though that doesn’t stop me from talking. ‘We’re going to start looking for another one in a couple of weeks. But you know what they’re like, they get so attached.’
Ricky works his magic and pins it all up, so it just falls in long ringlets and Alexis watches on and grumbles about my being a natural blonde.
‘I get a few foils,’ I admit, but yes, I smile, even if my father didn’t hang around for very long, his Swedish genes did and I’ll be forever grateful to him for that.
I head for home, but first I stuff all my purchases into the one bag. When I get there I shout, ‘Hi!’ I head straight up the stairs and take all the bags out and quickly pull off the labels so, if he asks, I can say that I’ve had them for ages.
I take the body moisturiser and perfume I’ve also bought out of their boxes.
Oh, and the earrings.
And handbag.
I can do a lot of damage in an hour and he’s going to freak when he sees the credit card bill.
No he’s not, I smile as I start getting ready, because it will all be sorted by then.
CHAPTER TWO
‘Hi, Mrs Jameson.’
I hate Skype.
Everywhere you go in the house it feels as there’s an extra pair of eyes watching you.
‘Hi there, Felicity,’ I say and I give a wave to the computer screen as I walk into the lounge to tell Charlotte to hurry up. ‘We’re just on our way over to you now,’ I tell Felicity. ‘And you can call me Lucy.’ I tell her again.
I hate being called Mrs Jameson.
‘Come on, Charlotte,’ I say, when still no one’s moving. ‘Get off the computer and get ready – you can speak to Felicity in person soon.’
But they’re playing some game that they want to finish and so I get the inevitable protests, though not just from Charlotte, from both of them.
God, I hate Skype.
‘We’ll only be a couple more minutes,’ Felicity beams back from the screen. ‘By the time you’ve got changed we’ll be finished.’
‘I am changed.’
‘Oh, sorry Mrs Jameson, I thought you were wearing a sarong.’
I look straight into Felicity’s cold blue eyes and instead of saying what I think, instead of calling her the little bitch that she is, I smile brightly at her as I click off the screen. ‘You’ll see Charlotte soon.’
I don’t like Felicity - she lives across the road with her helicopter pilot daddy and her highflying executive mummy, Simone, and she goes to Charlotte’s new school.
Felicity’s the popular one.
And soon, so shall be Charlotte.
I’ll make sure of it.
He’s calling for us to hurry up and, as I step out into the hall, for the first time he sees me. I mean, with the dress and shoes - the full effect. He runs a very approving eye over me. ‘You look great.’
‘Felicity thought she was wearing a sarong,’ Charlotte says.
Bloody Felicity.
But he just laughs.
And then he looks at me, I mean, he properly looks at me and, if we didn’t have an eleven-year-old present…
Well, lets just say, I’m actually looking forward to getting home tonight.
I wave to my neighbour - she gardens constantly, or rather, she gets a view of the goings on in the street behind the guise of her garden shears. I’m sick of her trimming the privet between our two houses. Shouldn’t privet mean private? Why can’t she stop trimming it like we’ve asked her? I must get him to have another word.
‘Here.’ He picks a piece of honeysuckle and pops it in my hair and then he lifts my chin and I think he’s going to kiss me. ‘Behave tonight.’
I smile.
I go to say something about misbehaving later, but I am not to add pressure, I remember, from my many hours spent with Dr Google. I carry on being subtle but I’m just fizzing inside, because I know this is working…
I can flirt for England too.
And often men don’t even know when I am!
We drop Charlotte off and I chat for a brief minute with Simone before we drive off. We find Jess and Luke’s new home easily – or rather the GPS does and we park with the other Audis and Mercedes in the driveway. When we get out he takes my hand and he gives it a squeeze and as we walk up to the door I’ve a feeling he wants a kiss. Maybe we were about to, but the door opens without us having to ring.