Chapter 2
2
“Hey, folks,” Carole said. “I wasn’t expecting you. I’m just in the middle of clearing up after painting the kitchen.”
“We’re not staying long,” Nina said, marching into the hallway with determination. “I just wanted to drop by with some good news.”
“You were painting the kitchen, you say?” her father asked. “Let’s have a look.”
Carole waved them through and was pleased with their exclamations about the transformation in the kitchen.
“Very neat work you’ve done here, Carole,” her father said, inspecting the paint job. “Well done. It looks brilliant.”
“And so much brighter, too,” Nina added. “You chose the perfect colour, Carole. I must admit, when you said you’d opted for white paint, I worried it might look rather dull and cold. But it looks wonderful.”
“I think so, too. Once I hang one or two colourful framed prints here and there, it’ll look even better.”
Her parents admired the freshly painted kitchen walls for another moment. Her father, a tall, lean man in his early sixties, nodded with approval as he surveyed the work, his soft grey eyes taking it all in as he commended her cutting-in work around the cabinets. Her mother also continued to glance around the space, smiling as she remarked on this and that, but Carole could see from the way she fussed with the light summer scarf tucked around her neck that she was mentally preparing for the conversation she’d come here to have.
Carole watched her mother with wry amusement, taking in her perfectly made-up face and styled hair. At fifty-eight, Nina never went anywhere without her face and hair done to perfection, and she put even more effort into her appearance when she was preparing to do battle, which, Carole realised, was exactly what her mother was here for.
Best just to get on with it, Carole decided, and gestured to the kettle. “Can I make you a tea or coffee?”
Nina waved away the offer. “No, I can see you’re still clearing up after all your busy redecorating work, and I don’t want to get in your way. I’m just here with a quick piece of good news about your cousin’s wedding next weekend, and then we’ll leave you in peace.”
Carole braced herself, relieved that her sister had warned her in advance about her mother’s shenanigans. Forewarned was forearmed.
“Oh?” Carole said, feigning innocence. “What good news is this?”
“Well, I know things have been difficult for you since you and Greg separated,” Nina began. “What with moving out of London and buying this place and getting over the whole break up.”
“It’s been a busy time, for sure,” Carole said evenly. “But I wouldn’t say it’s been difficult. It’s a nice fresh start.”
“Well, yes, of course it is. But it’s not easy ending a relationship.”
“Actually, it was fairly easy,” Carole replied. “Things were over between us and it was time to move on. I’m glad Greg is in the past now.”
Nina seemed a little stunned by this admission.
“Our Carole is made of tough stuff, aren’t you?” her father said, his expression filled with pride. “I told you she was doing fine, didn’t I?”
“Well, of course she’s doing fine,” Nina said. “But that doesn’t mean she isn’t sad about things having come to an end.”
“I’m truly not sad, Mum,” Carole said. “Anyway, what’s any of this got to do with Zara’s wedding? You said you had some good news?”
Carole watched her mother’s expression rearrange itself as she sought to regain the upper hand in the conversation. Nina clearly hoped that Carole would have admitted to some lingering melancholy over breaking up with Greg, which would have provided a handy segue into the wedding date set-up Jane had told her about. With that line of attack absent, Nina was forced onto the back foot.
“Uh, well… it occurred to me that when your cousin sent out the wedding invitations all those months ago, you and Greg were still together,” Nina said. “Now that you’ve separated, I realised that you no longer have a plus-one to bring to the wedding. So, you’ll be thrilled to hear I’ve found someone you can take with you in Greg’s place.”
Nina grinned, clearly delighted at delivering this news, her eyes dancing as she waited for Carole to respond. Across the kitchen, her father shuffled his feet and cast Carole an apologetic look from beneath hooded brows.
“I see,” Carole said. “And who is this random person you’ve unearthed?”
Nina tutted. “He’s not some random person and I certainly didn’t unearth him. His name is Bradley Godfrey, and he’s the son of my friend, Helena. He’s a lovely young man. I think you may have met him, haven’t you?”
Carole had met Bradley Godfrey and realising that this was the man her mother intended to pair her off with as a date for her cousin Zara’s wedding made her even more grateful for Jane’s advanced warning of what their mother was up to.
Carole had chatted briefly with Bradley Godfrey at her parent’s anniversary party last year. Greg had been with her at the event, their relationship rocky but not beyond hope at that point. While Greg was chatting with the other guests, she’d found herself in Bradley’s clutches.
Bradley turned out to be a self-obsessed dullard who had an exceptionally high opinion of himself, and who had talked at Carole non-stop for almost fifteen minutes when they’d crossed paths at the buffet table. He’d told her all about his job as a financial analyst, the Jaguar he drove, the golf club he belonged to, the exotic holiday he’d recently enjoyed, and had looked set to continue talking about himself long into the night had Carole not excused herself to join her sister for the anniversary toast to their parents.
At first glance, Bradley Godfrey was a handsome young man, well-spoken and confident and with a solid career on the go. Carole understood why her mother might take him at face value and imagine him to be the perfect man for her daughter to have as a plus-one at a family wedding.
But during the short time she’d spent with him, she’d realised he was the sort of man who liked to talk at people, rather than have two-way conversations with them. Whenever Carole had managed to get a word in edgewise, Bradley had barely registered any interest in what she’d had to say, and instead had simply waited until he could butt in and talk about himself again.
She’d been relieved to escape from the man to join Jane to deliver the anniversary toast they’d written together. The last thing she wanted now was to allow her mother to pair her off with the boring Bradley for a full day spent at a family wedding.
Knowing her mother as she did, Carole understood that the key to stopping her scheming in its tracks was to be absolutely and mercilessly firm.
“Yes, I’ve met Bradley Godfrey,” Carole confirmed. “He’s a narcissistic bore and if you think I’d let him be my plus-one at a wedding, then you’ve lost your mind, Mother.”
Nina gaped in shock, while Carole’s father muffled a bark of surprised laughter and gave her an approving wink.
“Bradley is certainly no bore!” Nina exclaimed.
“Then you go with him to the wedding, and I’ll take Dad as my one-plus instead.”
Her father laughed so hard he began to cough and choke, earning him a hard stare from Nina.
“There’s no need for cheeky remarks,” her mother said. “I was simply trying to be helpful. And I think you’ve horribly misjudged Bradley.”
I haven’t , Carole thought but didn’t say.
“Listen, I appreciate you thinking of me, Mum,” she said instead. “But I don’t need you to pair me off with someone. I’m completely happy going to the wedding by myself.”
Nina didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”
“Mum, this isn’t Victorian times. It is allowed for women to go to social functions alone.”
Nina tutted. “Yes, I know that, thank you very much. I just assumed that you’d have more fun with a guest on your arm.”
I might, but not if the guest is Bradley Godfrey. Once more, Carole kept the thought to herself.
“You’re worrying about nothing,” she said.
“Perhaps if I rustled up another man for you?” Nina suggested, looking hopeful.
Both Carole and her father groaned simultaneously.
“Would you leave the girl alone?” Frederick said. “She’s clearly not interested.”
“She might be, if the right man was dangled in front of her.”
“Jeez, Mother.”
“What about Kevin Evans?” Nina said, brightening once more. “He’s the stepson of one of my close colleagues at work. You might like him.”
“Look, I’m not interested in being paired off!” Carole said, feeling annoyed now. “Why are you obsessing over this?”
Nina opened her mouth to respond, but stayed silent, clearly struggling with something.
“What’s going on, Nina?” Frederick asked with a frown, picking up on the same vibes as Carole.
Nina looked uncomfortable for another long moment before she spoke.
“Okay, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you this until closer to the wedding,” Nina said. “But the thing is, I found out the other day from your Auntie Joanna that…”
“Found out what?” Carole said, when her mother fell silent again.
Nina looked more uncomfortable than ever as she held Carole’s gaze. At last, she sucked in a long breath and spoke again.
“I found out that Steven Weaver will be at Zara’s wedding.”
Carole blinked, speechless.
She hadn’t thought of Steven Weaver in years.
Okay, that wasn’t true. She had thought of him. Far too often. But in her defence, she’d tried not to.
Steven Weaver was the only man who had ever broken her heart. Carole had fallen for him when she was a wide-eyed twenty-year old filled with the wild romance and excitement of first love.
And when he destroyed the relationship they’d built, he destroyed her wide-eyed innocence, too… and took a piece of her shattered heart with him when he left.
Carole shoved the unhappy thoughts to the back of her head and tried to focus on the astonishing news her mother had just delivered.
“Why is Steven Weaver going to Zara’s wedding?” Carole asked a little breathlessly, trying and failing to make sense of it.
“He’s coming as the plus-one of someone on the groom’s side,” Nina explained. “She’s an old friend of the groom’s from his university days, Jilly somebody-or-other. Your cousin only made the connection recently when they were finalising the names of all the guests for the place settings for the meal at the reception. This friend of her fiancé’s lives somewhere over in Kent and although they’ve kept in touch over the years, they don’t see each other socially very often. When Zara saw that this Jilly person had confirmed the name of her plus-one as Steven Weaver, she’d asked her fiancé some questions and realised it was your Steven, Carole.”
Carole let out a soft sigh. “He hasn’t been my Steven for a long time, Mum.”
“Oh, I know, but… well, you know what I mean.” Nina looked anguished. “Anyway, given everything that happened between the two of you back then, Zara asked her mother if she ought to let you know that Steven would be at the wedding, and your Auntie Joanna decided to have a quiet word with me about it. Naturally, I planned on telling you that Steven would be there. However, I also thought you’d feel uncertain about being at the wedding alone, when Steven will be there as a plus-one, and so I decided to find someone you could take with you.”
In other words, her mother hadn’t wanted Carole to feel like the sad, unattached loner at the wedding when the one-time love-of-her-life turned up with another woman on his arm.
Carole wanted to be annoyed at her mother for not telling her about all this as soon as she found out, and also for this ridiculous meddling she was orchestrating to set her up with a wedding date. But the news about Steven had left her winded and she couldn’t work up the energy to get stroppy about it all.
“I never liked that Steven Weaver,” her father said with a frown. “I wish you’d told me about this already, Nina.”
“Well, I’m telling you now.”
“He shouldn’t be allowed at a family wedding,” Frederick grumbled. “Zara should tell her fiancé to tell this friend of his that her plus-one isn’t welcome!”
“Thanks Dad, but that would be rude to the friend of the groom and make a mountain out of a molehill,” Carole said. “Steven and I haven’t been together for almost fifteen years. It’s no big deal.”
That was both true and not true. In the grand scheme of things, bumping into an old flame fifteen years after their relationship ended shouldn’t be difficult. It wasn’t as if she’d gone around pining for the man for all this time.
Still, realising she’d see him at the wedding made her feel stupidly anxious.
Anxious and embarrassed, too. Considering how things had ended between them, embarrassment was inevitable, surely?
“Now that you know that Steven Weaver will be at this wedding,” her mother said, “perhaps you want to reconsider my idea about setting you up with Bradley Godfrey as your plus-one? That way, at least you won’t be there as a lonely, recently separated person who’s still single in her mid-thirties?”
“Thanks for that, Mum,” Carole said, rolling her eyes at her mother’s blunt characterisation. “You really know how to make someone feel good about themselves.”
“Well, I’m just saying!”
“For God’s sake, Nina,” Frederick said. “You’re like a one-woman wrecking ball.”
Nina ignored him. “At least if you have a date at the wedding, Carole, you will have someone you can dance with and keep you company, someone who’ll be at your side the entire time. It’s a long day and the last thing I want is for you to feel like you’re alone while Steven Weaver is parading around on the arm of some other female guest.”
Her mother’s schemes and machinations might irritate her, but Carole couldn’t deny that Nina’s motivations were good and that her righteous indignation on Carole’s behalf was genuine.
She also couldn’t deny that the idea of seeing Steven again was hard enough, without doing it at a huge wedding where she would be alone while Steven was with another woman.
“So, what do you think?” Nina said, looking hopeful. “Should I set you up with Bradley Godfrey for your wedding date?”
Carole’s unease at the prospect of seeing Steven again didn’t mean she was about to surrender to her mother’s disastrous attempt to pair her off with the gruesome Bradley Godfrey.
“No, I don’t want you to set me up with Bradley,” Carole said, and then found herself adding, “Actually, I already have a date lined up.”
This stopped Nina in her tracks.
“Well, why on earth didn’t you say that in the first place?” Nina demanded.
Because it’s a complete and total lie that I just plucked out of thin air, that’s why.
“Because you launched into your match-making scheme without letting me get a word in,” Carole said instead.
Nina’s eyes narrowed. “But a moment ago you said you planned on going to the wedding on your own. Now you’re saying you’ve actually got a date?”
“I was in two minds about it,” Carole said, marvelling at these falsehoods that were tumbling out so easily. “But now that you’ve told me that Steven will be there, then maybe you’re right that it will be nice to have a plus-one of my own.”
“Good,” her father said. “Show that cretin that you’ve got the pick of any man you choose and that it’s his loss.”
Carole gave her father an appreciative smile.
“So, who is this man you’ve lined up as your plus-one?” Nina asked.
“It’s, er, no one you know, just a friend,” she replied. “I’ll introduce you at the wedding.”
Carole sensed her mother was about to dig further. Not wanting to get into a discussion about her non-existent wedding date, Carole gave a breezy smile and gestured to the paint brushes still waiting to be washed at the sink.
“Listen, I need to get this lot washed and tidied away before the paint dries on the bristles and I end up having to scrub for ages, and I’ve also got more unpacking I need to finish upstairs, too.”
Her father, God love him, picked up on her cue immediately.
“We’ll leave you to it,” he said, waving Nina towards the kitchen door. “Come on, love, let’s get ourselves home.”
At the front door, Carole hugged her parents goodbye and waved them off. She adored her parents and was delighted to be back in Hampshire and living so close to them again, but tonight had served as a useful reminder that the years spent away in London had made her forget what a meddling nuisance her mother could be when she put her mind to it.
As she washed the paint brushes and rollers at the sink, she couldn’t help thinking about the news her mother had shared.
What would it be like to see Steven Weaver again after all these years? Would he have changed much? Or would he still be the same devastatingly handsome man she’d fallen for as an innocent twenty-year-old?
Perhaps he’d have some grey in his hair by now. If so, he probably looked even more amazing because of it. Carole knew it was too much to hope that the man would’ve gained a tonne of weight and developed a million wrinkles. She didn’t have that kind of luck.
At least she’d successfully side-stepped her mother’s attempt to set her up with the ghastly Bradley Godfrey. Carole shuddered at the very thought of it.
Now that she knew her old long-lost flame would be at her cousin’s wedding, Carole had no intention of going alone. She didn’t need a man at her side, but she did want one.
The big question was—who?
Carole finished washing the paint brushes and grabbed her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she considered the various male friends on her list.
Surely one of them would be happy to tag along as her plus-one at the wedding next weekend. It wouldn’t be that hard to rustle up a willing volunteer.
Would it?