by Susan Lewis
It was a day of many mixed emotions for them all, not to mention strenuous effort, so by the time six o’clock came round they were exhausted and ravenous, and quietly elated that everything seemed to have ended up where it should be – until Susannah received a text from Neve informing her she’d been left behind at the house in Battersea.
‘It’s a good job she can’t see us laughing,’ Susannah said, as Alan put the phone down and Pats took off to answer a ring on the doorbell. ‘I thought she was here, upstairs in her room.’
‘So did I,’ he agreed. ‘Do you want me to go and get her?’
‘No, it’s OK, I will. I need to do a final check anyway. Do you mind if I take the car?’
‘Of course not. The keys should be on my desk in the study, if no one’s moved them. I’ll get some refreshments set up here. Who’s at the door, can you see?’
Looking down the hall Susannah’s eyes widened with surprise to see Pats coming towards her with a magnum of champagne and a large foil dish of handmade canapés. ‘What’s all this?’ she laughed, as Pat sailed past to set it all down on the table.
‘You know me,’ Pats replied airily, ‘prepared for every occasion, and I believe this is one we should be celebrating. Oui ou non?’
Exchanging glances, Alan and Susannah agreed that indeed it was, and eager to restore their energy with a glass of bubbly before the day went any further, even if it meant leaving Neve on her own a while longer, they began rummaging for plates and champagne flutes, while Pats set about popping the cork.
‘OK,’ Pats announced, when they were each holding a fizzing glass, ‘here’s to you two and many happy, healthy and hugely successful years in this wonderful house. May God bless her and all who sleep in her.’
Echoing the toast, Susannah and Alan clinked glasses, and gave murmurs of pleasure as they took their first sip.
‘Right, I guess I’d better go and rescue the abandoned one,’ Susannah declared, reluctantly putting her drink down before she coasted over the limit. ‘Just make sure there’s some of that left when I get back.’
For a Saturday evening the traffic was fairly light, so it didn’t take much more than five minutes to reach the old house, which was already, she thought with some sadness, starting to look a little forlorn.
‘Oh, it’s you,’ Neve said snippily, as Susannah let herself in the front door.
‘Were you expecting someone else?’ Susannah asked, a disingenuous question if ever there was one, since she knew full well that Neve had hoped Alan would come.
Neve only shrugged and turned to pick up a heavy box of her belongings to carry out to the car.
‘That should have gone in the van,’ Susannah told her, taking it and putting it down on the stairs.
‘Yeah, well it didn’t, did it, because obviously only your stuff matters.’
Having started towards the kitchen Susannah stopped and turned back, her expression tinged with impatience.
‘What now?’ Neve demanded belligerently.
Biting back her exasperation, Susannah put her hands on Neve’s shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. It didn’t surprise her to see a lot of confusion there behind the hostility, but it did, as it turned out, help to soften her. ‘Moves are always stressful,’ she said, ‘so don’t let’s fall out. We’ve got …’
‘I’m not rowing,’ Neve butted in. ‘I’m just …’ She took a breath that shuddered slightly as she turned her head away.
Deciding to tackle the immediate issue first, Susannah said,’ You’re upset about leaving this house, aren’t you?’
After a beat Neve nodded and gave a watery sniff. ‘I really thought I wanted to go,’ she said brokenly, ‘and I do, but …’
‘It’s OK,’ Susannah said, pulling her into an embrace. ‘This is the only home you’ve ever known, apart from Lola’s of course, so it’s natural that you’re finding it hard to say goodbye.’
As the tears started to roll from Neve’s eyes she turned to look around the room. There was only the bare minimum of furniture now – the dear old sofa, a small coffee table, and a bookcase that was attached to the wall. Everything else, all the little knick-knacks that had made it theirs, had gone. ‘It looks really sad, doesn’t it?’ she said, her voice barely making it past the knot in her throat. ‘I feel like it’s going to be lonely without us.’ As she turned her face into Susannah’s shoulder, Susannah found herself struggling with a few tears of her own.
‘Do you think we’ll ever live here again?’ Neve asked, looking up at her with eyes that made her seem so very young.
With a sigh Susannah said, ‘I don’t suppose it’s likely.’
Swallowing hard, Neve turned away and went to slump down on the sofa. ‘I hope the girl from Patsy’s office takes good care of it, if she decides to move in,’ she said, smoothing a hand over the worn fabric of the cushions.
‘So do I,’ Susannah responded. ‘I’m sure she will.’
Neve’s eyes went back to her mother. ‘You know what makes this house really special?’ she said. ‘It’s that for a lot of the time it was just you and me living here. We might not ever be on our own again now.’
Susannah smiled. ‘If we were that would mean Alan was no longer with us, and I don’t think either of us wants that, do we?’
Neve shook her head. ‘No.’ Then, after a pause, ‘I really like him, Mum.’
‘I know you do,’ Susannah said, and going to sit with her she slid an arm round her shoulders.
Leaning in to her, Neve said, ‘Do you think I’ll be able to come and watch you filming, if you do get the part?’
Realising how all over the place her young mind was, Susannah pressed a kiss to her head as she said, ‘I’d have to ask, but I hope so.’ Then, taking the phone from her pocket as it started to ring, she looked at the number and clicked on. ‘Hi, yes we’re on our way,’ she told Alan, and clicked off again. ‘They’re wondering where we are,’ she said gently. ‘Are you ready to go?’
Though Neve’s eyes welled up again she managed a nod, and getting to her feet she went to pick up her box.
‘Leave it,’ Susannah said. ‘I’ll bring it. You go and sit in the car.’
After Neve had gone Susannah wandered upstairs into each of the rooms, checking to make sure nothing had been left behind, and taking one last look around. Though in many ways she was more than ready to move on, being on the brink of so much change was making her feel a little more anxious than excited right now. It was hard to trust life after her early dreams had been crushed so brutally, and when she’d spent so long being afraid that no happiness or light was ever going to steal its way out of the shadows. The fact that it finally had was comforting and encouraging, particularly when she knew that she was loved now in a way she never had been with Duncan. However, being certain about the decision to leave here didn’t make it any the less poignant or momentous now it was upon her, nor would it ever make her anything but grateful to this little house for the warmth and shelter it had provided during the most difficult years.
An hour later, after the entire bottle of champagne had been consumed, and pizzas were on order, Alan went out to the car with Neve to help bring in her box, while Susannah and Patsy began sorting through bedding and towels for that night.
‘There’s only a single bed in the guest room at the moment,’ Susannah apologised, as they set up separate piles, ‘we’ve got a king-size on order, but …’
‘A single’s great,’ Pats assured her. ‘It’ll make me feel young again. Where do you want these? They look new.’ She was holding up a pile of pink fluffy towels that were encased in tissue.
‘They’re for Neve,’ Susannah told her. ‘There’s a cupboard in her shower room, so if you can take them up there, maybe you could manage some of her spare bedding too. What she needs for tonight is already on her bed, it just has to be made up.’
‘I’ll do it while I’m there,’ Patsy said, and leaving Susannah to deal with what was left, she dropped her own sheets i
n the guest room on her way past, then carried the rest up to Neve’s private loft apartment, as Neve had decided to call it.
Though this wasn’t the first time Pats had been up here, she still couldn’t help feeling excited on Neve’s behalf as she stepped into the chaos of boxes and bags, and thought of how wonderful it must be to have so much space after the tiny room she’d had before. The silk-padded head of her new double bed was centred against the triangle of the far wall, with two large Velux windows over it that allowed sunlight to flood in during the day, and stars to shine through at night. Alan had already hired a carpenter to transform the eaves into an area containing a desk with built-in shelves and drawers on one side, and a wall-to-wall hanging and storage place for her clothes on the other. Having her own bathroom was going to be a real treat for her too, no longer having to trot all the way downstairs to shower, or clean her teeth, or simply go to the loo.
Pats was in the middle of loading up the cupboard when she heard voices next door in the bedroom. Realising Alan and Neve had come up with the box, she was about to call out to them when she heard Neve giggle in a way that gave her a moment’s pause.
‘Is this really all mine?’ Neve was saying playfully.
‘You know it is,’ Alan replied. ‘And you deserve it. I just hope you don’t get lonely up here.’
‘If I do, will you come to visit?’ Neve asked, and Pats could almost see her winding a finger round her hair while glancing up at him in a shamelessly coquettish way.
Alan’s reply was drowned by the sound of her mobile ringing, and grabbing it from her pocket she sailed nonchalantly into the bedroom, stopping in feigned astonishment as she saw them. ‘Hi,’ she said into her phone, appearing amused by their double take.
‘Patreesha. It is Fronk.’
Of course. Who else would it be? ‘How lovely to hear you,’ she responded with a warmth that was totally misplaced, ‘I was going to call you.’ What was she saying? This was Fronk she was talking to.
‘You were? For what reason?’ he asked.
Giving Neve and Alan a wave she began descending the stairs. ‘No reason,’ she hissed into the phone.
‘Good. I like that you feel free to call any time …’
‘Don’t read anything into it,’ she snapped. ‘What do you want?’
‘To know if you would prefer your room to have a sea view, or to overlook the gardens …’
‘Where are you going to be?’
‘I have chosen a sea view. It is more romantic, I think.’
‘Just put me in the furthest room from you – but make sure it has a sea view too. I have to go now. Goodbye.’
As she clicked off Susannah came to the bottom of the stairs, saying, ‘I’m looking for a John Lewis box that has plates in.’
‘I’m sure Alan’s already got some,’ Patsy responded, turning off her phone as she followed her back into the kitchen.
‘Of course, I just thought it would be nice to have more. We’re OK for our pizzas. The table’s all set.’ She turned round and treated Pats to a spontaneous embrace. ‘I’m so glad you’re here. It makes everything feel … I don’t know, right, I suppose. Yes,’ she decided, ‘right.’
‘Good, I’m glad,’ Patsy said, hugging her back, ‘because there’s nothing like right to put wrong in its place.’ And if she actually knew what she meant by that she might be madly impressed with herself, but she guessed, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t all that important.
Glancing back along the hall as she heard Alan coming downstairs and going into his study, she said, ‘Looks like you’re in for some interesting times ahead, with Neve’s crush getting up momentum.’
‘Oh, God, tell me about it,’ Susannah groaned. ‘Half the time I don’t know whether to pity her or punish her. You saw what she was like today, showing off and coming on to those boys like some oversexed slapper. Ugh, don’t let’s go there again, it makes me cringe just to think of it. I don’t know how Alan manages to stay so patient with her, but I guess if anyone knows how to handle her, it’s him.’
‘So have you discussed it with him?’
‘Not at any length, because we’ve all been so busy lately, but I managed to ask him the other night if he was worried, or embarrassed, by it … Ah, here are the plates!’
‘And he said?’ Patsy prompted.
Susannah looked up from the box she was lifting on to a counter top. ‘Oh yes,’ she said, remembering where they were, ‘he said considering the situation with her father over the last few years, which has been all about rejection and abandonment, it’s not really surprising that she’s throwing herself at someone the same age as Duncan, especially someone who’s involved with her mother. It’s like she doesn’t trust me to hold on to him after I messed up with Duncan, so on a subconscious level she’s assuming the responsibility herself by employing all the ammunition in her little cannon to make sure we don’t lose out again.’
After giving it some thought, Patsy could see how that made sense. ‘So once she’s confident that your relationship with Alan is settled,’ she said, ‘she’ll let go and get on with her own life?’
‘Apparently. And if you ask me it can’t happen soon enough, because competing with my own daughter for the same man definitely isn’t my idea of fun.’
With a laugh, Patsy said, ‘Poor Neve. Who’d be her age again, huh? Come to think of it, who’d be ours when you’re me and you’ve got the abominable Fronk to contend with? But please don’t let’s go there. He’s insane and I’m absolutely starving, and if that’s not the pizza boy at the front door I’m going to beat up whoever it is just for getting my hopes up.’
‘I don’t want it there!’ Neve snapped. ‘I preferred it over there, where I put it in the first place.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Susannah said, taking the photograph of her and Neve back to where she’d found it, on a shelf in a small niche on the far side of the room. ‘It’s just you always used to keep it next to your bed.’
‘Yeah, well I don’t want to now. I see enough of you as it is, without having to wake up looking at you.’
Susannah’s eyebrows rose. ‘Charming,’ she commented. ‘Now where do you want these?’ She was holding up a small box of cuddly animals that Neve had kept since she was a baby.
‘I don’t know yet,’ Neve answered irritably. ‘Anyway, I can do it. I don’t need your help.’
‘I’ll remind you of that the next time you ask for it. Oh Neve, you didn’t bring all those old magazines! What do you want to keep them for?’
Neve’s eyes flashed. ‘It’s my bedroom, so I get to say what goes in it – and who, so if you don’t mind, I’d like you to go back downstairs and get out of my space.’
Planting her hands on her hips, Susannah said, ‘What on earth’s eating you? You’ve been grumpy ever since you got up this morning. I thought you were excited about being here.’
‘I am. It’s just you, keeping on all the time and invading my private apartment.’
With a sigh, Susannah threw down her duster and said, ‘OK, suit yourself, but I don’t want you up here chatting on the phone, or messing about on the computer, when there’s still a lot to be done – here and downstairs.’
‘Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. What time’s Alan coming back?’
‘Any minute I should think. He’s only gone to get Lola.’ Then, finally realising what this was really about, she rolled her eyes in despair. ‘You’re sulking because I wouldn’t let you go with him,’ she stated. ‘Neve, I …’
‘Shut up,’ Neve seethed. ‘That is not true and you should apologise right now for saying it.’
Accepting that she hadn’t handled it well, Susannah said, ‘OK, I’m sorry, but you’ve got to start getting a better grip on yourself …’ Then, as Neve’s eyes flashed again, ‘OK, this is annoying mother on her way out, but she’ll be back in half an hour to check on progress, so make sure there is some.’
‘Nag, nag,’ Neve muttered as Susannah walked out of the door.
>
Letting it slide over her, Susannah continued down the stairs to the landing, where Alan had stacked several boxes ready to be unloaded. Deciding to get at least some of them out of the way she began carrying them into the master bedroom, where the bed hadn’t yet been made that morning, and piles of her clothes still needed to be hung in the closets. It was a wonderfully light and airy room, with high ceilings, a deep bay window and a marble fireplace where real flames flickered over a pebble bowl at the touch of a switch. The real pièce de résistance, however, was the en suite bathroom where a vast jacuzzi bath, multi-head shower and twin washbowls carved into a pale-coloured limestone surface made it a place in which Susannah would spend most of her time, if only she could.
After dumping the boxes and collecting the water glasses from each side of the bed, she carried on downstairs to find Pats performing miracles in the kitchen.
‘It smells delicious,’ Susannah informed her, inhaling the mouth-watering aroma of roasting pork with a fig and apricot stuffing. ‘Neve’s just thrown me out of her private apartment,’ she went on, going to fetch the phone as it started to ring, ‘but I’m hoping she’ll cheer up when her friends come over this afternoon to see her new room. Hello,’ she said into the receiver. Then, after a beat, ‘Hello?’
Still no reply.
Tucking the phone under her chin as she opened the fridge, she said, ‘You’ll have to speak up, whoever you are, because I can’t hear you.’
A moment later a monotone told her that the line had gone dead.
‘Must have been a wrong number,’ she said, plonking the phone back on its base. ‘Have you peeled the carrots yet?’
‘Done. I’ll put them in with the pork towards the end,’ Pats answered, giving her parboiled potatoes a shake before dusting them in flour. ‘Does everyone like sprouts? I thought I’d do them Nigella’s way if you have some Marsala.’
