by Melissa Hill
“Not at all. To be honest, I think he was so amused by me trying to handle the dogs that he didn’t have the heart to make things any harder,” she joked. “And of course, it’s always a novelty to have someone else looking after you, isn’t it?” she added, tickling the little boy, who began to giggle. “But I’d say he can be a little terror when he sets his mind to it, can’t you, Toby?”
“Or maybe you’re simply much more of a natural at this than I am,” Liz insisted tiredly.
Tara decided not to push it any further and her mind strained to think of something that would change the subject.
“Oh, I hope you don’t mind,” she said then, “but I had your new neighbour over for lunch yesterday.”
“What new neighbour?” Eric asked, frowning.
“The one who bought the place next door,” Liz told him.
“That old rundown shack? I didn’t know anyone had bought that.”
“Well, I told you,” Liz said with a jaded sigh.
Tara couldn’t believe how sullen and distant she and Eric seemed around one another. For a couple that had always been so fun-filled and relaxed together, it was especially difficult to comprehend. Tara didn’t have to wonder too much how their weekend had gone – she could see it all reflected in their faces. Liz was understandably delighted to get back to Toby, but the strain between Eric and her was evident.
“I’d better head back home,” she said, feeling again as though she should change the subject. “After a few nights surviving on takeaways, no doubt Glenn will be expecting a decent dinner.” She shook her head in feigned exasperation.
“Oh, he didn’t come down on Saturday night, then?” Liz asked.
“No, he got stuck at work till all hours. Apparently he and the boys were right on the verge of cracking some incredibly important line of code – don’t ask me!” She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still at Pixels in front of the PC surrounded by empty pizza boxes.” Glenn was like a dog with a bone when it came to computers so Tara wasn’t at all surprised when he’d phoned to say he wouldn’t be joining her. And she had to admit she didn’t mind either. She liked having a weekend to herself – well, she admitted guiltily, not quite to herself, as she’d shared most of the previous day with Liz’s friendly new neighbour.
She’d really enjoyed their lunch yesterday. Contrary to first impressions, Luke Cunningham was intelligent, talkative and very good company. Tara was surprised by how clued-in and sharp he seemed about everything, considering he spent months on end away from civilisation and surrounded by what he laughingly called “serious alpha-males”. Tara didn’t want to admit that she’d immediately dismissed Luke as one himself after their first meeting – although the incident with the mice had quickly dispelled that.
And (beefy biceps aside), he was also very attractive and, from what she’d gathered, single, seeing as he’d mentioned he was doing up the house himself. Not that she cared, of course, Tara reminded herself quickly, as she collected her belongings and went outside to put them in the car.
“Nice machine,” Eric commented, joining Liz and Toby out front to say goodbye. “That must have cost a few quid.”
“It was all Glenn’s idea,” Tara said, shaking her head in exasperation as she struggled to cram everything into the convertible’s tiny boot. “Never again will I take the advice of someone who reads Max Power magazine.”
In truth, she was actually quite fond of the car now, but something in Eric’s tone stopped her admitting it. For some reason, she got the impression that he begrudged her the little luxury. Had his return to Castlegate had that much of an effect on him – that he, like so many others, hated to see one of their own doing well? Well, if he did feel that way, he had an absolute cheek. Eric of all people should understand how difficult it had been for her to get to where she was now.
And in fairness, what with all the whispering that used to go on when they were younger about Eric going the way of his misfortunate father and turning into a no-hoper, she’d have expected better of him. And no one was happier than her when Eric grew out of his wild youth and moved to Dublin to get a proper job instead of staying at home and becoming a troublemaker, like everyone in the town expected him to.
So what the hell was wrong with him now? Or more importantly, Tara wondered as she drove away from Castlegate, what was wrong with them?
Was Liz right – instead of making their lives easier, had the move away from Dublin driven them apart? Or was there another reason for Eric’s odd behaviour lately?
Realising that his comment about the car sounded suspiciously like something Emma would say, Tara bit her lip, her unease about the situation growing by the second.
Over the course of the weekend, when reflecting upon Liz’s remarks about Eric going “off somewhere in the evenings”, her heart thudded as she’d remembered her mother mentioning Emma doing the same.
Now, Tara wondered if Liz’s suspicions might not have been that far off the mark at all, and she wondered if her friend had made – like she’d just had – a connection between Eric’s strange behaviour and the announcement of Emma’s secret pregnancy.
Liz had told Tara that she felt Eric might be having an affair. Her friend hadn’t mentioned anyone by name, of course, she was far too respectful for that, but now that Tara thought it about it, it was very possible that Liz just might have put two and two together and come up with Emma.
And of course, Emma had made it all too clear that the father of her unborn baby was off-limits, leading everyone to suspect that she’d got involved with someone she shouldn’t have. Tara’s heart raced in her chest. Could it have been Eric? she thought panicking. Could he be Emma’s mystery man? Surely not. Then again, given their history . . .
With all her heart, Tara hoped this wasn’t the case because she loved Liz like a sister and wouldn’t be able to come to terms with the fact that her own flesh and blood could do her friend such damage.
Why couldn’t Emma find a man of her own anyway? Why did she get such a kick out of wanting something she couldn’t have?
But, unfortunately, Emma had always been like that. If she put as much effort into building a life for herself as she did trying to wreck other people’s, she’d be running the country by now. It was such a shame. Then again, Tara thought, who was she to pass judgement?
Maybe Emma thought her life was weird. Maybe she thought that Tara was mad for not getting married and settling for a simple, but admittedly boring, life with Glenn. Liz certainly did. But then again, as Liz had discovered herself only recently, married life didn’t necessarily guarantee infinite happiness, did it?
When she reached home, the house was strangely silent. On any typical Sunday afternoon, Glenn would be flaked in front of the TV watching the football and surrounded by a mountain of junk food. So Tara was surprised to see that the living room was not only unoccupied but, amazingly, free of clutter.
“Glenn?” she called out as she walked through the house looking for signs of life. Surely he wasn’t still at Pixels trying to crack that bloody code? Although nothing would surprise her when it came to Glenn and his beloved computers.
Going through to the kitchen, Tara became even more puzzled. There were no dirty dishes piled in the sink, no sloshes of spilled coffee staining the worktop . . . again it looked as though the kitchen hadn’t been used all weekend.
Curiouser and curiouser . . .
Trying not to read too much into it, Tara went back out to the car to unload her stuff, before going upstairs and dumping her bags in the bedroom.
“You’re back early!” Glenn’s voice floated up from the hallway, and in the distance, she heard the front door bang behind him. Ah, he must have been out at the shops or something.
“Yes,” Tara replied, going back downstairs to meet him, “Liz and Eric were back at lunchtime, so I . . . what are you doing here?” Her eyes widened at the sight of her sister standing in the hallway behind Glenn. Speak of the devil . . .
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“That’s a nice way to greet your baby sister,” Emma replied, but her tone was light. “I was in town for a scan on Friday afternoon, and it was late by the time I got out of the hospital. So, I thought I’d pop over and say hello – maybe stay the night.”
Right. That was pure Emma to just decide to drop in unannounced whenever she pleased and expect everyone to run around after her. God forbid that Tara might have something else to do. And since her pregnancy, this kind of behaviour had only got worse.
“It’s a pity you didn’t phone first – then you would have known I wouldn’t be here.”
“Oh, it didn’t matter,” Emma replied nonchalantly. “When I arrived, Glenn told me you’d gone baby-sitting for the weekend.”
“But didn’t Mum tell you?”
Emma shrugged and walked into the kitchen. “She must have forgotten. Anyway, I was so tired that I couldn’t face the long bus journey home, so Glenn very kindly offered to let me stay anyway, didn’t you?” She flashed a beaming smile at Glenn, who nodded.
“I thought it made sense,” he said. “I had to go into work on Saturday morning anyway, so as long as Emma didn’t mind being here on her own . . .”
Emma nodded beatifically. “Of course I didn’t!” she said cheerily. “Anyway, you kept me company on Saturday night, didn’t you?”
“Strange you never said anything about Emma being here when I spoke to you on the phone,” Tara said, addressing Glenn.
“I know but to be honest I was up to my eyes at work, and at the time the fact went completely went out of my head.”
“I suppose.” That was understandable. When Glenn was in cyberspace Tara was lucky to get a word out of him, never mind anything else!
Just then, Emma was helping herself to something from Tara’s fridge. “I’m starving! Glenn,” she said, resting her hand lightly on his arm, “is there any chance you could make me another one of those yummy toasted sandwiches you do?”
Like every other man on the planet, Glenn seemed powerless to resist Emma’s blonde, blue-eyed charms. “Sure.” He looked at Tara. “I’ll make one for you too, if you’d like. Or did you have lunch at Liz and Eric’s?”
“No, a sandwich would be nice,” she said, eyeing her little sister, who as usual was only too happy to have someone else dancing attendance on her.
Despite herself, she didn’t like the idea of Emma being here at the weekend when she herself wasn’t. OK, so she was her sister, but it just didn’t seem right having her lazing around the place when no one was home. And of course, with everything that was going on with Eric and Liz, and her suspicions about Emma’s possible involvement, she now wasn’t in the best frame of mind to have to indulge the little madam.
“So, how did the scan go?” she asked Emma, as the two of them went into the living room, leaving Glenn to make lunch. This was another surprise, given that Tara was still trying to get over the fact that he’d kept the house clean and tidy while she was away. It had to have been Glenn; in Emma’s “condition” Tara certainly couldn’t see her sister tackling any housework!
“Fine – everything seems fine.” Then she sighed loudly. “I feel so tired all the time, though. I hope you didn’t mind Glenn staying here to look after me instead of going down home to you.”
Tara’s eyes widened. She wouldn’t have put it quite like that. According to Glenn it had been work that had stopped him from coming down on Saturday evening, and he hadn’t even remembered Emma was there! Not to mention the fact that she couldn’t see Glenn signing up for a weekend running around her pregnant sister.
“It’s no problem – I quite enjoyed having the weekend to myself actually.” Well, not quite, she added inwardly, again remembering that Luke had been there for a lot of it.
“I had to get out of the house for a while,” Emma went on, as she put her feet on the coffee table and waited patiently for lunch to be served up to her. “Mum is driving me demented with all her running around after me, asking if I’m OK. She can be a bit of pain sometimes, can’t she?”
Tara held her tongue. It really wasn’t her place to point out to Emma that their sixty-year-old mother shouldn’t have to be running around after her in the first place, let alone be criticised for doing it. But that was bloody Emma – selfish to the last!
“Well, I’m sure Mum just wants to make this as easy as possible for you,” she said evenly. There was no point in having a row with Emma over it – especially not here. From experience she knew that Emma was more than likely to go home to Castlegate in a huff and, no doubt, crying to their mother that Tara had been inconsiderate to her. So Tara couldn’t win, no matter what she did.
“Oh, I know, but there are times when I really wish she’d just leave me alone. Glenn’s been great, though,” she added smiling. “And he’s so good with the housework and everything, isn’t he? You’re so lucky to have him.”
Tara tried not to roll her eyes. “So, are you planning to head back home this evening? It’s just, after taking last Friday afternoon off, I have a busy schedule in the morning. So I won’t really be able to sit and chat or anything . . .” She was hoping Emma would get the hint.
“Oh – I’d thought we might go shopping or something,” Emma said petulantly. “I’ve hardly seen you since you came back from the holiday.”
“Emma, I have appointments tomorrow. I can’t just take off and go shopping. People are depending on me.”
“Right,” Emma replied in a disapproving tone that was remarkably reminiscent of Isobel’s and suggested that Tara was putting other people over her own family. Especially in Emma’s hour of need!
“But we’ll do something else soon,” Tara said, trying to appease her. Although she’d enjoyed spending time with Toby, she was tired after her exertions at the weekend and didn’t have the energy for one of Emma’s moods. “And maybe you could stay tonight anyway.”
“I think I might,” Emma replied, smiling gratefully at Glenn, who’d just come in carrying a tray laden with tea, coffee and a plate of toasted sandwiches. Tara looked at him in shock, suspecting he must have been hit over the head with something recently.
“So,” Emma asked then, as she took a hearty bite of her sandwich, “how are Eric and Liz these days? Still love’s young dream?”
Tara looked at her, and if she didn’t know better she could have sworn that there was something very smug in her sister’s tone as she said this.
Her heart sank, and she looked away, almost afraid to reply. Maybe there was a lot more to Liz’s suspicions that she’d thought.
Chapter 17
Jay was definitely the one – Natalie was sure of it!
They’d been inseparable for the rest of the night at the Purple Grapefruit launch, and when Danni had eventually made moves to leave around midnight, Natalie had ensured her assistant was safely ensconced in a taxi home before she herself went back inside the club to continue chatting (and flirting) with Jay.
Though, unfortunately, and much to Natalie’s disappointment, he hadn’t been able to accompany her home that night, as he was still officially on duty with Labyrinth and needed to stay behind for a party post mortem with the club’s management.
But that didn’t matter. When Natalie eventually left the club sometime after two, he’d escorted to her cab and given her a highly satisfying kiss goodbye, having already asked for (and received!) her number. And first thing the following morning he’d called and invited her to dinner this coming weekend.
Natalie couldn’t believe how quickly she had fallen for him – well, she did tend to fall for most men pretty quickly, but this was different. Jay was mature, thoughtful, very attractive and absolutely perfect for her!
Thinking of it now, Steve had been in totally a different league and Natalie didn’t know why she’d been so upset that an unsophisticated and totally immature footie fan was out of her life. If anything, it was a blessing in disguise, because if she’d still been with Steve, then she wouldn’t have gone to the launch of Purpl
e Grapefruit and so she wouldn’t have met the wonderful Jay, who really was everything her ex-boyfriend wasn’t. Successful, sophisticated and senior management in a dynamic and well-respected company, Jay Murray was most normal women’s idea of a perfect catch. Also – and this was a first – he was Irish! Well, apparently he’d been living in London for yonks but had grown up somewhere near Dublin, which is why at first Natalie hadn’t been able to place his odd accent.
But of course, once Jay had confessed his Irish heritage, it made perfect sense as to why she’d warmed to him so quickly. He was funny, charming and had that lovely down-to-earth quality that most Irish-born men seemed to possess.
Still, however much she liked him, this time Natalie wasn’t going to mess it up. She wasn’t going to rush into things like she had before and make a complete shambles of the relationship before it had even begun. This time, she was going to play it to perfection, and seeing as her past record in this regard had proved so hopelessly inept, this time she was going to call in the experts.
Natalie sank back onto her comfy office chair and hummed softly as she dialled the number.
“Hello?” A groggy-sounding male voice answered after the fifth or sixth ring.
At the sound of his voice, Natalie instinctively looked at her watch. She hadn’t called too early, had she? It was after eleven o’clock on Monday morning, and she was pretty certain that Dublin operated on Greenwich Meantime too, didn’t they?
A little perplexed, Natalie spoke into the receiver. “Hello, is that Glenn?”
“Yeah, who’s this?” he replied testily, and Natalie gulped. She’d obviously rung at a bad time, or else Glenn was in what Tara had called in Egypt – much to Natalie’s amusement – one of his “quare moods”.
“Glenn, hi – you might not remember me, but we met on holidays a few weeks back. In Egypt? I went to Cairo with –”
