Chapter 45

The church bells were chiming to announce to the village that it was now ten o’clock at night. On the sofa next to her dad, Maeve yawned noisily and stretched her arms. ‘I’m tired. Going up to bed.’

‘OK, sweetheart. As soon as this is finished I’ll be heading up too.’ He indicated the BBC documentary about deep-sea fish with terrifying teeth, and leaned across to drop a kiss on top of her head. ‘Sleep well.’

‘I will. Night.’

Upstairs, she sat on the edge of her bed and waited, and knew he was waiting too. Fifteen minutes later, she heard the telltale sounds of her father moving around extra quietly downstairs. Almost as if he really didn’t want to wake her.

Again .

After a few minutes more, she heard the front door stealthily opening and crossed to her bedroom window. When the door closed again and his shadow appeared in the glow of the street lamp, Maeve pushed open her window and called down, ‘And where do you think you’re going?’

Like a stern teacher catching out a pupil attempting to bunk off school. Which might have been funny under other circumstances, but she wasn’t laughing.

He’d frozen for a moment; she knew him so well. Guilty and thinking fast, he blurted out, ‘I was going to take Teddy out for a quick walk.’

‘Were you?’ She bent to lift Teddy into her arms and held him up, tail wagging madly at this fun experience. ‘I think you forgot something.’

Caught out, her dad amended, ‘I just wanted some fresh air. To help me sleep.’

‘Dad, do you really think I’m that stupid? You’ve been sneaking out like this every night. I hear you leave and I hear you come back at five every morning. I know what’s going on.’

He hesitated. ‘So why do you have to ask?’

‘Because you keep pretending it isn’t happening.’ Teddy was wuffling, his paws eagerly scrabbling against the front of her T-shirt at the prospect of a bonus walk. Maeve said, ‘Wait there, we need to talk,’ and closed the window, hard.

He was waiting for her in the hallway, faintly embarrassed but at the same time clearly on the defensive. Now that the dam had been breached, all the thoughts Maeve had been bottling up for so long came tumbling out.

‘The thing is, we’ve always been a family who didn’t keep secrets. And I hate that it’s happening now.’ Her eyes brimmed, which she hadn’t expected to happen.

‘I thought it was the best way,’ he protested. ‘I thought you wouldn’t want to know.’

‘Except, like I said, I’m not stupid and you’re not great at pretending nothing’s going on.’ Teddy licked away the single tear trickling down her cheek.

‘The same way you’re not great at hiding how you feel.’ Matthew sighed. ‘OK, yes, I should probably have said something, but I also knew you wouldn’t be thrilled. You’d rather it wasn’t happening. You used to think you wouldn’t mind, but you actually do. It bothers you. And I understand that, you’re bound to feel a bit—’

‘I’m not bound to feel a bit weird about it,’ Maeve interjected. ‘If it was someone else, I’d be fine. But it’s not someone else, is it? It’s Lizzie.’

‘And you don’t approve? What, because you don’t like her?’

‘Come on , Dad . It’s not that.’ Maeve shook her head. ‘I do like her. She’s great. But she’s Lizzie Rafferty .’

‘So?’

‘So she isn’t from our world. I know she’s having fun hiding out here and pretending not to be famous, but she is famous. I was working there yesterday when she took a call from a friend over in LA and all I knew was that his name was Tom. Except it turned out to be Tom Hanks, for crying out loud. Because they’ve known each other for years and he wants them to work together again.’

‘But that’s irrelevant. I know what the situation is.’ Matthew’s gesture was dismissive. ‘It’s not like she’s kept this big secret from me. We like each other. I’m learning how to . . . be with someone new. We’re having a nice time, that’s all, while she’s here. We both know there’s no happy-ever-after on the cards.’

‘You say that. But Dad, you like her a lot. Anyone can see that – it’s so obvious. And I’m not saying she doesn’t like you,’ Maeve struggled to explain what she knew to be the truth, ‘because of course she does. It’s just that you like her more. And who’s going to get their heart broken when she waves goodbye and swans off back to her real life in LA? You. It’s taken you two years to come to terms with losing Mum.’ She took a shuddery breath. ‘I just can’t bear to see you going through it all again, over someone who can’t give you what you deserve.’

‘Hey, come here.’ Matthew drew her to him, then wrapped his arms around her. Teddy, now happily sandwiched between them, licked his jaw and Maeve’s ear. ‘It’s OK. I know you’re worried, but I’m not going to get hurt. And that’s a promise. We both know the score. It’s fine. I’ll probably miss her a bit when she leaves, but I won’t be heartbroken.’ He tilted Maeve’s chin up so she could see his smile. ‘Plus, if you remember, twenty years ago she gave us exactly what we needed. Maybe it’s happening again.’

Maeve nodded and hugged him back. At least she’d told him how she felt, and he’d assured her his fledgling fling wouldn’t end in more pain and heartbreak. Not that she believed him for one moment, but he was her dad and she couldn’t force him to do what she wanted him to do, which was essentially to find someone to love who wasn’t a Hollywood actress, who was just a nice normal woman who’d love him completely in return and not jet off to LA to continue her stellar career.

As she clung to him, Maeve felt the buzz of her dad’s phone in his shirt pocket, followed by his quick intake of breath.

‘That’ll be Lizzie, wondering where you’ve got to.’

Matthew nodded and said with a faint smile, ‘I think you could be right.’

‘You’d better get over there, then.’ Generous in defeat, Maeve released her hold on him. ‘No need to hurry back in the morning.’

He gave her a fond kiss on the cheek. ‘I love you so much.’

‘Love you too.’

Woof? Teddy was still hopeful of a night-time walk.

‘Off you go,’ Maeve told her dad. And when he’d left, she smooshed Teddy’s face and said, ‘Come on, you can have ten minutes in the garden.’

Nella was sitting cross-legged on her sofa chatting to Nick in his hotel room about the rush of recent enquiries for December bookings when a near-naked woman flitted across the screen behind him.

For maybe half a second, tops, she was there. Then she was gone, with Nick still talking about plans for the period over Christmas and the New Year. Seemingly oblivious to what had just happened, he said, ‘Go on then, tell me what you think about that idea. Yes or no?’

Where was a rewind button when you needed it? Had she hallucinated the woman? But no! Here she was, back again, just about covered in a fluffy white hotel towel, her long dark hair now fastened up in a messy makeshift bun. And this time, possibly alerted by Nella’s wide-eyed look of bafflement, Nick saw her too. Twisting round on his chair, he said, ‘Jen, what are you doing?’

Jen? Who’s Jen?

The scantily clad visitor stopped dead in her tracks. ‘Sorry, I thought you wouldn’t notice me. Just needed to grab a hairband from my bag.’

Nick shook his head. ‘I’m on a Zoom call.’

‘I know you are, that’s why I tried not to disturb you. Hi!’ Jen waved happily at Nella. ‘It’s only me. You didn’t mind me grabbing a hairband, did you? It’s just I don’t want my hair getting wet.’

‘You go ahead,’ said Nella. ‘Don’t mind me.’

Jen grinned and exited stage right.

‘Sorry about that. She’s just a friend,’ said Nick.

‘Ha, you won’t be calling me that later.’ Jen’s voice was audible from across the room, followed by the sound of the bathroom door closing and the shower being switched on.

‘She heard I was in town and invited herself over.’ Nick shrugged. ‘She suggested we go out to dinner for old times’ sake. But the subway was sweltering so she wanted to take a shower first, to freshen up.’

‘It’s fine.’ Nella smiled brightly. ‘Really. No need to explain!’

‘That last thing she said, it’s just her idea of a joke.’

‘What you get up to in your free time is nothing to do with me.’ She was doing the smile again, so overbright it was making her cheeks hurt. This was like the time she’d had a secret crush on the best-looking boy in school, who’d made her think he really liked her then had turned up at the Christmas disco with the girl who’d spent the last year publicly mocking her for not having any parents.

‘It’s just the way Jen is. She says things for fun. But all we’re going to do is have dinner.’

The next moment, running the shower but evidently not having got into it yet and still eavesdropping, Jen called out, ‘That’s what you think, sex bomb!’

‘Bye,’ said Nick. ‘And this time close the door properly.’

‘Love you too, big boy!’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Door.’

‘Fine. I’m getting into the shower now. But please don’t call me just a friend. We were a lot more than that.’

‘She’s gone now,’ he told Nella. ‘We went out together a couple of years ago. Not for long, just a few weeks, back when she was living in Tetbury, before she moved over here. There’s nothing going on.’

Inwardly this was reassuring news. Aloud Nella said, ‘Nick, you’re single. You can do whatever you want. You don’t have to keep explaining.’

His gaze locked with hers and she felt herself melt inside. Then he shrugged. ‘I know, but I want to. I just . . . feel the need.’ He glanced to his left, where the bathroom was. ‘Anyway, back to those bookings. I’ll copy you in on the next email I send them and we’ll work from there. Plus, I’ll be home next Thursday. No other problems at the moment?’

‘Not as such. Maeve’s not too happy about her dad spending his nights with Lizzie, only because she’s convinced it’s all going to end in tears.’

‘Well, Lizzie’s not going to be around for much longer. But if a fling cheers them up in the meantime, where’s the harm?’ Nick paused. ‘Anything else?’

‘Henry Peverell broke his ankle today! Have you heard from Hugo? Did he already tell you?’

Nick shook his head. ‘No.’

‘You’ll never guess how it happened!’

‘Sky-diving? Roller-skating? Jumping off the roof of Starbourne Manor? The possibilities are endless.’

Nella laughed, because Henry was a taciturn, aloof man of few words who walked to the Angel each lunchtime and sipped at a single glass of malt whisky extremely slowly whilst reading a copy of the Telegraph from cover to cover before heading home once more. ‘Close. He was setting off to the pub at midday, and as he was coming out through the front gates, Tristan was driving in, far too fast as usual. Henry leapt out of the way, lost his balance and fell against the stone gatepost. And that was it. Hugo had to take him to A&E to get his ankle X-rayed and plastered up.’

Nick was shaking his head. ‘Tristan’s a liability. Were the police involved?’

‘No, Henry refused to call them, said it was his own fault. But he’s on crutches now and he has arthritis as well, so it’s going to be a struggle for him to get around.’

‘Maybe Tristan can wait on him hand and foot to make it up to him?’

‘Wouldn’t that be great? Except he’s flying off to a party in the south of France tomorrow.’

‘Poor guy,’ Nick said gravely. ‘It’s a terrible life. OK, the shower’s stopped running so Jen’ll be back out in a minute. I’d better go.’

‘Have fun.’ Nella flashed another over-the-top smile.

But not too much .

If ads affect your reading experience, click here to remove ads on this page.