It Started with a Secret: The feel-good novel of the year, from the bestselling author of MAYBE THIS TIME

by Jill Mansell

  ‘I think he was. But are you OK? Not too upset?’

  ‘I’m not upset. Just embarrassed. It’s like being sixteen all over again.’ Majella picked up a tub of coconut ice cream and fanned herself with it. ‘I’ve made a giant fool of myself.’

  ‘Well the good thing is that you aren’t sixteen,’ Lainey consoled her. ‘And you’re not at school any more, so you don’t have to worry that he’s going to go around telling everyone else what happened.’

  Majella dropped the tub of ice cream into the trolley and heaved a sigh of relief. ‘You’re right. Thank goodness for that.’

  India arrived home from school at 4.30. The kitchen door flew open and she wailed, ‘Mum, what did you do? I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life.’

  ‘What?’ Majella looked up from her laptop. ‘I haven’t done anything.’

  ‘Except that isn’t quite true, is it? Look at my phone! Listen to it!’ India held up her mobile, where message after message was bouncing onto the screen, each one accompanied by a cheery ting. ‘And guess what? All of these, they’re about you.’

  Lainey, peeling potatoes at the sink, turned and saw the colour creeping up Majella’s neck.

  ‘There’s a girl in my year called Rochelle Harris. She doesn’t like me much. Also, she’s an absolute cow.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Majella.

  ‘And a few months ago, her mum started seeing this guy called Gerry.’

  ‘Oh God.’ Majella looked dismayed.

  ‘So today, he told Rochelle’s mum about the hilarious thing that happened to him this morning, and she told Rochelle, and Rochelle went on to tell . . . well, pretty much everyone.’

  Lainey winced. Majella, now crimson, covered her face and let out a sound like a strangled polecat.

  ‘You’re a complete laughing stock too. What were you thinking?’

  ‘Lainey made me do it,’ Majella yelped.

  ‘We thought he was still single,’ Lainey protested when all eyes turned in her direction.

  Violet, behind India, said, ‘Mum, were you drunk or something? Apparently you publicly propositioned him and—’

  ‘It wasn’t a proposition.’ Majella was indignant.

  ‘Well you forced him to invite you out. According to Rochelle, you were gabbling away like a mad thing and refused to give up until he’d said yes. She said he couldn’t get a word in edgeways. So now everyone knows how desperate you are.’ India held up the still-chiming phone. ‘Which is nice.’

  ‘I was saying it quickly to get it over and done with before I lost my nerve!’

  ‘Well it’s a shame you didn’t lose it sooner, that’s all I can say.’ India rolled her eyes.

  ‘Oh poor Mum, she didn’t mean to be embarrassing. If anything, it’s Lainey’s fault for forcing her into it.’

  Violet had said it in a kindly way, but it was undoubtedly true. Lainey nodded. ‘It is my fault. It was my idea and I should definitely have checked first that he was still single.’ By way of explanation, she added, ‘I just think it’d be good for your mum to get back out there and, you know, find herself some . . . company.’

  India frowned. ‘Mum doesn’t need any more company. She’s got us.’

  ‘But it might be nice to meet someone I could spend time with,’ Majella ventured. ‘Like . . . a man of some kind. I mean, eventually.’

  ‘Well congratulations,’ said India. ‘You’ve definitely done a great job of advertising that you’re on the hunt for a man. Now everyone knows you’re desperate.’

  ‘I’m not desperate.’ Majella sat back in defeat. ‘It was just an experiment that went wrong.’

  Richard, who’d been standing in the kitchen doorway listening with interest, said conversationally, ‘And you never know how anything’s going to turn out until you try. I met Elizabeth Taylor once, on a beach in Sicily. She needed a light for her cigarette, we got chatting and I ended up asking her out.’

  Relieved to see the discussion moving away from Majella, Lainey said, ‘You and Elizabeth Taylor? Wow, amazing! And did she say yes?’

  ‘Well, we didn’t actually go out anywhere.’ Richard winked, and ice cubes clinked as he took a swallow of his afternoon gin and tonic. ‘But we did spend a rather splendid forty-eight hours in her hotel suite.’

  Chapter 10

  The flowers arrived the following Saturday morning, a spectacular burst of mixed late-spring blooms with an envelope attached. Lainey carried them upstairs to the office, where Seth and Majella were working.

  ‘For me?’ Seth looked surprised as she knocked and entered. ‘You shouldn’t have.’

  Majella opened the envelope and skimmed the handwritten note inside. ‘Oh no, it’s happening. I told her not to do it.’

  ‘Do what?’ said Lainey, and Majella sighed.

  ‘Jess from the flower shop said yesterday that if I’m on the lookout for a man, I should give her brother-in-law a go. I tried to tell her I wasn’t interested, but she wouldn’t listen, kept insisting he’d be perfect for me and said she’d get him to ask me out.’ She handed the note to Seth, who read it before passing it to Lainey.

  Dear Majella,

  Jess has decided that you and I are well suited. Are you willing to take a chance on a virtual stranger? I would be honoured if you’d agree to meet me for dinner any evening that suits you. It’s many years since I’ve been on a blind date, but I’m willing to be brave if you are. Please call or text me.

  ‘His name’s Justin Harlow, he’s forty-six and he lives in Polzeath,’ said Majella. ‘He’s a bank manager. Honestly, how can she expect me to go on a blind date? It’s ridiculous.’

  Seth turned to Lainey. ‘What d’you think?’

  Oh no, she wasn’t going to get landed with the blame again. ‘He looks great, but it’s up to Majella. We can’t make her do it if she doesn’t want to.’

  Majella nodded, clearly relieved, and ran her fingertips over the velvety cream petals of one of the roses in the bouquet.

  ‘Well I think she should give him a chance,’ said Seth.

  ‘What?’ Majella did a double take; she clearly hadn’t been expecting that.

  ‘Look, you were brave last time,’ Seth told her. ‘It’s not your fault it went a bit wrong.’ He raised an eyebrow at Lainey, who said hastily, ‘It was my fault, all mine!’

  ‘But the thought of everyone watching us . . .’

  ‘Which is why you don’t want to eat in a restaurant,’ said Seth. ‘But how about if you invited him over here? Lainey could cook dinner. It’d just be the two of you eating together, we’d keep out of the way, but you wouldn’t be alone with him in the house. How does that sound?’

  Majella hesitated. ‘What if it all goes wrong again?’

  Seth shrugged. ‘What if it goes right?’

  ‘Tell us what Jess said about him,’ Lainey suggested.

  ‘She just said she’d always thought we’d be a perfect match.’

  ‘So let’s go with Seth’s idea. I’ll cook the meal. We’ll be here, but we’ll stay completely out of your way. Like he says, it might be brilliant.’

  ‘And if it isn’t?’ Majella looked fearful.

  ‘As soon as dinner’s over, you can send him home. Come on, what’s the worst that can happen?’ said Lainey.

  At lunchtime, Lainey headed down into the centre of St Carys to collect a repeat prescription for Richard’s heart medication. In the busy pharmacy, she spotted India over by the make-up counter, engrossed in examining a bottle of bright pink nail polish. Amused, Lainey noted that she’d clearly inherited Majella’s predilection for spending ages poring over items in shops.

  Since India hadn’t noticed her, she made her way over to the counter and waited for the middle-aged woman in front of her to finish choosing between two kinds of indigestion tablets. By the time she’d picked up Richard’s prescription – he’d told her to stop calling him Sir – India had left the shop. As she passed the make-up counter, Lainey paused, because none of the remaining polishes
seemed as bordering-on-fluorescent as the one she’d seen India looking at. But she’d only glimpsed it for a moment; it was probably that fuchsia-shaded one on the right.

  On the way home, leaving the esplanade and making her way up the hill, she became aware of being watched. She turned, and her heart gave a little skip when she saw who it was.

  Pauline was walking up the hill on the other side of the street. When she saw Lainey looking at her, she came hurrying over. ‘Hello!’

  It was all very well Seth instructing her not to acknowledge Pauline, but how could she not reply? It just felt so wrong. ‘Hello,’ she said cautiously.

  ‘You work at Menhenick House.’ Up close, Pauline’s eyes were light grey, her expression peculiarly intense.

  OK, what was the correct response to this? Lainey gave a brief semi-nod. But she could hardly deny it; Pauline clearly knew.

  ‘You look so nice. You have such a kind face. Could you give Sir Richard a card from me? It’s a special day, you see.’ Pauline took an envelope out of her bag and thrust it into Lainey’s hand. ‘It’s the anniversary of the first time I saw Wherever You Are in the cinema. I wrote about it in my diary. It was forty-seven years ago today. I thought then that it was the best film ever made.’ She nodded vigorously. ‘And it still is.’

  ‘Well that’s lovely,’ said Lainey. ‘But I have to go now; they’re expecting me back—’

  ‘I love him. I love him so much. You’ll make sure he gets the card, won’t you? I want him to know how special he is to me.’

  Lainey edged away, feeling sorry for Pauline. ‘I will, I promise.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Violet when Lainey entered the kitchen. ‘Let me guess, you’ve been Paulined.’

  It was probably the way she was holding the envelope, as gingerly as if it might be full of spiders. Lainey looked at Richard, who was wrestling with the coffee machine. ‘Sorry, she accosted me. I just couldn’t ignore her.’

  ‘Darling, don’t worry. A bit more practice and you’ll get the hang of it. Pop it in the bin, there’s a good girl.’

  ‘Not in the bin, Grandad,’ Violet tutted. ‘The recycling box.’

  Lainey was apologetic. ‘She made me promise you’d get it. Today’s the anniversary of the first time she saw that film of yours.’

  ‘That film of mine?’ Richard pretended to be offended. ‘I’ve made seventy-six of the damn things, thanks very much.’

  ‘The first time she saw Wherever You Are in the cinema.’ He was pressing all the wrong buttons on the coffee maker, probably on purpose. Lainey said, ‘Would you like me to do that for you? Then you can read the card.’

  ‘Fine. There’s something wrong with this machine, it never works for me.’ Richard plucked the envelope from her hand and opened it, pulling out a luridly coloured card of a teddy bear clutching an armful of glittery crimson hearts. He skimmed the words written inside in a matter of seconds, nodded politely at Lainey and said, ‘There, done. Can I have my cappuccino now, please?’

  It had probably taken Pauline an hour or more to compose the closely written message. Richard passed the card to Violet, who folded it up and expertly tossed it into the recycling box over by the door. Lainey exhaled and pressed the right buttons in the right order; she clearly needed to stop being a soft touch where Richard’s fans were concerned. Every day, letters and small gifts arrived in the post for him from people wanting more attention than he could give them. Yesterday a woman had written begging him to pop along to her auntie’s birthday party in Norfolk because it would mean the world to her.

  Working here, she was just going to have to get used to this situation and learn how to harden her heart.

  Seth was in the sitting room, engrossed in the motor racing on TV, when Kit popped his head around the door at seven that evening.

  ‘Just checking you don’t need me for anything before I head off?’

  ‘Nothing at all,’ said Majella. ‘We’re fine. What are you and Lainey doing tonight? Going out somewhere nice?’

  ‘No! Oh phew, that was close!’ India, sitting on the floor painting her toenails fluorescent pink, had knocked over the bottle of nail polish and snatched it up again at lightning speed before it had a chance to spill on the rug.

  Majella said, ‘Sweetheart, be careful.’

  ‘I was being careful. That’s why I managed to catch it in time.’

  This was typical of India. Seth gave her a warning shake of his head; sometimes she was too smart for her own good.

  ‘Sorry, Kit. We interrupted you.’ Majella turned her attention back to him. ‘Where are you two off to?’

  ‘Well I’m heading to the gym.’ Pushing the door further open, Kit revealed the sports bag in his left hand. ‘I’ve been looking forward to a proper workout. And since Lainey has never looked forward to a proper workout in her life, she’s all set up for a lazy evening watching girlie stuff on TV.’

  ‘I’m all in favour of that.’ Majella beamed at him.

  ‘And eating crisps. She’ll be eating her own body weight in crisps,’ Kit added.

  Seth was discovering that he suddenly had an irresistible urge to eat crisps. But he was seeing Dawn again in an hour. This time, since she didn’t trust herself not to serve up another terrible meal, they were booked into a popular Italian restaurant overlooking the harbour.

  ‘Off you go.’ Majella waggled her fingers at Kit. ‘Have fun.’

  ‘. . . And then I stripped off all my clothes and everyone in the auditorium started to applaud.’

  Seth did a double take as the words belatedly permeated his brain. He looked at Dawn. ‘Sorry?’

  She raised her perfect eyebrows. ‘You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said.’

  He shook his head; this was true. She’d been telling him about an international conference she’d attended last year in Edinburgh. ‘OK, I really am sorry. I was listening, then I got distracted.’

  ‘I noticed.’ Her tone was dry. ‘Is she pretty?’

  For a split second, Seth thought she meant Lainey, then realised that Dawn was tilting her head in the direction he’d been looking. It was ten o’clock at night; they’d finished their meal on the first floor of the restaurant and moved out onto the balcony for one last drink. From their table right next to the wrought-iron railings they had a clear view over the various harbourside bars and restaurants below them.

  Three minutes ago, glancing down, Seth had spotted Kit standing at the bar to the left of them finishing his drink and ordering a refill. He’d evidently been to the gym – his sports bag was at his feet – and had showered and changed into a green and white striped shirt and black jeans. As Seth had watched from his vantage point, he’d seen Kit in conversation with the owner of the bar.

  Then they’d exchanged a look and a smile, and that was when Seth had stopped listening to whatever Dawn had been telling him about the legal conference in Edinburgh. Because the owner of the bar was Tom, who was beautiful to look at, full of charm and openly gay. He was hugely popular in St Carys, bursting with joie de vivre and a flamboyant dresser. Tonight his bleached white hair was spiked up, his shirt was silver and he was wearing tight-fitting white shorts. And whilst smiling at him wasn’t significant in itself, the lingering look seemed . . . well, not quite the kind of look you’d expect to witness from a man who had a long-term girlfriend waiting for him at home.

  Seth exhaled; meanwhile, Dawn was sitting back on her chair, visibly unimpressed by the lack of attention he’d been paying her riveting anecdote.

  ‘I’m not looking at a girl.’ As he said it, he realised half an explanation wasn’t going to be enough to appease her. ‘See the guy down there in the green and white striped shirt? That’s Kit.’

  Dawn nodded. ‘Kit and Elaine, yes? The couple who came to work for your family the other week?’ She twisted in her seat and peered over the edge of the balcony. ‘Why, what’s happening? Is he chatting up some other girl?’

  ‘Not quite,’ said Seth.

  At
that moment, they both saw Tom come out from behind the bar to clear the glasses from one of the tables next to Kit. As he squeezed past, he rested a hand briefly on Kit’s hip, before collecting up the empty glasses and making his way back. There was more prolonged eye contact, followed by a few more intimately exchanged words and another mischievous smile.

  ‘Oh,’ said Dawn. ‘Oh.’

  ‘Yes.’ Seth nodded as they both took note of the way Kit was now glancing around the bar and the harbourside, surreptitiously checking that the moment hadn’t been noticed.

  ‘Wow. This is pretty awkward then.’ Dawn’s expression was serious. ‘What are you going to do?’

  Seth had no idea. He wished he hadn’t seen what they’d just seen. Or was that entirely true? Was a small part of him glad it had happened, glad that the relationship of the girl he was so strongly attracted to wasn’t as rock solid as he’d previously imagined?

  Maybe.

  Oh, but there were so many unanswered questions here. Did Lainey have any idea about this? Did they maybe have a completely open relationship, or at least an understanding that Kit might meet other people so long as he was discreet?

  Or would this news come as a bolt from the blue, a horrible shock that would break her heart and leave her devastated?

  ‘Do you think Elaine knows?’ said Dawn.

  ‘Lainey,’ Seth corrected her automatically. ‘I don’t know. And it’s hardly a question you can ask. Look, maybe we’ve got it wrong, jumped to conclusions. Kit’s a friendly guy, he’s the type to get on with anyone.’

  ‘Come on. We both saw what we saw. The way they looked at each other . . . that was deliberate.’

  This was true.

  ‘Maybe he’s just flirting for fun, but it doesn’t mean anything.’

  ‘Seth.’ Dawn gave him a who-are-you-kidding look.

  He shook his head. ‘Well I think we just have to pretend we didn’t see anything. It’s none of our business what Kit does in his spare time.’

  ‘Really?’ One perfect eyebrow was still raised.

  ‘Really.’

  ‘So if you were living with a girlfriend you were crazy about, and one of your friends found out she was being unfaithful to you, you’re telling me you wouldn’t want to know? You’d rather carry on believing everything was fine, even though she’d actually been having sex with God knows how many other men behind your back?’