Chapter 40
At five the next morning, Mimi rose and showered, then applied her make-up and conducted the video conference with a TV historian in New Zealand and his manager in Montreal. When it was over, she glanced out of the window – Kendra’s BMW was still parked outside – then went back to bed.
When the doorbell rang at seven thirty, she ignored it, but the caller was persistent. After the third prolonged bout of rings, she slid out of bed and peered down at the front path. Kendra, still wearing last night’s clothes, indicated that Mimi should open the window.
‘Have you changed your mind?’
Mimi marvelled at her perseverance. ‘Not even slightly.’
‘Fine.’ Kendra shrugged. ‘Your loss. Good luck to you, stuck down here in the back of beyond.’
Mimi had already known she wouldn’t take well to having her olive branch rejected. ‘I love it here,’ she said evenly.
‘Well just so you know, I slept with Paddy last night. He was spectacular.’
Had she really? Or was she just saying that? ‘Well done you.’
‘Bet you’re jealous.’
‘He sleeps with everyone.’ Except me.
‘You should give him a go sometime. Anyway, I’m off.’ Kendra shook back her hair defiantly. ‘I don’t suppose we’ll bump into each other again. Enjoy living here with nothing to look forward to.’
‘I shall. Bye.’
Mimi watched as the car disappeared from view. But Kendra was wrong; she did have something to look forward to. Very much indeed.
For the next three hours, she attended to a stream of business emails and made half a dozen phone calls, breaking off every now and again to check the website of her favourite dress shop in search of something perfect to wear to CJ and Willa’s wedding. Maybe the canary-yellow strappy shift dress with the big bows on each shoulder, or the blue and white polka-dotted one with wide skirts and a little waist-length jacket to match . . . ooh, or if she went for the lilac and pink stripy jacket she could team it with her favourite pink shoes . . .
The doorbell rang, and this time she went to answer it in case Marcus was home from his business trip to Manchester and had forgotten his key.
This was a joke, obviously; Marcus would never forget anything, let alone a key.
In the moment before Mimi opened the door, she realised from the blurred outline through the rectangle of stained glass that it was Cal on the doorstep. Thud-thud-thud went her heart and she instinctively pushed her fingers through her hair in case it was looking flat.
And then the door was open and there he was, his own just-washed blonde hair bright in the morning sunshine and his olive skin already developing a tan that was shown off by a turquoise polo shirt.
‘Hi, I’m just off to Oxford but wanted to drop by and see how you are, make sure everything’s all right.’ He checked over her shoulder as he said it. ‘Not here, is she?’
‘No. Gone.’ Mimi added drily, ‘For good.’
‘Thought so, when I saw the car had disappeared. What did she want?’
Cal followed her into the kitchen, turned down her offer of coffee and listened as she told him about Kendra’s plan to get her back to the flat in Notting Hill.
‘And you told her you weren’t interested.’
‘I did. I said I was happy here.’
Cal’s expression softened. ‘Glad to hear it. So did you let her sleep here in the end?’
Mimi shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t let her stay. Luckily Paddy came along and took her back with him to his place.’
‘Luckily?’
‘Well I didn’t want her here, did I? She spent the night with him.’ Unable to resist it, she added, ‘They slept together.’
‘Right.’ Cal paused. ‘And how did you feel about that?’
‘What she does is up to her.’ Mimi shrugged. ‘I shouldn’t think I’ll ever see her again. She was a friend once and she betrayed me. I don’t need people like that in my life.’ As she said it, she leaned against the kitchen table and her hip knocked the edge of her laptop, bringing up the last opened page before the screensaver had kicked in.
‘Just as well you aren’t my boss,’ Mimi said cheerfully as Cal glanced at the screen. ‘At least when you work for yourself you can’t get told off for googling dresses to wear to your ex-boss’s smart wedding.’
‘Ah—’
‘Ooh, now you’re here you could give me your expert opinion. Right, I’ve narrowed it down to a shortlist of three, so which do you prefer?’ Tapping keys, she brought the outfits up.
‘Actually, that’s the other reason I dropped by.’ Cal cast a distracted glance at the screen. ‘I mean, I like the yellow one with the ribbony things . . . or the purple dress, although it looks pretty short.’
‘It isn’t purple, it’s lilac,’ said Mimi. ‘And it isn’t a dress, it’s a jacket, so I’d wear it over a white top and trousers.’ She was wondering if it was worth asking Cal what he’d be wearing, to make sure they wouldn’t clash, when she saw the expression on his face. ‘Oh, do you hate all of them?’
‘No, no, they’re great. It’s not that,’ said Cal. ‘Look, I know I only suggested it last night, but I’m not going to be able to make it after all.’
‘Oh.’ This was bad news, not what she’d wanted to hear at all. Forced to pretend not to be disappointed, Mimi said as brightly as she could manage, ‘That’s a shame! Never mind, though, it’s fine, I’ll just ask someone else instead. Probably not Kendra!’
‘I’m really sorry. I had a call an hour ago from a racehorse trainer who’d commissioned a portrait to be carried out next week, but he’s been held up in Australia and has to reschedule, and the only date he can manage is the twenty-sixth.’ He shook his head. ‘I know, typical. Had to be that day, didn’t it? I mean, I could have said no, but it was a bit of a coup to be asked.’
‘It’s a massive coup,’ Mimi exclaimed, ‘and of course you couldn’t say no. Honestly, don’t worry about it, you can’t turn down a chance like that. And you mustn’t apologise either, it’s no problem, no problem at all.’
At the front door, as he was leaving, Cal turned abruptly. ‘Look, I know it’s none of my business, but I don’t think you should invite Paddy to go with you.’
‘To the wedding?’ Mimi blinked. ‘I hadn’t even thought of asking him.’ Well, this was almost true; it had very briefly crossed her mind. God, at this rate she was going to be left with a choice of either Old Bert who looked after the pigs on Hardy’s Farm, or Eamonn from the village shop.
Cal studied her for a couple of seconds, almost-but-not-quite looking as if he didn’t believe her and causing a warm flush to crawl up Mimi’s neck. Then he tilted his head and said evenly, ‘I just don’t think it’d be a good idea.’