Chapter Six
It was Sunday. Luke had offered to entertain Xander so Hattie could get on with her paperwork.
Hattie was very pleased how easily Xander had fitted into her life – as she had fitted into his.
He hadn’t actually gone to or from college under his own steam yet, but he was eating pretty normally and while they didn’t have long chats, their shared silences were friendly.
He had gone so far as to mention a couple of friends he hung out with and he seemed happy to go into college.
She had just finished her work and was wondering about going and joining Xander and Luke when Fiona’s name came up on her phone. As anxiety about Fiona was a constant she answered it immediately.
‘So sorry to bother you on a Sunday!’ said Fiona, sounding bright if apologetic. ‘But I’ve made the mistake of telling Mummy how brilliant you are and now she wants to ask for your help with something. She needs a local friend. Only if you want to, of course, and aren’t too busy.’
‘I’m not too busy at all,’ she said. ‘Is it house related? I hope she’s not planning to move out of that lovely place.’
‘Oh, not at all! Can we tempt you over with lunch?’
As Hattie drove, she considered how annoyed she’d be if any of her friends who worked for themselves used up their precious free time helping out a client’s mother.
But Fiona wasn’t just any client; she really felt they had become friends and she liked Sheila, Fiona’s mother.
Her job couldn’t always be neatly packed into office hours.
Sheila smiled when she opened the door. ‘My husband and Lance are playing golf – some special match; they won’t be back until much later so it’s just us girls.’
Hattie smiled, glad Rose wasn’t there to object to being called a girl.
‘Come on through to the kitchen. I’ll make you a sandwich.’
‘Mummy’s sandwiches are famous – at least in the family,’ said Fiona. ‘Would you like a glass of fizz?’
‘I won’t, thank you very much, but the sandwich will be very welcome.’
‘Are you sure?’ said Sheila. ‘Now we’ve opened the bottle, we’ll have to finish it or my husband will find out and be grumpy.’
‘I’m sure you’ll manage to drink it all without me.’ Hattie smiled again. Rose wouldn’t be happy about Sheila’s last statement either, and nor was she. If two grown women wanted to drink champagne and could afford it, it was nothing to do with anyone else.
In between questions about bread, toasted or untoasted, mayonnaise, mustard and other vital queries, Fiona started to explain what Sheila’s problem was until – after a tall sandwich had materialised on a plate in front of Hattie – Sheila felt able to explain herself.
‘The thing is, we haven’t lived here long, only a couple of years, and I haven’t been accepted into the local community properly.
I mean, everyone’s been really friendly, but they don’t ask me to things.
’ Sheila took a sip of her champagne. ‘I thought things were going better but then we made the blunder about the flowers for Fi’s wedding. ’
‘Oh?’ Hattie dabbed at the corner of her mouth with her napkin.
‘Yes,’ said Fiona. ‘Lance wanted us to use this London florist – it’s where all the smart couples are going for their flowers. Their website is stunning.’
Obviously less impressed by the stunning website than her daughter had been, Sheila went on: ‘And when the flower guild, from the church, found out, they were all dreadfully offended that we weren’t going to ask them to do the flowers.
The woman in charge told me off. Apparently, almost all the flowers are provided by the members of the guild so it earns the church some money which it badly needs. The Lady chapel needs restoring.’
‘Do you need the name of a good builder? I can certainly provide that. My friend Luke—’
‘If only it were that simple,’ said Sheila.
‘Of course I offered to make a donation but they refused. Newcomers can’t buy their way in.
They have to make a real contribution, not just throw their money around.
Rachel – I don’t really feel happy calling her that but she did say I should – was very frank. ’
‘So… how can I help?’
Sheila took a breath. ‘I need you to provide people for a quiz.’
‘How do you mean?’ Hattie was mystified.
Sheila exhaled sharply. ‘I promised Rachel – she’s the leader of the flower guild and every other organisation in the village – that I’d come up with at least two teams for her quiz night, which is a really good money spinner, apparently. It seems that might be enough to absolve me.’
‘Two teams?’ asked Hattie. ‘How many in a team?’
‘Six,’ said Fiona. ‘Daddy’s not very keen but he’s said he’ll come.
Lance likes quizzes, but otherwise it’s only Mummy and me.
We don’t really know anyone else around here.
And besides, I’m not much good at general knowledge.
Lance thinks some of my answers are hilarious!
’ She laughed as if she agreed with him. Hattie wasn’t convinced.
She took a breath. ‘OK, let me think. You need twelve people in total?’
‘Yes, and we’ve only got four,’ said Fiona.
‘I’m sure we could find a couple more people though,’ said Sheila. ‘I wonder if Mrs Witcombe likes quizzes?’
‘Mummy, you know Daddy would go mad if you asked our cleaning lady to be on our quiz team. He’d say it was overstepping boundaries.’
‘Well,’ said Hattie, ‘I can almost definitely promise you five people. Xander, my nephew, may only be a teenager, but he’ll be good on popular culture and technology. Not sure if he likes quizzes but he’s obliging, on the whole.’
‘Lance is brilliant on technology but he thinks all modern music is rubbish, so help with that would be handy,’ said Fiona.
‘Haven’t you any old friends who’d come over?’ asked Hattie. ‘It would be fun.’
‘There’re my old chums the Craigs. Camille and I were at school together and he’s American.
They’ve come over from Vermont for the wedding and they’re making a trip of it,’ said Sheila.
‘I didn’t think a village quiz would be their thing, but I can ask.
If they don’t fancy it I could ask another couple.
We’ve got plenty of room to put people up.
One of the reasons we bought this big house was so we could have friends to stay. ’
‘What about you, Fiona?’ asked Hattie. ‘Is there anyone you could invite? Someone who might be good at celebrities?’
‘Lance doesn’t like my friends.’ Fiona sounded bleak.
‘He can’t hate all of them!’ said Sheila. ‘But he can’t object to anyone I want to invite. What about the Jenkinses? They could bring Sophie? She’s very sensible, and the three of them would fill up the two teams.’
‘I suppose. Lance hasn’t met Sophie, so maybe that would be fine.’
Sheila pursed her lips. ‘Much as I love him, I don’t think I can allow Lance to have a say in who I invite to my house.’
Fiona blushed and then took another sip of champagne.
Hattie had the feeling this was a discussion that had been had before.
It must be so hard for Fiona, she thought, trying to keep both her difficult fiancé and her mother happy.
She got to her feet. ‘I must go and rescue Xander and Luke from each other. I promise I’ll try to fill a team for the quiz. When is it, exactly?’
‘Friday,’ said Sheila
‘This Friday? That’s horribly short notice.’
Sheila nodded. ‘And horribly near the wedding.’
‘Oh? Remind me when that is? I know you’ve told me.’ Hattie smiled at Fiona.
‘The twenty-second of June. The happiest day of my life.’
‘Oh, don’t say that,’ said Hattie. ‘It implies that life is all downhill from there!’ As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.
Hattie couldn’t imagine that Fiona’s married life would be a bed of roses but she hadn’t found a way to help Fiona see what Lance was like: he might not even have had his affair yet.
‘That’s pretty!’ she said quickly, to hide her feelings.
She pointed to a woven shopping basket with leather handles hanging on a hook in the hall. ‘Is it French?’
‘Yes. It’s Mummy’s but I do borrow it quite often,’ said Fiona. ‘It’s very useful. You can just fling everything in.’ She laughed. ‘Lance says I use it like a dustbin, and fill it with rubbish.’
At the same time as Hattie was thinking what she’d like to fill Lance with she realised when she’d last seen a basket just like it: in the vision she’d had of Nick.
It wasn’t enough on its own to identify Fiona, or more frighteningly her mother, but it was enough to make her add Nick’s name to her list of potential quiz attendees.
‘Right, well, as I say, I’m going to make up a table for Friday. Get us a good range of experts.’
‘That would be really kind,’ said Sheila, as if Hattie had promised her half a litre of blood.
‘Here are some leaflets with all the details on them. There’ll be supper and a bar.
Food will be free – I’m bringing chocolate roulades for pudding – but drinks won’t be.
Or maybe there’s one free drink? I can’t remember.
But I’m not letting anyone pay for their tickets,’ she added firmly, just as Hattie had opened her mouth to ask how much it would be.
‘This is our mess. You’re doing us a favour as it is. ’
Hattie took the leaflets and gave Fiona and her mother a quick hug goodbye.
Hattie thought about the basket, and how she might invite Nick to the quiz without seeming like she was asking him out herself.
But it had to be done. If he and Fiona appeared to hit it off, she could assume it was the right basket; if not, it obviously wasn’t.
But she wasn’t quite happy about this. She wanted to know for sure.
It wasn’t going to be easy for either of them to show interest in each other with Lance there.