Chapter 26
MADDIE
At the chair next to the one at which Jessie was cutting Val’s hair while eating medicinal mince pies, Maddie was busy with one of her regular clients.
She continued winding rollers into Mrs Dawson’s silky hair, that was, at her request, a striking shade of purple that had never been witnessed in nature.
Not that Mrs Dawson cared. She was in her nineties, and frequently reminded them all that she was hard of hearing, so she couldn’t hear anyone mocking her hair anyway.
Then she’d give a beaming smile, and Maddie would think she wanted to be just like that when she grew up.
In the meantime, though, she could empathise completely with Jessie’s aching back.
It was two weeks before her due date, and the pre-Christmas rush had been brutal, despite Jessie taking over some of her appointments and sending her home early on an almost daily basis.
Oh, and the gift she truly wanted in the salon secret Santa was a big bucket of fricking assertiveness, because the only thing longer than a five-year-old’s Christmas wish list was Maddie’s compendium of items that she still hadn’t crossed off her to-do list. Number one – tell Dylan about the baby.
Number two – buy a crib for the baby. And a bath.
And a pram. And everything else that the wee soul would need.
Number three – decide where they were going to live.
Even though Val had said she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted, Maddie still felt it was unfair to impose a baby on Val’s life indefinitely.
Number four – choose an inscription for her mum’s gravestone.
Every time she tried to do this, she fell apart because it reminded her that this was going to be her first Christmas without a mum. Number five…
She stopped there, feeling her heart start to race as the problems mounted up.
She brought herself back to the present and the motto that had kept her going for the last few months.
And yes, she always heard that blooming song Val and Jessie sang with it that night in Val’s kitchen.
One day at a time. That’s all she could do.
Take her life one day at a time. And today, Christmas Eve, she had Mrs Dawson, then one more cut and blow dry booked in, and then she’d be done for three o’clock.
‘It’s our last day, Jessie. Just four more hours and then we can all go home, put our feet up, watch trash telly and eat sausage rolls until Boxing Day.’
‘Apart from our annual mimosas at our house tomorrow morning,’ Val piped up, making Maddie smile.
Apparently, it was a standing tradition, and half the village came to Val’s house for a light refreshment on Christmas morning.
Every time Maddie had a fleeting thought that all she wanted to do tomorrow was lie in bed until noon, then snuggle under a blanket and watch old movies, she reminded herself how lucky she was to have the company.
If Val hadn’t taken her in, and Jessie hadn’t given her the job here, she might just be alone in some studio flat somewhere, without a single person to share the festivities with.
If there was a choice between too many people and the sound of silence, she’d take the first option every time.
Although, she did have her friends from antenatal class now too.
Orla was just lovely, and Sheena… well, they’d texted back and forth every day since their dinner last week, and Maddie was so grateful that they’d met.
She had a feeling that the Messed-Up Mums Club was going to be a regular source of support over the next few months.
She’d just put Mrs Dawson under the dryer with the Christmas edition of Good Housekeeping, when a tall blonde, in festive red trousers and a chic black polo-neck jumper, with a cream wool coat over her arm, came through the café and into the salon.
‘Hi, I have an appointment with Maddie.’
‘I’m Maddie. Welcome.’ Maddie took the coat from her next client and hung it up, while Jessie and Val got into an argument as to whether Leona Lewis or Mariah Carey had the best Christmas song of all time.
And, of course, they had to sing lines from the songs as they attempted to prove their points.
Val was belting out ‘Five More Sleeps’ as Maddie showed her new client to the chair she used for consultations.
‘You’re here for a cut and blow dry?’
‘That’s right,’ the woman answered with a smile.
‘Sorry, I didn’t get your name?’
‘It’s Rachel.’
Maddie was slightly thrown, because obviously Rachel was Dylan’s ex-wife’s name. What a coincidence. Also, weirdly, although this woman was replying to her questions, her gaze, reflected in the mirror, seemed to be concentrated on Maddie’s stomach.
‘Hi Rachel, pleased to meet you. So tell me what you’d like to have done today.’
Rachel’s hair was long and thick, so if it was an intricate cut or a completely new style, it could take a while.
Maddie was relieved when it was straightforward. Wash. Trim off split ends. Big bouncy blow-dry. Easy.
She shampooed Rachel’s hair over at the backwash basins, then brought her back to the styling chair, while Jessie took Mrs Dawson out of the dryer to tease out her curls and mould them into the finished style.
As always, Maddie made cheery small talk with her clients.
‘All ready for tomorrow then? Have you got something lovely planned?’ she asked, as she combed out Rachel’s long locks.
‘Actually, I’m having quite a quiet Christmas because I’m flying out to America on Boxing Day.’
Maddie met Rachel’s gaze, reflected in the huge, copper-edged mirror in front of them as a cold shroud of doom began to descend on her. Still, she kept up her best professional cheery act. ‘That sounds amazing! Where in America are you headed to?’
‘Nashville.’
Oh shit.
No. Still no. She had to have this wrong.
It was a coincidence. There were lots of Rachels in this world.
There had been two in her class at school, and she had at least one other Rachel who was a client.
There had to be many Rachels who went to Nashville.
Yet the hairs on the back of her neck were in full bristle.
Maybe it was the way this Rachel seemed to be waiting for a reaction.
Or perhaps it was just that the other woman’s stare kept flicking to her stomach.
Or that her words seemed in some way loaded.
Whatever the reason, Maddie gritted her teeth, determined to keep the conversation breezy.
‘Oh, I’d love to go there.’ She didn’t mention that she had a ticket in her inbox that she’d cancelled. ‘Have you been before?’ She continued to section the hair and cut, ignoring the strange unease this woman was giving her, until…
‘No. But I’m actually going to visit someone. He’s a singer and he’s over there right now. I think you might know him. His name is Dylan Bennet.’
The sound of Maddie’s scissors dropping to the ground made Jessie’s and Val’s heads swivel like they were on sticks. They even took a break from the Mariah/Leona bickerfest.
‘You okay there, Maddie?’ Jessie asked, eyes narrowed, clearly ready to go straight to DEFCON one if there was any hint of an issue.
Maddie felt a boiling vat of panic begin to rise, but all the weeks at her antenatal childbirth preparation classes suddenly kicked in and she began to breathe through the confusion.
Breathe. Just breathe. And stay calm.
‘Yes. I do know Dylan. What a small world. He’s an old school pal of mine. He actually let me stay in his spare room for a while before he went to America.’
This had to be his Rachel. His ex-wife. Or was she even an ‘ex’?
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Had she slept with a married man? Was this some kind of game? Had she been catfished, or whatever the ‘Pretend to be single’ equivalent of that was? Was she about to be the topic of a Netflix exposure on the sinister world of mendacious men? No, not Dylan. He wouldn’t…
Maybe he also had a cousin called Rachel. Yes, maybe this was his cousin, not his ex-wife.
Some dying, flailing remnant of hope that she had it wrong made her ask the question.
‘How do you know Dylan?’
‘He’s actually my husband.’ Rachel waved her hand as if dismissing the question. ‘Technically, ex-husband. But perhaps not for much longer. We’ve been talking about getting back together.’
This time, Maddie dropped her comb.
Breathe. Just breathe.
Jessie crossed the room like an Exocet missile. ‘Maddie, I can take over here if you want to go and rest.’
Maddie really didn’t want to do that, but she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her up anymore.
Dylan was talking to his ex-wife about getting back together.
Why had she never even considered that could be a possibility?
He’d told her that he’d been heartbroken when Rachel had cheated on him, but then he’d said it had worked out for the best because it gave him the freedom to chase his dreams. Was getting Rachel back part of that dream too?
Somehow, she managed to keep her cool. This was why she’d sensed something was amiss.
This woman obviously had an agenda. She was here for a reason.
To warn Maddie off? To find out if there was something between her and Dylan?
Maddie wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of disclosing any information that she wasn’t ready to give.
‘Thank you, Jessie. Rachel, I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling great right now. I’m just going to go call my boyfriend and ask him to come and collect me.’
Rachel’s eyebrows rose. ‘Your boyfriend?’
Maddie saw what could only be relief consume Rachel. Her jaw relaxed, her shoulders dropped a couple of inches and for the first time since she came in, her smile looked genuine.