Kitabı oku: «200 Harley Street», sayfa 7
CHAPTER TWELVE
LEO HAD BEEN right—it was Goldilocks.
After a blissful night of lovemaking Lizzie woke to a silver-grey morning and lay warmed by Leo’s body spooned into hers. As she felt him stir and wake up she then felt him become still as he perhaps realised just who was sleeping in his bed.
And was still there.
Lizzie stared at her dress. Her beautiful dress, which lay like a puddle on the floor, and she remembered him taking it off. She thought of her coat still on the floor in his hallway and she hoped its magic would last, that the costume she had worn last night, where she had been so bold and brave, could see her through this morning.
They had to face each other at work on Monday, which meant things had to play out well today—it was that or run screaming into the woods, never to be seen again.
She could do this, Lizzie decided. In the painful times when her mum had first been diagnosed Lizzie had learnt how to act. How to not notice her mum’s errors in conversations, how to say nothing except thank you when her third birthday card appeared in the post, because her mother had forgotten that she’d already sent one.
Yes, Lizzie could act.
‘Morning.’ She didn’t turn, just stared out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. ‘I won’t ask how you slept, given you’ve had as little as me.’
‘Coffee?’ Leo asked, and Lizzie nodded.
‘Two sugars, please.’
It was an unusual request from a bedfellow! Normally, Leo thought, yawning as he spooned sugar into her cup, it was black coffee and a sweetener, or green tea. He thought of Lizzie’s curves and last night and, really, there was no regret.
Now came the awkward part.
He walked into his bedroom and she was still gazing out of the window and the view from behind was stunning. Her hair fell in thick, still-lacquered curls and as he put her coffee down he was treated to the sight of Lizzie with panda eyes and a mark low on her neck and a slow smile on a mouth that now knew him intimately. Recalling last night’s surprising lack of inhibition, the furthest thing from Leo’s mind now was feeling awkward.
‘Your view is so amazing,’ Lizzie said. ‘I feel like I’m on the London Eye.’
‘If at any time you require assistance …’ Leo made her laugh as he put on an automated woman’s voice ‘… press the button at either end of the capsule …’
‘What happens then?’
‘I’m not sure.’ Leo climbed back into bed and took a very welcome drink of coffee. ‘How much champagne did we have?’
‘Well, I had three glasses so there goes my excuse …’ She rolled over and he watched as the sheet slipped and one breast beckoned him but he took another sip of his drink instead. ‘And you had about two sips …’ His cup hesitated as he realised she’d rumbled his game. ‘You just keep taking a fresh glass …’
‘I like to stay sharp.’
‘So I noticed.’
A smile spread his lips and Lizzie found she was biting down on hers. God, he looked sexy in the morning, unshaven, rumpled and, despite his attempts to halt it, one hand was playing with her breast, which had slipped out from under the sheet.
‘Do you want to go out for breakfast?’ Leo asked, because maybe it would be easier to clear the air for Monday somewhere public. He wasn’t concentrating very well in bed. ‘We could go to Drakes,’ he suggested, then gave a brief shake of his head. ‘Actually, that’s not such a good idea. Half of the Hunter Clinic will be there, nursing their hangovers and trying to work out who got off with who last night.’
‘And we don’t want to fan the flames …’ Lizzie said.
‘No,’ Leo agreed.
‘Where shall we go, then?’ Lizzie asked.
‘How about here?’ He put down his coffee and suggested that she do the same. ‘Beside mine,’ Leo said, and he slid down on the bed as she leant over him, caught the breast with his mouth and Lizzie, one hand beside his head the other on the bedside, knelt and revelled in the sensation, tried to remember to breathe as he pulled her hips so she was over him.
She wanted him to pull her down, she loathed how he had to stop a second to put on another condom, she almost told him not to bother, that she was on the Pill, she just wanted him inside her now.
‘Where were we?’ Leo said, and pulled her down onto him, his hands working her breasts and then down to her hips and then back to her breasts because she rode him so perfectly he could just enjoy and watch her enjoyment too.
‘So much for feeling awkward …’ Leo said, loving her breathless laugh, loving looking down and watching, then cursing as he saw the condom wrapped low around his thick base. ‘Lizzie …’ She was coming as he grabbed her hips and lifted her off him; she didn’t want to get off, didn’t really understand what was happening till she looked down to the gorgeous sight of Leo pulsing over her.
‘More …’ She just said the first thing on her mind.
‘Here.’ He stroked more out onto her and then rubbed it in with his fingers and for Lizzie it was shockingly intimate and it was the same for Leo too.
He rubbed in silver, he looked up to eyes that looked golden, and for the first time Leo wanted more too.
More of the same.
Over and over.
He drove them to Lizzie’s apartment but this was no awkward car ride home, they were just going so that she could change into jeans and boots, and brunch had been well earned, it was no wonder they were starving.
This should be ending about now, both knew it, but walking along the Thames a little while later Leo wanted to keep pulling the scarf she had over her face down just so he could see her mouth.
So he did.
And warmed it with his.
‘Shouldn’t we be regretting this about now?’ Leo checked as they walked alongside the river.
‘Probably,’ Lizzie said. ‘How on earth am I going to face you at work tomorrow?’
‘You won’t have to,’ Leo said. ‘I’ll just turn you over your desk …’
She hit him with her hand; he made her laugh, and she hadn’t laughed like this in a very long time.
Ever.
‘Do you want to go to the zoo?’ Leo asked.
‘The zoo?’
‘You’re a cheap date,’ Leo said, ‘given you’ve got a life membership.’
They had lunch there and just walked and talked and she gave a wry smile at the do-not-feed-the-lion sign.
‘Too late for that,’ Leo said.
‘Where to now?’ Lizzie asked.
‘The reptile house?’ Leo suggested.
‘I don’t like snakes.’
‘What are you doing here, then?’ It was the closest they’d come today since broaching the subject.
‘You’re not a snake,’ Lizzie said. ‘You won’t hurt me, Leo. We can just enjoy it while it lasts.’
Enjoy it they did.
They watched as three female gorillas attempted to gain attention from one very impressive silverback male and the irony was lost on neither of them.
‘I’d make a terrible gorilla,’ Lizzie said, and she gave her one warning. ‘I don’t like to share.’
‘You’ll never have to,’ Leo assured her, and he looked at her profile—saw that she was tense for the first time today and he told her how it would be. ‘I’ve told you I don’t stay around for the rows to start, and it’s served me well—it’s the reason I can still be friendly with my exes.’
‘Apart from Flora.’
‘Yes, apart from Flora.’
Who had been foolish enough to read more into them. This was Leo, like it or leave it, take it or not, he made no excuses and Lizzie was grateful for that, she truly didn’t want them. She would far prefer the painful truth than cruel lies.
She watched the huge silverback gorilla assert himself. ‘He’s so arrogant.’
‘I think he’s rather magnificent,’ Leo said.
So too did Lizzie.
It was evening, their magical wonderful night, extended by a day, except they were heading to his apartment and, yes, a drink would be nice.
‘I could call ahead,’ Leo said. ‘Have some dinner delivered.’
‘Sounds great.’
‘Do you want to stop by your place?’ Leo suggested. ‘Let the fish out?’
A small joke and Lizzie laughed but they both knew what they were there for.
Lizzie collected her uniform, her toothbrush and hairbrush …
‘Is that it?’ Leo was incredibly impressed by the paltry size of her overnight bag.
‘I’m hardly moving in.’
Yes, the view from his apartment was like being on the London Eye as later that night, lying on his couch, she watched the moon drift across London as he stroked her hair with one hand and slid down the zipper of her jeans with the other.
Yes, he had been right, it was Goldilocks.
Too soft the beats of pressure on her clitoris, and he loved it that she was open enough in the bed to tell him that.
Too hard the erection at her entrance to even think of getting off the sofa and finding condoms—after all, he used them all the time and Lizzie was on the Pill.
And as he slipped inside her, she didn’t care about tomorrow and how difficult things might be at some future time.
For now, right now as Leo spilled inside her, it was just right.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘YOU’RE LOOKING VERY pleased with yourself,’ Ethan commented as Leo arrived at the Hunter Clinic.
‘Have you seen some of the donations raised?’ Leo said, and gave a brief nod to Lizzie, who was trying to remember how she usually acted when Leo was around.
Oh, yes—blushing and on edge! Strangest of all, now that she’d slept with him she was neither of those things.
‘How did you enjoy the ball?’ Ethan asked, as Leo headed for his office.
‘It was great,’ Lizzie answered, then excused herself, but she felt a little like she had when her father had asked questions when she’d first gone out with Peter.
‘I’m allowed to be concerned, Lizzie,’ Thomas had said. ‘I know his type and I just don’t see any good coming from it.’
Ethan didn’t need to be concerned, Lizzie told herself.
She knew what she was getting into. If anything, there was less tension between Lizzie and Leo, there was no flirting, it was all very business-like now.
Until home time.
Lizzie was wrapping her scarf around her neck and chatting with Rafael about her parents as Leo walked past.
‘I’ll go and see them at the weekend.’
‘You go each weekend?’ Rafael asked.
‘Not every weekend,’ Lizzie said, but there was guilt, because the build-up to Christmas had been crazy and then between moving and starting her new job, she hadn’t been going so much lately.
Leo headed for his office and tried to ignore what he was thinking because he had been hoping to see her again at the weekend. While, of course, Lizzie had to do what was right for her, it just left no time for them, unless …
‘Night, Leo.’ Lizzie smiled and walked past his office.
‘ Night, Lizzie.’
She wanted him to call her back.
He didn’t.
She got home and peeled off her coat and then ran a bath and ate a bowl of cereal for dinner. Exhausted, and seriously so, after the most incredible weekend of her life, it was blissful to slip into bed and finally catch up with her thoughts.
Leo.
She waited for guilt, for self-recrimination, for common sense to make her bolt upright with an anxiety attack. Instead she lay in bed actually smiling, laughing, just on the crest of a wave and riding it, wherever it might take her. Such was her sudden longing for him it came as no surprise when her phone rang and it was Leo.
His apartment was lit by the moon. On coming home Leo had scanned the apartment for a piece of Lizzie, but the cleaners were thorough and very used to tidying up after one of Leo’s weekends.
‘Loser,’ Leo muttered to himself as he found himself picking up her deodorant can and spraying it.
What was the problem again? Leo checked.
That’s right, her weekend was taken.
‘Hi, there …’ He was almost brusque when he called her.
‘Hi, Leo.’
“What are you doing?’
‘I’m in bed.’
‘It’s eight.’
‘I’m tired.’
‘About the weekend …’
‘I’ve got plans.’
‘I know that,’ Leo said. ‘What about Thursday?’
‘I’ve got drinks with friends,’ Lizzie said, which was true—it was her friend Brenda’s birthday. They’d shared a flat when Lizzie had first arrived in London and they got together now and then. Though not one of her friends would mind in the least if she stood them up for such a glorious cause.
‘What are you wearing?’ Leo asked. ‘And if it’s one of those awful all-in-one things you have my permission to lie.’
‘I’m not,’ Lizzie said.
‘Good.’
‘I’m not wearing anything.’ She waited, closed her eyes and almost willed his reply.
‘Well, I’d suggest you amend that,’ Leo said. ‘I don’t want you scaring my driver.’
It was the serious bonking time of a new romance, Lizzie told herself. That time when you just can’t bear to be apart.
And they used every minute.
It was dizzying, enlightening, freeing, and between steamy encounters as they waited for rancour to hit and for both of them to admit to it all being a terrible mistake, sometimes they actually managed to talk.
‘You were at the airport?’
Leo was watching her get ready for birthday drinks with Brenda. It had meant another trip to her flat to get more of her things and very soon she would have spent more nights at Leo’s than her own home. He had suggested they go to Paris for Valentine’s Day, which was looming, and Lizzie was explaining why she didn’t like to be too far away.
‘Yes,’ Lizzie said, pulling down her lower eyelid and applying black kohl on the inner rim. ‘We were going to travel for a year—see the world.’ They had spoken about exes and, as innocent as Lizzie was compared to Leo, it had come as a surprise to both that neither had lived with another person. Not that they were living together, both had hastily agreed, it had been just little while after all.
But it was heading into record time for Leo.
The lack of condoms was already a new record.
So too making plans that fell into next month.
He lay on the bed, half listening, half thinking, as Lizzie spoke on.
‘My neighbour called and said that Mum had fallen,’
‘What did Peter say?’
‘Not much,’ Lizzie admitted, putting down her eyeliner, remembering that awful time. She had been so excited about her trip but also so nervous to leave her parents—sure that something would go wrong. And it had. She hadn’t even made it onto the plane. ‘Mum had fractured her hip and was going to Theatre. Peter seemed to think I should ring and see how she was doing when we landed …’
‘Clearly, Peter didn’t know you very well.’ She turned and gave a pale smile at his comment because in the short time they had been seeing each other Leo seemed to understand her more than anyone else ever had.
‘He said that it was him or them. That if I didn’t get on the plane …’
‘Hadn’t he heard of rescheduling?’ Leo drawled. ‘Didn’t you have flight insurance?’
‘It was a bit more complicated than that,’ Lizzie said, but he did make her giggle about even the most serious thing.
‘So you chose your parents?’
‘Of course,’ Lizzie said. ‘I could never have gone away knowing my mum was about to have surgery. Now do you see why I don’t want to go to Paris?’
‘No.’ He came over and looked at her. She was all dressed up and ready to go out and her freshly painted lips really begged to be made naked by his mouth. ‘If anyone should have a hang-up about going to Paris then I win—my mother died in a helicopter crash, coming back from a party there.’ He took her cheeks in his hands as she gave a shocked gasp. ‘Does that mean I’m supposed to boycott France?’ Despite the dark subject matter, he still made her smile. ‘Only take the Euro Tunnel just so that history never repeats itself?’
‘I don’t know,’ Lizzie admitted. ‘I just remember the guilt, how awful I felt. I don’t expect anyone to understand but I’m all they’ve got. Even my moving to London was so massive to them …’ She was truly shocked at what he had just told her. ‘Do you miss them?’
‘I’ve never really had the time to miss them,’ Leo said. ‘I’ve been too busy cleaning up after their mistakes.’
Lizzie looked at him for a long moment. No wonder he dreaded the thought of commitment—he was still bearing the cost of his parents’ lack of commitment to anything other than themselves.
‘Not all relationships are like your parents’, Leo.’
‘Of course not,’ Leo quipped. ‘Take …’ He pretended to think for a moment then gave a very wry smile. ‘I can’t think of too many shining examples. Think about Paris …’
‘I already have.’ It was getting late, she had to go. ‘The answer’s no.’
It wasn’t a row, it wasn’t even close to one, but as Lizzie sat in the taxi on her way to visit her friends she felt as if the clock was ticking towards the end of them. They were both so completely different. Leo often said his only responsibility was to his patients and he intended to keep it that way. She had been born responsible.
‘Where have you been?’ Brenda scooped her into a hug. ‘Have you dropped off the planet or something?’
‘I’m here now.’ Lizzie grinned, handing over her present and ordering a drink.
‘You’re seeing someone.’ Haley was straight onto it. ‘Come on, Lizzie, who?’
And she almost told them but changed her mind, because that would make what she and Leo had more real—maybe in a few weeks she could tell them about her crazy time with Leo Hunter, maybe she could sob into her margarita with friends, but for now all Lizzie wanted to do was protect whatever she had with Leo, instead of handing it over to others for discussion.
It was the same with her parents.
Lizzie walked along Brighton beach at the weekend, trying to come up for breath after a dizzying time with Leo.
It was so cold that her teeth were chattering as she looked out to the grey churn of the sea. Lizzie had always loved this time of year in her home town—the summer tourists were long gone, the Christmas shoppers had left and it was just bare and beautiful and recovering, getting ready to start all over again.
She wanted to share it with Leo, she wanted to walk along the pier and go on rides that would be almost empty now. She wanted to take him to her favourite coffee shop and share this part of herself with him.
She missed him and it was just a weekend, Lizzie thought. Soon she’d have to miss him for the rest of her life.
How are they?
A text from Leo maybe meant he was missing her at this moment too but as she answered Lizzie kept the details sparse. Leo was out with some prominent people tonight and he was being interviewed on television tomorrow about the hazards of cosmetic surgery and people who went overseas for cheap procedures. She didn’t share that her mum had broken her watch again and kept forgetting it was being repaired and so was frantically searching for it, or that her father kept asking questions about the ball and Leo. Lizzie knew as she fired back a suitably upbeat reply that Leo didn’t need to hear it and she also knew something else—he’d been right about Paris.
Her world really was too small.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘WE COULD JUST keep it simple—red roses and chocolates.’ Leo only briefly looked up as Lizzie walked in. It had been a couple of weeks since she’d visited her parents and she was going again this weekend for her mother’s birthday. ‘Shan’t be a moment,’ he said to Lizzie, then resumed his conversation with Lexi.
‘Won’t it be an issue if their partners don’t know that they’re coming to the clinic?’ Lexi said.
‘They can always say no,’ Leo commented. ‘I’m not having gifts sent to their house or anything.’ He looked at Lizzie. ‘We’re discussing Valentine’s Day,’ he explained, and Lizzie gave a wry smile, because Leo had no problem giving his heart to his patients. ‘Lexi’s worried that I’m going to upset a few husbands.’
‘Well, it wouldn’t be the first time.’ Lexi smiled and stood. ‘I’ll have a think and get back to you.’
‘Would you have liked flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day if you’d had your surgery scheduled then?’ Leo asked when Lexi had closed the door.
‘Keep trying, Leo,’ Lizzie teased as he resumed their game. ‘I’m never going to tell you.’
‘Tonight.’ Leo’s blue eyes turned black as he looked at her, lust turned on like a laser that in an instant made her burn. His voice was very matter-of-fact as he told her exactly what he was going to do. ‘All lights on, I’m going to strip you naked and I’m going to explore every inch of you, and this time,’ unlike the countless other times, ‘I won’t get distracted. I am going to find out.’ He opened a desk and pulled out his ophthalmoscope. ‘I haven’t used this in a while.’ He pressed the intercom on his desk. ‘Gwen, could you bring me some batteries for my ophthalmoscope, please?’ He gave her a wicked smile. ‘Every inch,’ he said, and Lizzie stood there, heat washing through her at the thought of Leo exploring every inch of her skin. ‘So, what do you want to do for Valentine’s Day—or do I have to surprise you?’ Leo asked.
‘Actually …’
‘I assume Paris is still out of bounds?’
‘Leo …’ She tried to get back to the reason she had come into see him in the first place. ‘I actually came into say that I needed that afternoon off. My mum’s having a small procedure and it’s scheduled for four p.m. on that day …’
Leo just looked. He wanted to say ‘It’s Valentine’s Day’ but he knew it wasn’t his place, that would sound like a ten-year-old whining. It was her mother, for God’s sake, but he certainly wasn’t used to spending Valentine’s Day alone.
‘I can pick you up from Brighton.’
‘Leo, she’ll be confused. I’ll probably spend the night there …’ It was actually a tiny procedure her mother was having—the removal of a tiny basal cell carcinoma on her forehead—and in truth Lizzie probably didn’t even need to be here. Yes, she was hiding because she didn’t want the hearts and roses and to be made love to, didn’t want the perfect Valentine’s Day to happen because every one after that would be a pale comparison.
With each passing day and certainly with each passing night, Lizzie was becoming more aware that every single Valentine’s Day, no matter her future, would not compare to one spent with Leo.
‘Lizzie.’ Leo was struggling, he wanted her in a way he never had another woman, and that unnerved him too. An ever-efficient Gwen came in with the batteries for his ophthalmoscope and a message for Lizzie, and he registered Lizzie’s rapid blink as she read it.
‘Is everything okay?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Lizzie said, as she read the brief message. ‘I’d better get on.’ She saw his concern and moved to reassure him. ‘It’s nothing to with the clinic.’
Which should reassure him, but this time it didn’t.
He shouldn’t be getting so involved, Leo told himself, but he sought her out a little while later and found her hiding in her office, trying to pretend everything was okay, though it was clear to Leo she was close to crying.
‘It’s nothing too major,’ Lizzie said when pressed. ‘They think Mum’s got a UTI.’
‘A urinary tract infection can be serious in the elderly,’ Leo said. ‘How bad is she?’
‘More confused than ever,’ Lizzie said. ‘They’ve got a nurse specialling her and they’ve started antibiotics, but if she gets worse they’re going to have to transfer her to hospital.’
‘Are you going to go and see her?’ He didn’t understand the shrill laugh that came out of her mouth. ‘Lizzie, if your mother’s not well …’
‘She’s never well,’ Lizzie said. ‘Yes, maybe I should go and see her now or do I wait till she’s worse and see her in the hospital or do I …?’ Her shoulders were shaking as he took them in his hands, glimpsing the never-ending quandary she was in. ‘I can’t drop everything all the time but the one time I don’t dash to see her I know it will be the time …’
‘Get your coat,’ Leo said.
She gave a weary nod. It was almost four. If she left now she might miss the worst of the traffic and if she left really early tomorrow she could be back in time for work …
‘What are you doing?’ Lizzie asked, as Leo came back, his jacket on, telling Gwen he was going on a house call and wouldn’t be back, and then he led her to his car. ‘I live two minutes away.’
‘I’m taking you to see your mother,’ Leo said. ‘You’re upset, I don’t want you driving.’
‘No.’ Lizzie shook her head. ‘I was going to stay the night and drive back in the morning. You wouldn’t want …’ She couldn’t imagine him at the Hewitts and she couldn’t imagine the Hewitts if she and Leo shared a bed! ‘I stay at a bed and breakfast, they’re old family friends.’
‘Why don’t we just see how she is first?’ Leo was practical. ‘If you need to stay you can make a booking; if not, we’ll come back. We can stop at home and get our things just in case …’ He pulled out into the heavy London traffic and, realising what he had just said, corrected himself. ‘Do you want to go to your place first?’
‘No.’
There wasn’t any point—everything she needed for an overnight stay was already at Leo’s.
It was a long, slow drive but they were chatting so much that a traffic jam didn’t really matter. She showed him the bed and breakfast they might be staying in that night and forewarned him about the nylon sheets and the rules of the kitchen.
‘Last booking is at seven-thirty,’ Lizzie said. ‘I always want to tell them that I’ll eat out but they take it so personally.’
‘So you eat there to please them?’ Leo grinned.
‘No,’ Lizzie corrected. ‘I eat there so as not to offend them.’
They pulled up at the nursing home and Lizzie hesitated as Leo turned off the engine and went to get out.
‘You don’t have to visit.’
‘I know.’
‘It might just …’ She didn’t know how to put it delicately. ‘Dad might have some questions.’
‘I’m a friend,’ Leo said. ‘I’m also your boss. Won’t your father be pleased to know that you didn’t have to drive yourself? Won’t it help him to know that you’ve got people who care about you?’
He did care, that much he was more than willing to admit.
‘Of course,’ Lizzie lied.
Leo simply didn’t get it. The only person he answered to was himself and his mere presence would set off a whole load of questions—not tonight but in the future.
‘Lizzie!’ Shelby, the nurse, gave her a beaming smile as Lizzie and Leo walked in, and went a little bit pink when she saw Leo. ‘Your mum’s actually picking up a bit. The antibiotics seem to be kicking in and we’ve been giving her lots to drink. I’m so sorry for scaring you …’
‘Don’t be,’ Lizzie said. ‘I’d far rather you rang and let me know what’s happening than not. Is the nurse still specialling her?’
‘No. Your dad’s in there with her. She’s a lot more settled and her temperature has started to come down.’
A little bit more gingerly than usual, Lizzie went in.
‘Lizzie!’ Her dad stood, clearly shocked at the sight of a man with his daughter, but, then, Lizzie reasoned as she made the introductions, her dad would be shocked if she’d had her hair cut—he simply loathed any change in routine.
He always had, Lizzie thought as she approached Faye.
‘Hi, Mum.’
‘Have you got my watch?’
‘I’m trying to find it,’ Lizzie answered patiently. ‘I hear you haven’t been feeling well.’
‘Who are you?’
Even the ten thousandth time hurt and Leo saw the brief flicker of pain in her eyes.
‘It’s me, Lizzie.’
‘And who are you?’ She looked at Leo. ‘Have you got my watch?’
‘I haven’t got your watch, Mrs Birch,’ Leo said. ‘I’m Leo, a friend of Lizzie’s.’ He could see the tension in her father’s face. ‘She was upset so I offered to drive her.’
‘Are you staying at the Hewitts’?’ her father snapped to Lizzie, but it was Leo who answered.
‘Lizzie was going to stay if her mother wasn’t well but I have to get back tonight.’
‘Oh,’ Thomas huffed, only slightly appeased, but then he turned to his wife when she surprised everyone.
‘Lizzie!’ Faye’s smile was wide.
‘Hi, Mum.’ Lizzie went over and kissed her again as if she’d just walked in. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Not so bad …’ She looked at Leo. ‘Who’s this?’
‘I’m Leo,’ Leo answered again. ‘I’m a friend of Lizzie’s.’
‘It’s lovely to see you with someone …’ Faye said to her daughter, and Lizzie cringed. She usually craved her mother’s rare moments of near-lucidity—the times when Faye actually recognised her daughter, and they could have an almost normal conversation, but did she have to do her reminiscing in front of Leo? ‘Better looking than that Peter,’ Faye said. ‘He was no good for Lizzie,’ she told Leo. ‘Lizzie has wanted a husband and children since the day she was born and all Peter wanted …’ Her voice trailed off as she lost her train of thought. ‘Have you seen my watch, Lizzie?’
Leo was actually fantastic with them but, then, naturally he would be, Lizzie reminded herself. He had a fantastic bedside manner. He chatted with her father about the traffic and it was a relief for Lizzie not to have to go over and over every detail of the journey down to Brighton for once. She left it to Leo and sorted her mum’s hair and encouraged a couple of drinks of lemonade into her.
‘Has she got any cranberry juice?’ Lizzie asked, because she always brought some with her but yet again it had gone missing.
‘I’ll go and get some,’ Leo offered.
‘The shop will be closed.’
‘I’ll find somewhere.’
He did. Leo was back ten minutes later.
‘The garage had some.’
Lizzie could only smile. Leo would have no idea how much cranberry juice cost, let alone care that it was double the price at the garage.
It was all these tiny things that constantly rammed home to Lizzie that their worlds were completely different.
The drive home was a slightly strained one. Leo might not know much about the cost of cranberry juice but he did know the cost of other things. The home her parents were in would cost a small fortune and, as they chatted, he soon worked out that, no, it hadn’t all been covered by the sale of their house and Lizzie was paying for a lot of things.
