Chapter 28
28
STEVIE
Stevie flipped open the jar of cashews from the mini-bar, and popped one in her mouth, deciding she deserved it after working out harder than she ever had before at the gym. And yes, the fact that she was training beside an incredibly fit Hollywood actor may have spurred her on to the point where her muscles were applying for transplant to a body that could hear them screaming that it was time to give up and go lie on a sun lounger.
They’d got there eventually. After the workout, Ollie had suggested a drink at the outdoor bar and pool terrace overlooking the spectacular view of the harbour. Like everywhere else she’d been this week, Stevie had wondered if her mum had ever been there, right in that spot. She hoped that answer was yes because it was breathtaking. She’d lain out there with Ollie for a couple of hours swapping life stories. In what had already been the most surreal week of her life, a roller coaster of twists, turns and shocks, having frozen margarita’s with Ollie Chiles in the middle of the afternoon, had to be up there with one of the most crazy.
And yet, it had felt perfectly normal at the time. Not that she’d prejudged him – okay, maybe she had – but before she’d met him, she’d expected him to be, well, a bit of an arrogant arse. Weren’t most famous celebrities? She’d treated a few in hospital over the years, and could honestly say that no matter how attractive they were, she hadn’t found a single one of them to be endearing or charming. In fact, the previous Hogmanay, she’d x-rayed the broken foot of drop-dead gorgeous Corbin Jacobs, star of The Clydeside soap, and he’d been such an utterly obnoxious dick, she hadn’t watched the show since.
In hindsight, though, when it came to Ollie, she should have factored in the fact that Moira was his mum, and realised that once you got past his job and the whole ‘Top Ten Sexiest Hunks In Hollywood’ thing, he’d be just a normal, down-to-earth, self-deprecating, nice guy.
Even more surprising, he was just as interested in talking about her life as she was in hearing whether he knew what moisturiser Margot Robbie used.
When they’d met at the crack of dawn this morning, after he’d stormed into the hotel looking for his mum, she’d given him a brief account of who she was and why she was there, but that had been inconsequential, given that what they both really cared about was poor Moira, lying in a hospital bed. However, now that his mum was back and relatively unscathed, they’d strayed on to loads of other subjects. She’d told him about moving to Glasgow to go to university when she was eighteen. About her job at the hospital. Her friends. The things she did for fun, when she could squeeze in a day off to do them.
They’d talked about their mothers, and his face had lit up when he’d described the theatre academy he’d founded and was about to open in Glasgow for kids from underprivileged areas. ‘I’m calling it the Moira Chiles Academy of Drama and Song, as a tribute to how talented she is, and how hard she has grafted my whole life. But she doesn’t tell anyone that because she says it’s too boastful,’ he’d said, laughing. ‘I’m thinking about putting her face on the front of the building just to tip her over the edge.’
Stevie had felt a pang of something when he’d spoken about that. Envy, maybe? Ollie and Moira obviously adored each other and had such a close relationship. She wished that she’d had that with her mum, and it devastated her that she was too late to try. Too late to know the real Lisa. Too late to ask her so many questions. Why had she kept such a big part of herself secret? Why had she stopped singing? How had she gone from being a wild rock chick who travelled the world, to being an uptight, anxious, overprotective mother who could never let her guard down and just be happy?
It broke Stevie’s heart that she would never have the chance to ask her and she’d been thinking about it ever since she and Ollie had left the pool area. Ollie said he had some calls to make, and she’d come back to her room for a lie down.
‘See you at dinner?’ had been his parting words. ‘I’ll come knock on your door.’
‘Sure,’ she’d agreed. This. Was. Surreal. So was the fact that she hoped her mum could see this. ‘You know, Mum, just Ollie Chiles from the telly, casually stopping by for me on the way to dinner.’
What would her mum think of that? What would her mum say to all of this? Would she be happy? And again why, oh bloody why, had she never told Stevie that this world and these people had been part of her life?
An incoming text from Moira disturbed her thoughts and she tossed another cashew nut into her mouth while she read it. Moira was bailing on dinner tonight. Stevie felt a little surge of happiness for her. Go Moira. Ollie had told her that Nate had shown up at reception earlier, so Stevie hoped that skipping dinner with them was a sign that their reunion was going well. Although, there was also the possibility that it was going really badly, and Moira was having a lie down in a dark room to recover.
Stevie replied with a thumbs-up and a heart emoji, and then she must have dozed off for a while, because the next thing she knew was that her phone had sprung to life and was vibrating between her cheek and the pillow. She pulled it out and squinted through sleepy eyes. Facetime call. Caleb. She answered straight away, and the smiling faces of Caleb and Keli filled the screen. ‘Hello, lovely!’ that was from Keli. ‘We’re on our day off and just about to head out for brunch, so we just thought we’d check in. Caleb has been bringing me up to speed on everything, and holy shit, it sounds like you’re having a crazy week.’
‘Oh, it’s definitely that. And it got even more crazy yesterday. Wait until I tell you about our trip to the Big Buddha…’
The two of them listened intently as she recounted the events of the day before.
‘Oh. My. God. Is Moira okay now?’
‘Yes, but the guy who was her boyfriend when she was here thirty-five years ago showed up at reception earlier, and she texted a little while ago to say she’s going to skip dinner with us, so I’m hoping it’s going well. Oh, hang on – there’s someone at the door. Probably housekeeping.’
Still carrying the phone, she crossed the room, opened the door, and…
‘Hey. Just checking in to see if you still want to have dinner now that we’ve been ditched by my mother? I did text…’
‘Shit, sorry. I fell asleep, and then I went straight on to a call with?—’
‘Stevie Dixon, is that who I think it is? You raise that phone right now or you and I are finished. Done,’ came a loud demand from the direction of the phone.
‘…with my mates,’ Stevie said, holding the phone against her chest now. ‘That voice you just heard would be one of them. Caleb. He, erm, enjoys The Clansman very much so I think he might be having a moment.’ What she really wanted to say was that Ollie was his celebrity crush, but she didn’t want to breach a confidence or make this moment any more cringe-inducing than it already was. She’d deliberately avoided mentioning that Ollie was here because she knew they’d make it a big deal and, well, point proven.
‘Stevie!’ Keli’s voice this time. ‘I swear we’ll disown you.’ Stevie held the phone even closer to try to muffle the sound.
Now leaning casually against the doorframe, Ollie, however, seemed to be finding this whole thing highly amusing.
‘Can I?’ he asked, gesturing to the phone.
Stevie felt her toes curling. ‘Are you sure? You don’t have to.’
‘It’s cool,’ he said, reaching out for the handset.
‘Okay… but come in…’ She handed the phone over and then stood back to let him pass.
The next thing Caleb and Keli saw was the grinning face of Ollie Chiles. In her bedroom. This. Was. A. Pure. Beamer.
‘Hey, I’m Ollie.’
Not a sound. Not a single sound. For what felt like a week. Caleb recovered first.
‘Sorry, just taking this moment in, since our good friend, Stevie, seems to have omitted to tell us that you were there.’
Ollie raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction, and she shrugged. ‘Didn’t want to name-drop.’
‘Understandable,’ he agreed, still smiling.
He turned his attention back to the screen. ‘Well, it’s good to meet you both on here. I’ve just come by to see if Stevie is going to let me take her for a romantic dinner… wine, music, moonlight… all that stuff. So is it okay with you if I hang up now and she’ll call you back later?’
‘Absolutely!’ It was Keli this time. ‘Good to meet you too, Ollie. And erm, Stevie, we’ll be waiting for your call,’ she said pointedly.
He hung up, laughing properly now and Stevie groaned as she slapped her hand to her forehead. ‘Really? Wine and moonlight?’
‘Did you like that bit? Just thought I’d give them something to talk about.’
‘That’s cruel. I swear they’ll be in a state of flux right now. You’re Caleb’s celebrity crush, but I’ll deny ever having told you that.’
‘My ego needs all the crushes it can get,’ Ollie joked. ‘Anyway, dinner? No wine and moonlight, but I hear the bar downstairs does a mean Korean beef. I’ve texted Carina to see if she’s still joining us, but no answer from her either. See what I mean about my knocked ego? My texts and dinner invitations are getting rejected all over the place today.’
Before she could answer, there was yet another knock at the door.
‘That’s probably Carina now,’ Stevie said, before adding a cheeky wink. ‘She clearly likes me more than you.’
She was still giggling when she opened the door and… not Carina. A guy. Vaguely familiar. She tried furiously to place him, but it wasn’t coming to her.
‘Hi, I’m sorry to bother you…’
‘That’s okay.’ Was he the manager of the hotel? Definitely familiar.
‘I’m Nate. I was a friend of Moira’s back in the day…’
That was it. One of the photos Moira had shown her from the nineties had a younger version of this guy in it.
‘…and a friend of your mum’s too.’
‘Yes! Pleased to meet you.’ She stuck out her hand, but realised he was so fixated on her face that it took him a few seconds to respond.
‘Sorry!’ he said, catching up. ‘You just look so like her. Took me by surprise there for a second.’
Stevie now took that as a compliment. ‘I’ve heard that a few times this week.’
‘I bet.’ He shook it off, as if he’d decided to get to the reason he was here. ‘Anyway, Moira was telling me about everything that happened to your mum and I’m so sorry for your loss.’
Ah, he was just here to pass on his sympathies. ‘That’s kind of you, thank you.’
‘And she was also telling me that this week has thrown up a few questions and how sad she was that she couldn’t explain everything. The thing is, your mum and I, well we used to talk. And Lisa told me some things about her life, and we shared some experiences that might help you understand what happened to her. If you’d like to hear them, that is.’
‘Yes,’ Stevie could barely breathe as she stood back to let him come in. ‘I think I’d like that very much.’