The Secret Life of Evie Hamilton - Catherine Alliott [121]
‘I can just see him,’ I giggled, relieved we were exchanging light-hearted banter, ‘prancing around after Clarence, poor old bemused Cinders at his heels following all the other dogs. Lots of bottom sniffing.’
‘That'll be the canines?’ He raised his eyebrows.
‘Of course!’
He grinned and we looked each other in the eye for the first time. I was at the counter now.
‘You look better,’ he commented shortly.
I wasn't. But I wasn't going there. ‘I am,’ I lied. ‘Much.’
‘Good. These things have a way of sorting themselves out.’
‘They certainly do.’
It occurred to me there was quite a lot to sort out in a few days, but I was grateful for the gloss.
‘We've just been up there.’ I pointed somewhere, vaguely.
‘Where?’
‘Up North.’
‘Oh. Right.’ He looked confused.
‘It's where they live. Bella Edgeworth and her daughter. Who's lovely, actually. They both are. And we all got on terrifically well, so that's marvellous, isn't it?’
‘Marvellous,’ he echoed faintly.
Damn. Why had I embarked on this? I hadn't needed to.
‘So.’ I joined him behind the counter, put my bag down and straightened a pile of books effciently. ‘Just another hour or so, is it? Till we shut?’
He wasn't deflected so easily. ‘So, what – you made a flying visit?’
‘What? Oh, yes. Well I did, but Ant and Anna are still there. Lots of things to discuss, naturally.’
‘Naturally.’
‘And obviously he needs to – you know – get to know Stacey.’
‘Stacey?’
‘The daughter.’
‘Ah.’
‘And she him…’
‘Her father?’
‘Exactly.’
‘And I felt a bit…’ I tried to gather myself, ‘well, superfluous, really!’
I stuck the exclamation mark on the end for courage, but the sentence rocked me none the less. Superfluous. Ludo didn't say anything, but he wasn't making any move to leave, either. Stayed motionless on his stool beside me. Arms folded. Watchful.
‘Well, no, not superfluous,’ I went on as he watched me dig my hole. ‘But obviously the sisters, Stacey and Anna, wanted to get to know each other. Bond.’
‘And your husband and Bella Edgeworth?’ he asked gently.
‘Needed to talk,’ I managed. ‘About their daughter. Daughters,’ I added. God, how many sodding daughters did they have? Had I said sodding out loud? I wasn't sure. A silence ensued. It hung there, waiting to be filled.
‘I trust him implicitly,’ I said, apropos of absolutely nothing.
He gave me a steady look. ‘Good.’
‘Even though,’ I couldn't quite believe I was doing this, ‘even though I'm sure he likes her very much.’
‘She's a likeable woman.’
‘Of course. You've met her. Yes, she is. It would be hard not to like her, wouldn't it?’ I appealed to him. ‘I mean – I liked her.’
‘It would be hard,’ he agreed. We didn't seem to be getting anywhere.
‘And it would be odd too,’ I blundered on, flying kamikaze now, ‘not to be attracted to anyone else at all, other than one's spouse, during the entire course of one's marriage.’ Who was one, the Queen?
‘It would,’ he agreed, ever watchful.
‘Were you ever?’ I fumbled on, keen to dodge the spotlight. But what a question, Evie. She was dead!
‘No.’ Shortly.
‘No, of course not,’ I said quickly. ‘I think I meant now. Yes, I'm sure I did. Now you're not married.’ Worse?
‘You mean, have I been attracted to anyone since Estelle died?’
‘Yes,’ I cringed.
‘Only once.’
‘Oh.’ Something of a result. ‘What happened?’
‘Nothing. Nothing's happened. I mean – not yet.’
‘Yet? It's happening now?’
He shrugged. ‘Nothing's happening.’
‘She doesn't know?’
He didn't answer. As we looked at one another, a lock of hair worked itself free from behind my ear. He reached forward and gently pushed it back off my face.
23
A silence spread out around us. I recovered first.
‘Right.’ I got up with a start. Brushed an imaginary spec of dust from my jeans. ‘You must… go to your party.’
‘I must.’
‘At your sister's.’
‘That's it.’
I licked my lips and turned to straighten more piles of very straight books on the counter. Then I slunk out from behind it to what I felt was the relative safety of the shelves, humming wildly as I realigned the shiny black spines of the Penguin Classics, my