Chapter 37
As April segued into May, the weather continued to improve and the holiday rental cottages in the vicinity of Goosebrook began to fill up with visitors and tourists. By and large, they divided up into two categories: quiet people in sensible clothes who enjoyed tramping for miles through beautiful countryside, admiring the scenery and visiting local pubs in order to enjoy ploughman’s lunches and halves of bitter; and the party rentals, groups of exuberant City types who descended on the tranquil Cotswolds for a long weekend of carousing and drinking and being as ear-splittingly loud as possible.
Some of these visitors to the area were great fun, whilst others were a living nightmare.
Still, it ensured that a Saturday evening in the Black Swan was always interesting, if a little crowded. And noisy too, when multiple parties of visitors filed in and the alcohol consumption soared.
‘I knew there was something I’d forgotten to bring along,’ said Lois.
Mimi twisted her empty crisp packet into a knot. ‘What’s that then?’
‘Earplugs.’ As Lois said it, a nearby burst of laughter rattled the glasses on their table.
‘If you wore earplugs you wouldn’t be able to hear me.’ Mimi indicated the braying ringleader of the group. ‘He just needs a bit of volume control, like a dial in his chest that you could turn down when it all gets too much.’
‘Felix always used to say the louder the bloke, the smaller the dick. Well,’ Lois amended, ‘he isn’t dead, so he probably still does say it. But how would I know?’ She shrugged and forced a smile, and Mimi felt for her. On the evening of Cora’s birthday party, following Lois and Cal’s magical dance, she’d wondered if a reunion between Lois and Felix might miraculously happen. But it hadn’t, and the core issues between them were evidently still there. Felix had scarcely been seen in the village in recent weeks. Mimi knew Lois was missing him dreadfully, but was far too proud to say so.
‘He’s probably busy with work.’
‘Oh, I don’t think so. By all accounts, Henrietta’s beside herself with joy that I’ve moved out and she’s doing her damnedest to find Felix a more suitable replacement.’
It was so lovely having Lois properly back in her life; Mimi only wished there was more she could do to cheer her up. But the only way she could help right now was by listening and providing emotional support. They both knew that Henrietta had been contacting all her well-connected friends with available daughters, suggesting that they and Felix should meet up. The reason they both knew this was because Henrietta had been telling practically everyone she crossed paths with. From the sound of things, every remotely suitable single female in her late twenties was getting the intensive sales pitch.
‘Just because she’s doing it,’ said Mimi, ‘doesn’t mean Felix is going to be interested.’
‘It’s like Pride and Prejudice.’ Lois pulled a face. ‘If you cross Mrs Bennet with a really tenacious wolfhound, you get Henrietta. Anyway, that’s quite enough gloomy talk about my evil mother-in-law for one night. Have you spotted those two over there? What d’you reckon to his chances?’
Mimi followed the direction of her unobtrusive nod. Standing in front of the fireplace was one of the noisy City types who had taken over Hawthorne Lodge, deep in conversation with a member of the hen weekend currently staying in Owl Cottage. He was tall, and fairly good looking, with rugby player’s shoulders and crumpled red chinos. She was the quietest of her group of friends and strikingly pretty in an understated way, with natural blonde hair and minimal make-up.
‘She’s beautiful,’ said Mimi.
‘Too good for him.’
‘But she seems quite shy. Maybe she needs someone like that to bring her out of herself.’
‘Well he’s taking up too much space and he gives me the creeps. Then again,’ Lois conceded, ‘I think I don’t like him because he reminds me of my horrible maths teacher at school.’
They carried on watching as the couple continued their conversation in the quietest section of the bar. Ten minutes later, Mimi said, ‘He’s definitely winning her over.’ It was fascinating to observe the interaction and body language between two people who were learning about each other for the first time. Initially the girl had been leaning away; now she was touching his arm.
‘Looks like I was wrong and you were right about him.’ Lois said. ‘Ooh, he’s off to buy her another drink. And her friend’s dragging her outside for a girlie chat . . .’
They watched as the two girls made their way across to the back door of the pub.
‘Seems a shame to miss out on the best bit,’ said Mimi.
‘Just what I was thinking.’ Lois scooped up her bag and her drink in one practised movement. ‘Let’s go.’
Outside on the heated patio bordered with hanging baskets and ropes of white fairy lights, several other tables were occupied but the one next to the pretty blonde girl and her brunette friend was fortuitously free.
‘OK, tell me everything.’ Having lit up a cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke, the friend leaned forward avidly. ‘All the details. What’s he like?’
‘OK, his name’s Baz and he works as a trader in the City, and at first I wasn’t sure because he seemed a bit full of himself. But we carried on talking and I realised that isn’t what he’s really like at all. It’s just a front he puts up to cover his real feelings. Honestly, he’s so much nicer than I thought he was.’
Her friend wrinkled her nose. ‘Red trousers, though.’
‘I know. But . . . well, maybe I could get used to them. They’re only trousers, after all.’
But they were still red. Mimi and Lois exchanged a doubtful glance.
At the next table, the brunette exclaimed. ‘Oh my God, Deb, you’ve got it bad. Look at you, all lit up and excited!’
‘I feel excited. He’s just so sweet and thoughtful, and the way he was talking to me, honestly . . . You know how some people make you feel special, like you’re the centre of their world? That’s how it is with Baz. And he’s been through so much, too.’ Deb lowered her voice. ‘Two years ago, he lost his fiancée.’
‘Lost her where? I once got totally lost in the Westfield shopping centre. Mind you, me and Candice had got through two bottles of Bolly at the champagne bar—’
‘Nooo, not that kind of lost. His fiancée died.’ Deb clutched her chest. ‘She was killed in a car accident just three weeks before their wedding . . . can you imagine?’
‘No way! God, that’s awful!’
‘So awful. He got all choked up when he was telling me. I mean, it happened two years ago but you never really get over something like that, do you? He thought he’d met the love of his life and then the next minute she was gone. It’s so unbearably tragic . . . Oh, now look at me, I’m getting all upset just thinking about what he’s had to go through. And it’s taken him until now to get himself out of the house and start thinking about dating again.’
‘Poor guy. Maybe you’re the one he needs to help him. Meeting him tonight could be fate.’
Deb tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and nodded. ‘I thought that too. I mean, I never imagined coming out tonight and meeting someone I felt a real connection with, but somehow it’s happened. And now I’m feeling all jittery and excited . . .’
The brunette stubbed out the cigarette she’d been energetically puffing her way through. ‘Woo-hoo, this could be it, you need to get yourself back inside.’ She gave her friend a triumphant smile. ‘Tonight could be the night you change your life.’
The two girls headed back into the pub. Mimi and Lois looked at each other.
‘Wow.’ Lois exhaled.
Mimi nodded. ‘I know. I feel bad that we made fun of his red trousers now.’
‘I feel bad saying that thing about men who laugh loudly.’
‘We’re horrible people.’ A lump had expanded in Mimi’s throat at the thought of what Baz had been through.
‘Poor guy.’ Digging in the front pocket of her jeans, Lois pulled out a tissue and pressed it carefully beneath each eye.
‘Poor guy? I hope you don’t mean me.’ Mimi jumped as a hand landed on her shoulder and Cal appeared behind them. The next moment, noticing the mascara-stained tissue in Lois’s hand, he said, ‘Oh God, sorry, what’s happened?’
Lois gestured helplessly. ‘I’m OK, everything’s fine, we just . . .’ She froze, in the process of stuffing the crumpled tissue back into her jeans pocket.
‘What?’ said Mimi, as Lois pulled an oh-no face.
‘Zip’s broken.’ She leaned forward to look and Mimi caught a flash of white knicker. ‘Bugger, nature’s way of letting you know you ate too much dinner before coming out.’ Levering herself upright, Lois held one hand over the gaping zip and tugged her short top down with the other in an attempt to cover it. ‘Right, I’m going to have to get home and change. At least I don’t have far to go.’
Cal took her seat. Together they watched as Lois, limping slightly, crossed the village green and was swallowed up by the darkness. ‘She isn’t fine, though,’ he said. ‘What happened to upset her? Has she heard about Felix?’
‘No. What about Felix?’
Cal lowered his voice. ‘He’s gone out on a date with some girl Henrietta fixed him up with. If Lois doesn’t know, don’t tell her.’
‘Oh no.’ Except Henrietta would make sure the whole village heard about it before the weekend was out.
‘So why was she upset?’
‘We were inside earlier, watching two people meet for the first time.’ Aware of the sensitivity of the subject, Mimi made sure the side of her leg didn’t accidentally make contact with Cal’s knee. ‘He was wearing red trousers and seemed like a bit of a prat, and we couldn’t understand why this really pretty girl was so smitten with him. But we just overheard her out here telling her friend that the guy’s fiancée died just before they were due to get married.’ She paused. ‘It was a car accident, three weeks before the wedding. So that meant we both felt awful for thinking bad things about him. When you see a stranger, you never know what they’ve been through, do you? This poor guy, Baz . . . well, he’s doing his best to get his life together again, but it must be so hard. Sorry.’ Mimi shook her head because this was Cal she was talking to.
‘Hey, don’t worry. And look on the bright side: if he’s hit it off with this girl tonight, that’s a good thing.’ In the reflected glow from the strung-up fairy lights, his brown eyes softened. ‘It happens to most of us sooner or later.’
Which probably wasn’t meant to sound significant but in Mimi’s head instantly felt as if it did. Shifting on her chair and recrossing her legs, her thigh brushed against Cal’s knee. Although it had been a complete accident, at the same time it was utterly thrilling, but what if he thought she’d done it deliberately and was clumsily attempting to make a move on him?
To divert his attention, she blurted out, ‘So anyway, how’s the painting coming along? And when’s the designer going to sort out that website of yours?’ Because it was currently awash with annoying glitches and an absolute nightmare to navigate. Not wanting to sound horrible, she added, ‘Sorry, I don’t like to criticise, but it’s really not that great. It’s your website and you need it to work.’
‘You don’t have to tell me.’ Cal grimaced. ‘It’s like whack-a-mole: he fixes two problems and four bigger ones pop up. I just don’t have the heart to tell him I’d rather hire someone else to take over.’
He was giving her one of those looks again, the kind that made the tips of her fingers go all tingly. Mimi said, ‘I’d be happy to do it, you know that.’
In all honesty, seeing as it was a speciality of hers, she was a tiny bit miffed that he hadn’t asked her in the first place.
‘Thanks. And I do know that, but it’s a bit of an awkward situation. I’m the only client he has. It’s Eamonn’s son,’ Cal admitted. ‘He was desperate to set himself up as a web designer after leaving school, but no one else was hiring him. So Eamonn begged me to give him a chance. How could I say no?’
Well that explained the truly terrible website. No wonder Cal had kept so quiet about it up until now. Mimi wanted to kiss him; how could you not love someone who was simply too nice to tell a friend’s shy teenage son that his services were no longer required?
OK, maybe she didn’t mean love in quite that sense . . .
But her heart had begun to thud-thud-thud in panicky realisation.
Cal raised his arm in greeting and said, ‘Here she is,’ as Lois re-emerged out of the darkness in a different pair of jeans, looser black ones this time. He rose to his feet and gave her her seat back. ‘Right, it’s sounding pretty busy in there. Shall I go in and get us some drinks?’
As soon as Cal had disappeared into the pub, Lois pulled out her phone and said flatly, ‘Look what came up on Instagram ten minutes ago.’
Mimi braced herself. Her first guess was right. The photo had been posted by someone called Clementine and was a selfie of four people in an extremely plush-looking bar. The caption said: Hahaha, what a super night! Rory whisked me off to dinner at Colworth Manor Hotel and who should we bump into??? Only my gorgeous friend Arabella Playdell-Grey and her super-hot date Felix Mercer, whoop whoop!!!
Out of loyalty to Lois, Mimi said, ‘Well I wouldn’t call her gorgeous. Her teeth are a bit rabbity.’
‘I know. I thought that too. She does look like a rabbit.’ Lois paused. ‘A pretty rabbit, though.’
‘Not that pretty.’
‘Prettier than me.’
Mimi shook her head. ‘She isn’t.’
‘Bet she isn’t covered in scars. Bet she’s got two legs.’
‘Look, Felix is only there because Henrietta forced him into it. He’s probably having a terrible time, hating every minute.’
‘Unlike Henrietta, who’s probably riding around on her broomstick having a good old cackle and breaking open the champagne.’
Mimi said sympathetically, ‘Are you OK?’
‘I’m going to have to be, aren’t I?’ Lois sighed and took one last look at the photo before switching off her phone. ‘Horrible stuff happens and we all just have to get through it the best way we can. What I hate is feeling miserable about the state of my body, then having to tell myself that loads of people have had to go through so much worse. Like Cal, and red-trouser guy in there.’ Her bracelets jangled as she waved an arm in the direction of the pub. ‘So then I have to feel guilty as well, for being such a selfish, whiny cow.’
A few minutes later, Cal reappeared carrying their drinks.
‘About time too,’ Lois exclaimed, jumping up to give him a hand, but Mimi was immediately struck by the realisation that something had changed. There was tension in Cal’s jaw, the easy laid-back demeanour had gone and he was no longer smiling.
‘What’s wrong?’ she said.
‘What’s wrong is that we had to wait so long for our drinks.’ Lois was back in let’s-be-cheerful mode; she clinked her glass against each of theirs. ‘But they’re here now, so happy days! Cal, we pulled this chair over for you. Why aren’t you sitting down?’
‘It’s OK, I’d rather stand.’ He met Mimi’s concerned gaze. ‘I’m fine.’
But he wasn’t, she knew it. And as Lois chattered on about the next quiz night and the epic cheating that had gone on during the last one, Mimi sensed that Cal was counting the seconds, waiting for something to happen. On the surface, he appeared calm, but beneath it she just knew he was . . . what? Simmering with anger? Why, though? Especially since he had never been the angry type.
And then it happened: a door crashed open and Baz appeared silhouetted in the doorway. When he spotted Cal out on the patio, he snarled, ‘There he is,’ and began to advance towards him.