, she did.’
‘What?’ Lois stared at Mimi, her eyes widening in disbelief. ‘Seriously? But how could you think I’d do that to Felix?’
It did seem unlikely now, but at the time it had felt so real.
‘What can I say?’ Mimi spread her hands helplessly. ‘If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck . . .’
Lois burst out laughing. ‘We weren’t quacking, we were dancing.’ She stuck out her legs and waggled her feet, one real and one prosthetic. ‘Dancing like ducks!’