And Baby Makes Two - Dyan Sheldon [61]
I pushed Les out of my mind. I knew what his mother was like. She was a clinger. Plus, she’d have about a million things for him to do in her house when he was there. Plus, he had a couple of aunts and uncles to see. He was probably too busy to get to a phone. Since he couldn’t use hers ’cause her income was fixed.
But I was busy, too.
Hilary and Charley came two days after Boxing Day.
“Well, you’ve certainly been busy,” said Hilary, looking round. “I hope you don’t dance on my grave as fast as this.”
Even though I’d packed up tons of her junk, it took the three of us the whole day to finish sorting all her stuff and loading the van.
Then I threw myself into cleaning the flat with every bit of energy I had left. I worked like a woman possessed, dusting, hoovering, mopping and hauling furniture. By the time I was done, I had blisters on my hands, two splinters and a cut on my forehead from walking into a shelf.
I’d literally just put the hoover away when the doorbell rang.
Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve. Which meant it couldn’t be Shanee. Shanee’d be running around getting ready for her party.
It had to be Les. That was why he hadn’t rung, because he was going to surprise me by turning up for New Year’s Eve.
I practically tripped over myself to get to the door before he could ring again and wake Shinola.
Shanee was standing on the doorstep with her arms full of shopping.
“Don’t look so happy to see me,” said Shanee. “I can’t stay for long.”
It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy to see her. It was just that I’d been about to fling myself into her arms. I put a smile on my face and waved her inside.
“Come on!” I cried. “You’re the first visitor to our new flat.”
Shanee waggled her eyebrows. “And to think I didn’t even know you’d moved. It’s been longer than I thought.”
“Wait till you hear what happened,” I said as I led her inside.
Shanee got as far as the living-room and stopped dead.
“Geez,” said Shanee. “It looks like you’ve been robbed.”
“Hilary’s moved out for good,” I told her. “The flat’s officially mine!”
Shanee’s eyes moved from one corner to the next. “What’s left of it,” said Shanee.
“Oh, please… It’s not done yet, is it? Wait till I paint it all. It’ll look really brilliant. And once I save some money I’m going to go really modern.” Hilary was too cheap to even buy a toaster, but I was going to have an all-electric kitchen. “You know, with those hobs that don’t look like hobs, and an electric kettle, an electric coffee-maker and an electric toaster. And a microwave, of course.”
Shanee kept nodding and looking around.
“Everything will be colour co-ordinated eventually.”
Shanee gave me a look. “So does this mean that Les will be moving in?”
“Of course,” I said. “It’s what we’ve been waiting for.”
“Well, that’s really great.” Shanee let go of her carrier bags and gave me a hug. “Then he’ll be coming with you tomorrow night.”
“’Fraid not. He’s been held up at his mum’s.”
Shanee was looking at me the same way she’d looked at me when the socks fell out of Shinola’s blanket.
“But you’re still coming, aren’t you?” she asked. “You have to come.”
“I know… I have to meet Guy.”
Shanee waved Guy away with one hand. “Not any more. Now you have to meet Andy.” She laughed. “I met him on Christmas Eve at Edna Husser’s. He’s a friend of her brother’s.”
I had to laugh, too. “You’ve changed a bit. You never used to go out with blokes at all and now you’re running through men like they’re traffic lights.”
“You know what they say,” said Shanee.
“Make hay while the sun shines?” I guessed. It was one of my nan’s.
“No,” said Shanee. “You’re only young once.”
I spent most of New Year’s Eve day debating whether to go to Shanee’s party or not. Should I? Shouldn’t I? Should I? Shouldn’t I? At about nine o’clock, when everyone on the telly was gearing up for the big hour, I decided that I should. Madonna would have.
But the minute Shanee opened the door I knew that I’d made a mistake.
“Lana!” she shrieked. “I can’t believe it! You actually came.”
Already I didn’t