‘Is it?’ asked Skye in some confusion. ‘What’s serious about some kids coming round and playing after school?’
Belle didn’t like Skye’s flippant response, or the way she was standing straight, slightly in Belle’s personal space now she thought of it, and annoying the hell out of her with her smug face. ‘I heard it’s a self-defence club and you started it to keep the children away from Miles?’ she raged, stepping backwards and feeling suddenly uncomfortable. This wasn’t going quite how she planned it. Skye didn’t look in the slightest bit flummoxed or intimidated as she had expected, nor had she looked embarrassed at being found out. What the hell?
Skye stood a bit straighter and looked Belle directly in the eye. ‘Why would they want to avoid Miles?’ she asked innocently. ‘Of course, it’s not an official self-defence class, although it did give me inspiration for this place,’ she continued, without giving Belle a moment to say more, and tilted her head towards the new climbing area she had constructed. Belle followed her line of vision to the low-level climbing apparatus by the CloudClimb centre.
Belle somehow felt that Skye was playing with her, but couldn’t put her finger on quite how. It made her start to stutter before she snapped herself out of it, taking a step towards Skye. Skye planted her feet and stayed put, which meant Belle had to sort of sidestep her and then pretend to walk over and inspect the assault course, feeling like an idiot. ‘Why would someone tell me your ‘club’ was to isolate my son?’ she demanded to know, her face turning puce. Skye patted Belle’s arm, a bit patronisingly, but it stopped Belle’s face turning even more purple, as she felt she might combust at any moment.
‘Look,’ said Skye, ‘when my son Leo joined the school he didn’t know anyone. I started inviting various friends round to play. As you can see from this construction, my field of expertise is in climbing and fitness training. I was having a career break when I arrived and had no intention of doing anything like this. I was actually going to try and write a climbing book and throw in some romance about a couple who got lost in the mountains. What a stupid idea! I thought maybe a writer’s life would be creative and relaxing, but when I tried to write a book and sent it to an agent, she told me it was dismal.’ Belle stared in shock at this sudden sharing of confidences and felt a warm glow that Skye had told her something she was sure none of the other mums knew about her. The gossip would be pure gold. Skye waved her arm around to encompass the low-level climbing course, which seemed to be her pride and joy. ‘I had to think again, and when the children seemed to enjoy playing in the garden so much, I approached Zack about expanding his business. Luckily, he was already looking for a way to keep the smaller children occupied while the older children were on the CloudClimb course. The idea grew from playground chat. You guys gave me the idea.’
Belle glowed with the praise that she had actually helped this poor failure of a writer to find another dream.
‘I had a small climbing frame I’d built in my garden and the kids asked me to help them learn how to balance. It became a weekly play session, not an after school club.’
‘Why wasn’t Miles invited round, then?’ asked Belle, not really knowing where this conversation was heading. She had really wanted to slap Skye’s stupid face earlier and now she was very confused about how she felt.
‘It’s not like he and Leo are best friends, is it?’ asked Skye candidly, making Belle frown.
‘You have loads of kids there, apparently,’ said Belle, trying her best not to sound petulant. Skye would have to start thinking of Leo’s school life and not keep putting herself first, the selfish woman. Surely she must be aware that Miles was a sought-after friend in school and upsetting him was not an option. Belle didn’t like the thought that Miles was now feeling segregated from other children because of this woman and her son.
‘Only as many as can fit in a cottage garden.’ Skye didn’t expand on how huge the garden was. ‘Miles would have been welcome but, unfortunately, when more children asked to come round, I had to say no,’ she sighed as if this was such a chore and she was speaking to a four-year-old, then caught herself and sent an apologetic smile to Belle, which she grudgingly accepted. ‘I guess that, thinking about it now, there might be other mums who are upset with me. Do you think the whole class wanted to join in?’ asked Skye innocently.
‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Belle, realising she may have overreacted and not wanting to see Skye upset over such a silly misunderstanding. ‘I’m sure most of them aren’t like my Miles, who loves it here at CloudClimb. They probably hate sport and wouldn’t want to come to such a pokey space anyway.’ Skye grinned at Belle, who had no clue how insulting she was being.
‘Obviously, we now have much more space with a low-level assault course for small children to climb on, but the older children can use it for self-defence training. It really was the school gossip that gave me the idea,’ said Skye, as Belle flinched at the inferred ‘we’ of Skye and Zack as a team. ‘Sometimes gossip can work in your favour,’ she smiled, as if hoping her comment would hit the mark.
Belle flushed red again and cleared her throat. She didn’t know who to believe, but it seemed maybe bloody Naomi and her cronies had got it wrong this time. Why would anyone want to keep away from Miles anyhow? He was the most popular boy in school. Maybe if Skye was going to be a permanent fixture round here, she would let her into her inner circle? Especially if she was with Zack. The girl would be loaded and in need of direction. Belle would have to forget Zack, it seemed, and give Gerald a call at last, to accept his offer of that weekend in Provence.
Belle cleared her throat and turned to see if Marlo was watching; she was. ‘Well, I’m glad we got that sorted out, Skye,’ she said patronisingly, as if Skye had bowed down and apologised to her. ‘It seems we had crossed wires, but I’m glad we can be friends now,’ she continued, patting Skye’s arm. Skye looked down at the gesture before darting a glance at Marlo and raising her eyes heavenward.
‘I understand from Zack that he’s having a ball here soon? That sounds like great fun!’ Belle chirped, suddenly playful as if confiding in a close friend. Skye sighed and let Belle score one point.
‘I think I saw your name on one of the invitations on Marlo’s desk. Would you like me to grab it for you before you go?’
‘That would be lovely,’ exclaimed Belle, as if the thought couldn’t have been further from her mind, but she was secretly rubbing her hands with glee. At least one good thing had come out of today’s fiasco.
‘Stay here and I’ll grab it for you before I walk you out,’ Skye darted off before Belle could answer and she felt slightly awkward at standing in the middle of the trees all by herself. Skye ran to the office and Belle gasped at how fast she moved when motivated. That girl could run.
‘What happened?’ Marlo demanded to know as Skye arrived and she checked her for bruises.
‘Don’t ask me now, just hurry up and write her name on an invitation to the ball.’
‘What?’ cried Marlo. ‘I had put her on the list, but Zack scrubbed it off.’
‘Stick it back on again, then, and write her name in your best fancy writing as if it’s been there for ages,’ Skye urged, not even the slightest bit out of breath from the run she had just done. ‘She’s waiting outside. I hope that the golden ticket and gentle push for the door will make her get lost and leave us alone. I’ve reached my limit for being nice and I know Zack will flip out at me inviting her to the party. But, everything else aside, she is the local queen bee and it makes sound business sense for her to be invited. Zack will still sulk though.’ Seeing Marlo standing open-mouthed, she grabbed her arm and ushered her to the desk, where a pile of pristine invitations sat waiting for the names to be written on. Skye picked up a pen and placed it in Marlo’s hand, and she sat down and began to write as fast as she could. ‘I don’t want her wandering anywhere else before I can get rid of her.’
‘You bribed Belle with a ball ticket?’ gasped Marlo. ‘That’s such a great idea. I’ll ha
ve to think of a few things she’d like, to shut her up if she ever gets a bit narky with me, too.’
‘Of course I bribed her,’ giggled Skye, taking the ticket and rushing back out of the room. ‘She’s really shallow!’ she added with a wink as she flew out of the door and started guiding ‘Mirror Ball’ Belle back towards the entrance.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Thea started clearing up the mess she had made with breakfast and hadn’t had time to deal with. She walked passed the pretty mirror she had in her kitchen, which Allie had decorated with shells, and admired her new haircut. She had finally decided that morning to get her hair chopped off, and it was now a manageable crown of curls rather than her usual unruly mess. She had to admit that she was looking more like her old self lately. She’d stopped gorging on wine and cake and her clothes felt much looser. In fact, she could probably do with a return visit to that boutique with the snotty shop assistant where she had first met Skye, to buy a dress for Zack’s ball. She might even need a smaller size. Now Flo wasn’t breastfeeding, her breasts had shrunk back to their admittedly still fairly humongous, but not quite so offensive, state.
Thea finally felt that she was getting hold of her life again, and not slipping into the pool of depression that had been clawing at her over the previous few weeks. Maybe she’d had some sort of minor breakdown, or postnatal depression, since Flo was born? It wasn’t like she could ask a hard nut like Skye about feelings, or approach her spiky sister for advice. She would simply bite her head off, or laugh in her face for being so pathetic.
Thea also admitted that she had been jealous of Skye and Zack’s blossoming romance. She’d watched them holding hands when they thought no one was looking and seen the way Zack managed to brush past Skye at every opportunity, whether it be a soft hand on the arm, or a swift feel of her backside.
They were so natural around the kids too. They made sure Allie was included, but Emmie and Leo seemed to have fallen into a pattern of spending hours playing in the estate garden with the two lolloping dogs, while the adults worked together. The natural progression of Skye being at CloudClimb all the time was accepted by everyone and it had made Thea a bit bitter at how easily she fitted in. Even ‘Mirror Ball’ Belle was suddenly gushing about how wonderful Skye was, much to Skye’s disgust.
Seeing how Zack looked out for the kids, even though he wasn’t Allie’s or Leo’s dad, made her question her decision to keep Flo’s dad in the dark about his child again, too. It had been making her sick with worry over the last few weeks and she had finally decided that it was time to call him and let him know where she was. Maybe she could forgive him for Flo’s sake and they could start again? Her stomach crunched at the thought of seeing him and she badly wanted to reach for a glass of wine, but she held herself in check and put the remaining dishes back into the cupboards. She smiled at the clutter of mugs and cups in her kitchen, compared to the borderline obsessive sparseness of Skye’s, then her smile slipped as she remembered how drunk she had been the previous week.
She cringed in embarrassment and was glad she hadn’t caved in and confided in Skye. Before Thea had come here, she had gone into her old work files and left a trail for Flo’s dad to find, if he chose to look for her. She knew it was cowardly, but at least that way he wouldn’t be able to say she hadn’t given him a route to his child. She wasn’t completely heartless. He was a smart man and he would see the clues if he looked for them.
Thea gulped in some air as her face flamed in embarrassment. Why would he be looking for her anyway? He had scores of women and probably hadn’t noticed she wasn’t there. Why would she want a bastard like that as a role model for her daughter, when he hadn’t come knocking on her door so far? She felt her face flame and berated herself for being weak and trying to contact him. She was glad he hadn’t answered when she’d drunkenly called him last week. He wouldn’t recognise her new number anyway.
She should have been strong, as Skye had been for years, and survived devoid of a man. If it hadn’t been for the guilt she felt about Flo growing up without knowing her dad, Thea would have probably tried to forget about him. She knew, deep down, that she was finding it hard to cope without him and she was so weak she would probably have found an excuse to contact him at some point. Not just for Flo, but because her body craved him like a drug and she needed a fix desperately. She was so ashamed of herself, it had been making her ill, but she’d had enough of the self-pity now and was trying to pick herself back up off the floor for her daughter’s sake.
Straightening her back and flicking her hair off her face, she decided it was time she started sorting her own life out and not comparing herself to Skye all the time. Skye was an emotional desert and maybe she wasn’t the best person to emulate. Lifting the pram and turning it to face the front door, she scooped up Flo, from where she was happily playing on her baby mat with some toys, and decided she would buy herself a complete new wardrobe and settle on what kind of woman the new Thea wanted to be. If Flo’s dad did turn up at her front door, then she would look slick and amazing and he would beg for her forgiveness and never let her go.
Turning as she locked the cottage door, she thought she saw a movement by the side of the estate gates, but as she squinted to get a better view, she saw one of the CloudClimb staff arrive, strolling down the lane, and frowned. She could have sworn there was someone else there, but the road was clear. Waving back to the young man that Skye had just recruited to help them with Skye-Safe, she pushed her bag under the pram and briskly walked towards the high street.
Deciding she was being paranoid after her earlier thoughts, as Flo’s dad had obviously either not found the messages or chosen to ignore them, Thea pressed a button on her phone to activate the voice control and told it to call Skye, while she parked the buggy outside the boutique. Ignoring the delicious cake smells that were wafting down the street from the café, Thea eyed a beautiful purple dress in the window and waited for Skye to answer. It was about time they both threw out their drab wardrobes and let some vibrant colour into their lives, although by the rosy flush of Skye’s face these days, she was probably getting enough sex to power a town and might not have time for clothes shopping with her friend. They were both young, rich and sexy women and Thea decided they should stand on a bench in the village and shout to the rest of the world about it. No more hiding in shadows. It was time to start living.
Both she and Skye had been so busy setting up Skye-Safe that they had forgotten to buy a dress for the ball and it was only a few days away. She would get Skye down here and then into the hair salon if it killed her. They’d been drifting apart a bit lately and a bit of girly shopping was the remedy to most things in life. At least it would be a start and, once again, they could reinvent themselves, but maybe this time without hiding the real person inside.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The children were all running around Zack’s house as if they had eaten a plateful of coloured sugar for dinner, instead of the spaghetti Bolognese Skye had prepared. They had all recognised, pretty quickly, that it was the only edible dish she could safely cook. It had been decided that Thea and Flo would come round and they would all get ready for the ball together. Zack had hired a team of child-minders, who were actually a group of bored local grandparents who had decided to set up a childcare business at big events. It worked like a dream, as everyone knew them and they often had a brilliant time dancing with the children too. Zack had been introduced to them by Mike and they had been an instant hit with the kids.
Zack walked past the open door and did a double take when he saw the two women standing there smiling at each other. Wow! Neither of them was the type of woman to primp and groom themselves every minute, but hell, when they did his heart nearly stopped at the sight of them. He didn’t let them know he was there, but drank in the sight of them, enjoying how happy they seemed.
Thea twirled round in front of Skye in her purple dress and Skye clapped her hands in pleasure. Thea looked amazing! Her dress f
lowed around her ankles and dipped seductively at her breasts. Skye had told him that she was pleased to see the old Thea gradually returning lately. Skye had been so tied up with the Skye-Safe launch, and the rush to get everything ready, that she’d been preoccupied. As Thea was helping out too, it had been a nightmare to get together and chat. Every time Skye had approached the topic, Thea had shut her down and said she was fussing. It made Skye uncomfortable to discuss personal topics as she wasn’t a girly girl, but for Thea, she had tried. She should have tried harder, though, she’d said. Skye had a knack of getting people to share their innermost secrets, as Zack seemed to be sharing more of his feelings these days, but something about Thea’s behaviour had been really bothering Skye and she had backed off from finding out the truth in case Thea slipped back into the doldrums. Skye was finally building a life for herself here and she, selfishly, didn’t want Thea to ruin it. So much for being a good friend, she’d sighed, but Zack had told her she was an amazing friend and she’d hugged him so hard he’d thought she might pop a rib!
From the door he watched Skye impulsively reach over and hug Thea tightly, making her giggle and blush. Thea hugged her friend back fiercely and then held her away to take in Skye’s dramatic midnight blue dress with tiny stars dotted all over it. It was so fluid, it clung to her svelte frame. It was as if you were staring at a moonlit night; she looked breath-taking. ‘Zack will drop down dead in shock when he see’s you,’ she giggled and he almost had, as he’d never seen either woman look so beautiful.
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