On the outside, Henry remained normal. Inside, multi-coloured cartoon hearts and stars were shooting out of his eyes. At least, he hoped it was only on the inside. But it was happening, she was here and so was he. At last.
Frankie’s smile was warm. ‘Hi.’ Up close, her eyes were clear blue with a darker blue outer edge, her lashes were blond-tipped and there was a faint dusting of freckles over her nose. She was perfect. And she smelled perfect. This was one of those moments he knew he’d never forget.
‘Hi,’ said Henry. Then he said, ‘Oof,’ and clapped his hands to the front of his trousers as the icy contents of a pint glass hit him square in the groin.
‘Oh, sorry!’ The small girl with tangled dark curls who’d tripped over a chair leg and drenched him, yelped, ‘It was an accident, I didn’t mean to!’
‘Addy, don’t worry, sweetheart, we know that.’ Frankie gave Lois’s daughter a reassuring hug as Lois said eagerly, ‘No problem, I’ll get some kitchen towels and mop it up.’
Which was a truly alarming prospect. Gazing down at himself in dismay, Henry saw that the glass had contained Coca-Cola, which wasn’t ideal when you were wearing cream chinos.
‘It’s fine,’ he told Addy, ‘it doesn’t matter. These things happen.’
‘Here we are!’ Lois was back with a roll of kitchen paper, tearing off sheets in readiness.
‘Please, let me do it.’ Henry took them from her then said, ‘I should have brought a spare pair of trousers.’
‘Let me take you over to the pub,’ Lois offered with enthusiasm, ‘and sort you out.’
Which was the very last thing he needed.
Wishing the ground would swallow him up, Henry stammered, ‘N-no, really, it’s OK . . .’
‘This is my café. I’ll do it.’ Taking control, Frankie pointed to the door and said kindly, ‘Come on, we’ll have you as good as new in no time.’
Now this was an offer he couldn’t refuse. When they’d left the party behind them, Henry said with feeling, ‘Thanks.’
‘That’s OK.’ She grinned at him. ‘I saw the look of horror in your eyes.’
‘You did?’ As he followed her up the stairs, Henry hoped she couldn’t mind-read as well.
‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Lois isn’t exactly backward at coming forward. Right, this is mine so it isn’t ideal but it’ll have to do for now.’ In the bathroom, Frankie took a fluffy lime-green bathrobe off the hook behind the door and passed it to him. ‘I’ll start running the water, you take your trousers off.’
Henry retreated to the privacy of the landing, removed his trousers and put the bathrobe on. It was far too small for him and looked ridiculous of course, but it was Frankie’s so he wasn’t going to object.
In the bathroom, she took the trousers from him and dunked them into the sink, where the hot water was foaming with hand-washing liquid. Over her shoulder she said, ‘How’s your underwear?’
OK, so this was a question he hadn’t expected to hear today. Particularly from Frankie herself. ‘Fine. Er, fine thanks.’ His trunks were slightly damp but Henry had no intention of taking those off too.
‘Lois has told us all about you,’ Frankie went on. ‘She’s a teeny bit smitten. I’d thought maybe you felt the same until I caught that look on your face.’
‘Yes, well. She’s a bit . . . full on.’
‘I know.’ Her smile was sympathetic. ‘Not your type, then?’
Henry shook his head slowly. How would she react if he were to say, ‘It’s you, can’t you see that? You’re the one, you’re my type.’
He wasn’t going to say it, obviously. He wasn’t completely mad. As she rinsed and expertly wrung out his trousers, he said, ‘No, she’s a great character, but not really . . . my cup of tea.’ Oh God, what did he sound like? Why had he started channelling Noel Coward? ‘Anyway, thanks for rescuing me.’
‘Otherwise who knows what she’d be doing to you now! Right, all done. Spin dryer next.’ As they headed back downstairs, Frankie said, ‘What are you, six foot five? If you weren’t so tall you could have borrowed a pair of trousers from someone else, but the legs wouldn’t be long enough.’
‘Much as I love this dressing gown,’ Henry said gravely, ‘I think I’d rather wait until my trousers are dry before rejoining the party.’
‘No problem at all.’ In the utility room, Frankie put the trousers through a spin cycle then threw them into the tumble dryer and switched it on. ‘There, they’ll be done in no time.’ Ushering him across the hallway and into a charming blue and cream living room, she said, ‘You just make yourself comfortable in here. Put the TV on if you want. Can I bring you a drink?’
‘No thanks. I’m fine,’ said Henry.
Frankie dimpled. ‘OK, I’ll bring you your trousers in twenty minutes.’
There appeared to be some kind of party going on. When he pulled up outside his old home, Joe could see and hear the music, the voices, the garden full of people behind the house.
Which meant it probably wasn’t the ideal time to pay a visit, but that was hardly his fault, was it? Amber had blocked his number from her phone and Frankie appeared to have turned hers off. But he’d had to come; his conscience wouldn’t allow him not to. He was here because there was a situation that needed to be resolved.
Almost everyone was out in the garden. There were balloons bobbing everywhere, people dancing, children running about. Seeing that the door leading from the café to the house was ajar, Joe made his way through to the hallway. The kitchen was empty but the living-room door was closed and he could hear what sounded like the TV coming from inside. Amber was probably in there, keeping out of the way of the party going on outside.
Joe turned the handle and opened the door. Having braced himself to come face to face with his daughter, he was even less prepared for the sight of a complete stranger – a huge Afro-Caribbean hulk of a man at that – stretched out across the sofa wearing Frankie’s lime-green dressing gown and watching athletics on the TV.
‘Who are you?’ Joe demanded, torn between shock, outrage and – if he was being completely honest – a thud of fear. ‘What are you doing in here?’
After a beat of silence, the huge man wearing his wife’s lime-green dressing gown said, ‘I could ask you the same thing.’
‘This is my house.’ Shit, look at his muscles. And also, what the hell did Frankie think she was playing at?
‘Is it?’ The visitor raised a mildly interested eyebrow and stayed where he was. ‘So that makes you the ex-husband.’
‘Not ex. We’re still married. You’re wearing my wife’s dressing gown.’ The words were coming out of his mouth but Joe couldn’t quite believe he was saying them. Did he want to be beaten to a pulp by someone with the physique of Lennox Lewis?
‘I know. I didn’t just break in and steal it, if that’s what you’re wondering. She gave it to me to wear.’
‘Here we are, all done – ooh!’ Swinging open again behind him, the door bounced off Joe’s shoulder. Then Frankie came into the room and saw him. ‘Joe! What’s going on?’
His shoulder hurt a lot but if he rubbed it he’d look like a wimp. Joe said evenly, ‘I need to talk to you.’
She looked surprised. ‘Why?’
‘In private. It’s important.’ He saw the pale trousers she was holding, saw the hulk in the dressing gown get up from the sofa.
‘Thanks. I’ll leave you to it.’ Taking the trousers from Frankie, the hulk said, ‘But if you need me, just give me a shout, OK?’
When he was gone, Joe said, ‘Who is he?’
She shrugged. ‘None of your business.’
‘I’m just asking. Being polite.’
‘He’s a friend.’
‘What kind of a friend?’
‘A very nice one. And don’t look at me like that, Joe.’ Defiantly she said, ‘I’m moving on.’
‘But . . . you’re not the type to move on.’ He hadn’t meant it to sound like that; the words were coming out all
wrong.
Frankie looked as if he’d slapped her. ‘Maybe I am now.’
‘Look, I’m sorry.’ They couldn’t argue; it wasn’t why he’d come over here. ‘We need to talk about Amber. She won’t speak to me.’
‘No? Goodness, how strange, I wonder why that could be?’ Joe gave her a look; the old easygoing Frankie would never have made a comment like that. ‘Shaun bumped into her at a music festival. They talked for a bit. She told him she was going to fail all her exams. Apparently she’s not even trying to do well.’
‘OK, I’ll have a word with her about that.’
‘Then there’s the rest. I wasn’t told this but I overheard Shaun yesterday, talking to a friend. He said Amber was out of it when he saw her. Drinking rough cider and smoking dope.’ He shook his head at Frankie. ‘We need to do something about this. Make it stop, sort it out.’
She bridled. ‘Are you saying it’s my fault?’
‘I’m saying you can’t just sit back and let it happen. She won’t take my calls.’
‘Wait here.’ Frankie abruptly turned and left. Returning shortly afterwards, she pulled Amber into the room after her. Joe’s heart contracted at the sight of the daughter he loved so dearly, then squeezed tighter still with sorrow and pain when he saw the look on her face.
‘You tricked me,’ Amber murmured icily to Frankie.
‘Sorry, darling. Your father insisted. He wants a word.’
Amber’s eyes flashed with a mixture of satisfaction and disdain. ‘No thanks.’
Joe said evenly, ‘Shaun told me about your exams. He said you hadn’t done any work for them.’
‘And why would you care about that?’
‘Amber, I’m your dad.’
‘Not any more.’
‘I also heard about the drinking, the drugs.’
‘Ha, I knew it.’ Her jaw was set.
‘He didn’t tell me, I heard him talking to one of his friends about you.’
‘Making excuses for your perfect son?’ Amber’s tone was jeering. ‘Protecting him?’
‘If you’re taking drugs, it’s my business.’
‘It’s not your business, it’s just your fault.’
The living-room door banged shut behind her.
‘I’ll speak to her later,’ said Frankie. ‘You can go now.’
Joe wanted to say sorry, he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her he still loved her. But he knew he couldn’t.
Without another word he turned and left.
Chapter 37
Frankie found her daughter out in the garden, drinking orange juice and listening to the band.
‘Has he gone?’ said Amber.
‘Yes. Sweetheart—’
‘Oh Mum, don’t look so worried, none of it’s true.’
Frankie’s stomach was in knots. ‘But why would the boy – Shaun – say it?’
‘Because he believed me! I did it on purpose, don’t you get it? Because I just wanted to make Dad think I was messing everything up and I knew Shaun would tell him. Ha, and it worked.’ Beaming, Amber said, ‘Good! Except I really should have warned you. Sorry, I didn’t think he’d actually turn up.’
‘So . . . but Shaun said—’
‘Mum, I told him what I wanted him to hear. I said I’d done no revision and was going to fail all my exams. But you know that’s not true, don’t you, because you’ve seen all the work I’ve been putting in – there’s no way I’m going to let it go to waste. And that day at the festival him and his friend were watching me from a distance. You should have seen them, all clean and shiny looking, it was hilarious, they were so out of place. When they came over to talk to me I thought it would be funny to pretend to be all spaced out. I wanted to hurt Dad and that seemed like a good way to go about it. But you know the truth, Mum. You know I don’t do drugs, and I wasn’t drinking either. Doss bought a bottle of cider but it tasted horrible. Ha, I fooled those boys though.’ Her eyes dancing, Amber said, ‘I’m a better actress than I thought.’ She assumed a dopey, heavy-lidded expression, clutched Frankie’s arm and said slurrily, ‘I’m gonna fail all those exams and I don’ even care, right?’
She looked and sounded convincingly out of it. And she’d always been so anti-drugs. It made perfect sense. Trusting her, believing her, Frankie exhaled with relief. ‘Well, thank goodness for that. You had me worried there for a minute.’
‘Ah, sorry, Mum.’ Amber gave her a squeezy hug. ‘But you don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine.’
‘Ooh, and I need to apologise to you!’ Reaching out to stop Henry as he and Molly made their way past, Frankie said, ‘I’m so sorry about that little misunderstanding earlier.’
Henry smiled and shook his head. ‘No problem at all.’
Molly said, ‘What misunderstanding?’
‘When Joe turned up just now, he found Henry in the living room wearing my dressing gown and no trousers.’
‘Ha!’
‘Henry was brilliant,’ said Frankie. ‘Played it very cool.’
Henry said modestly, ‘Well, as cool as I could manage in a small green dressing gown.’
‘After you left the room, Joe asked me what was going on.’ Her cheeks flushing, Frankie said, ‘I hope you don’t mind that I kind of hinted there might be a bit of . . . you know . . .’
He shook his head. ‘It would have been a waste of a perfect opportunity if you hadn’t.’
He had a lovely dry sense of humour, Frankie decided, and a charming manner.
‘We missed you last time you came down here,’ said Molly. ‘Heard all about you though.’
‘Actually, I’ve seen you before,’ Henry told her. ‘From a distance, on the day you came home from London. There was a baby rabbit in the middle of the road. You jumped out of a car and rescued it.’
‘I did! We were stopped at the traffic lights! Were you the one heading the other way? That rabbit did a wee all down the front of my jeans! Oh wow,’ Molly exclaimed, gesturing at his chinos. ‘And you’ve just had the same problem . . .’
Watching them, Frankie said, ‘You know what this means, don’t you? You’re practically twins.’
Molly’s phone buzzed to signal the arrival of a text from Vince: ‘Hi, how’s it going? What time do you want me to pick you up? And shall I wear a blue shirt or a green one?’
She hesitated. It was five o’clock and the party was still in full swing.
Next to her, Dex said, ‘Problem?’
‘Just wondering how long you’re all going to be carrying on here.’
‘Well, I wasn’t planning on kicking everyone out right away.’ Dex was busy videoing Delphi, who was modelling yet another hand-knitted present, this time a fluffy yellow hat with ear flaps that made her look like a just-hatched chick. ‘If people are still having fun, no reason why we can’t keep going. Oh, you’ve got your date tonight. When do you have to leave?’
‘Not yet.’ Molly pulled a funny face at Delphi; who was clapping her hands against Henry’s. She’d send a text back to Vince and say eight o’clock would be fine.
‘CacacacacaCAH,’ Delphi babbled happily as she grabbed Henry’s fingers. ‘GagagagaGAH . . . DadadadadadaDAH!’
‘Oh wow, listen to that, clever girl!’ Molly turned excitedly to Dex. ‘Has she ever said Dada before?’
‘No.’ Dex smiled drily. ‘And it would have been nice if she could have said it to me instead of Henry, but it’s a start.’
Their eyes met and Molly’s heart went out to him. It was quite an emotional moment, hearing Delphi say the word for the first time, even if it was to the wrong person. And on her birthday too.
‘Dada.’ Molly attracted Delphi’s attention and pointed to Dex. ‘Dada.’
‘Dadadadada.’ Delphi curled her arm around Henry’s neck and plonked a slobbery kiss on the side of his jaw.
Then Molly jumped as an amused voice right behind her said, ‘Genetically unlikely.’
‘Hi.’ Dex stopped videoing Delphi and Amanda brushed past Molly as sh
e moved towards him and greeted him with a kiss on the mouth.
Well, that got everyone’s attention. All around the garden people turned to look and eyebrows were raised at this new and gossip-worthy turn of events. Molly felt a tiny bit as if she’d taken a step on to ground that was no longer there.
‘I decided there’s no reason to keep quiet about us any longer,’ Amanda told Dex with a grin. Turning to survey the sea of interested faces, she announced, ‘Don’t worry, everyone, he isn’t my patient and neither is Delphi now. It’s allowed! We’re completely legal and above board, two single people who get on together very well indeed. And look who else I’m here to see!’ Holding out her arms, she removed Delphi from Henry and scooped her up into the air. ‘Happy birthday, little one! Don’t you look beautiful in your fluffy hat? Such a pretty girl!’
Delphi had been the centre of attention all afternoon, but seeing Amanda holding and hugging her in such a proprietorial fashion was making Molly feel even weirder than witnessing the kiss between Amanda and Dex.
A tiny twist of – what was it? Jealousy? – speared her chest as she watched Delphi pucker up her tiny rosebud mouth and plant a kiss on Amanda’s cheek.
‘Aahh, thank you, that’s lovely,’ cooed Amanda.
‘MamamamaMAH,’ said Delphi.
The tiny twist in Molly’s chest became a Sabatier knife. Unable to watch, she turned her attention to the phone in her hand. OK, Vince would be waiting for a reply.
Her fingers trembling slightly, she texted: ‘Come over now!’
‘By the way.’ Lois drew her father to one side and murmured, ‘Don’t say anything to anyone else, but it’s only fair to warn you. I think Frankie’s interested.’
Stefan frowned slightly. ‘Interested in what?’
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