Chapter 7
Several hours later, I’d spent one of the laziest days I could remember and then been scrubbed, rubbed and steamed to within an inch of my life.
‘When was the last time you did this, Mum?’ Sasha asked as we flip-flopped back to our room, wrapped in the fluffy robes, our skin glowing.
‘Spent hours doing nothing and then been pampered? I’m not sure I’ve ever done this. It all still feels a little self-indulgent if I’m honest.’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’ Sasha asked as we stepped inside the lift.
What was wrong with that?
‘I… I don’t know. I suppose I’m just not used to it. It wasn’t really a thing that people did as much when I was growing up.’ I put a hand to my freshly exfoliated face. ‘Oh, God, that makes me sound ancient.’
Sasha slid her arm through mine and pulled me close. ‘Not at all. Lots of attitudes have changed in a relatively short time.’
‘That’s true. I don’t know. It just wasn’t a thing for everyday women to go and get their nails done every week or two, etc. If people did that, you tended to think of them as being more ladies of luxury.’
‘You need to start looking after yourself more now, Mum.’
‘Oh, crikey, is it that bad?’ I stole a glance in the mirrored interior of the lift as we stepped out into the corridor.
‘No! I don’t mean it like that. I mean it’s your time now. You don’t have to worry about Dad or me any more.’
‘Darling,’ I said as I held the key card against the room door. ‘It doesn’t matter how old you are, I am always going to worry about you.’
‘OK, but the rest of it.’
‘Yes, I know.’ And she was right. No more keeping the house perfect in case Hugh decided to bring home a colleague for dinner at the last minute to discuss the latest dissertation subjects, most of which went over my head.
No more researching recipes for his latest health fad.
No more living a life that revolved around others.
‘You OK? You look miles away.’
‘I’m fine, love, I might just have a lie down if that’s all right with you? All this pampering is exhausting!’
‘I’m going to do the same.’ She leant in and gave me a big squeeze. ‘That was so fun. Let’s make it a thing. Getting a facial together, or our nails, or whatever. A regular thing, yeah?’
‘That sounds lovely, Sash. I’d really like that.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise.’
‘Love you, Mum.’
‘Love you, too.’ I kissed her temple as I’d done since she was a baby. ‘Have a good nap.’
‘And you. See you in a bit.’
I closed the door and hung the robe on the back of the door.
It had felt rather licentious heading down to the spa, knowing that I’d only had my pants on beneath.
In the lift, I’d voiced the thought to Sash, who’d just laughed and flashed me which had set me giggling too, a distant memory in a dusty corner of my mind lighting up of a girl who, years ago, would have done the same thing.
The girl who’d lived in Paris, and being slim and lightly endowed, abandoned wearing a bra as many of the women there did.
My initial English hesitance about – oh, the scandal – a hint of nipple very soon dissipated as I fell into the natural way of things in my adopted city, the city I’d fallen in love with. The city where I’d fallen in love.
Poor Hugh. It wasn’t his fault. And I had loved him.
We’d loved each other. Not in the ‘throw all caution to the wind’, world-spinning way I’d loved before, but right then, that was all for the better.
The other way had split my heart into shards and I never wanted to feel that again.
So when I’d run away from Paris, there was Hugh.
A friend who, over the course of the following year, gradually and unintentionally became something more.
And then, even more unexpectedly, became a father and our lives changed forever.