Chapter 12
The following day was mild and sunny, and Claire met Catherine for lunch in the park. The shop was quiet, so Tom had told her she could take her time.
‘How did it go with Mark?’ Catherine asked, pulling a foil-wrapped roll and a bottle of mineral water from her bag.
They were sitting on plastic chairs at the edge of a group of mothers and wriggling, squealing toddlers, who were watching the end of a puppet show.
It was part of an all-day children’s event in the park that Catherine was attending as research for a piece she had been commissioned to write on sponsored children’s activities.
Paddington was parked beside her in another brand-new state-of-the-art buggy.
‘Great,’ Claire said, as she unwrapped her sandwich on her knee. ‘It went really well.’
Catherine turned to look at her closely. ‘Really?’ she said, her eyes lighting up, and Claire knew that her smile spoke volumes. ‘So, is he as nice as he seems on Twitter?’
‘Yeah, he’s lovely. And it’s official – I have a book deal.’
‘Oh my God, next time we have to have champagne. Anyway, congratulations!’ Catherine picked up her bottle of mineral water from the grass and bumped it against Claire’s.
‘Thanks.’ Claire took a bite of her sandwich.
‘And was there flirting?’
Claire smiled and nodded as she chewed. When she had swallowed, she said, ‘There might even have been some kissing.’
Catherine’s eyes widened. ‘Wow, get you!’
‘We met up again on Sunday and hung out until it was time for him to go. It was really nice.’
‘So you managed to pull off the sassy thing, then?’
‘A bit. Yvonne gave me lots of flirting tips, but I didn’t use them much. Mostly I was just myself – or maybe a slightly pimped-up version of myself.’
‘Well, it obviously worked.’
‘Yeah. He… he kind of asked me up to his room when we went back to his hotel for a drink.’
‘The cheeky bugger!’
‘He said he doesn’t usually move that fast,’ Claire said defensively, ‘but he felt like we’d already known each other a long time. It was like that for me too.’
‘So, did you go?’
‘No. I was tempted, but it would have been kind of obvious that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. My cover would have been blown.’
‘Mm, I see what you mean. That’s a pity. You finally meet a man you like and he’s off-limits.’
‘Only temporarily, I hope. I really do like him. And I think he likes me too. He asked me over to London for a weekend.’
‘To stay with him?’
Claire nodded. ‘I’m going to try to get over while Mum’s still in the nursing home.’
‘So, what are you going to do? I mean, you can’t keep fending him off for ever.’
‘I wouldn’t want to. But I told him I have a five-date rule.’
‘A five-date rule,’ Catherine mused. ‘I didn’t know people really did that.’
‘Apparently they do. So I can date him for a while, get to know him better, without sex being an issue. And in the meantime I’m going to get some practice.’
Catherine almost choked on her sandwich. ‘Practice?’ she croaked when she had recovered. ‘Please tell me you’re not going to start trawling bars and picking up strange men.’
Claire shook her head. ‘I already have someone lined up to practice on. He’s a friend of Yvonne’s. I met him at a party last week. So it’s all perfectly safe and above board.’
‘Blimey! Does this guy know he’s a sort of coach, training you up for the big occasion?’
‘Oh, yeah. I was completely upfront with him about it. He knows the whole story and he’s fine with it. He’s a total man-whore – shags anything that moves, I gather. He’s broke, so I’m paying him to… teach me.’
Catherine looked at her in slack-jawed silence. ‘Let me get this straight,’ she said finally. ‘You – Claire Kennedy – are going to pay a guy to have sex with you. When you bust out of that shell, you don’t do it by halves, do you?’
‘Oh, believe me, this isn’t easy for me,’ Claire said, with a shaky smile.
‘I’m not looking forward to it, but it’s a means to an end.
’ She was dreading it, in fact. It would be beyond awkward, but she would try not to think about it too much, and once she’d got through it, she’d never have to see Luca again.
She could put the whole episode behind her and forget about it.
‘We’re starting tomorrow night,’ she said, feeling the stirring of nerves in her stomach at the thought of it.
‘Well, good luck!’
Just then, Claire’s phone pinged with a message. She pulled it out of her bag, feeling a little glow of pleasure when she saw it was from Mark:
What are you wearing?
She smiled to herself as she texted back:
A lot of green and a little mayonnaise. Lunch in the park = challenging!
His reply came back a moment later:
I bet you look adorable in it. Just wanted to let you know your offer letter is being drawn up. Everyone here very excited about publishing Scenes. Must dash. x
‘Sorry,’ she said to Catherine as she typed a quick reply:
Yay! Excited too. x
‘That’s okay,’ Catherine said. ‘Was that him?’
‘Yes. They’re getting my official offer ready,’ Claire said, as she put her phone back into her bag. Mark’s text had come at just the right time, reminding her why she was putting herself through the ordeal with Luca. It would be worth it if she could be with Mark in the end.
The puppet show ended to a round of applause and the crowd began to disperse, children leaping from their seats and tearing towards the playground while harried mothers were still gathering up all their paraphernalia.
‘Doesn’t Paddy want a go on the swings?’ Claire asked, nodding towards the buggy.
‘No, he’s a bit tired. It’s been a long day.
I’ll bring him home for a nap soon.’ She drained her mineral water and screwed the lid back on, dropping the empty bottle into a plastic bag.
‘Those kids are all hyped up on sugar,’ she said, nodding to the children charging towards the playground while their mothers trotted after them, juggling change bags and juice cups while trying to maneuver empty pushchairs across the grass.
‘The evil geniuses behind this event were handing out free fizzy drinks all day. I didn’t let Paddy have any. ’
‘You’re such a good mother.’
‘Well, I’m lucky that Paddy doesn’t put up any resistance. If he was constantly wheedling me like that lot, I’d probably have him on a drip of the stuff.’
‘Is that another freebie?’ Claire nodded to the buggy.
‘Yeah.’ Catherine looked down at the buggy with its space-age design. ‘Bit wanky, isn’t it? But apparently it’s the must-have item for the toddler-about-town, these days.’
Claire scrunched up her sandwich wrapping. ‘I’d better get back,’ she said, dropping it into the plastic bag that Catherine held out for her.
They gathered up their things, and strolled towards the gate.
‘Do you want one of these?’ Catherine asked her, nodding down at Paddington.
‘A teddy bear? I have one at home somewhere.’
Catherine smiled. ‘No, a child.’
‘Oh.’ They paused by a bin near the exit and Catherine threw in the bag with their rubbish.
‘Yeah,’ Claire said thoughtfully, as they continued walking. ‘I guess. I mean, not right now. But I’ve always seen myself having children eventually. You?’
‘No, I don’t think so. I’m undecided, but Hazel is a definite no, so…’
‘What if you were with someone who definitely wanted them?’
‘Then I guess I’d go along with it. I don’t really have strong feelings either way. And I’d already have all the equipment. My kid would never be short of a designer change bag or a state-of-the-art car seat.’
‘Yes, shame to let all that free stuff go to waste.’
‘Well, I’ll pass it along to you if you decide to go down that road. In the meantime, it keeps my eBay account nicely ticking along.’
They stopped on the path outside the gate before going their separate ways.
‘Well, good luck tomorrow night,’ Catherine said. ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t—’ She stopped abruptly and laughed. ‘No, that would defeat the whole purpose, wouldn’t it?’
‘It kind of would.’
‘And we already know you won’t be good, so I’ll just say be careful. And have fun.’
‘Thanks. I’ll try.’
On Thursday, Luca kept an eye on the clock as he worked.
He knew how easy it was for him to lose all track of time when he really got stuck into working on a piece.
But Claire was coming over tonight, so at five on the dot he downed tools and busied himself trying to make his shithole of a flat a bit more cheery and welcoming.
It seemed the least he could do when she was paying him so much money.
His place had never bothered him before, but the contrast with the comfort of her home could hardly have been starker.
When he had washed up, he cleaned the table and did a quick run-around with the vacuum cleaner that was stashed in a cupboard by the door.
He couldn’t remember if he’d ever used it before.
Then he turned his attention to the bedroom.
He turned on the light and stood in the doorway, surveying it objectively.
Lit by a bare bulb in the centre of the room – he’d never even bothered to get a shade for it – it didn’t look fit for a dog to sleep in.
Maybe he should have taken her up on her offer to go to a hotel, he thought, as he began to strip the bed.
But he felt bad enough about taking her money as it was.
He didn’t want her to go to any extra expense.