Page 75 of Be More Lucy

Lucy:

Mark can be very persuasive.

Em smiled to herself.

Nancy walked in. ‘What’s amused you?’

‘You’re back.’

’So it would seem.’ Nancy headed for the laundry room and put her suitcase down.

‘Your youngest son is a bad influence,’ Em said as Nancy returned to the kitchen. ‘He’s got Lucy to go paragliding.’

Nancy looked thrilled. ‘I assume that’s not in Birmingham. You didn’t say Lucy was visiting Mark.’

‘I’ve not seen you since I found out Lucy was going. It was all very last minute.’

Nancy had spent half the week in Berlin, visiting one of her old school pals. ‘Mark didn’t mention it to me either. Probably wanted to keep me out of the loop on that one.’

‘How was Berlin?’

‘Very interesting. I haven’t been there since 1989.’

‘When the wall came down?’

‘Yes, an exciting time one way and another.’

The same year as the Bay View Hotel incident. Perhaps she could get Nancy to spill the beans on that. ‘Yes, 1989 was an eventful year.’

Nancy paused a second. Did she suspect Em knew something? If she did, she chose to ignore it. ‘Is Jack around?’

‘He’s up at the Cottage, stripping wallpaper, hopefully. He won’t be back for a couple of hours yet.’

‘Excellent. I have something in the car for you,’ she said, heading outside to the courtyard. Em followed her.

Nancy popped the boot lid on her car. Em spotted a flash of kingfisher blue fabric inside.

’The dress! Thank you so much.’

‘Olivia said you were keen to get it here, so I made a detour on the way back from the airport to collect it. Have you and Jack set a date then?’

‘No, I just wanted to see it again.’

‘We can keep it in one of the wardrobes upstairs so Jack doesn’t see.’

‘That would be lovely.’ And easy for Em to sneak it over to the flat before the actual wedding.

‘Do I need to book you in with the dressmaker quickly as well, or will that wait until next year?’ Nancy was fishing for info. ‘She gets booked up on the run-up to Christmas. You’ll need to visit her soon if you want it altered for the festive season?’

‘It will wait.’

Lucy and Mark were standing on the beach after their paragliding session.

‘That adrenaline rush has worn me out. I could do with a lie-down. Was that your cunning plan?’ Lucy asked.

‘Possibly.’ He grinned and put his arm around her shoulder. ‘Let’s go home.’

They headed up to the main road in silence.

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