Kitabı oku: «Let It Snow», sayfa 3
Carola was a bit pink after the kiss. ‘Owen’s going to visit his mum. She’s not too well and he says she gets crotchety with visitors.’
‘Doesn’t sound like you’re missing much then,’ Lily joked, giving the older woman a hug. ‘Are you and Owen getting serious? He’s not going to stop you coming to Switzerland is he?’
Despite the obvious stars in her eyes Carola made a mock scream face. ‘Of course not. He’s not going to stop me doing anything – I had enough of that with Duncan.’
Lily dropped down beside Carola at the white glass kitchen table. ‘Extremely sensible. Shall we finalise the programme today so we can send it to the Performing Rights Society and fork over the fee for singing other people’s songs?’
Over tuna sandwiches and custard creams they ummed and ahhed about the respective merits of Cliff Richard’s ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ versus Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’, Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ or Wizzard’s ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday’. Carola wrote down ‘Walking in the Air’ from The Snowman and Lily crossed it out again. ‘That puts a lot of emphasis on the sopranos – us! You might be strong enough but I’m not sure I am.’
Carola nicked back the pen and wrote it in again. ‘Of course you’re strong enough! We don’t have to sing like choirboys to carry it off and we’re spoilt for sopranos anyway because we have Charlotte and Emily. I wish we had another bass to sing along with Neil, personally.’ She tapped the pen on her teeth.
Privately, Lily thought that Charlotte and Emily’s voices were pretty but not strong. Knowing Carola wouldn’t appreciate that view she just said, ‘The sponsorship budget was based on how many singers we could get into one minibus so people can’t expect the balance of a proper choir. Now, which carols are we going to include? The trouble with carols is that they’re so international they won’t give the British flavour Max is keen on. On the other hand, if we sing “Silent Night” then people might join in, which is always lovely,’ Lily pointed out. ‘Also, it’s easy so we’re good at it. It would have been nice to include that Polish carol Franciszka tried to teach us, as we have so many people of Polish descent in our region, but we had trouble even with the title, “Anioł Pasterzom Mówił”, let alone the rest of the words.’
Carola laughed. ‘Let’s stick to easy stuff. Have you heard how Tubb is, by the way?’
Lily was happy to update her and then the rest of the afternoon passed in a flash. Once the first Middletones arrived – Warwick, Eddie and Alfie – filled with all the noisy ebullience of seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, Charlotte and Emily emerged from their rooms. The boys were all music student chums of Charlotte from the local performing arts college, Acting Instrumental. Eddie tuned his guitar. Warwick set his keyboard on its stand and plugged it in while Emily, only fourteen so still at school, chattered to him, beaming and giggling.
‘I’m going to have to watch Emily,’ Carola muttered. ‘She’s developing a crush on Warwick and a lad of eighteen is much too old for her.’
Neil – Eddie’s dad, turning up at the same time as Franciszka, who lived in Drake’s Close around the corner from Carola’s on the Bankside estate – gave her a reassuring grin. ‘I think Warwick’s got a girlfriend at college anyway.’
Soon they were ready to begin. ‘Let’s crash on with the carols,’ Lily suggested. ‘They’re a good warm-up and have lots of lovely harmonies.’ Lily and Carola arranged the songs between them, usually based on what the Middletones could sing best.
Eddie slung his guitar around his neck and Warwick perched on his stool in front of the silver keyboard. Carola took her place facing the group as a sort of unofficial leader. ‘We’ll begin with “Once in Royal David’s City”.’ She counted Warwick and Eddie in then the voices soared in to join them. Next came ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ before they began on the Christmas pop songs.
Later, when they took a break to sip water and refuel on shortbread, they talked over what they’d wear to sing on their Swiss trip and decided on red bobble hats and scarves with black overshirts. Carola noted sizes and agreed to do the ordering, reflecting that it was as well that BCF was covering the expense.
In the second part of the afternoon they worked on ‘Walking in the Air’ – which even Lily had to agree was coming along nicely – and the flirty, dashing ‘Let it Snow’ to open a set. By the end of the afternoon they’d also settled most of the programme for the trade fair – a set of ten songs rounded off with a rousing rendition of ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ – and knew how they’d expand the set for the Christmas market, which would be less formal and possibly lubricated by glühwein and eierkirsch – mulled wine or eggnog.
‘Right,’ Lily said as Franciszka hurried off because she’d promised to give her daughter a lift into Bettsbrough. ‘That was brilliant, thank you everyone. Hands up who’s looking forward to travelling to Switzerland!’ She laughed to see a forest of hands – two from each of the teenagers.
‘I still feel bad I can’t share the driving as I first promised,’ Neil admitted sheepishly. ‘My punishment’s affecting a lot more than just me.’ He hung his head.
Eddie pulled a face as he slid his guitar back into its gig bag. ‘Yeah, Dad’s Taxi is rubbish since you lost your licence.’ But he clapped his father on the shoulder sympathetically. Neil had had a heavy evening at a hotel with fellow sales reps at a ‘company jolly’ and the police had lain in wait with their breathalysers in the morning. Seven out of ten reps had retained sufficient alcohol in their blood to blow positive and one of them was Neil, who’d avoided unemployment by the skin of his teeth. He’d been offered reassignment in the Bettsbrough office at a lower grade but some of the others had found themselves looking for new companies to join.
Lily knew how terrible Neil felt about his lapse and though she hadn’t bargained for driving all the way from Cambridgeshire to central Switzerland gave him a consoling smile. ‘I’ll manage. We’ll make lots of stops so I can stretch my legs.’
Carola smiled apologetically too. ‘If only I could drive on the wrong side of the road. I get panic attacks at the thought.’
‘I’ll manage,’ Lily repeated. Once everyone had called goodbye she slipped down to her flat to change into black trousers and a polo top. She redid her hair, plaiting a section to tuck into her ponytail, watched TV while she made and ate an omelette then burrowed her way into the down-filled parka she’d bought ready for Switzerland and hurried through the village towards the pub, her hands tucked in her pockets against a wind that carried the scent of snow on its frozen edge.
Though it was barely the second week of November Christmas lights were appearing on houses and trees twinkling from windows. The outdoor illumination at The Three Fishes had been organised before Tubb left the country and it looked as if someone had cast a giant net of sparkling white lights over it, making the building shimmer.
Lily hurried in through the back door and was hanging up her coat when Isaac appeared and sat down at the desk in the alcove. He was all in black – shirt, tie and trousers – and his dark hair had a lustre like a crow’s wing. He gave her a quick smile. ‘So you came back despite that guy on Thursday.’
She returned his smile as she smoothed her ponytail, remembering the belligerence she’d encountered at Bar Barcelona without any of Sergio’s family showing any sign of noticing. ‘’Course. You must’ve had plenty at your last place – it was Juno Lounge, wasn’t it? Big, busy venue.’
He shrugged. ‘There, yes, but it’s different in a village pub.’
He turned to his laptop and Lily went through to the bar. Several tables in the dining area were already occupied and the bar was filling nicely considering it was only six o’clock. The Christmas lights reflected in glasses and beer pumps and even the smiling eyes of the customers. Tina was on duty too. She was the staff member who was licensed to deputise when Isaac was off. In her fifties, Tina was soft and round with a frizz of curls on top of her head, unflappable and efficient. She drove in from nearby Bettsbrough where she lived with her husband and two sons, all of whom seemed as affable as she whenever Lily encountered them.
Tina smiled at Lily. ‘Got quite a few bookings for the dining area tonight so listen for Chef’s bell when he needs service or he’ll go off on one.’
‘Got it,’ Lily said, taking an order for three pints of bitter and a sparkling water from a short man with a beard. The level of noise rose as more punters arrived for a Saturday evening’s entertainment. When Isaac reappeared in the bar Lily checked with him, ‘OK if I do a round with the raffle tickets if there’s a lull?’ The proceeds of the raffle went to the children’s party at the village hall.
He glanced up as he waited at the pumps for a stream of near-black Guinness to fill a pint glass. ‘Sure. I’ll get the stuff out of the safe for you.’
So Lily sold raffle tickets, pulled pints, ferried food, sanitised and relaid tables. Finally it was eleven o’clock, the bar was empty and Isaac was locking the doors behind the last customer. The kitchen staff had clattered out already.
As Isaac took the till reading and released the till drawer ready to cash up, Lily and Tina began to clean tables and rearrange chairs. Then Tina wriggled into a silver-grey puffa coat that made her look a bit like an airship, shouted goodbye and stepped outside. Lily was about to follow when Isaac reappeared, with Doggo bouncing at his heels. When he saw Lily Doggo gave a single bark, trotting over with his tail whipping as if he’d remembered that they’d been introduced on Thursday night.
‘Hello, Doggo, I didn’t know you were still about.’ Lily stroked his smooth head and he put his ears back to enjoy the fuss. She glanced up at Isaac, his tie gone and collar undone, hair beginning to flop into his eyes. It was the first time she’d seen him anything but perfectly groomed but she liked the tousled look. It was as if he’d let his guard down and allowed end-of-a-long-day fatigue to show.
Isaac smiled. ‘He’s living with me now. I’ve cleared it with Mr Tubb.’
Lily straightened. ‘I assumed he was Hayley’s.’
‘If he’d been just Hayley’s his name would have been Rolex or Gucci,’ he said drily, then hesitated. ‘I’m sorry if you found the atmosphere strained on Thursday. Hayley and I used to be together. I felt defensive about the pub being deserted when she swanned in. She has a brilliant career as general manager of a casino.’ He smiled crookedly.
Lily felt a burst of sympathy. ‘I can imagine how I’d have felt if it had been my ex because Bar Barcelona was always jumping.’
Isaac’s expression relaxed. ‘Galling, isn’t it? It’s bad enough that she knows Mr Tubb and it was her who suggested me for this job.’
Lily grinned. ‘Tubb might have shut when the pub emptied.’
Isaac quirked a brow. ‘That would have been worse. I can only imagine how I’d have felt if she’d found this place shut early.’ He grimaced. ‘Anyway, she brought me Doggo, which is fantastic. I’m off on Monday and Tuesday so I’m looking forward to finding some long walks.’
‘Just stick to the footpaths when you’re crossing the Carlysle Estate because it’s private land.’ Lily pulled on her outdoor things and prepared to brave the cold weather. ‘See you tomorrow evening if I can move after having Sunday lunch with my parents.’
‘Enjoy it.’ He began to turn away, Doggo at his heels. ‘My dad’s not well so I try never to visit my folks at mealtimes because Mum’s his carer and has enough to do. Maybe I’ll invite them here. They might enjoy it.’
Walking home, snug in her parka despite the icy air, Lily thought that it was nice of Isaac to give his folks a treat if they were in difficult circumstances. She turned her mind to her own parents, Roma and Patsie. After what Zinnia had said on Thursday she definitely needed a word with them.
Chapter Four
Late on Sunday morning, Lily’s snazzy purple Peugeot hatchback whizzed her through the country lanes on her way out of the village. Bettsbrough’s outer ring road took her past a retail park fronted by an enormous plastic snowman in a tinsel scarf and spat her out on the dual carriageway to Peterborough. The hedgerows were winter-bare and glistening with frost. The sky was blue and she half regretted not getting up in time for a walk this morning.
The journey to Longthorpe, west Peterborough, where Roma and Patsie lived took forty minutes. Their stone house had begun as a small cottage but had been extended when Lily and Zinnia were teenagers into an L-shape with five bedrooms in the roof and a double garage. When Lily pulled onto the gravelled drive she paused a full minute beside the car to admire the garden with its arches and trellis, shapely shrubs and stone-edged paths. She always felt as if she looked into the hearts of her mothers when she looked into their garden. Even now, as winter bit, the hedges were neat and the paths swept. This year the pots had been planted with heathers and what looked like broad blades of pink grass.
She let herself into the house shouting, ‘It’s me!’ In the familiar sitting room, which still boasted its cottage credentials of beams, a stone fireplace and a black wood-burning stove, she found her mums sharing a sofa, Roma reading while Patsie tapped on her laptop to a background of Pink Floyd.
Both rose with welcoming arms. Roma’s blonde curls tumbled loose around her shoulders; Patsie’s darker locks were swept up behind her head. Both women wore comfy jeans and big smiles. ‘Hey, gorgeous!’ Roma welcomed Lily with a huge, effusive hug.
Patsie’s ‘Lily, darling,’ was more restrained but just as warm. Lily couldn’t remember an occasion when Patsie had treated her any differently to the daughter she actually gave birth to, Zinnia. Nor did Roma ever give a sign of favouring Lily over Zin.
Lily beamed as she returned the hugs. ‘Glorious smells coming from the kitchen.’ She lifted her nose to sniff.
‘We made your favourite chicken and chorizo bake once we knew you were coming.’ Roma put on her glasses and regarded her daughter through the turquoise frames. ‘Always wonderful to see you but you sounded as if something was bothering you on the phone.’
Patsie’s pansy-dark eyes fixed themselves on Lily too.
Lily had been wondering how best to broach what was on her mind so decided to offer a direct answer to their direct questions. She licked her lips. ‘I came to make sure you know I love you.’
That caught the attention of both her mothers. ‘What?’ Roma’s grey eyes grew round. ‘Yes, we do.’
Patsie’s brows lifted. ‘What on earth’s brought that on?’
Lily made herself meet their eyes. ‘Zinnia’s upset with me. She minds me living in Middledip, or, at least, the reason I’m living there – to get to know Tubb and work for him. She says that’s hurting you.’ She looked from Roma to Patsie and back again. ‘Is she right?’
Patsie and Roma exchanged glances and Roma sighed. ‘How can I complain when it was me who precipitated the situation?’
‘Let’s not rehash the history,’ Lily suggested hastily, worry inching its way through her tummy as she noted tension on Patsie’s face. ‘Is it harming our relationship that I’ve sought out a member of my natural family? You see,’ she went on honestly, ‘I think Zinnia feels I should leave Middledip and start again somewhere else and it’s affecting things between us. But I like Middledip. I like the community, working part-time at the pub, the friends I’ve made and singing with the Middletones. And I like my half-brother.’
Roma looked stricken. ‘We haven’t asked you to give those things up.’ Patsie took Roma’s hand comfortingly.
‘No, nobody’s actually asked me to. But is my living there hurting you?’ Lily persisted.
Patsie sighed. After a moment, she spoke in what Lily thought of as her ‘lawyer’s voice’, careful and thoughtful. ‘You want to know your family. The same could have gone for Zinnia because children of anonymous donors look for ways to find the male too. That Zinnia doesn’t feel that need shouldn’t be relevant to what you do.’
Lily gave her gaze for gaze. ‘But is it hurting you?’
Roma’s smile was tremulous. ‘It’s you not telling your half-brother who you are that’s tricky to deal with.’
Lily shifted restlessly. ‘Zinnia said something similar,’ she admitted. ‘But you know why I haven’t decided whether to tell him.’ She’d meant to … until the day when she’d been working with Janice getting ready to open for lunch and Tubb had stormed in after a visit to his Aunt Bonnie. Lily shuddered to remember standing there as Tubb opened his heart to Janice, obviously barely registering Lily’s presence. His aunt, with the confusion of age, had spilled some family beans, all about how her brother Marvin had had an affair with a woman he’d considered leaving his family for. Tubb had exploded to Janice that he hoped to hell his dad hadn’t done anything awful like leaving bastard kids around and Lily had wanted to sink through the floor.
She swallowed, reliving that hideous moment when she’d known what it was like to feel despised for merely being alive. ‘I don’t want him to hate me.’ She heard her voice quaver. ‘And, to be honest, I don’t really see why it should make any difference to you or Zinnia whether he knows.’
Roma glanced again at Patsie before once more addressing Lily. ‘It’s dangling over us. What will happen if you finally confess? Will you get hurt? I’m worried what it will do to you if he reacts badly and, being honest, I quail at the idea of ever having to meet him myself. He’s not going to have any love for me, is he?’ Perhaps realising she was being too frank she added, ‘However, you’re the one it affects most.’
Then Patsie’s phone began to ring and she glanced at the screen and sighed. ‘Damn, that’s Andrew from work. I’d better take this.’ She rose gracefully as she answered the call and Lily listened to her voice moving out into the hallway, growing fainter.
Lily changed sofas so that she was sitting next to Roma and lowered her voice. ‘Is it causing trouble between you and Patsie?’
Roma gave a pensive smile, brushing Lily’s hair gently back from her face. ‘When I was so headstrong and unfair as to have an affair with a man in order to get pregnant it took Patsie a while to forgive me and I suppose we’re hearing an echo or two of those horrid days.’
Patsie came back into the room, dropping her phone on the table. Lily’s unhappiness was growing but she hated the idea of her actions bringing tension into the relationship between her mums so she asked, ‘Do you both agree with Zinnia that after I’ve been to Switzerland I should leave the village to make things easier on the rest of you?’ A lump jumped into her throat even at the thought of leaving Middledip behind.
Roma and Patsie exchanged looks. It was several moments before either answered and then it was Patsie. ‘Darling, I don’t think anyone can make that decision but you.’
‘So,’ said Roma with the bright air of one determined to turn the conversation. ‘What else is going on with you? You’re so pretty, Lily, and it has been over two years since you and Sergio said your goodbyes. You ought to be out having lots of lovely dates.’
Lily submitted to the change of subject, needing time to digest her dismay that neither Roma nor Patsie had dismissed the idea of her leaving Middledip as totally unfair. She managed a smile. ‘I haven’t had a date for ages – although a man in The Three Fishes asked me on Thursday. He was drunk and horrible.’ She decided not to go into the part of the story where she’d politely refused and he’d sneeringly declared she must be a lesbian. Roma and Patsie were capable of groaning loudly and moving on but Lily believed that every cut left a scar and didn’t see why she should be the one to add to their number.
Patsie wrinkled her nose. ‘You definitely don’t want a drunk and horrible man. Zinnia says your new boss is hot. How about him?’
‘Wouldn’t argue with Zin about his hotness. I’ll ask him out and tell him one of my mums said I have to, shall I?’ Lily managed to smile again.
Her mothers laughed together as they all moved into the kitchen to dish the pasta, pour wine and talk about the plans Roma and Patsie were making for the garden next year.
On Sunday evening, having driven home and snatched a quick nap in front of the TV, Lily turned up to begin her shift at six at The Three Fishes. A rumble of conversation was already coming from the other side of the bar and a clinking of cutlery from the dining area. Baz, at twenty the youngest staff member, was supposed to be on with her but he raced in five minutes late, his trendy long-at-the-front haircut flying.
She grinned at him as she poured a glass of rosé for Melanie from Booze & News, the village shop. ‘Couldn’t you get out of bed?’
Baz, or Sebastian, as it said on the payroll, glanced around with a hunted expression. ‘Playing Grand Theft Auto and forgot to get ready for work. Is Isaac stressing?’
‘Not noticeably.’
‘But it never is noticeable,’ Baz groaned. ‘He just quietly gives the impression you’re a world-class tosser.’ Baz had dropped out of uni last year and was working longish part-time hours while he decided what to do next. Popular with customers, he had a ready smile and had been brought up in Middledip. As Isaac emerged from the dining area Baz hastily found a customer to serve.
Lily turned the card reader so Melanie could make a contactless card payment. It would be her last shift until the end of next week as she only worked at the pub fifteen to eighteen hours a week: three evening shifts with maybe a lunchtime thrown in, usually over the period Thursday to Sunday, the pub’s quietest days being Monday to Wednesday. She liked the pattern. When she’d first returned to the UK it had been with the idea of building up her design business. She’d thought checking out the situation in Middledip would keep her only a few days. But then she’d seen the advert for bar staff and it had seemed meant to be and though when she’d left Bar Barcelona she’d planned never to stand behind a bar again … well, she’d applied and here she was. The work wasn’t onerous and left time to freelance on exhibition projects, which had a less predictable income stream because business was proving slow to build. Currently, her future work schedule consisted of two stands for the London Book Fair in March and the prospect of more work from British Country Foods, the company Max and Garrick worked for. That wouldn’t be exhibition design so much as two-dimensional work such as layouts for brochures but she had the skills and she wasn’t precious.
On the plus side, rent at Carola’s wasn’t high and Sergio had bought Lily out of their apartment, which had given her a modest nest egg and him a bigger mortgage with a Spanish bank.
It was after nine when she turned from ringing up two large glasses of white wine and a Hendrick’s gin with elderflower tonic, and a smiling woman ordered half a pint of lager. As Lily passed her the change she asked, ‘Is Isaac O’Brien around, please? Will you tell him Flora’s here?’ Her brown hair was pulled into a knot at the nape of her neck and her expression was open and friendly.
Lily smiled back, thinking ‘Another pretty woman looking for Isaac?’ before answering cheerfully, ‘He’s around somewhere. I’ll find him.’
She whizzed out of the bar and discovered Isaac talking to Chef. His eyes lit up when he heard Flora was waiting. ‘I’ll be right there.’
Lily did as requested, then went out into the dining area to clear plates. From there she was ideally placed to see Isaac arrive behind the bar, open the counter flap, hug the brown-haired woman and usher her through. When Lily took the same route, a pile of plates and cutlery in her arms, she glanced all around the back area on her way to the kitchen but there was no sign of Isaac and his visitor.
Perhaps he’d found a replacement for the glamorous Hayley already? Good-looking men never need be short of company.
