Page 36 of Lie For Me

She kissed him on both cheeks and then took his face in her hands to examine it. He was enveloped in a cloud of Valerie’s flowery perfume.

‘You look well.’

He could feel Lucy’s eyes burrowing into his skull.

‘Now, you two are here,’ she gestured towards two chairs, ‘with me and your father, Nanna, and Heather and Mark. They’ve just arrived and are dropping their bags off at their rooms.’ Valerie threw them both a knowing smile. ‘Heather being a partner now,’ Valerie glanced around to see who might be in earshot, ‘they can’t manage without her for long.'

Jack watched as Lucy nodded at her mother.

‘The staff will come and take your orders in a moment,’ Valerie looked around for the waiting staff, ‘but we’ve got mimosas to start.’

Jack touched Lucy’s shoulder gently. ‘Here.’ He pulled out her chair.

Lucy looked up at him, a flash of surprise on her face as if she’d momentarily forgotten the parts they were playing.

‘Oh yes, thank you.’

She sat down.

Her mother looked on approvingly.

‘Now, darlings, I’ve only had one of these.’ Valerie tapped her mimosa glass, and Jack felt sure from her flushed cheeks she was forgetting at least two other drinks.

‘But I want to know all about how you two ended up together. I mean,’ she took a sip and waved her glass at them, ‘haven’t you been friends for years?’

She covered Jack’s hand with her own and, in a lowered voice, said, ‘Did you wake up one morning and realise what a sweetheart my daughter is?’

‘Mum,’ Lucy protested. ‘Please.’

‘What? I can’t say that I know that my daughter, who gets her looks from her mother, by the way––’ Lucy groaned ‘––is a beautiful woman?’ Valerie shook out her hair. ‘And any man would be lucky to have her.’

‘Okay.’ Lucy was fiddling with her napkin and straining to look around. ‘Where’s the food?’ she mumbled. ‘Is the waiter coming?’

Jack glanced up and saw the nervous-looking boy from the night before. He was clutching a pad and pen and making his way slowly towards the tables with the demeanour of a young man being sent to face a firing squad. Ordering food might take some time. Lucy was folding her napkin into a tiny square.

Valerie smiled and raised her glass to Jack.

‘Lucky you came to your senses, eh?’

‘Actually, Mum, it was mutual,’ Lucy said briskly. ‘We just had a few drinks one evening and talked a lot and realised,’ her napkin wouldn’t fold any further, ‘that our feelings went deeper than just friends.’

Jack slid his arm across the back of Lucy’s chair and rested his hand on her shoulder. He felt her stiffen at the unexpected touch, then relaxed as Jack squeezed her shoulder gently. She smiled up at him and leaned into his side.

Jack nodded and took Lucy’s hand—partly to stop her from attempting to fold another napkin—and kissed it.

‘We did.’

‘Well, darling, if it takes a drink to get you out of your head long enough to see sense, that’s fine. In vino veritas! Whatever did the trick, I am glad you’ve got yourselves sorted now.’

She patted Lucy on the cheek and, in a stage whisper that anyone within twenty yards could hear, whispered, ‘He’s a good-looking boy. You hold on to him.’

Then she took off, mimosa glass in the air, to greet some new arrivals.

Lucy was turning pink and plucking at the edge of the tablecloth as if she were planning to crawl under it.

‘What did I do in a previous life?’ she muttered.

Jack took a sip of his mimosa.

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