‘She could come along with us if you like.’
He grimaced at this. ‘No, she couldn’t. Much as I love her, that would be weird. How about next Wednesday, are you free then?’
‘I am. But I live in Briarwood; it’s quite a way from here.’
‘Not a problem. Give me your address and I’ll pick you up at eight. We’ll go out to dinner.’
‘Where?’
‘Somewhere nice, don’t worry.’
Molly made him stop talking then, and swiftly completed the caricature with his mouth in an exaggerated smile. As she was showing him the finished result, they heard the squeak of wheels on polished floorboards.
‘Very good. That nose is exactly right.’ Muriel studied the drawing with satisfaction then said loudly, ‘And how about the other thing?’
Molly kept a straight face. So subtle, so deft.
‘All I can think is, you must have paid her an awful lot of money,’ said Vince. ‘She said yes.’
‘I didn’t offer her a penny.’ Muriel looked smug. ‘This girl’s got her head screwed on the right way. All she had to do was meet you to know you were a good bet.’
Just before midnight there was a firework display on the Downs, in Muriel’s honour. ‘That’ll wake ’em all up,’ she chuckled as chrysanthemum bursts exploded into the sky. And to her delight it wasn’t long before a police car pulled up, the officers alerted by disgruntled neighbours who didn’t appreciate the disturbance.
‘Miserable sods,’ Muriel unrepentantly pronounced. ‘Some people just don’t know how to have fun.’
Molly left the party at one o’clock. Muriel and Wilbur went with her to the front door.
‘Darling, you won’t regret it.’ The diamond necklace reflected rainbow shards of light as she reached for Molly’s hands. ‘Vince would be any girl’s dream man. He’s a genuinely nice person . . . housetrained, charming, even knows how to cook. I’m telling you, he’s a catch.’
‘And you missed your vocation,’ said Molly. ‘You should have been a matchmaker.’
‘Darling, I’ve been matchmaking all my life. I have a talent for it.’ She patted Molly’s cheek. ‘And I have a good feeling about you.’
As she climbed into her car, Molly experienced a squiggle of excitement about her upcoming date. See? Dexter wasn’t the only one with a bit of romantic excitement in his life.
After a couple of alarmingly false starts, it appeared the time had finally come to start de-spinstering herself.
Chapter 33
Amber lay back, the long grass tickling her shoulders and the nape of her neck. The heat of the sun was melting over her closed eyelids. In the distance, over on the main stage, one of her favourite bands was playing. She’d been looking forward to seeing them but couldn’t be bothered now to get up and make her way over there. She was just too comfortable.
‘Hey. You OK?’ Doss gave her hip a nudge with his foot.
‘Yeah.’ Amber opened her eyes and saw him standing over her, his face advancing and receding like waves on the shore. She giggled and said, ‘Stay still.’
‘I am still. You’re stoned.’
‘Little bit, maybe.’ Bit drunk, bit stoned, whatever. A fly buzzing around her head landed on her left shoulder and she batted it away, missing and hitting herself in the chest instead. ‘Ow.’
‘Hahahaha.’ That was enough to set Doss off; he cracked up laughing and couldn’t stop. As the clouds swirled overhead, Amber joined in. The clouds were dancing along to the music from her favourite band. She might not be able to stand up but she could waggle her arms . . . ha ha, and make sure she didn’t whack herself in the face . . .
The band played on, the smell of frying onions drifted across from the burger stand and Amber’s stomach gave a rumble of hunger. She hadn’t eaten anything today, which was probably why the cider had gone to her head.
‘I’m starving,’ she told Doss.
‘Me too.’
‘I want a burger.’
‘I want a private helicopter and a holiday in Vegas.’
‘Not Vegas, that’s too far.’
‘Yeah. Ibiza, then.’
‘I’m still hungry. Shall we have a burger?’
He pulled a face. ‘Have you seen how much they cost? Rip-off.’
‘But we need to eat something.’ Amber dug in the pocket of her jeans and eased out her last ten-pound note; she already knew she’d have to pay for his too. ‘Will you go and get them?’
Doss looked over without enthusiasm at the snaking queue. ‘Why can’t you?’
‘Because my legs won’t work.’
‘You’re such a lightweight.’ He took the money from her and loped off. She lay back down again and watched a bird soar overhead, lazily changing direction as if it were writing its name in the sky. She was only a lightweight because smoking spliffs was new to her, unlike Doss who’d been doing it for years. Her stomach rumbled and she pressed her hand against it to make it stop . . . sshh . . . God, she couldn’t wait for him to come back with the burgers.
‘Hi, Amber.’
Amber’s eyelids, which had been drooping, snapped open. Two faces were gazing down at her. Shaun Corrigan and his friend Max.
‘Hi.’ If she said it with enough lack of enthusiasm, hopefully they’d get the message and go away, leave her in peace.
‘Are you OK?’
‘Just perfect, thanks.’
Shaun crouched down next to her. ‘Sure?’
‘Like you care.’
‘Don’t be like that. I do care. You’re my sister and you look pretty wasted.’
‘Thanks. You look like you work in a bank.’ He didn’t, not really, but he and Max certainly looked cleaner and shinier than most of the other festival-goers. ‘What are you doing here, anyway? Wouldn’t have thought it was your thing.’
‘Hey, we like music. And it’s free. We weren’t spying on you, by the way. We were just sitting over there and Max spotted you a while back. Was that your boyfriend with you?’
‘Yeah, he’s just gone to get a couple of burgers.’
‘So you’ve been smoking dope?’
Oh God. Bored, she said, ‘Spare me the lecture.’
‘Dad said you’d always been really anti-drugs.’
‘Did he? Maybe that was back when he was my dad.’
‘He’s still your dad.’
Amber shook her head. ‘No no no, he’s all yours now.’
‘He really misses you,’ said Shaun.
A knot tightened in her chest. ‘Well, I don’t miss him.’
They sat there without speaking for a while, listening to the band playing on the faraway stage. Then the music stopped and Shaun said, ‘You must be in the middle of exams. How’s it going?’
‘Honestly? Really bad. I’m going to fail all of them. Haven’t done any revision. Can’t be bothered. And guess whose fault that is? Your father’s. You can tell him that too. When I don’t pass any of my AS levels, I hope he feels guilty.’ Amber gazed steadily at Shaun. ‘Because it’ll all be thanks to him.’
‘He’s so proud of you.’ Shaun looked shocked. ‘It’s going to really upset him.’
‘Oh no, how terrible, what a shame.’
‘Shall I tell him about the drugs too?’
Amber paused; that wouldn’t be such a great idea. ‘No, don’t say that. He’d only tell Mum and she’d get all stressy about it.’
‘OK. But take care, all right? Look after yourself.’
‘I always do.’
‘I’m glad we bumped into you.’ Shaun’s voice softened. ‘It’s nice to have a chat. Look, can we swap numbers? Then maybe we could text each other. You know, not loads, just every now and again.’
Her instinctive reaction was to say no. But actually it had been kind of nice to see him again. In a weird way. And she’d enjoyed telling him about her exams, knowing he’d be passing the information on. It was actually a neat way of worrying her dad, causing him a bit more pain. Which he deserved.
&
nbsp; ‘OK.’ Amber took out her phone and Shaun took out his, which was a newer model than hers. Who’d paid for that, hmm?
Once the numbers had been exchanged, Amber said, ‘How did your exams go, then?’
‘Good, thanks. I need two As and a B to get a place at Birmingham. I should be fine.’
‘Great.’ Amber hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic but it came out that way. She shook her head. ‘Sorry, I mean it is great. And I bet you worked hard for it.’
‘I did.’ Shaun nodded.
‘So how does it feel to have a full-time father? A bit weird?’
He smiled briefly. ‘A bit.’
Max, who’d stayed quiet up to now, said, ‘Here comes your boyfriend.’
‘Oh thank God, I’m starving.’ Twisting round, Amber saw Doss loping across the grass towards them. ‘Anyway, you’d better go.’ She instinctively knew it would be awkward; Shaun and Max were a different species, a million miles from Doss.
‘This is Shaun and his friend Max. They’re just leaving.’ As she said it, Amber saw that the bag he was carrying was too heavy to be burgers. She pointed to it. ‘What have you got in there?’
‘OK, right, the queue was too long at the burger van, yeah? So I went off to find another one and there were these guys who’d brought along too much cider so they were offering it to people for a really good price.’ Proudly Doss pulled out a couple of plastic litre bottles filled with cloudy amber liquid that looked as if it had been dredged from a stagnant pond.
‘What was the really good price?’
‘Tenner.’
Amber wanted to yell at him but she couldn’t, not in front of Shaun and Max. She wanted to cry. Aloud she said, ‘I don’t like cloudy cider.’ It was going to be disgusting, she just knew it.
‘Hey, be cool. You’ll grow to like it,’ said Doss. ‘You just have to give it a chance.’
Shaun said, ‘But you told us you were starving.’ He was frowning at Amber now, looking concerned.
‘I’m fine. I’m not really that hungry.’ Embarrassed, she shook her head.
Doss said defensively, ‘This is way better than a couple of stupid burgers.’
Ignoring him, Shaun said, ‘Do you want me to get you one?’
‘No, no, definitely not.’ That would be the ultimate humiliation; she could already see he was wondering what she was doing with Doss, who couldn’t have chosen a worse time to act like a prat.
‘Sure? Because I can, it’s honestly not a problem.’ He had his wallet open now; there were a couple of ten-pound notes visible.
‘Let him buy you a burger if you want one.’ Doss rolled his eyes slightly as he said it, as if she was making a big fuss about nothing.
‘No. I’m not bothered. We’ll just drink this.’ Taking one of the plastic bottles from him, Amber unscrewed the top and took a defiant swig. Urgh, it was dry and sour and repulsive. She wiped her mouth, which was doing its best to shrivel up in disgust, then turned to Doss. ‘Actually, it’s not bad. Come on, let’s move away from here, find somewhere else to sit.’ As they made to leave, she waved her free hand at Shaun and Max and said, ‘Bye!’
Chapter 34
When he saw her on the doorstep Dex whistled and said, ‘Wow, look at you.’
Pleased, Molly did a little curtsy. Well, was it really so wrong to want to show off your scrubbed-up appearance and angle for the odd compliment? She was looking nice this evening and a bit of an ego boost was always good for the soul. ‘I know, it’s a shock. I came to ask if I could borrow a bit of milk.’
‘Come in, no problem. Have you run out?’
‘No, I just opened a new carton but it doesn’t smell very fresh.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘And the shop’s shut.’
Dex grinned. ‘You dress up really smart in your house to eat a bowl of cereal.’
‘Ha ha. I’m going out,’ Molly announced with pride. ‘On a date. But when he brings me back home later I don’t want to invite him in for a coffee and then only have stinky milk to put in it.’
‘A date.’ Dex raised an eyebrow. ‘Who with?’
‘Someone I met the other night. Someone nice.’
‘Glad to hear it.’ He opened the fridge and took out the milk. ‘And is this one single?’
Oh well, that was to be expected. And he was currently doing her a favour. Molly said with dignity, ‘Yes he is. And yes, I double-checked.’
‘You’re looking great.’ She saw Dex take in the purply-blue cotton shift dress, the dark blue glittery flip-flops, the hair fastened back at the sides with silver combs and the extra-careful make-up. As he poured a pint of milk into a jug he added, ‘You smell nice too. What is it?’
This time it wasn’t a mish-mash from Harrods’ perfume hall. ‘Just a cheap one from Next.’
‘I like it.’ He moved nearer to her neck and inhaled the light, clean scent. ‘Very much. And it doesn’t smell cheap.’
‘Good.’ Having Dex this close was making her stomach go funny. For a moment their eyes met and the look in his made her heart race.
‘Lucky him,’ said Dex.
‘I know.’ Could he hear her heart frantically thud-thud-thud-ding away?
Dex smiled and said, ‘There you go, then. Is that enough?’
‘Tons.’ Molly took the jug from him and jumped as his phone, on the worktop next to her, emitted the shrill ddrringgg that signalled the arrival of a text. Glancing down at it, she saw Amanda’s name flash up on the screen, and the words: ‘Be with you by eight xxx’.
‘All going well with you two, then?’ Since Dex had seen her looking, there was no point in pretending she hadn’t seen the message.
‘Pretty well. She’s good company. Is this your date?’
A car had pulled up outside. Molly checked through the window. ‘Yes, that’s him. He’s early.’
‘Keen. See you later.’ Dex held the door open for her. ‘Have fun.’
Her stomach did the washing-machine swirl again and she said brightly, ‘You too.’
Was Dex watching her now? Having deposited the borrowed milk in the fridge, collected her bag and keys and greeted Vince with a kiss on the cheek, Molly smiled as he held the car’s passenger door open for her like a proper gentleman. And Vince was looking incredible too; he was definitely the kind of date you’d be proud to be seen out with.
Acting as if she wasn’t being watched, which was actually more difficult than you’d think, she managed to climb in without tripping over or flashing her pants. Did they look like a glamorous couple in a TV advert? Oh please let the answer be yes.
‘Sorry I was early,’ said Vince.
‘I’m always early for everything.’
‘It’s fine. I was ready. And you weren’t that early anyway. Only ten minutes.’
Vince grimaced. ‘More than that, if we’re being honest. I’ve been sitting in the car in the pub car park for the last twenty minutes.’
‘Really?’ Was he joking?
‘No.’ He looked rueful. ‘More like half an hour.’
It had been a nice evening. Better than nice, Molly chided herself because that didn’t sound over-enthusiastic. Vince had taken her to a charming French restaurant in Malmesbury; having done his internet research he’d narrowed the choices down until he’d found the perfect one. The food had been amazing. So had the wine, although Vince was driving so it had been left to her to drink most of it. But they’d had a good time, the conversation had flowed easily enough and when Vince had excused himself to pay a visit to the men’s room, one of the two middle-aged women at an adjacent table had leaned across and said to Molly, ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying this, dear, but ooh, your boyfriend is so handsome. We’ve hardly been able to tear our eyes away!’
‘He’s like someone in a Hollywood film,’ her friend rhapsodised, plump hands clasped in ecstasy.
Which had been lovely to hear, but at the same time slightly appeared to imply, Molly felt, that they couldn’t work out what on earth he was doing with her.
‘Is he a famous actor?’ The first woman looked hopeful.
‘No.’ Molly shook her head. ‘He’s an architect.’
‘Ooh, well, that’s good too. You make sure you hang on to this one, dear. Men like that don’t come along very often, do they? You don’t want to let him slip the hook.’
‘It’s only our first date,’ said Molly.
‘All the more reason to hold on tight,’ stage-whispered the second woman as Vince made his way back across the restaurant towards them. ‘Think of the beautiful kiddies you could have.’
Anyway, they were home now, back in Briarwood. And she had fresh milk. Molly turned to him.
‘D’you want to come in for a coffee before heading back?’
‘Great,’ said Vince.
‘Hey, over here,’ Dex called as they climbed out of the car. ‘How was dinner?’
He was sitting at a table in his front garden, with the front door open behind him. On the table was a can of beer. Beside him was some kind of metallic tripod affair glinting in the dim light.
‘Dinner was fantastic. What are you doing?’
‘Stargazing. Look.’ Dex patted the tripod with pride. ‘I bought myself a telescope.’
‘I wouldn’t have thought it was your kind of thing,’ said Molly.
‘Me neither, but it’s brilliant. I didn’t realise there was so much out there.’ He spread his hands wide and looked up. ‘It’s all so . . . big.’
‘Yes, galaxies and universes do tend to be a bit on the large side.’
‘Hi, I’m Dex.’ Rising to his feet, Dex greeted Vince. They shook hands and he gestured to the other chairs. ‘Join me. There’s cold beer or wine in the fridge . . . or coffee. Here, take a seat, it’s too nice to stay indoors. Look how clear the sky is.’
Was he doing this on purpose? Purely for his own amusement? Oh well, too late, Vince was already pulling up one of the chairs, examining the undoubtedly expensive telescope Dex had bought on a whim and would probably be bored with by the end of the week.
‘OK,’ said Molly. ‘Vince has to drive so we’ll have coffee, thanks.’
‘The only thing is, could you make it in your kitchen and bring it over?’ Dex’s eyes glistened in the darkness. ‘Only I lent someone some milk earlier and now I’ve run out.’
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