Chapter 28
Mab couldn’t exactly kill the fatted calf for Leo’s return but she did her best. In the hours after their conversation, she changed her mind at least five times about the best way to tell him that there was no point in them being anything but friends, at least for the next few months.
She must make him see what a bad prospect she was at the moment and let him stay free to meet somebody else.
The thought of Leo with someone else was excruciating, but there was no way that Mab was going to tie him down, so she concentrated on making his homecoming as special as possible, and cried into her Bolognese sauce when no one was looking.
At last, Harry shouted, ‘He’s back, everyone. Good job too, I’m starving. Hang on a minute – our Alex is with him too. Brilliant!’
George hobbled towards the staircase, and met Leo at the door, knocking a pile of books out of his arms with the force of his hug.
He ignored Alex completely. Jess followed her son more slowly, smiling at George’s affectionate greeting, even if it was only reserved for his favourite person.
It didn’t seem long ago that he had refused to give his granny a hug, however hard she tried to cuddle him.
This shop was doing wonders for George so far.
She gave Leo and Alex a hug of her own, and helped to pick up the books, as George shouted, ‘Look at the fish, Leo. They’re wicked now they’ve all settled in.
I think this one’s having babies. Two of them did sexy things at each other the other day, I saw them. ’
Jess’s eyes met Leo’s in horror, but Leo just grinned.
‘Better have a word with them, eh, mate? Don’t want to shock the punters.’
George took him literally and could be heard telling the fish how they should behave in front of customers, as Leo and Jess headed upstairs.
Alex paused for a moment, and then turned to go back to the van to fetch more books.
Mab held onto the kitchen worktop as she heard Jess and Leo laughing.
This was way too soon. How was she going to deal with seeing Leo again?
Was the real Leo going to match up to the fantasy version that had been haunting her nights?
She felt him come into the kitchen and willed herself to turn round, smiling in as normal a way as she could manage.
‘You made it. I hope you’re hungry?’
‘Ravenous. It smells fantastic. Is that garlic bread? And you’ve got fresh parmesan, great.
’ Leo moved around the kitchen, picking things up and putting them down again, helping himself from the bowl of almond-stuffed olives.
He seemed as nervous as Mab, which somehow calmed her.
She poured a large glass of Merlot and handed it over.
‘There, I bet you’re ready for that? Take these olives and other nibbly things through for me, would you? Did I hear Harry say that Alex is here? I didn’t know he was coming.’
‘Alex says he’s got unfinished business here. Have you got any idea what he means? I couldn’t remember anything in particular that he was doing here, can you, pet?’
Mab considered this, grateful for the distraction. Just the sound of Leo’s voice calling her ‘pet’ in that lovely Geordie accent was turning Mab’s brain and various other unruly parts of her body to jelly.
‘No, I can’t think of anything either. Where is he, anyway?’
They both looked round vaguely, as Harry came in.
‘Is dinner ready, love? Shall I set the table? Is Stan coming?’
‘Oh, yes, please, Harry, if you don’t mind. Stan won’t be here tonight, he’s gone to see a mate about… well, anyway, is Nina back from the castle yet?’
‘She just got home, I think she needs some of that wine. Pour her a good big glass, would you, son? She’s had some stroppy pensioners today; they asked for their money back because it rained.’
‘What?’ It never ceased to amaze Mab how much flack Nina was obliged to take from the general public.
‘Yes, apparently they said that the roof wasn’t sufficiently watertight to let visitors go round the castle on wet days, and if they’d realised that, they definitely wouldn’t have paid.
It’s a castle. Do they expect double glazing too, maybe?
Or a TV room for wet days?’ Harry was incensed on Nina’s behalf.
Nina came into the kitchen at this point, looking unusually glamorous.
She had taken to straightening her hair and taking the sides back in two silver combs.
She had never been one for a lot of make-up, but Mab could see that even at the end of the day, Nina still had a touch of kohl pencil around her eyes, the shine taken off her nose with powder and a slick of pearly lip gloss.
So Nina was pulling out all the stops for Harry?
This was good news, thought Mab, smiling at her friend’s mum appreciatively.
It was getting very cosy in the kitchen now.
Mab couldn’t help wondering, not for the first time, why the entire gang always had to squeeze themselves into such a small space.
It didn’t seem to matter whose turn it was to cook, as soon as the chef for the night started to rattle pots and pans, the kitchen acquired an irresistible magnetism.
Leo, seeing Mab’s efforts to dish up the dinner, shooed everyone back into the living room.
‘For goodness’ sake, guys, give Mab some space. And can someone find Alex and tell him we’ve got to eat soon, or I’ll fall over in a dead faint. Where is he, anyway?’
But Alex was nowhere to be seen, and after a fruitless search, the others decided to start, before dinner was completely ruined.
‘He must have gone for a walk, or something,’ said Jess, putting some spaghetti and sauce into a dish for Alex. ‘Maybe he’s gone to the pub?’
‘Why would he do that?’ asked Leo. ‘We’ve got everything a person could possibly want to drink here.’
Alex appeared an hour later, when the dishwasher was loaded and everyone except George was drinking strong black coffee.
‘I’m really sorry, guys, I got… erm… distracted. That was really rude of me. Did you cook tonight, Mab? I hate missing one of your spectacular dinners.’
But when Jess offered to heat up Alex’s share, he just shook his head.
‘No, it’s OK, honey, I’m really not that hungry. Must be the drive, I get car sick sometimes.’
‘Well, I’ve never noticed it,’ said Harry. ‘You’ve always travelled well as far as I can remember.’
‘He’s just not feeling like eating tonight, are you, Alex? I get like that sometimes, especially when it’s cabbage,’ said George, frowning at his mother and earning himself a grateful glance from Alex, who sat down at Leo’s computer.
‘I’m going to check my emails now. We need to get together in the morning, Dad, with Leo, and talk business.
Let’s do it over breakfast, shall we? I’ll start getting the French toast and bacon sandwiches going about half seven and we’ll have an early start,’ said Alex, clicking away busily. Harry looked alarmed.
‘Is something wrong, lad? Have you come down here to tell me the business is going down the pan? I don’t know, you turn your back for a minute…’ Alex laughed.
‘Stop panicking, Dad, it’s the opposite if anything. Josh has got some great plans for the future and everything’s fine at the moment. I was just looking to see if Josh had emailed me his list of ideas.’
‘What about Den? How’s he doing? Did he finish the job in Morpeth?’
Alex smiled at Leo. ‘I think the Morpeth job’s about done, don’t you, mate? I’ll fill you in at half seven tomorrow, Dad. Be there or be square, eh? Bathrobes or tasteful silk dressing gowns optional.’
Everyone seemed exhausted by nine o’clock, and it didn’t take much persuading for George to set the wheels in motion and get everyone moving towards their various bedrooms. Nina and Harry had at last vacated Leo’s room and gone to Nina’s house, arm in arm.
Mab watched them go, feeling slightly melancholy even though she was pleased to see them looking so contented.
At least Leo could get his bed back now.
Mab could sense that Leo had tried everything he could think of to get her alone tonight but she had avoided all his careful manoeuvring, saying that she hadn’t been sleeping well and would be glad of an early night.
Leo managed to give her a hug and a discreet peck on the cheek before she escaped and Mab leaned against him briefly, letting herself imagine just for a moment what it would be like if there was no baby.
But even as that thought came into her mind, a sharp pang of guilt followed it.
The baby hadn’t chosen to be conceived, had it?
And whichever way you looked at the problem, it only had one real mother.
As Mab passed the window on her way to bed, she heard the sound of the outside door closing gently.
Leo shot over to join her as she peered out, just in time to see Alex emerge from the shop and look up and down the street.
Leo lifted his hand to rap on the glass but stopped as he saw a car pull up next to Alex.
Mab couldn’t see the driver from this angle, but she noticed how eagerly Alex jumped into the passenger seat.
How odd. Where was Alex going and, more to the point, who did he know in Clayton?