Dee nodded and smiled, afraid to open her mouth.
'It's okay, we're safe while the music is on. Are you nervous?'
'Terrified.'
'Don't be. You know your stuff and that's the trick. You won't believe how fast the time will go. If you forget anything or you get stuck, just give me a look and I'll dig you out.'
'Thank you.' Dee smiled gratefully.
'You'll be great,' April assured her, 'and I love the hair.'
Shay Dunne came over to stand next to them. 'Hi, April, how are you?'
'Not as fit as I should be!'
'You're in great shape, I'll never get any business from you.' His eyes moved to Dee. 'Aren't you going to introduce me to this lovely lady?'
'Sorry, Shay, this is Dee Hewson.'
His eyes widened. 'Oh! Any relation—'
'No, afraid not.'
'She's going to be famous in her own right soon enough,' April said loyally. 'Wait till you hear her, Shay, she's wonderful.'
'Oh, what's your expertise?'
'Shush!' The floor manager put a finger to her lips as the music came to an end and the 'on air' sign flicked on.
Dee got completely caught up in the show and couldn't believe it when Carolyn came to fetch her and April. Shay was already on set having been interviewed in the slot before them and he smiled encouragingly as Dee came to take the seat next to him. A girl came to touch up Marge's hair and the floor manager called 'One minute!'
'Dee, April, I'll introduce you, give your background and then it's pretty much over to you. Shay, please feel free to join in.'
He nodded. 'I'd love to; it's something I feel quite strongly about.'
'Then you and Dee have a lot in common,' Marge told him with a wink at Dee.
Dee felt herself redden but there was no time for embarrassment as the countdown began.
'Welcome to Right Now,' Marge said, smiling into the camera.
For the first time Dee saw it, the autocue underneath. It was nothing like the cameras she'd seen on TV, much smaller and quite discreet. Dee sat, her back straight and her eyes on the host, and listened carefully. She had no idea when the camera was on her and she didn't want to be caught out looking unprofessional.
Carolyn had told her that it was best to behave as if the camera didn't exist and to talk to the other panellists as if they were having a chat around her kitchen table. Dee wasn't quite sure she could do that but she understood what Carolyn meant. Marge addressed April first and it gave Dee a chance to catch her breath and take her cue from the articulate and lively older woman. April very quickly drew Dee into the conversation and soon she was taking them through the slide with the five points she and April had compiled, giving examples from her own experience. This was when Shay joined in with examples of his own and before she knew it, Marge was thanking them and announcing the next ad break.
'That was excellent!' Carolyn told them when they were off-air.
'Excellent,' Marge agreed. 'I'll come and find you after the show and we'll review the content for next week,' she told April and Dee. She blew them a kiss and then went off to meet her next guest.
'Why don't you two go down to the canteen?' Carolyn suggested. 'You deserve a nice cuppa after that. Shay, thank you so much for coming in and staying on for the nutrition spot; you were great.'
Shay shook her hand. 'No problem, I enjoyed it.' He turned to smile at Dee and April. 'I don't suppose I could tag along for that cuppa, could I?'
'That would be great,' April told him, 'you can give us your thoughts on what we have planned for next week's show.'
Shay spent half an hour with them, listening to their ideas and throwing in a couple of his own. Dee was disappointed when he finally got up to leave. 'It was lovely to meet you,' she said.
'The pleasure was all mine,' he said, smiling into her eyes.
'He's such a flirt,' April laughed when they were alone.
'Yes,' Dee agreed.
'He is very attractive though, isn't he? All those muscles and toned skin and that hair.' She saw Dee grinning at her. 'Hey, I may be getting older but I'm not blind.'
Dee laughed. 'He is attractive,' she admitted, 'but nice with it.'
'And intelligent too, not a combination you get very often.'
'Oh, I don't know about that,' Dee said wistfully thinking of Conor. She had always enjoyed being held in his strong, brawny arms and when it came to kindness, humour and intelligence, Conor was hard to beat. She sighed as she realized how much she missed him. They hadn't been able to go out on too many conventional dates but she was used to him dropping in and out, to him being a part of her day, and there was now a very large gap in it. Sam was beginning to notice.
'Penny for them,' April said.
'Oh, sorry, I was miles away.'
'I could give you his phone number if you like.'
'Sorry?'
'Shay?'
She laughed. 'Thanks, but I'm not interested.'
'Already taken, eh?'
'You could say that,' Dee agreed. 'Now, have you had any more thoughts on next week's show?'
Again, when she emerged from Seven TV and switched her phone back on, the messages started to roll in. She smiled delightedly as she read the congratulations from her friends, and was particularly touched by Conor's.
U WER GREAT, AS ALWAYS
He usually signed off with a kiss but, she supposed, that wasn't appropriate any more. With another heartfelt sigh, she slipped her headset on and drove out of the studio car-park. She had only just pulled out into the traffic when the phone rang. 'Hello, Dee Hewson?'
'Dee, it's Neil.'
'You're not supposed to be calling me, remember?'
He ignored her rebuke. 'I want to talk to you. I know you're in town, will you meet me, same place?'
'How do you know I'm in town?' Dee asked suspiciously.
'I phoned the house and asked for you and no, I didn't say it was me.'
'You still shouldn't have done it; you promised.'
'Dee, give me a break here, I've been very patient and kept my promise to stay away but after the other day—'
'Okay.' Dee could hear the frustration in his voice. 'I'll be there in about ten or fifteen minutes.'
When she walked into the lobby area, her eyes went to the table where he had been sitting the last time they'd met in the hotel and, sure enough, he was there. He spotted her instantly and was immediately on his feet.
'Thanks for coming,' he said when she had taken the seat opposite. He nodded at the pint in front of him. 'I felt like something stronger, how about you?'
'Just some sparkling water for me, please.'
'You never were much of a drinker,' he remarked after placing the order.
'No,' she agreed, thinking of the amount of wine and beer she'd managed to consume in the last few weeks. 'How are you?'
He shrugged. 'I'm not sure. The other day was a bit of a shock.'
'I can understand that but don't blame your mum, Neil. I told her I'd never let her see Sam unless she promised not to tell you.'
'I realize that but it's still hard for me to accept that she's known him all this time and said nothing.'
'You should be grateful,' Dee told him. 'At least he's had a grandmother, if not a father.'
'Do you hate me that much, Dee?'
'No, I love him that much, Neil.' She stopped as the waiter arrived back with her water and took a sip. 'As far as I was concerned Sam had to be protected from you; that can't come as a surprise.'
He looked down. 'No, I suppose not.'
'You didn't help matters by not keeping in touch with your mother.'
'I did!'
'A few brief phone calls hardly count.'
He sat back on the sofa and looked at her. 'But what was the point, Dee? What could I tell her?'
She shrugged. 'I don't know, but you must have realized that as your mother she would always want to know that you were okay.'
His smile was cold. 'But I wasn't.'
But Dee wasn't about to start feeling sorry for him. 'And what about when you turned things around and made a success of your life? What was to stop you calling her then? You could have flown her out for visits, she would have loved that.'
Again he looked away. 'I wasn't ready.'
'You were – are – her adored son. There is nothing she wouldn't have done for you. She would have been over the moon to know that you were well and happy and you deprived her of that. How long is it now since you kicked the gambling?'
'A couple of years.' He didn't look up at her and his face wore a sullen scowl.
'You surprise me,' she said softly. 'Usually a recovering addict can tell you the exact number of months, days and hours since their last drink or drug or bet.'
'I didn't want to bore you.'
She continued to watch him carefully through narrowed eyes. 'You never did come back to me with a referee. Can't you find one, Neil?'
'Not one that speaks English, as it happens, no.'
'You're not helping yourself here, Neil. I'm beginning to wonder if you really want to be a part of Sam's life after all.'
Neil sat forward now, his face close to hers, his eyes blazing. 'How can you make a statement like that when you won't even talk to me? How can you base everything on two chats? How can you decide what kind of person I am now based on so little?'
'I can't,' she hissed back, 'but you're not giving me anything else to go on, are you?'
He sighed. 'The only way forward is if you get to know me again and make your own decision.'
She shook her head, her eyes full of confusion. 'I don't know—'
'What have you got to lose?'
She glared at him. 'I would have thought that was obvious, even to you.'
'Okay, listen, I have an idea. You've already introduced me to Sam as Mum's friend, why can't we continue like that? I could get to know him, he could get to know me and if at a later stage you decide you can trust me, well, then we can tell him the truth.'
She frowned. 'I don't know, that would mean more lies. As it is it's going to be an awful shock for him to find out that Peggy is his granny, never mind that you are his dad.'
'It might be a very pleasant one,' he pointed out. 'Hasn't he ever said that he'd like a daddy or grandparents?'
Dee looked down at her hands. 'I need to think about this.'
'Okay.'
'I have to be honest, Neil, I'm not comfortable that you haven't got someone to vouch for you. That makes me suspicious.' He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off. 'You can't really expect me to trust you after all you've done.'
'No,' he hung his head, 'no, I suppose I can't.'
She studied him for a moment and then nodded. 'Let me think about it, okay? I'll call you.' She stood up.
'When?' He stood up too.
'Soon.'
'But—'
'Don't push it, Neil,' she warned.
He smiled. 'Okay, sorry, and thanks.'
'I'm not making any promises,' she warned.
'I understand. Thanks for listening.'
Walking back to the car, Dee felt under huge pressure to make a decision and was glad that she'd be able to unload some of her worry this evening on to Vi's sympathetic shoulders. It would help to get a completely objective slant on the problem, and it certainly wouldn't hurt. She wondered what the woman would make of the whole thing. Dee had never told her anything about Sam's father and she wasn't sure if Vi knew the story but was just too discreet to mention it. She was not the prying sort and she wasn't exactly forthcoming about her own life either, Dee realized as she drove home. Vi had been back in Banford for around four years now and though Dee knew that the artist was originally from the area, she knew very little else about the woman. In fact, the comment she had made about her trips to the cinema when she was dating was the only personal information Dee could ever remember her offering. How strange that she was such a central figure to the town and yet she seemed to be a total enigma. Had she ever been married, Dee wondered? She must have been stunning when she was young. She was still very attractive with those amazing cheek bones, Roman nose and piercing green eyes and she positively oozed personality. It was hard to understand how she was alone. Maybe after a couple of glasses of wine, Dee would find out why.
Chapter 27
'Come in.' Vi smiled warmly and drew Dee into the warm, cosy cottage. She led the way into a small sitting room decorated in red and cream with a huge fire crackling in the grate.
'This is lovely,' Dee said, flopping gratefully into an overstuffed chair.
Vi produced a bottle of red wine and a bottle of brandy. She held up the latter. 'Don't suppose I can tempt you?'
Dee shook her head, laughing. 'I'd never get anything done tomorrow.'
Vi sat in the armchair opposite her and, pouring wine into a large glass, pushed it across the coffee table to Dee. 'Cheers,' she said raising her brandy balloon.
'Slainte. I've never been in here before.' Dee looked around her appreciatively. The walls were adorned with paintings of all shapes and sizes and a huge variety of styles but none of them were Vi's own work. The four armchairs were an unusual charcoal-grey and inordinately comfortable with numerous cushions in different shades of red, all made of sumptuous materials with beading and tassels. An enormous red wool rug covered the plain wooden floor in front of the fireplace and two lamps with maroon shades threw a pleasantly subtle light across the room.
'It's lovely.' Dee smiled.
'This is my evening space,' Vi told her, 'my place to unwind.'
'I thought I was here to sit for you.'
Vi's eyes twinkled in the firelight. 'You didn't really.'
Dee laughed. 'No, I didn't.'
'I'm nearly finished with you, anyway. I've got enough sketches now to allow me to incorporate you into any painting I want.'
Dee shuddered. 'What a scary thought.'
Vi laughed. 'The good news is that I won't need to hog half of your kitchen any more.'
'Oh,' Dee said, surprised at the disappointment she felt. 'I've got kind of used to having you around.'
Vi chuckled. 'I'll come back soon to paint Sam,' she promised.
'That would be wonderful.' Dee's eyes lit up. 'Although trying to get him to sit still for more than a minute at a time will be a challenge.'
'There are tricks to painting children.'
'So when can I see what you've made me look like?' Dee asked, trying not to sound too eager.
Vi's smile was ambiguous. 'Soon enough but, I warn you, you probably won't recognize yourself.'
'Why's that?' Dee asked nervously.
Vi shrugged. 'Not everyone does. They expect to see the person they see in the mirror or in a photograph and that's not the way I work.' Vi watched her thoughtfully. 'I paint from the inside out.'
Dee shrugged. 'I don't mind. I quite like the idea, especially if other people don't recognize me either.'
Vi nodded, pleased. 'Good. Now, why don't you tell me what's been troubling you?'
'You don't hang about, do you?' Dee said, taking a sip from her glass.
'I don't see the point these days. Don't tell me anything you don't want to but I'm happy to listen if you need an ear.' She raised her glass to her lips and waited.
'I do need to talk but I'd like some impartial and objective advice too, Vi. I have quite a dilemma and I'm afraid I can't see the wood for the trees at the moment. I'm absolutely terrified of doing the wrong thing simply because I'm confused.'
Vi shot her a look of disbelief. 'You are a very impressive and intelligent young woman and in your heart you probably already know the right thing to do.'
Dee smiled. 'Now you see that's why I came to you! It's kind of you to say that but I'm not so sure.' She sighed. 'Where do I begin?'
'Take your time,' Vi advised, settling herself more comfortably. 'There's no rush.'
Dee took another sip and hugged a large, corduroy cushion to her chest. 'Sam's dad has turned up. He wants to
get to know him and I'm not sure if I should let him.'
Vi nodded thoughtfully. 'I see.'
'Do you know anything about him?' Dee asked. 'Please, if you do, just say so. It will save me the hassle of going through the whole sorry saga.'
Vi frowned. 'I did hear something a long time ago. You lived abroad with him, split up and then you came home alone, is that right?'
'Not quite alone.' Dee smiled. 'It was a bit more gruesome than that, I'm afraid. Neil had taken to gambling and when I couldn't take it any more and told him I was leaving, he decided to leave first, taking my money and some jewellery with him.'
'That's disgraceful!'
Dee nodded. 'It was a shock to say the least. Luckily, I was able to pay for my flight home with my credit card and I still had my house to come back to. I thought I could probably still go to college if I worked nights and weekends. I wasn't afraid of hard work as I'd had more than three years of doing nothing.'
'And then you found out about Sam,' Vi surmised.
'Yes. What a shock that was, although it turned out to be a blessing. I'll be honest, though, they were tough times but I was lucky. I had Lisa who was so kind to me and even my Aunt Pauline was supportive when she finally got over the shock.'
Vi frowned. 'And I suppose you had Peggy too, your mother's cousin?'
Dee sighed and shook her head. 'No, not at first. You see, Peggy isn't my mother's cousin.'
'Oh, I must have got it wrong.' Vi laughed. 'I do that a lot these days.'
'No, you got it right. That's what I told everyone.'
Again, Vi waited silently for Dee to explain, leaning over to top up her glass.
'Peggy is Sam's grandmother.'
Vi's eyes widened but she said nothing.
'To cut a long story short, she found out about the baby and wan ted to be a part of his life. I agreed as long as she promised never to tell Neil – that's Sam's father.'
'I can understand that you were angry with him, he behaved abominably.'
'It was more than that, Vi. He had become addicted to gambling. That's why we split up and that's why he robbed from me. He couldn't think beyond his next bet; it was always going to be the one that would make him rich and, of course, then he would promise it would be his last. I decided that if he ever did show up again, I would never let him be a part of Sam's life. I knew I couldn't rely on him. Not only would he be in and out of the picture but he'd probably end up stealing from the child's piggy-bank.'
It's All About Him Page 23
