by Melissa Hill
As the girls approached, Luke looked up and spotted them.
“Well, hello there,” he said, his rugged, friendly face lighting up at the sight of them.
“Mind if we join you?” Liz asked and, strangely, she sensed Tara stiffen alongside her. What was the matter with her? It wasn’t as though Luke was a stranger – in fact she probably knew him better than Liz did!
“I’d be delighted,” he said, nodding a greeting at Tara who did the same back. “Pull up a stool.”
“So how come you’re back in Castlegate?” Liz asked, settling herself alongside him. He was a lovely guy and, seeing as he would be her next-door neighbour, she was determined to help him settle in. “I thought you wouldn’t be starting the move until after Christmas.”
“Well, our last stint on the rig went better than we thought, and we hit our quota, so I thought I might as well make a start. There was no point in paying the mortgage on the cottage and rent on my old flat.”
“I wish you’d have told me. I could have turned the heat on, or opened the windows, or at least bought in some groceries – something to take the bare feel out of the place.”
As Tara had so far said nothing but a brief hello, Liz attempted to try and draw her into the conversation. “Although, I hear Tara gave you a bite to eat last time – you two got to know each other, didn’t you?”
“We did,” Luke replied, smiling at Tara. “She makes great a fry-up. And she’s pretty handy when it comes to pest control too.”
“Pest control?” Liz was lost.
“I thought I’d better bring the subject up first, just in case you decided to out me in public,” he said, eyeing Tara who smiled mischievously.
“Pity, I was thinking of saving it for ammunition,” Tara replied. “Just in case you decided to sue me and Bruno for pooping in your lovely garden.”
“I told you – it took me ages to get it just like that.”
“What?” Liz looked at Tara. What the hell were they talking about? “What did Bruno do?”
“She might be good with mice, but she’s not so good with dogs,” Luke told Liz. “Or am I allowed to say that?” he added, winking at Tara.
“I mightn’t be so good at handling big strong animals, but at least I don’t start screaming like a baby at the sight of one the size of my thumb.”
“I didn’t scream: I shouted – once.”
Tara grinned. “No, you screamed – a big girlie, Ned Flanders-type scream.”
“I did not –”
“Um, sorry to interrupt but could one of you please tell me what the hell you’re talking about?” Liz asked, wide-eyed. “And who is Ned Flanders?”
“Liz doesn’t watch The Simpsons,” Tara informed Luke.
“You don’t watch The Simpsons?” he repeated in mock horror. “What planet are you on?”
“Well, I don’t have time to watch cartoons!” Liz said, getting frustrated. “Anyway, what’s all this got to do with pooping in gardens and screaming like a girl?”
Tara and Luke’s eyes met.
“You tell her,” Tara challenged. “I swore I wouldn’t say a thing.”
“Pity you didn’t keep your word, then,” Luke countered, before turning to Liz. “I suppose I’d better come clean. I’m afraid of – no, strike that – I don’t particularly like mice.”
“Nope, he’s terrified of them,” Tara interjected, laughing.
Luke silenced her with a look. “I don’t like mice, but unfortunately they like me, or at least, they like the inside of my house.”
“Ah,” Liz said, understanding. They had that problem in their house too – especially around this time of the year. But she used one of those electronic plug-in things, the ones with the high-pitched sound that scared the mice out of the house. She wouldn’t dream of using one of those horrible mousetraps or anything inhumane like that.
“So, anyway, the last weekend I was here, I was going about my business and cleaning out the cupboards when two of the little feckers leap out at me. Naturally, I got a bit of a fright –”
“And ran screaming from the house like a girl,” Tara finished, trying not to laugh.
Luke feigned a glare. “Excuse me, I thought I was telling the story.”
“Sorry.” Tara winked at Liz, while trying to stifle a chuckle.
“And your friend here, suspecting that I might have been in a bit of bother, came running to my rescue.”
“What can I say? For a big strong man, he’s a bit of a wimp really.”
Luke and Tara were now smiling at one another like there was nobody else in the room, and just then, Liz understood why Tara had been initially so hesitant to join him. The sparks were flying in all directions between these two!
She studied her friend, who was still in mid-banter with Luke. Tara was radiant. Her eyes were sparkling with amusement, and her face glowed as she and Luke continued to try and better one another.
God, these two were perfect for one another, and if Tara couldn’t see that, she was a fool! As Liz had long since tired of telling her, her friend had spent way too long in the comfort zone, afraid of not being in control, terrified of letting herself get hurt. And while this had worked out well so far for her and Glenn, it was surely inevitable that Tara would need something more, someone who could complete her life in a way that Glenn never could.
Now, looking at the two of them together, it was perfectly clear that they only had eyes for one another, and if Liz decided to slip away without saying anything, they’d hardly notice. She knew Luke was single; he’d told her a while back that his last relationship had finished some time ago, so there was no barrier on his side. Tara, on the other hand . . . well, if she was going to pursue this – and in Liz’s opinion she really should – Tara would have to start thinking about herself and what she really wanted. Although, if Glenn were to get wind of the obvious attraction between these two, given what Tara had said about that guy Dave earlier, Liz didn’t even want to think about how he’d react.
Still, judging by the banter going on just now between Tara and Luke, she thought wryly, Tara – unlike herself – didn’t seem to be at all worried about what Glenn might think!
“I don’t know how you sleep at night,” Tara was saying now, and Liz tried to tune into their conversation once more.
“Are the mice that bad?” she asked Luke. “You really should invest in one of those plug-in things – then they wouldn’t keep you awake at night.”
Tara and Luke looked at one another and grinned – again. OK, Liz thought, it was starting to get a bit annoying now!
“We stopped talking about the mice ages ago, Liz,” Tara said. “I was just asking Luke how he can justify what he does for a living.”
“Why should I have to justify it?” Luke gave a nonchalant shrug. “It’s what I do.”
“Are you joking? Drilling for all that oil? You’re raping the earth’s resources.”
Liz groaned and reached for her drink. “Oh dear God,please don’t get her started on the environment!”
“Ah, so Tara’s a Green, is she?”
“Of course I’m a Green. Why wouldn’t I be? Why wouldn’t anyone be?”
“So, you reuse and recycle and you’ve got your own compost heap, and all that stuff?”
“Of course.” Tara nodded proudly. “We all have to take responsibility for the environment, an environment that the likes of you and your oil companies are destroying.”
“I see. So you regularly use recycling centres then?”
“Yep. I take my bottles and cans there every week.”
“Every week?” Luke raised an eyebrow. “Well done, you.”
“It’s not that much of an effort. It’s only a few minutes away in the car.”
As soon as Tara had said the words, Liz realised that she was blindly falling into the trap Luke was so obviously setting for her. But she said nothing.
“Oh. So you drive to the recycling centre, do you?”
Tara hesitated slightly.
“Well, I have to – it’s a mile away from our house.”
“I see. So, it’s OK to drive your car and send all that carbon monoxide into the atmosphere because you’re going to the recycling centre, is it?”
“Well, no, but . . .”
“Take any holidays recently?” Luke asked then.
Liz smiled. An almighty battle was about to commence, and by the sounds of things, she’d be much better off staying out of it. Tara had finally met her match.
“Yes,” Tara replied hesitantly.
“Oh, where did you go?”
Her mouth set in a hard line. “Egypt.”
“I see. And did you happen to get on your bike and cycle all the way to Egypt, and then sleep under the stars with the Bedouins, before cycling all the way back home again?”
Tara was silent.
“Well?” he prompted.
She rolled her eyes. “No, I flew.”
“What? You flew?” Luke pretended to be aghast. “A conscientious environmentalist like you got into one of those nasty machines that uses jet fuel and pumps out gallons of pollution into the atmosphere? That same atmosphere you’re so obsessed with saving?”
Liz wanted to laugh, but one look at Tara’s expression made her think better of it.
Luke shook his head. “And you have the nerve to criticise me!”
“Look, I never said anything about going overboard!” Tara cried, totally wrong-footed now. “I just think that all of us should do our bit to help the environment. I mean, what about global warming and the melting icecaps and all that?”
“A myth,” Luke said, reaching for his pint. “The atmosphere’s been heating up and recooling for centuries. It’s nothing new.”
“But it is!” Tara retorted. “The icecaps are melting, there are floods and weird weather and droughts and it’s all because of –”
“So, you think you can solve all that by bringing a few bottles to the bottle bin? Get real, Tara. The earth’s been around for millions – billions of years. Why is it that the likes of us – who have only been around for half a second in the scheme of things – are so bloody egotistical as to think that we get to control the environment? The earth survived without human intervention for billions of years, and I’m sure it will do just fine without us.”
Liz looked at Tara for a reaction to this, but none was forthcoming. For the first time as long as she’d known her, Liz saw her best friend rendered utterly speechless.
Yep, she thought, shaking her head at the realisation, they really were perfect for one another!
Chapter 23
“He sounds so sweet,” Tara sighed on the other end of the telephone line when Natalie told her all about Jay’s London Eye surprise.
“He is,” she agreed. “It’s weird, Tara – I’ve never had anyone do something like that for me – ever.”
“Neither have most of us – but this guy certainly seems to know how to push all the right buttons. You’re certain he’s not married?”
Natalie could understand why she’d asked the question. She’d wondered the same thing herself, feeling that a man with money, good looks and a personality had to be too good to be true. But no, she and Jay had discussed their respective love lives at length that Saturday when, after their highly enjoyable trip on the Eye, they’d gone for a drink in Momo, a cosy Moroccan-themed wine bar in Mayfair.
She’d discovered that Jay was thirty-six, lived near Finchley and had worked in events and promotions for twelve years.
“I’m at Labyrinth for almost six years now,” he told her. “I love it and we’ve got an amazing team, but I think I’d like to go out on my own someday.”
“I sometimes feel like that,” Natalie admitted and with a start realised that she’d never verbalised this largely latent ambition. “But I just don’t know if a oneman or woman outfit would attract the calibre of client that Blue Moon does.”
“You’ve got an amazing reputation, though – I’m sure that would count for something.”
“Do I really?” Natalie teased. “I see someone’s been checking up on me.”
Jay gave her a sheepish look. “Well, I mentioned your name to a couple of people – all of whom had nothing but good things to say.” He smiled. “They were especially complimentary about your bum.”
“Sexist bastards!” But Natalie smiled too. She’d never had an issue about using her sexuality in this line of work (within limits of course) and she was pleased to learn that the lipo-removal sessions were paying off. Although, if she continued scoffing burgers at TGI Friday’s, that wouldn’t be the case for too much longer!
But it was telling that Jay had asked around about her. It meant that he was interested enough to do so – although after what he’d arranged for their date that day, Natalie was no longer concerned about that. Even Tara would have to admit that any man who went to the trouble of arranging a private trip on the London Eye was interested!
“So, you’re heading close to the big four-oh then,” Natalie stated, taking a sip from her wineglass.
“Yes, and with very little to show for it, unfortunately.”
Her eyes widened. “A house in Finchley, a career in the legendary Labyrinth – how’s that nothing?”
“It’s just material stuff, though, isn’t it? And money, success and all that doesn’t count for a whole lot when you get down to it.”
“So you never married, then?” Natalie asked, seeing as he’d steered the conversation towards the personal stuff.
He gave a faraway smile. “Never really found the right woman, to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my fair share of long-term relationships and ‘nearly’ women.”
“Nearly women?”
“Ones that might have made the cut, but didn’t.”
“‘Made the cut’?” Natalie repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“Jesus, that sounds really pompous,” Jay jumped in quickly. “What I meant was that I could have married certain women back then – simply for the sake of getting married. But somehow, I knew deep down it wouldn’t last and so I thought what’s the bloody point?”
That’s the difference between you and me then, Natalie thought suddenly. Because she’d been with lots of men she knew weren’t quite right, but wanted to marry them anyway because she just wanted to be married. Jay was right. It was crazy to mess around with something like that, simply for the sake of it.
Tara had of course told her the same thing, but it hadn’t really hit her how stupid she’d been about it all until now. At this stage, she could barely remember the faces, let alone the names, of some of the men she’d seriously considered as husband material. She’d been so desperate to settle down, she’d felt that any man at all would do. She’d been that pathetic.
Still, now that she’d come to that realisation, it made her all the more determined not to get it wrong this time. So, she wasn’t going to get carried away into thinking that Jay might just be the one, but at the same time, she didn’t want to let him slip through her fingers either.
“What do I do next?” she asked Tara now. “Do I phone his office and thank him for a lovely day, or do I text in the hope of organising another one.”
“Don’t you even think about texting him!” Tara warned her. “I know what you’re like with a mobile phone!”
“OK.” Recalling her behaviour with Steve, Natalie was duly convinced.
“He didn’t say anything about going out again when he dropped you home?” Tara asked her.
“He didn’t drop me home as such – he just came as far as my place with me in the cab and then went home to his own. Tara, I was dying to ask him in! Especially after the cocktails at Momo.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to drink too much?” Tara scolded although her tone was light. “Still, I’m proud that you resisted the temptation all the same.”
“Well, I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it from you if I didn’t,” Natalie grunted. “Still, it leaves me in a bit of a pickle as to what to do next. Ma
ybe he didn’t say anything because he was miffed that I didn’t ask him in.”
“From what you’ve told me about him already, that doesn’t seem his style.”
“Yes, but he organised this amazing thing with the London Eye with champagne and all that and got nothing at the end of it?”
“Natalie, I’ve told you before – it’s not about rewarding someone. Just because a man does something nice for you doesn’t mean that you have to automatically sleep with him. You have to get out of that mindset.”
“Yes, yes, I know. But that still leaves me at a loss as to what to do now.”
“You do nothing, my dear,” Tara assured her confidently. “You just continue to play it cool, sit tight and let him come to you.”
And yet again, Tara called it right. To Natalie’s delight, Jay phoned her midweek at work to arrange another date for the following weekend. Natalie was amazed at how much the other girl knew about handling the opposite sex.
“I’ve got Glenn, haven’t I?” Tara laughed, when Natalie told her this. “And through him, I’ve learned all there is to know about handling men.”
“But you’re so good at this anyway! And I honestly don’t think that the fact Jay is Irish has much to do it. You’re just a natural, Tara! I can’t understand why you don’t become a dating coach, instead of just a life coach!”
“Maybe I will after this,” Tara quipped, “and while I’m at it, I might become a marriage counsellor, a pregnancy counsellor and, if all else fails, I suppose I could always fall back on a career in pest control.”
“Sorry?”
“Oh, never mind,” Tara said with a little laugh. “It’s just this guy I met recently that lives next door to Liz. He’s afraid of mice and, as they don’t bother me, he asked me to help chase them out of his house.”
Natalie grinned. “Does anything at all bother you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you just seem so calm and in control of everything. I thought the same when I met you in Egypt. Nothing seems to faze you.”
“Things faze me,” Tara replied simply, “but I’ve learnt over the years not to let anything really get to me. What’s the point?”
