Chapter 20
Lily slipped on her lightweight cardigan over her T-shirt and jeans and adjusted it as she stood before the mirror at Pippin Cottage. She and Nick were supposed to see a movie in Silverton and then have dinner. She ran downstairs to set Gran up for the evening.
Gran was organised with some delicious cold meats, salad and some cold hard-boiled eggs and a glass of white wine for dinner. Lily had got her a little tray table so she could eat it in her armchair and watch some of her favourite quiz shows while she ate.
‘It’s like I’m in first class on a plane,’ Gran said when Lily had arranged everything.
‘Have you ever been in first class on a plane?’ Lily asked her with a smile.
‘I’ve never been on a plane.’ Gran giggled. ‘But it’s not too late. I might put it on my bucket list for when I turn one hundred.’
‘Excellent,’ Lily said as she saw Nick coming up the path through the window.
‘Okay, Nick’s here,’ she said. ‘I won’t be late.’
Nick came into the cottage and kissed Lily on the cheek and then Violet.
‘How are you, Violet?’ he asked.
‘Still alive, which is good news, I think.’ She cackled to herself.
‘You look beautiful,’ he said to Lily and she felt the familiar flutter in her stomach when she was around him.
Soon they were on their way, chatting in the car when Nick’s phone rang.
‘It’s my mum,’ he said. ‘I better get it. She doesn’t usually ring at this time.’ He took the call on his hands-free device.
‘Hi, Mum, I’m in the car with Lily,’ he said.
‘Hello, Lily, I’m Maureen. Nick talks about you all the time. He says you have a lovely voice. We’re looking forward to hearing you sing in the show.’
Lily grinned at Nick, knowing she was blushing. ‘Thank you, Maureen, that’s so nice to hear.’
‘How can I help, Mum?’ Nick said firmly, clearly trying to keep his mum on track.
‘It’s your father,’ Maureen said, frustration in her voice.
‘Okay, what about him?’
‘He says he’s going to get up the ladder,’ Maureen said.
‘Why?’
‘Because the smoke alarm is beeping and the man can’t come until tomorrow and he said if it doesn’t stop he’ll go and sleep in the garden if I don’t let him change it.’
Nick shook his head, ‘No, he’s not getting up a ladder. Do you know how many people go to hospital being up ladders over fifty?’
‘Yes, you and your sister are always telling me. That’s why I’m calling you now.’
‘We’re on our way to a movie,’ Nick said.
‘It won’t take long, I promise,’ said Maureen. ‘Otherwise he’ll get up that ladder and you know he’s a bit wobbly because of his tinnitus.’
Nick sighed and looked at Lily and mouthed the word ‘sorry’ to her but she stifled a giggle.
‘Go,’ she whispered.
‘Okay, we’ll be there soon,’ he said and hung up the call.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘My dad can be a bit gung-ho and he’s not quite as athletic as he thinks he is.’
‘Don’t stress about it. Family comes first; apart from that, this seems considerably more fun than any movie. I want to meet the family that raised this man.’
Nick laughed, relief clearly on his face. ‘Oh God, this might be more than I bargained for. But thank you. You’re fantastic.’
Lily was both excited and nervous as they travelled to Nick’s parents’ place. They drove through Silverton and to a residential area and stopped at the front of a suburban home, with a car in the driveway and a very busy garden filled with flowers, sweet art projects and wind chimes.
‘Can you tell my mother is a nursery school teacher?’ he asked as they walked up the path past a collection of wooden spoons stuck in a pot, each one representing someone in the family, all painted and decorated.
‘That’s very cute though,’ said Lily, looking at the Nick the Nurse likeness. ‘It’s basically your mirror image.’ She giggled.
‘Rude,’ he said and rang the bell. She heard dogs barking.
‘That’s Ziggy and Zola – Norwich terrors,’ he said.
‘You mean terriers,’ she corrected.
‘Nope, terrors,’ he said as the door opened.
Maureen opened the door and hugged Nick and then hugged Lily.
‘Oh okay, hi,’ she said.
‘This is so lovely. Come in, your dad is upstairs. Lily and I can have tea.’
‘Mum, we’re supposed to be going to a movie,’ he said as two very cute small brown dogs jumped up at his legs.
Maureen looked disappointed at this news.
‘It’s fine, Nick. Let’s not rush. You help your dad and maybe check the other alarms and I can find out everything about you from your mum.’
‘Oh God, this might have been a mistake,’ said Nick as he went upstairs.
Lily followed Maureen through the very eccentrically decorated house. Each room was painted a different colour and there was art on every wall, with indoor plants trailing down from hanging macramé holders.
‘Your house is amazing,’ said Lily looking around. ‘I love it.’
‘Oh that’s nice to hear, Lily. Not everyone likes it. Jessica hated it,’ she said and then made a face. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned her. I think I’m nervous. Nick doesn’t bring his girlfriends home often.’
‘I’m not really his girlfriend. I’m just here for the summer,’ she said. The mention of Jess had deflated her mood. ‘Did you like Jess?’ she asked Maureen, wishing she didn’t care but she did.
‘I don’t think she was possible to like,’ whispered Maureen. ‘She was very intimidating.’
Lily nodded. ‘She’s in the play. She doesn’t like me very much.’
Maureen rolled her eyes as she poured hot water from the kettle into a brown teapot and put a knitted cosy in the shape of a strawberry on top of it. ‘She doesn’t like anyone very much,’ Maureen said. ‘Don’t you worry about her.’
‘How long did…’ Lily was about to ask when Nick came into the kitchen.
‘I need batteries. I’ll check the others,’ he said to his mum.
‘I’ll get some from the laundry,’ she said and they left Lily alone in the kitchen.
She walked around the room, looking at Maureen’s art and photos of the family.
Nick’s sisters were very beautiful, she noticed. One of them was newly married and Nick looked handsome in the photo, wearing a suit.
She picked up another photo from the wedding of Nick and his sisters together. Jessica was in the background, looking at them with a furious expression on her face.
They had gone out long enough for her to go to his sister’s wedding, she thought, and she put down the frame as Maureen came back into the kitchen.
‘All sorted,’ she said cheerfully.
‘Now, tell me all about you,’ Maureen asked and Lily paused.
‘There’s not much to tell,’ she said but Maureen shook her head.
‘No, not having that. Nick won’t stop chatting about you: Lily does this, Lily said that. I want to know about the this and the that.’
Maureen opened a tin and put some lemon slices on a plate. ‘Now let’s take these into the living room, and I’m going to ask you fifty questions.’
‘Only fifty?’ joked Lily and soon she was sitting down, drinking tea and eating a slice, being grilled by Maureen about everything from her early childhood diseases to her favourite cocktail.
Nick came into the living room. ‘Okay, all done,’ he said, looking slightly harried.
‘We need to head off soon,’ he said to Lily.
‘Do we?’ she asked. ‘We’ve missed the movie.’
‘There’s a later time,’ he said. ‘At a different cinema, and we can still make dinner after.’
‘You could come back here for dinner,’ said Maureen hopefully.
‘Thanks, Mum, but we’ll do it another time,’ he said.
Lily put down her mug and plate as Nick’s father came into the living room.
‘Who’s this then?’ he asked. ‘A new one? You go through them like socks.’ The man laughed.
‘Dad,’ Nick said sharply.
‘Only joking,’ he said. ‘I’m Mike, Mike Stafford.’
‘Hi, I’m Lily,’ she said trying to keep her tone light.
Nick went through girlfriends like socks. Was that a joke? It wasn’t very funny.
‘I know. He told me all about you,’ he said with a warm smile and Lily felt herself relax a little but wondered what his sisters would think of her. Don’t worry about impressing them; you’re only here for the summer, she told herself. But the voice of doubt was in her head.
After she and Nick had left and they went to the movies, they sat through the film and she felt him reach for her hand.
She wondered if just spending the summer with Nick was realistic. She knew she was caring too much about what his family thought. It wasn’t serious, she reminded herself. It was just a bit of fun.
At dinner, Nick looked at her. ‘You know my father was joking about me having lots of girlfriends,’ he said.
‘It was a bit off-putting, I will admit,’ she conceded.
‘I know. He thinks he’s funny. He’s not,’ Nick said with a sigh.
‘And your mum brought up Jess,’ she said.
‘Oh God, was it about how she didn’t like Mum’s decorating?’
Lily nodded.
‘I took Jess there once, before a rehearsal to pick something up, and she insisted on coming inside with me, even though I was only going to be a few minutes, and then she proceeded to walk about the house and tell Mum how bad the feng shui was with all of her plants and art.’
‘That’s so rude,’ said Lily, aghast.
‘I know. It was awful and Mum cried, and Jess couldn’t understand what the fuss was about. Needless to say she never went back there.’ He closed his eyes and shook his head.
‘But she was at your sister’s wedding,’ she said. ‘I saw her in the background of a picture, looking unhappy by the way.’
‘Yes, do you know why?’
‘Because she was invited?’ she said.
‘No, because she turned up at the church. She wasn’t invited. We weren’t even going out. She turned up, all dressed up, and I think she was expecting to then come to the wedding dinner with me.’
‘Oh my God,’ said Lily in shock.
‘And she tried to get into the family pictures. When that one was taken of me and my sisters, I had just asked her to step out, as she’d joined in uninvited.’
‘That’s so embarrassing,’ said Lily. ‘And sort of sad.’
Nick nodded. ‘I know, it’s awful and weird.
But in all honesty I haven’t taken anyone home to meet Mum and Dad since university, I promise.
I had a lovely girlfriend then, but she went to live in Australia and is now married to an Aussie, and it’s all lovely and good for them.
Jess and I were together for six months, then I realised she wasn’t right for me and I broke it off. ’
‘Which she wasn’t happy with.’ The waiter brought them some bread and Lily picked some up and broke it into pieces and put it on her plate.
‘No, ' Nick sighed. 'I'm sorry Lily,' He said but she waved her hand at him.
‘No, I shouldn't have mentioned her, now let’s order and talk about anything else but her, okay?’ she said firmly.
Nick smiled. ‘Yes. That sounds perfect.’