‘Couldn’t we borrow the money?’
‘No!’ Matt drew back. ‘We can’t get into debt now. And certainly not for –’
‘Not for my silly idea of aromatherapy?’ Sally’s voice was sharp with anger. ‘But no doubt if Megan wanted to set up a seal sanctuary or Mitchell wanted to teach senior citizens to hang-glide, that would be a different matter! Family first – and me second! That’s it, Matt, isn’t it?’
‘No, actually, it isn’t.’ Matt’s voice was low, but his anger showed. ‘You and Kim are more important to me than anything. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, too. I’m prepared to help you all I can … but not just yet. Please be patient, Sally. I’ve got plans.’
‘Plans to buy a new taxi? Plans that don’t have anything at all to do with what I want!’
‘Stop being so selfish!’ Matt snapped. ‘An aromatherapy business will hardly make us a fortune, will it? It might make a steady income, but it won’t be enough to keep the three of us. We need something more, something I’m working on.’
‘What?’
‘I’ve already told you too much.’ He was grinning again. ‘Now, no more discussions about the business, your aromatherapy, or anything else. Tonight we’re going to recapture our youth!’
‘We’re hardly in our dotage,’ Sally protested as she polished off her melon and grinned back.
‘No, but as you reminded me earlier, we were beginning to behave like it. What with Megan and Peter acting like Darby and Joan, we were in danger of becoming exactly like them.’
Sally was intrigued. Matt seemed to have had a complete change of heart ever since Judith and Paul’s visit. She wished she knew more about what was happening.
Then she smiled to herself. She’d ask Cicely tomorrow when she called round for coffee. After all, she and Cicely had plans of their own …
All the following week, Megan kept looking in at the jars and packages hidden in the top drawer of her dressing table.
Peter, obviously miffed at her sticking to her guns the previous Saturday, hadn’t been in touch, and Megan was determined that she wouldn’t be the one to make the first move.
Otherwise, life in Lavender Lane seemed to be running fairly smoothly.
Mitch, bruised but otherwise unhurt, was back at work, vowing to take part in the next weekend’s race come hell or high water. Matt and Sally seemed happy, and Aunt Judith and Uncle Paul had stayed away from her parents since the night of Mitch’s accident.
Megan spent the week counting the days until Saturday, when she could put her careful plan into action, but at last it arrived, and as she handed over her taxi to the night driver and hurried home, she was relieved to see no sign of her parents or Mitchell. She needed the house to be empty. Any interruption, however well-meant, would only interfere with her plans.
She noticed that, once again, Paul and Judith’s car was parked outside Matt’s part of the house and Megan gave a wry grin. She certainly didn’t envy Matt and Sally their visitors!
Her own bed-sitting room at the rear of the bungalow gave her privacy, and she was locked in her tiny bathroom when she heard the rest of her family return from the race meeting.
She’d go in and see them later. Right now, she had something far more important to do!
She heard her parents’ voices raised, and Cicely’s laughter, followed by a tapping on the front door. She turned off the shower and listened.
Paul and Judith! Megan smiled again. They weren’t going to give up.
She wrapped a towel round her dripping hair and disappeared into the bedroom in search of the hairdryer.
Ten minutes later she surveyed the result. Her dark hair now gleamed a deep burgundy. It was an improvement, but not the dramatic difference she had wanted. Maybe if she applied the new make-up …
Ten minutes later she looked at herself again. Now her eyes glowed dark and lustrous, her lips were a soft pink, and the dusting of blusher accentuated her cheekbones.
She nodded at her reflection, pleased with the result. At least she was doing this for herself – not for Peter.
If she ever saw Peter again, he probably wouldn’t notice if she had become ash blonde and wore three pairs of false eyelashes – just as long as she was there to help with the rugby teas, bolster his ego, and drive him around!
Half an hour later, dressed in jeans, boots, and a thick black sweater, she tiptoed across the hallway to Bob and Amy’s sitting room door.
What would her parents think of the transformation?
At least Cicely would approve, she knew that. Gran had always refused to grow old gracefully, and still dyed her hair to suit her mood – or sometimes even her outfit.
Megan paused before opening the door. She could hear Aunt Judith’s strident voice, and winced. There was no way she could face going in there with another family argument in full swing.
‘I think Mum and Dad should have given shares to Dean and Debbie when they reached eighteen. After all, all yours got them, didn’t they?’
‘On the understanding that they would be involved in Lavender Cabs,’ Megan heard her father answer angrily. ‘Mitchell didn’t want to be, so his shares reverted to Mum and Dad Foster. Really, Judith, don’t you think that –’
‘I think that Dean and Debbie have been treated very shabbily. Debbie could have worked with you, Amy, in the front office, and Dean could have been employed in the garage instead of you taking on that Luke Dolan.’
‘Now hold on, Judith –’
Megan grinned as she heard Cicely’s voice. She would give them what-for!
‘Debbie behind the desk would frighten away the customers, with those earrings and nose studs and a haircut that makes her look like an angry chicken. As for Dean – well, he knows absolutely nothing about cars or mechanical things, does he? He’s a very clever musician. He wants to study the piano. What the devil would he want with an apprenticeship in a garage?’
‘That’s beside the point …’ Uncle Paul entered the fray.
Megan sighed. It looked as if the argument would run round in the usual circles for ages yet. She would come back when the coast was clear. In the meantime, she’d ask Mitchell what he thought of her new image …
But his flat in the loft conversion was empty, and Megan was suddenly swamped with loneliness.
It was Saturday night, and everyone was doing something except her. She leaned her elbows on the windowsill and saw the light in the garage.
Of course! Mitchell would be down there working on his car. She’d go and share a cup of coffee with him, listen to his stories about the stock car meeting and cry on his shoulder about Peter’s insensitivity.
Shivering in the biting wind, she pulled the garage door open and slipped inside. Music blared from the radio, there was a smell of coffee mingling with the stench of oil and petrol, and Mitchell’s stock car looked like it had been through a crushing machine.
‘Good heavens!’ Megan said to the apparently empty garage. ‘What happened, Mitchell?’
There was no reply. Megan switched off the radio, and immediately a pair of oil-stained jeans emerged from beneath the car. She grinned.
‘I thought that would fetch you out. What on earth happened to the car – oh!’ Her eyes widened. ‘Oh, hi, Luke. I – er – thought you were Mitchell.’
‘And I thought you were Megan.’ Luke Dolan, Lavender’s mechanic and Mitchell’s friend, straightened up and grinned as he cast his eye appraisingly over her, taking in the burgundy hair that softly framed her face, the subtle make-up, the soft sweater, and shook his head. ‘It’s quite a refurbishment.’
‘Oh!’ Megan blushed. ‘Do – um – you like it?’
‘Very much.’ He wiped his hands on a rag. ‘But then, I was pretty keen on the original, too … Would you like some coffee?’
‘I’d love one, but I don’t want to interrupt you. Where’s Mitchell?’
‘Being kissed better by Jacey Brennan.’ Luke laughed, splashing water into the kettle. ‘He came a re
al purler again this afternoon – hence my overtime, it wasn’t as bad as last week’s though, he actually managed to win this one. Didn’t your mum and dad tell you?’
Megan shook her head, feeling guilty.
‘Was he hurt again?’
‘Not at all. He and Jacey are out celebrating, and as I didn’t have anything planned for this evening I said I’d give the car the once-over. What about you, Meg – are you going somewhere special tonight? You look really fantastic.’
‘Nowhere. I just felt like changing my image.’
She watched Luke rinsing out two mugs and setting out milk and sugar on a tray in her honour.
He was the same age as Mitchell, three years her junior, and she had always treated him with easy familiarity, like an honorary younger brother. His hair gleamed under the strip lights, and his blue eyes crinkled as he stirred the coffees.
‘Where’s Peter tonight?’ he said as he handed her one of the mugs. ‘I thought you and he were inseparable on Saturdays?’
‘We were.’ The scalding coffee burned her lips. ‘That was something else I felt like changing. Oh, not permanently – just for a little while. Last week I couldn’t face the Blue Boar.’
‘Blue Boring, more like!’ Luke grinned. ‘But then, that suits Peter … Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.’
‘No, you shouldn’t.’ Megan smiled back at him despite herself. ‘Anyway, Peter must have taken umbrage, because I haven’t heard from him since. And why aren’t you out setting the town alight tonight?’ she teased him. ‘I thought there were hordes of girls hanging round you and Mitchell, on the stock car circuit.’
‘Millions,’ Luke agreed with a laugh as he sipped his coffee. ‘But then, I’m pretty choosy. And I’ve got my eye on someone special.’
‘Oh.’ For some unaccountable reason, her heart sank. ‘Anyone I know?’
‘She’s older than me – and attached.’ Luke shrugged. ‘So I have to love from afar.’
‘Dangerous ground.’ Megan placed her coffee mug on the tray, not looking at him. ‘She’s not married?’
‘No. I’m not that stupid.’
It was the silence that made her raise her head. Luke was staring at her. Suddenly her mouth went dry and a blush rose to her face.
Luke placed his mug beside hers on the tray and leaned towards her across the oil-smudged work bench.
‘Peter King doesn’t deserve you,’ he murmured, but whatever she was going to say to that was wiped from her mind because when Luke Dolan kissed her the world tumbled upside down.
‘Megan!’ Cicely’s voice rang through the garage. ‘Meg! Are you in here?’
Guiltily Megan leapt away from Luke, her heart still racing.
‘Over here, Gran.’ Her voice sounded high-pitched and breathless.
‘I’ve been sent to search for you.’ Cicely bustled round the work bench and stopped short. ‘Well, well!’
‘Good evening, Mrs Phillips.’ Luke seemed as flustered as Megan. ‘I – er – we didn’t hear you come in.’
‘Obviously not.’ Cicely was beaming at them both. ‘Maybe I should have knocked. Heavens above, Megan – you look gorgeous!’
‘Pardon?’ Megan, her senses still reeling, stared at her grandmother.
‘Your hair, my dear. And your make-up. Not, of course, to mention that rather becoming flush in your cheeks and the twinkle in your eye.’
‘Gran!’
‘Actually, you hardly seem dressed for the occasion.’ Cicely was still beaming. ‘But I don’t suppose it’ll matter.’
‘What occasion?’ Megan stared blankly .
‘The rugby club dinner and dance? At least, I assume that’s what Peter has come to collect you for.’
Megan clapped her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh! I’d completely forgotten.’ Then she scowled. ‘He’s got a nerve! I haven’t even spoken to him all week. How dare he just turn up here assuming –’
‘You’d better go and see him, Meg.’ Luke picked up his spanners again. ‘He’s probably holding out an olive branch.’
Megan snorted and Cicely shook her head.
‘He’s actually holding a bunch of rather fine long-stemmed roses, but I think it is a peace offering. So unless you intend going to the dinner and dance dressed in jeans, Megan, I think you should skedaddle back to the bungalow …’
‘I don’t intend going to the dinner and dance at all!’
‘Of course you do.’ Cicely looked at her. ‘Get a move on or you’ll have Peter in here looking for you – and I don’t think that would be such a good idea, do you?’
Glaring at her grandmother and with a beseeching glance at Luke, Megan hurried from the garage.
Cicely waited until the door had closed and then smiled gently at Luke.
‘It’ll be all right. She just needs to work things out in her own way, and refusing to go with Peter tonight won’t help things at all. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.’
‘I – didn’t mean to kiss her,’ Luke admitted. ‘I just suddenly wanted to – very much.’
I’m sure you did, and she obviously enjoyed it. It’s about time someone kissed Megan properly.’ Cicely tapped his arm. ‘And don’t you worry about Peter King.’
Luke moved back to Mitchell’s car and shook his head.
‘I shouldn’t have done it. Megan and Peter have been together for years – and I’m so much younger than she is. I don’t think it’ll happen again,’ he concluded rather sadly.
Cicely sighed, but, wisely, for once said nothing.
Back in her room, Megan hurriedly shrugged on her black jersey dress and a pair of high-heeled black shoes. She had no time to sort out her feelings about Luke’s kiss.
However, when she stormed into her parents’ sitting room, she was furious at Peter’s assumption that he could just turn up tonight and expect her to be ready.
Bob and Amy were making brave attempts to entertain him. Their eyebrows rose at their daughter’s transformation, but before they could say anything, Peter had risen to his feet.
‘Megan! You look nice.’
Nice! She fumed inwardly. Trust Peter to use such a bland word about her appearance!
‘You’ve got a cheek!’ She accepted the roses that he pushed towards her.
‘Um – thank you … But you have, Peter – you’ve got a nerve just turning up here like this!’
‘But you knew the do was tonight.’ Peter looked at Bob and Amy for support but they kept their eyes downcast. ‘I thought you’d have had a cooling-off period, and –’
‘Cooling-off period!’ Megan glared at him. ‘There was nothing to cool off!’
Her dad coughed.
‘Er – Megan. I think that if you and Peter intend going out, you should perhaps carry on this discussion on the journey, don’t you?’
Still fuming, Megan nodded and turned to Peter, who was smiling.
‘Are we taking your car?’ she asked.
‘No.’ He linked his arm through hers. ‘And we’re not taking yours, either. I’ve just arranged with your mum and dad for a taxi. That way we can both have a drink and –’
‘There’s no one free,’ she protested. ‘It’s Saturday night. We’re always booked solid.’
‘Luke’s in the garage, isn’t he?’ Bob asked. ‘He can drive you. I’ll pay him extra …’
‘No!’ Megan snapped, and they all stared at her. ‘I mean – Luke’s really busy with Mitchell’s car. I popped in there earlier and – er –’ She knew she was blushing. She swallowed. ‘I don’t mind driving.’
‘But I thought you wouldn’t want to drive.’ Peter’s brow was furrowed. ‘I thought –’
‘Tonight I feel like driving. And we’ve got a lot to talk about – all of which will be better said in private.’
Shrugging, Peter allowed Megan to drag him from the room.
Bob stretched his feet out in front of the fire and glanced at his wife. ‘And just what was all that about?’
‘I’m not sure.’
Amy was still shell-shocked from her sister and brother-in-law’s visit. She was hardly in any mood to cope with the undulations in Megan and Peter’s romance. ‘You could have knocked me down with a feather when Peter turned up – I’m sure Megan hasn’t spoken to him this week.’ She sighed, and then asked suddenly, ‘Bob, how are we fixed financially?’
‘How do you mean?’ He had just lifted his newspaper, but he let it fall again. ‘We’re not on the verge of bankruptcy, if that’s what you mean, but like all small businesses, we’ve known better days. Why?’
Amy looked wearily at him. ‘Because right at this moment I would like to jump on a plane – even though I hate flying – and get as far away from Lavender Lane, Appleford, taxis, garages, stock cars – and, yes, the family – as possible. I really could do with a holiday.’
‘Devon’s pretty nippy at this time of year.’ Bob laughed across the warm expanse of the hearth rug. ‘And you don’t need to fly there.’
‘I don’t mean Devon. I mean somewhere where we’ve never been before. Where all this carping and back-biting and tension can’t touch us for a while. Somewhere where Paul and Judith can’t keep barging in and playing for sympathy – where I don’t have to watch Mitchell and Jacey Brennan smooching all over each other, or Megan and Peter rowing, or Matt and Sally trying to score points off each other all the time –’
‘Hey, hey!’ Bob leaned forward. ‘Calm down, love. I had no idea it had got to you so badly. Look, I’m sure we could afford a break if you think it’ll help. Matt could run the garage, Megan will be fine in the office – the drivers aren’t a problem, and Mitchell and Luke do a darned good job …
But –’ he took her hands in his ‘– the problems would still be here when we got back. Don’t you think it would be better to sort things out before we went away? I don’t mean about the kids – they’ll have to make their own mistakes, like we did – and as long as we’re around to pick up the pieces, we can’t interfere. But as for your sister and that unspeakable husband of hers –!’ His eyes flashed.
Lavender Lane Page 4
