Chapter 47
Cal had come home to Goosebrook and now he’d just told her he was leaving again. It was hard, feeling poleaxed with disappointment whilst having to pretend everything was fine.
‘How funny.’ Outwardly cheerful, Mimi poured coffee into two cups and pushed one across the table to him. ‘You’ve been here while I was in Jersey, and now I’m back it’s your turn to be flying off.’
Unless he’d deliberately planned it that way, in which case it wasn’t funny at all.
‘But you’re definitely home for the next week?’ said Cal.
She nodded. ‘Yes, why?’
‘I need to ask a favour.’
‘Of course, anything. No problem!’
‘It’s a big one.’
Mimi blinked.
Cal amended. ‘I mean, you should never say yes until you know what the favour is.’
‘But you wouldn’t ask me to do something I couldn’t manage. Anyway, fire away.’
‘The sheikh who saw the portrait I did of the racehorse trainer wants me to fly over to Dubai to paint him and his brother.’
‘Well you have to go,’ Mimi exclaimed. ‘That’s brilliant!’
‘It is. But I’d need to leave tomorrow. And normally Cora and Otto would go to Lauren’s, but Lauren’s grandmother’s staying with them and she’s allergic to dogs, so I can’t do that.’
‘And I know I could put Otto into kennels, but he hates it, he wouldn’t be happy.’
‘That’s—’
‘So it was Cora who wondered if maybe you’d be able to help out, but you can say no if it’s too much to—’
‘Cal! Can you stop interrupting? It’s fine, I’d love to help.’ Mimi raised a hand. ‘I’ll do it. Problem solved.’
‘Are you sure? OK, thank you.’ He sat back, relieved. ‘You were a star last week when you rescued my website from Sam. This time you’re a superstar. You’ve saved the day again. Now, do you want them to come here, or . . .?’
‘It’s easier if I stay at yours. Otto will be happier.’ And so will I! But Mimi kept that thought to herself; instead she said, ‘And I can work anywhere, so it doesn’t bother me at all.’
Cal was nodding. ‘The only problem is, I’ve got a ton of furniture stored in the spare room, but I can get that cleared out tonight.’
‘Don’t worry about it, I can sleep anywhere too.’
‘If you’re sure.’ He was evidently thinking through everything he needed to do. ‘It’d be great if I could put you in my bed.’
Ooh. Time stopped and Mimi’s fingers tightened around her coffee cup. The expression in Cal’s clear brown eyes as he realised what he’d said was the kind that was hard to look away from. She saw the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and felt breathless with—
DRRRRINNGGGGG. Cal’s phone broke the silence.
Time started again and the moment slid away. He looked at the screen. ‘It’s your new housemate.’
Mimi smiled. ‘Better answer it then.’
She listened as Cal told Cora everything was arranged, and heard Cora yell Hooray! with eleven-year-old enthusiasm.
‘I think she’s happy,’ Cal said with a smile when he’d hung up. ‘She’s just getting off the bus now. I’d better go.’ He finished his coffee and rose to leave. ‘Come up to the house around ten tomorrow, OK? And thanks again. You don’t know how grateful I am.’
That’s nothing, thought Mimi as she showed him to the front door. You don’t know how much I’m looking forward to sleeping in your bed.
Six nights later, the novelty still hadn’t worn off. Outside, the wind whistled through the trees and rain was spattering against the windows like gravel, but inside Cal’s bedroom all was warm and dry and welcoming.
Well, it would be even more welcoming if Cal were here too, but never mind that for now. Mimi, stretched out on top of the thick blue and white striped duvet in her pyjamas, gazed at the framed photo on the bedside table. It was an informal snap of Cal, Cora and Otto on a sweeping curve of beach in west Wales, and every time she looked at it, it made her smile. The photo had been taken last year by Cal’s sister, and Cora had already told her the story of how, on that one eventful afternoon, Otto had managed to get himself tangled in a sprawl of seaweed, chased along the sand by an irate seagull and finally pinched on the nose by a crab.
Never mind cats and their nine lives; Otto appeared to have more like twenty.
Mimi had been hearing stories about the Mathieson family all week. During the day Cora had gone to school and she had worked, but the moment Cora arrived home, the non-stop chatter had resumed. They never ran out of things to talk about. Mimi now knew enough about the family to be pretty confident she could pass an A level on the subject.
And it was all good. All good. She ran her hands over the crisp cotton duvet cover. Cora had already related the story of how she and Cal had bought it last year from Cavendish House in Cheltenham. She’d wanted him to buy the orange and purple one but he’d gone for blue and white stripes instead, then they’d had pizza afterwards and he’d accidentally left the carrier bag behind in the restaurant. A waitress had come running after them, Cora had explained to Mimi with great relish. And then the waitress had tried to give Cal her phone number in case he wanted to meet up for a drink sometime, and he’d had to say no and pretend he couldn’t because he was married.
Everything in the house had a story, and Cora loved to tell them.
Speak of the devil, here she came now. The sound of footsteps racing up the stairs grew louder, the bedroom door crashed open and Cora burst into the room with Otto at her heels, a DVD in one hand and a giant bag of sweet-and-salted popcorn in the other. In one bound, they both landed on the bed.
Mimi pointed at Otto. ‘Off.’
‘Oh let him stay, just for a bit. It’s our last night.’
‘Your dad said we mustn’t encourage him.’
‘We aren’t encouraging him; he’s already made up his own mind. And he likes being up here with us. How would you like to sit on the floor all the time while everyone else was comfortable?’ Plumping up the pillows, Cora wriggled alongside Mimi and got herself settled. She was wearing white pyjamas covered in purple stars and her hair smelled of apple shampoo.
‘What are we watching?’ said Mimi.
‘Mamma Mia!’
‘Cal says you’ve seen it eighty-seven times before.’
‘More than that.’ Cora grinned and stroked Otto’s ears as he crawled onto her lap, eyes averted in case they noticed he was there and tipped him off the bed. ‘But it’s nicer seeing it again with someone else. When I watch it with Dad he always ends up falling asleep. I mean, at least he doesn’t snore, but it’s still annoying.’
Mimi nodded in agreement. ‘It is.’
Doesn’t snore. Big tick. Excellent.
‘Who was your best ever boyfriend?’ Cora tilted her head to look up at Mimi with interest.
Initially, these random out-of-the-blue questions had caught her off guard, but Mimi was used to them now. She thought about it for a few seconds. ‘I suppose it was a boy called Marco at school. We were friends for a couple of years, then we got together . . . and he was really nice.’
This wasn’t nearly enough information for Cora. ‘What kind of nice? How long were you together? What was he like?’
‘Well, he was good fun to be with. Not one of those moody, stroppy types. We played a lot of tennis. And I suppose we lasted for about a year. I left school,’ Mimi explained, ‘and he stayed on to do A levels. There was no big bust-up. He was studying for exams, I was working hard and then his parents moved to the other side of London. We just kind of drifted apart. But while we were together, he was a really lovely boyfriend.’
‘Do you wish you were still with him now?’ Cora’s eyes were wide.
‘No, not at all. It was all so long ago.’
‘Was he good-looking?’
‘Pretty good-looking, yes.’ Mimi nodded.
‘What colour was his hair?’
‘Um . . . dark brown.’
‘Eyes?’
‘Kind of greeny-grey.’
‘What ones are your favourite?’
Mimi said tactfully, ‘I don’t mind. I think what the person’s like is more important. Are you going to open that bag of popcorn or are we just going to admire it from the outside?’
Cora promptly pulled open the bag and popcorn fountained out onto the duvet. ‘Whoops! Don’t worry, I won’t tell Dad you spilled popcorn in his bed.’ She giggled at Mimi’s look of mock outrage. ‘What time’s he coming back tomorrow?’
‘Flight’s landing at five.’ Mimi’s stomach tightened at the thought of seeing Cal again. ‘He’s hoping to be home by seven. Have you missed him?’
‘Yes, but it’s been great having you here.’ Cora leaned her head against Mimi’s shoulder. ‘Are you looking forward to him coming back?’
Mimi said, ‘Open your mouth,’ and tossed a piece of popcorn into the air so that Cora could catch it like a seal. To change the subject, she went on, ‘How about we cook something really nice for him tomorrow night? You can be in charge of the menu. What would be his favourite meal?’
Cora had caught the bus to school and Mimi was taking Otto for his morning walk when she bumped into Lois coming out of the shop with milk, croissants and a bag of oranges.
‘You look like a honeymooner.’
Lois beamed; her mascara-smudged eyes were shining and her hair was messed up. ‘I feel like one. Honestly, everything’s so great. I can’t believe how happy I am.’
‘That’s brilliant.’ Mimi was genuinely thrilled for her.
‘Oh, and wait till I tell you.’ Lois clutched her arm. ‘You won’t believe what happened last night.’
‘You don’t have to give me all the gory details . . .’
‘No, I do have to! Remember in Puerto Pollensa when CJ asked me if Felix had ever kissed my bad leg?’
Mimi nodded. ‘I remember. And you said he never had.’
‘I told Felix about it last night and he said he’d never done it because I was always so self-conscious he thought I’d be horrified if he tried anything like that. Which was when I realised he was right, and he said of course he’d kiss the scarred bit at the end if I wanted him to . . . and then he did, and he said it was a part of who I was, and it was so lovely I cried.’
‘That is lovely,’ said Mimi.
‘Don’t tell CJ, though.’ Lois pulled a face. ‘You know what he’s like, he’ll put it in a book.’
By six thirty, the dinner was ready, Cora and Otto were ready, and Cal had called to say he was on his way home. Mimi, who wasn’t ready, was wondering why her shampoo wasn’t foaming and belatedly discovering that it was because it was conditioner.
But by five to seven she was dressed in jeans and a light green T-shirt, and her hair – shampooed and conditioned – was more or less dry. Having resisted the urge to spray herself with scent, she’d also kept the make-up to a minimum because only a complete try-hard would do themselves up like a dog’s dinner when someone who was just a friend was coming home after a week away.
Then a car pulled up outside the house, Otto burst into a volley of hysterical barking and Cora yelled, ‘Hooray, Dad’s here!’
Mimi, upstairs in Cal’s bedroom, watched from the window overlooking the lane as Cal emerged from the driver’s seat – oh God, just look at him, all golden-skinned and laughing and gorgeous. The next moment, Cora was racing down the path, throwing herself into his outstretched arms.
Maybe some eleven-year-olds would regard themselves as too cool for such a display of affection, but Cal and Cora were a tight unit; what they’d been through together had created an unbreakable bond between them. Mimi, observing the way Cora wrapped her skinny arms around Cal’s neck, felt a tumult of emotions welling up and realised she loved them both.
Damn, now she was going to have to redo her mascara.