Summer of Love

by Sophie Pembroke

  But there was plenty of sunlight left for Lily to identify the figure crossing from the car park to Max’s office.

  ‘What the hell is she doing here?’ Lily muttered as she watched her mum glance back over her shoulder and hurry on. Was she meddling again? Surely the news that Edward was marrying somebody else had to be enough for her to give up any dreams of them getting back together?

  In fact, maybe she should make sure that Evelyn had heard that news. Just in case it had slipped past the grapevine.

  By the time Lily reached the main Mill building, Evelyn had already disappeared inside. Talking to Max, Lily wondered? About her, presumably. Which meant she was well within her rights to interrupt.

  Lily knocked on the door to Max’s office but didn’t wait for permission to enter. Something she regretted as the sight of her boss kissing her mother registered in her brain.

  Lily screwed her eyes shut. ‘Oh God.’

  ‘Lily!’ Evelyn’s horrified tone persuaded her to open them again, and this time, she found her mum and Max on opposite sides of the room.

  ‘What the… I don’t…’ Lily stopped, swallowed, and tried to find the right words.

  ‘Lily,’ Max said, in his calmest voice. ‘Let me explain.’

  ‘I’m not sure I really want to know,’ Lily said, still staring at Evelyn.

  ‘It’s not what you think,’ Evelyn said, the words coming out rushed.

  ‘I think you were kissing my boss.’ She looked at Max, who nodded. ‘And I think maybe that’s been going on for a while.’

  ‘Six months,’ Max confirmed. ‘Since the Christmas Craft Evening. We got talking – properly talking – for the first time. And from there… things sort of developed. At least, until you broke things off with Edward.’

  ‘And you didn’t tell me.’ Lily frowned. ‘And what did Edward have to do with anything?’

  ‘You were going to marry him,’ Evelyn said, a hint of a wail in her voice. ‘You were going to be settled and happy, and then I could move on…’

  ‘She wanted you married before she told you about us,’ Max explained.

  ‘But… why?’

  Max shrugged. ‘You Thomas women are a mystery to me.’

  ‘Because you’re my daughter!’ Evelyn shook a finger at her. ‘I had to see you settled first, before I could have anything for myself!’

  Lily blinked. ‘You really, really don’t. That’s what all this has been about? You’d rather me be married to a man I didn’t love so you could stop feeling guilty about… What, exactly? I’m a grown woman, Mum! Why would you think I couldn’t handle you having a relationship of your own?’

  ‘You’ve always been so… temperamental.’ Evelyn slumped against the desk. ‘Edward was good for you. After your dad died… well, you know. You went off the rails – don’t try and deny it. And maybe I wasn’t much use.’

  ‘You were grieving,’ Max interjected, and Evelyn gave him a soft smile.

  ‘Anyway. Edward… He kept you on an even keel. I didn’t want anything to disrupt that before you made it down the aisle.’

  Lily tried to imagine her mother, sneaking around to meet Max under cover of darkness, carrying on a secret romance, all because she wanted her wild child daughter – who hadn’t been remotely wild in years until this summer – to stay calm and boring. No wonder she’d been so mad when Lily had called off the engagement. And her latest news probably wasn’t going to go down too well, either.

  ‘Yeah, well, Edward’s marrying someone else, so I think that ship might have sailed.’ Lily gave her mother a faintly apologetic smile.

  ‘He’s what?’ Max sounded indignant. ‘Idiot.’

  ‘He looks happier than he ever did with me,’ Lily admitted.

  ‘He’s still an idiot.’

  Lily decided to let Max have that one.

  ‘I suppose it’ll have to be Cora’s cousin, then,’ Evelyn said, sounding displeased.

  ‘Alex?’ Lily asked. ‘What’s he got to do with this?’

  ‘I think your mother is hinting at your future fiancé,’ Max said, helpfully.

  Lily sighed. Time to stop this nonsense once and for all. ‘Mother. I am not getting married. And if, by any freak chance, I do one day decide to do so, it will not be to prove that I am a grown up and settled down. It will be because I’m in love.’ She leant forward to look into Evelyn’s eyes. ‘And you cannot wait until I’m living the life you think I should be living before you get out there and find your own life.’

  Evelyn’s eyes were wide. ‘I just want you to be happy.’

  ‘I am happy,’ Lily said. ‘Or I will be. Either way, it’s up to me to make that happen. Not some man. And certainly not marriage.’

  For a moment, Evelyn looked like she might argue, but then her head fell into a nod, and Lily let out a breath of relief. Maybe this was all it took. Maybe, now, she could be New Lily for real, without anyone else’s expectations.

  Crossing the small room, Max took Evelyn’s arm. ‘Come on, Evie. You can rant about it all over dinner, if you like.’

  Lily raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s it? She lied about your relationship, kicked you out of her house… You’re just going to let her off?’

  Max shrugged. ‘I love her. So we’re going to go out for a nice dinner, and we’re going to figure out a way to make things work, out in the open. Right, Evie?’

  Evelyn’s smile was tentative but real. ‘It seems so.’

  ‘Well… okay then,’ Lily said. ‘And I’m going to… go on Cora’s hen night, I suppose.’ Was that all it took? Real love meant you figured things out. Together.

  Max opened the door for her. ‘Have fun.’

  Lily smiled. ‘I’ll try.’

  * * * *

  Back at the cottage that evening, Alex couldn’t help but feel his brother was getting a bit too into the idea of being single again. Or perhaps just trying too hard to forget why he’d hated it.

  ‘What do you think of this shirt?’ Gareth asked, and Alex looked up from his slumped position in front of the TV.

  ‘It’s a shirt.’ A garishly striped shirt, but Alex wasn’t the fashion police.

  Gareth rolled his eyes. ‘Very observant. But do you think it looks okay on me?’

  ‘I think you haven’t phoned your sons to say goodnight yet tonight, and it’s gone seven-thirty.’

  ‘Shit!’ Gareth darted back out into the hallway, where Alex could hear him grabbing his phone from the table and, moments later, him saying, ‘Della? It’s me. Just called to say goodnight to the boys…’

  Ten minutes later, he was back, in a different shirt. ‘Right, let’s go.’

  Alex started. ‘Where?’

  ‘The pub, of course.’ Gareth gave him his patented older brother, have-you-really-got-a-brain-in-there look. ‘I’ve been here three days, and we’ve not left the house.’

  ‘I have,’ Alex said. ‘I’ve been working. You’re the one who’s been slobbing about here, drinking my beer.’ He didn’t admit that the only reason he’d been working so hard was it was the only way he’d found to block Lily out of his mind. Gareth would probably decide they should go to a strip club instead of the pub, and the only club within twenty miles of Felinfach was, by all accounts, bloody terrifying.

  ‘Well then. It’s time you took me out, isn’t it?’ He grabbed Alex’s wallet and keys from the coffee table. ‘Come on.’

  Alex had a feeling, as the front door to the cottage shut behind him, that this was a very bad idea.

  ‘How was Della?’ he asked, setting off down High Street towards the Bull and Frog. No need to mention his visit, and Della had promised not to tell. The boys would probably let it slip eventually, but for now it could wait. Especially since he was still mulling over the advice she’d given him about Lily.

  Gareth shrugged. ‘Didn’t say. The boys were excited about going swimming with me at the weekend, though.’

  Well, that was something, Alex supposed. At least Gareth hadn’t changed beyond all
recognition. He still wanted time with his boys.

  The Bull and Frog was packed, and Alex blinked at the sight before spotting the karaoke machine in the corner. Seriously. Was that still a thing? Was it really still fun for people to stand up and humiliate themselves in public?

  ‘Excellent,’ Gareth said, rubbing his hands together. ‘I’m just in the mood for a bit of a sing.’

  Apparently so, Alex thought, and headed to the bar. Clearly this was going to require beer.

  It wasn’t until he was loaded down with two pints that he turned to track down where his brother had got to – and saw him sitting at a table right next to the stage area. With Cora and Lily. And Cora was wearing a bride-to-be sash and a tacky, sequined veil.

  He swore under his breath. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Lily again – hell, it was all he’d been thinking of for days, and especially since talking to Della. But he didn’t want to do it on his cousin’s hen night, with the soundtrack of the local lack-of-talent show. But it didn’t look like he was going to have a lot of choice.

  With a sigh, Alex turned back to the bar. This was going to require more alcohol.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘Wait, back up a little.’ Cora poured the wine into the bucket-sized glasses provided by a very sympathetic barmaid, and Lily grabbed hers the moment the bottle finished hovering over it. ‘Your mother is sleeping with Max – which I may never get over, by the way – and, even more appallingly, Edward’s getting married?’

  Lily nodded around her wine glass. She’d already been through this twice.

  ‘But… how? You only broke up a month and a half ago.’ Cora sounded suitably insulted on her behalf, which Lily appreciated.

  In the end, after all the shocks and surprises of the night, she’d decided to just go with it and hope a lot of wine and a girly bitching session with Cora helped her figure things out. She hadn’t honestly factored karaoke night into her plans, but in the end it seemed suitably fitting. It was a hen night, after all.

  ‘Apparently it was an epic love beyond their control,’ she said between sips.

  Cora spluttered on her wine. ‘Did he really say that?’

  ‘Well, no,’ Lily admitted. ‘He said that he knew it was the right time, so he joined a dating website which found him his perfect match. It seems that “when the right person comes along, you just know”.’

  ‘This, from the man who took seven years to propose to you?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Actually, now she thought about it, maybe Lily was going to go with insulted too.

  ‘So they met, like, a month ago, and now they’re planning a wedding?’

  ‘For Christmas,’ Lily confirmed, and watched Cora’s eyebrows shoot up.

  ‘Is she pregnant?’

  A chill shivered through Lily’s chest. ‘He didn’t say.’ But it would make sense, wouldn’t it? If she wasn’t yet, Lily would place good money on her being knocked up before the end of the year. That had to be the next step in Edward’s campaign to be the ultimate cliché of a family business man, didn’t it?

  Cora gave her an assessing look. ‘You’re not regretting breaking it off, are you?’

  ‘Not for a second.’

  ‘Good. Because Alex is a much better option for you.’ Cora made it sound like just her pronouncement was enough to make it so. If only it were that easy.

  ‘You’ve changed your tune. Besides, I don’t think he’s an option at all, any more. Even if I wanted him. Which I’m not saying I do.’ Lily gulped down some more wine before she said anything even more ridiculous.

  Rolling her eyes, Cora topped up her glass. ‘Why? Because he hasn’t called? You ran out on him in a bridal shop. Tends to give the guy the wrong idea.’

  ‘Or in this case, the right idea. I told you, I’m not looking for love and marriage. It was just a –’

  ‘Just a fling. I know. You’ve told me often enough.’ Cora smirked. ‘Eventually, you might even manage to sound like you believe it.’

  ‘Even if it wasn’t – and I’m not saying that it wasn’t,’ Lily added, before Cora could finish her victory cheer. ‘I’m not ready for all the things that Alex wants. I’m not done figuring out what I want.’

  ‘And wanting him isn’t enough?’ Cora asked.

  ‘No. I almost let myself drift into a marriage that would have been very wrong for both of us, just because I went along with what other people wanted – and assumed I did too. I can’t make that mistake again.’

  Cora stared at her sadly, and suddenly Lily wanted to talk about anything except her shambles of a love life.

  ‘Enough about me.’ Lily waved her wine glass around the gaggle of girls Cora had invited to the hen night. They seemed considerably more interested in the guy on stage pretending to be Bon Jovi in his younger days than in celebrating Cora’s impending nuptials. ‘How’s all the wedding stuff going? Are you beside yourself with excitement yet?’

  Cora’s smile didn’t sparkle the way it had at her engagement party. Her eyes weren’t as bright as they had been when she’d described her perfect ring, Rhys at her side, clutching her hand. In fact, now Lily took the time to look properly… Cora looked weary. Beyond exhausted and out the other side.

  ‘I think everything’s ready,’ Cora said, looking down at her glass. ‘We need to finish the favours –’

  ‘Stop.’ Lily placed a hand over her friend’s. ‘What’s happened? What’s the matter?’

  Cora tugged her hand away and lifted her glass. ‘Oh, you know. Just the usual last minute wedding stresses.’

  Pangs of guilt stung Lily’s chest. ‘Anything I can do to help? I know I haven’t been much of a maid of honour so far –’

  ‘You’ve been great!’ Cora protested politely.

  Lily gave her a look. ‘You’re having your hen night at the Bull and Frog karaoke night. Look, I’ve been rubbish this summer. But if there’s anything I can do…’

  Cora’s smile was tentative but real, this time. ‘Thank you, Lily.’

  Lily shrugged. ‘It’s what I’m here for.’

  Suddenly, Cora’s attention flicked away from her, towards the door. Lily tensed, not really wanting to know what had drawn Cora away.

  ‘But I think you might have something else to fix first,’ Cora said.

  Lily turned. ‘Damn it.’ There, by the door, stood Alex, looking utterly gorgeous, as always. And he wasn’t alone. It had been a lot of years since Lily had seen Gareth, but the resemblance between the brothers was clear.

  Cora stood up and waved at her cousins with considerably more enthusiasm than Lily felt. Alex didn’t seem to notice. Lily watched his face fall when he spotted the karaoke sign, then saw him head directly for the bar.

  Gareth, however, started walking towards their table.

  Lily sat back and prepared herself for Cora’s usual introduction, which over recent years had developed into a full on sales pitch for Tiger Lily. But instead, after a welcoming hug for Gareth, this time Cora said, ‘Gareth, do you remember my best friend, Lily? She’s the one who’s been driving Alex crazy since he arrived in town.’ When Lily tried to interject and defend herself, Cora added, ‘Oh, and she’s a jewellery designer now. If you come to your senses and decide to buy Della something sparkly and expensive to get back in her good graces, I’ll take you to Tiger Lily.’

  ‘Leave it, Cora,’ Gareth said, his smile slipping. ‘Tonight, I just want to forget all about marriage and romance and all that rubbish.’

  ‘You realize that this is a hen night, right?’ Lily asked, and tried to hide her smile as Gareth finally took in the sash, veil, balloons and table confetti, and the four other women looking at him with great curiosity.

  But she had to give him credit for the smile he pasted on. ‘Well, I never object to the company of pretty ladies. And tonight I want to kick back, have a drink, and maybe a bit of a sing song.’

  ‘Excellent!’ Cora sounded far more excited than Lily felt karaoke really deserved. ‘You and Lily should do
a duet!’

  Lily looked at the minuscule amount of wine left in the bottle. Unless there was another bottle on the way, it didn’t seem very likely.

  Still, despite her obvious lack of enthusiasm, Gareth was already acquiring the song lists from Rob, who ran the karaoke, and studying them carefully with Cora. Lily had a feeling this night could go wrong, very quickly indeed.

  Another bottle of white wine smacked onto the table just in front of her, and Alex slid onto the stool at her side, depositing two bottles of beer next to it. ‘You looked like you might need this,’ he said, not looking at her.

  ‘If Cora gets her way about making me sing a duet with Gareth, we might all need a hell of a lot more.’

  Alex looked sideways at her. ‘I’ve never heard you sing.’ He tipped his head on one side, as if he were trying to imagine the sight.

  ‘And there’s a reason for that.’ Lily topped up her wine glass. ‘I’d get drinking, if I were you.’

  * * * *

  Two hours and a lot of beer later, Alex tried to ignore Gareth and Cora duetting Kylie and Jason’s ‘Especially for You’ on the stage behind him, and watched as Lily very deliberately poured the last of the wine into her glass. She wasn’t drunk, exactly, but she was certainly tipsy. Just like that first night at Tessa and Jack’s wedding. But that was probably the wrong night to be thinking about, under the circumstances.

  ‘Lily?’ he said, and she looked up from her glass, eyes steady and green under the wisps of hair falling in front of her face.

  She sighed as she saw his expression. ‘We should probably talk.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Except, now he was there, Alex didn’t want to talk. He didn’t want to be reasonable and grownup about this. He wanted to yell and rage and figure it out so he could just kiss her again.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Lily said, with a lopsided smile he’d probably find endearing under any other circumstances.

  ‘What for, exactly?’ Alex leant back in his seat, stretching his legs out in front of him as he waited for her answer.