Chapter 10
TEN
In front of the mirror in their bedroom, Ellen’s earlier resolve to look as good as Lucy weakened.
Make-up was not her forte. For years, she’d been rubbing in some tinted moisturiser and a few licks of mascara and that was her done.
Occasionally, if she had a night out for a Christmas party or when she and Robert had a rare dinner on their own, Abigail would insist on ‘doing your face for you’ and she’d succumb to having the full works before wiping half of it off in the car.
When they lived together in that draughty student house, she and Lucy would always get ready together for a night out.
The two of them in one of their rooms, a bottle of beer each, music pumping from a portable radio as they took it in turns in front of the mirror.
Getting ready was often more fun than the night out itself.
Twenty-seven years on, she stared at her face in the oval mirror of the dressing table. How different it was now to back then. She pulled the skin around her eyes taut with her forefingers. Was that girl still in there somewhere?
Rooting around in her make-up bag, she found a rich pink lipstick that Grace had insisted she buy months ago. Rarely wearing lipstick, it’d always felt too much and she’d never tried it. Maybe tonight she could get away with it.
Make-up done, she stood in front of the wardrobe.
There wasn’t much to choose from. She’d only brought one nice dress with her and that was only at the last minute.
It was a navy wrap dress with capped sleeves.
Though the cut was flattering, the neckline was deeper than she was comfortable with and she usually wore a vest top beneath it to cover her exposed skin.
Tonight, though, she forced herself to be bold.
Perhaps it would give Robert something to look at other than Lucy.
Standing in front of the mirror, still uncertain whether she was brave enough to show that much cleavage, Ellen jumped at the sound of the bathroom door cracking open.
Following a billow of steam, Robert emerged with one towel around his waist, rubbing his hair with another.
As he turned in her direction, he actually stopped in his tracks and looked at her, really looked at her. ‘You look great.’
He looked great, too. Those extra trips to the gym had tautened his stomach and the peppering of grey in the hair on his chest actually made him more attractive. She felt her face redden. ‘Thank you.’ She brushed at her dress. ‘It’s old.’
His eyes didn’t leave hers. ‘I didn’t mean the dress. I meant you. You seem…different.’
At least he’d noticed. ‘I feel different.’
Outside on the patio, Joe was lighting candles on the table and he held out his arms at the sight of them. ‘Who is this vision I see before me?’
He stepped forward to greet Ellen and, this time, she was ready for the kiss on either cheek. ‘Where’s Lucy?’
‘Last-minute call from our younger daughter put her behind so she’s still getting ready. It takes a while, apparently. Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that. Makes me glad I’m a man when I see all the work you have to do.’
After his comment about his ‘understanding’ with Lucy, Ellen felt differently towards Joe, but she let the ‘have to’ slide. ‘Is everything okay with Emily?’
Joe rolled his eyes. ‘Some drama or other. I’m beginning to understand that she loves it. Not made for the quiet life that one. Like her mother.’
Like her mother. Lucy had been pretty wild back in the day.
Perhaps that’s why Ellen had been drawn to her.
Before going away to college, Ellen’s life had been pretty small and sheltered.
Growing up in a village in Suffolk, having to get a bus to her nearest school, holidaying in Cornwall where her godparents lived.
Meeting Lucy on the first day was like being taken up by a whirlwind and never knowing where or when you might land. Until she did land. Hard.
Right now, she was more concerned about whether Emily’s drama involved Abigail in any way. She tapped Robert’s elbow. ‘I might give Abbie a quick call.’
Robert frowned at her. ‘Leave her be, Ellen. If she wants us, she can call us. She needs some space.’
Her cheeks warmed at the exasperation in his voice. Maybe it wasn’t just Abigail who needed space.
When Lucy swept outside in a cloud of expensive perfume, Ellen realised that she needn’t have worried about whether her dress was too low cut; Lucy’s neckline was deep enough to make Ellen’s positively demure. ‘Sorry about that everyone. Daughter Two needed some motherly advice.’
Ignoring Robert’s warning glance, Ellen had to ask. ‘Is she okay?’
Lucy waved away any concern. ‘She’s fine. Something to do with a boy as usual. She wears her heart on her sleeve, that one.’
A boy? That was another thing that worried her about Abbie. At eighteen, boys hadn’t really figured in her life other than as friends. She could imagine that any daughter of Lucy’s was rather more worldly than that. ‘Did she mention Abigail?’
Lucy smiled. ‘Yes. They seem to have sparked up quite a friendship. Funny, isn’t it?’
Ellen assumed that she’d meant ‘funny’ as in it being a coincidence. Because surely their daughters would be likely to get on if their mothers had been friends? After all, she and Lucy had been opposites, too.
Joe was filling glasses with another bottle of Cava. ‘Shall we have a toast? To old friends and new?’
Robert held up a hand. ‘Just a tiny glass for me.’
She’d just accepted a large glass from Joe as he said it.
She was pleased for him that he was enjoying a new regime of healthy eating and exercise, but he had a way of making her feel guilty for everything she ate or drank lately.
In fact, she’d taken to hiding crisps and chocolate in the bottom drawer of her dressing table.
Stuffing the wrapping to the bottom of the waste bin when she was done so that he wouldn’t see it.
Lucy held up her glass. ‘To old friends and new.’
In the end, dinner was really good fun. Seeing how in love Joe and Lucy were, Ellen pushed her suspicions and jealousy from her mind.
It must be the worry about Abigail starting university that was bringing up old long-buried feelings from the past. Of course Robert was looking at Lucy, she was a beautiful woman.
But tonight, she felt beautiful, too. Not used to drinking very much, the sparkling Cava went to her head quite quickly, especially as Joe was adept at refilling her glass without her noticing.
She had no idea how many she’d had. Lucy seemed different, too.
If she squinted her eyes for a moment, she could let the years fall away and they were a foursome again, laughing and joking and teasing one another.
Except this was better because they didn’t have a 9a.m. lecture the next day. And Joe wasn’t Ian.
Memories of happy, innocent times flowed with the Cava, and Ellen was eager to spill them. ‘Do you remember that time you burned those croissants and set off the fire alarm at three in the morning?’
Lucy’s laugh was deep and throaty. ‘How was I to know you weren’t supposed to put croissants in the toaster?’
Joe leaned back in his chair and appraised his wife. ‘Croissants in a toaster? How did you even get them in there?’
She winked at him. ‘With a lot of determination.’
Ellen smiled at the memory. They had been happy times. When no one had needed her and everything seemed possible. She wouldn’t change her life choices for anyone – it’d brought her two beautiful girls – but it was a halcyon era. ‘Would you like to go back? Do it all again?’
Lucy looked horrified. ‘Absolutely not. Although I’d quite like the skin I had then. And the ability to eat whatever I wanted without putting on an ounce.’
Without thinking, Ellen glanced down at Lucy’s plate. She’d eaten about a third of her chicken and the potatoes were barely touched. Her own plate was almost clear.
‘On that note, shall I bring out dessert?’ Joe raised an eyebrow.
Lucy wrinkled her nose. ‘Not yet, let’s have it with coffee later, shall we?’
‘Let me clear away the plates.’ Ellen stood so that she couldn’t be talked out of it. Even if no one else noticed the disparity in her and Lucy’s appetites, she didn’t want the reminder under her nose.
The Cava had made her legs a little wobbly, so she didn’t chance more than hers and Lucy’s plates to begin with.
The door to the patio was open, so she stepped up carefully into the kitchen.
She slid the plates onto the counter top and turned to go back for the others.
As she turned, she almost screamed in surprise.
Standing beneath the archway that led to the hall, a young woman around Grace’s age looked equally surprised.
The girl recovered herself first. ‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to make you jump. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be home.’
Lucy stepped into the kitchen and solved the mystery. ‘Charlotte. What are you doing here?’
Charlotte stepped forward and kissed Lucy. ‘I could ask you the same question. I was under the impression that you were going back to England this week?’
‘Last-minute change of plan.’ She nodded towards Ellen. ‘We have our friends here. This is Ellen.’
Charlotte gave her a little wave. ‘Hello. I’m Charlotte.’
Lucy’s elder daughter looked a lot like her, Ellen should’ve guessed immediately. ‘Hi, it’s nice to meet you.’
Carrying the remaining two plates, Robert appeared behind Lucy. ‘Where do you want these…’
He trailed off as he looked at Charlotte. There was a look of shock on his face. which he almost imperceptibly changed to one of bland indifference. ‘Hi. I’m Robert. You must be Charlotte?’
Did she glance at Ellen before she replied? ‘Yes, I’m Charlotte. Nice to meet you, Robert.’
The air in the room seemed to drop by a couple of degrees and there was an awkwardness that hadn’t been there five minutes before. What the hell was going on?