A Walk in the Park (23 page)

The hours had flown by. Lara felt as if they'd known each other for years. James might not be her father, but if she could have chosen one from a long list, he would have been it. He was honest, self-deprecating, and irreverent. There was no possibility of the two of them running out of things to say. They'd eaten lunch outside on the terrace and talked about his ex-wives and assorted children. She'd told him about Gigi and Flynn, her years growing up in Keswick with Nettie, and now her new life in Bath.

“I still can't get over the Janice connection,” James marveled as he topped up her wineglass with icy Sancerre. “She had a crush on me, you know. Or a fixation, maybe call it that. Everyone at work was aware of the situation but obviously it was never referred to. Janice wasn't the type to have friends in the office. She was like a superefficient toad.”

“She still looks like a toad.” The secret crush made so much sense to Lara now; on the surface Janice had disapproved intensely of James's wicked philandering ways but deep down she'd been burning with jealousy, desperate to be on the receiving end of the philandering.

“And she was jealous of your mum. Ending up marrying your father must have felt like some kind of payback. But then to take it out on you…” He grimaced again at the thought of it. “That's just unforgivable.”

“It's all OK now though.” Being bitter about the past wasn't going to help; she'd made that decision years ago. “The worst part was thinking if my own father could be like that with me, what was to stop Flynn behaving the same way toward Gigi. But I know now that he never would have done. They couldn't be more different.” Lara's smile was rueful. “Thank God.”

Lunch was cleared away by Esther, the hard-working Filipino housekeeper whose grasp of English might be tenuous but whose cooking skills were sublime.

“Listen, I didn't know if you'd want to see them so I didn't dig them out, but I do have a couple of photographs of your mum. If you're interested,” said James.

“You do? Really? Oh please show me!” Lara jumped to her feet; he had no idea. “I've got hardly any photos of her. Let's get them now!”

It took a while to sift through the contents of the boxes in the spare room upstairs; one of his young grandchildren had spent an afternoon last year helpfully taking all the photographs out of their albums and putting them back in random order. Terrified the ones she was desperate to see might no longer be here, Lara flipped through album after album, gaining a crash course in the life of James Agnew and his extended family. Finally, between a wedding snap and a picture of a Greek taverna, she glimpsed a familiar face and her heart did a leap of joy.

“There she is,” said James, his voice softening.

There she was. Lara took in every detail. The photograph, yellowed at the edges, taken all those years ago. Her mum was sitting on a bright red picnic rug, wearing a green and white shift dress and smiling up at the camera. She looked young, happy, and utterly relaxed, as if she hadn't a care in the world. Her eyes shone and there was a dimple at the corner of her mouth that Lara had almost forgotten existed.
How
could
she
have
forgotten
about
the
dimple?

“And here's the other one, taken a few months later.” James had found the second photo in the album he'd been going through. “We wanted a picture of the two of us together. I asked a stranger to take it.”

The stranger had done a good job. There was James, rakishly handsome in a shirt and tie, standing next to her mum with his arm resting across her shoulders. Her head was tilted toward his and she was holding her flared yellow skirt down at her side as if a sudden breeze might send it flying up. Her cardigan was fluffy and cream and fastened with mother-of-pearl buttons; with a jolt, Lara realized she remembered that cardigan from her own childhood, no longer worn but folded up and put away in her mum's chest of drawers. The little buttons had been heart-shaped and delicious-looking and once she'd secretly tried to bite one, expecting it to taste like a sweet.

It had been, frankly, something of a disappointment.

“That angora cardigan was my favorite,” said James. “I loved to see her in it.”

“She kept it for years.”

“My beautiful Barbara.” He ran an index finger lightly over the photo. “If she'd only trusted me, our lives could have been so different.”

All
our
lives. Definitely different, hopefully better.

Lara's eyes prickled. “I wish she had.”

“I know,” said James. “Me too.”

***

He had plenty to organize ahead of tomorrow's departure for the States. Lara arranged for Flynn to pick her up at four o'clock.

“But we're not going to lose touch,” James promised. “I mean that. As soon as I'm back from my trip I'm coming down to Bath to see you.”

“I can't wait.” Lara meant it too.

“And if it's still standing, there's a tree in Victoria Park with our initials carved into the trunk. I'll have to show you that.”

“Can you remember where it is?”

James's eyes crinkled at the corners. “How dare you? Of course I remember. BC and JA.” He paused. “In a heart.”

“Wow. That's really…”

“Naff. Corny. Ridiculous.” He shrugged. “All those things, I know. But at the time it didn't feel corny and ridiculous. When you love someone that much, you just want to… commemorate the occasion. Especially when it has to be a secret and you can't tell anyone else. Leaving your initials in a tree is like proving the relationship exists.”

Flynn arrived to pick her up. Lara introduced him to James Agnew. James said, “Look after this girl, she's special,” and Flynn said drily, “I've tried, believe me, but Lara doesn't like being looked after.”

Was that what he thought? It was more a matter of needing to completely trust the person doing it. But Lara didn't argue the point. Instead she gave James a proper hug and said, “Considering I didn't get to hear what I wanted to hear today, this has still been one of the best days of my life.”

“Mine too.” He embraced her in return. “And I'll be coming to Bath as soon as I get back. Now, you've got the photos?”

“All safe.” She patted her bag. “I'll scan them and send you copies. Thanks so much.”

“And don't forget, we've got something else to look forward to,” James reminded her.

“What's that?” said Flynn.

Lara's eyes danced. “We thought it might be fun to pay a surprise visit to Janice.”

***

After having waited on tenterhooks for a week and a half, the envelope fell through the mailbox the morning after her trip to London to meet James Agnew. Lara, about to leave for work, tore it open and read the results from the lab, belatedly confirming that her father was indeed her father.

Oh well, couldn't be helped.

It was the beginning of October; summer was behind them now and autumn had arrived, turning the leaves flame-red on the trees and ushering in misty mornings, a chill wind, and the annual, always-welcome influx of customers in search of Halloween outfits.

Not to mention a bit of a guilty secret…

Anyway, don't think about that now, work to do. Evie concentrated on ringing up her customers' purchases and packing them into bags; not for a Halloween party this time, but one to celebrate their silver wedding.

The couple, having come into the shop together, were still bickering amicably about the number of helium balloons they needed and which photographs of themselves should feature on the giant banner that was going to be hung across the front of their house.

“It should be a picture of us
now
,” the husband insisted.

“Oh, Tommy, don't even say that, I couldn't bear it.” An elaborate shudder. “Imagine a giant photo of me with all my bags and wrinkles… nobody'd turn up for the party! The sight of it would terrify the guests, send them running for the hills. Let's have a nice pic of the two of us on our wedding day when we were young and lovely.”

“My darling girl, you'll always be young and lovely to me.” Tommy winked as he said it, but with genuine affection.

“Will you listen to him?” His wife was laughing now. “What an old smoothie.”

“Ah, but it's true.” He pretended to be affronted. “Even if you did just call me old. You're my Maureen, more beautiful now than the day we were married. But if it's really what you want, we'll use the wedding photo.”

They were so visibly, tangibly happy. Their togetherness was captivating. Evie filled the next bag with packets of table confetti, silver paper plates, silver and white striped tablecloths, swirling ceiling decorations, and metallic streamers.

“Leave that.” Tommy stopped his wife from reaching to pick up the helium canister. “Too heavy. Let me do it. If we'd been more organized we'd have cleared out the trunk of the car.” Hoisting the box containing the canister into his arms, he said, “I'll go and sort it now.”

They watched him head outside, open the trunk of the gray Audi, and begin making room for everything they'd just bought.

“Look at him,” Maureen said fondly. “I still can't believe it's been twenty-five years. When we first got together no one thought we'd last twenty-five weeks.”

“Really? Why not?” Evie slotted the Amex card into the machine.

“Ah well, Tommy was a bit of a lad in his early days. You know the type, good-looking, buckets of charm and all the chat that goes with it… my parents and sisters said I shouldn't give him the time of day, they told me he'd break my heart.” Maureen glanced out of the window once more. “But you know what? He settled down, we had five wonderful children, and it's been the best twenty-five years anyone could have wished for. We're the happiest married couple I know.”

“That's… so lovely.” It actually made Evie well up. You see? Leopards
could
change their spots and other people didn't always know best.

“Thanks, love.” Maureen took the credit card and receipt. “Ah, he's losing his hair now and putting on a bit of weight, but he's still the one for me.” As Tommy came back into the shop to pick up the rest of the bags, she added cheerily, “And my sisters who married so-called perfect men? Divorced, the lot of them! Turned out their husbands weren't so perfect after all.”

Yes
…

***

Freddy Krueger came into the shop just before closing time. One minute his long pointy fingers were clawing open the door, the next he was advancing menacingly toward her, his fedora tilted over one sinister eye.

Evie said, “The real Freddy would be wearing a red and black striped sweater.”

“Even mass murderers have to wear a suit to work sometimes. It's the opposite of dress-down Friday.” His eyes glinted at her from behind the rubber mask. “Dress-up Freddy.”

She tried not to smile. “And what are you doing here?”

“I brought you something.” Careful not to stab her with his plastic knife-blade fingers, he uncurled his hand and passed over a small scrumpled-up paper bag.

“What is it?” Evie opened the bag and found it full of wiry-looking strands of chocolate-powder-coated coconut. “Oh
wow
…”

“Is that the stuff? You said it was your favorite when you were little.”

“Yes, yes! Sweet tobacco, it was called… or Spanish Gold… I haven't seen any for
years
.” She put some into her mouth. “Oh, and it tastes exactly the same!”

“I had a meeting in Bristol. There was a shop in St. Nicholas's Market selling retro-style sweets. I saw the Spanish Gold and thought of you.”

“Freddy, thank you. If you like,” said Evie, “you can take your mask off.”

“Good idea. Before I suffocate.”

She watched Joel pull off the knife-hands before removing his hat and peeling the mask off over his head. His blond hair stuck up at angles and he carelessly smoothed it back with the old familiar gesture she'd always found so endearing.

“Ta-daaa,” said Joel. “It's me.”

Evie smiled. “So it is.”

This was her guilty secret, the one she hadn't yet been able to bring herself to share with Lara. Not that anything had happened between her and Joel, not in
that
way, but relations between them had definitely improved. He'd stopped making over-the-top declarations and extravagant gestures. Instead, it was like going back to the early years when friendship had first tipped over into flirtation. And it was nice, it was fun, she looked forward to seeing him when he turned up after work, ostensibly to have dinner with his family but actually—they both knew—to see her.

Evie was enjoying his visits. Joel enjoyed them too. So did Bonnie, who was still longing for them to get back together. And it wasn't a foregone conclusion that this would happen, but a bit of gentle flirting was harmless enough, wasn't it? It brightened up her days no end. Lara and Gigi would doubtless tell her she was mad if they knew, but they didn't have to live her life and they couldn't begin to understand how it felt to be her. Finding out just how wrong she'd been about Ethan had knocked her confidence far more than they knew. Lara's keenness for her and Harry to get together had only served to emphasize how impossible it was to conjure up a physical attraction when it didn't exist.

But when it came to Joel… oh, all those old feelings were still there.

And the thing was, if he didn't really like her, why would he still be making this much effort? Surely he would have moved on by now? It wasn't as if he didn't have a choice; it would be far easier for Joel to play the field with all the girls who made their interest in him so obvious. Or to fall into a new relationship with someone who didn't always give him such a hard time.

But Joel hadn't taken either of those options. He wanted her back and was going all out to win her round. Which was unbelievably flattering. And although he didn't know this, she was weakening. Not in a weak way, Evie hastily reminded herself, but with… maybe… newfound maturity and powers of forgiveness.

Because there was an undeniable connection between them, and she did still love him, even if she didn't love some of the things he'd got up to in the past.

But then you met happily married couples like Tommy and Maureen and wanted a relationship like theirs. And from the sound of it, Tommy had definitely played away before their wedding.

Basically, some men did just need to get their naughtiness out of their system before settling down.

Maybe it was their way of fully appreciating monogamy.

“Anyway,” said Joel, “Mum says why don't you join us for dinner? She's made enough chicken casserole to feed a rugby team.”

“Chicken casserole?” It was Evie's favorite. There was also a good chance this was why Bonnie had made it.

“Go on. Stay.” Joel was giving her his no-pressure smile. “They'd love you to. I'll drive you home later.”

Evie hesitated. “I don't know…”

“I can drop you off round the corner so Lara doesn't see you in my car.” He didn't say it sarcastically, but with self-deprecation, acknowledging that he'd done wrong in the past and fully deserved Lara's mistrust.

And he wouldn't have done that before, Evie reminded herself. See? He really was changing, learning from his mistakes.

***

It was raining when Joel drove her home at ten o'clock. She still made him park round the corner.

“That was fun tonight.” He left his hand resting lightly on the gearshift. “Just like old times.”

The five of them had spent the evening sitting companionably around the kitchen table, chatting and laughing as if nothing had ever happened. That whole happy-family feeling of belonging was what she'd so loved about their years together. Evie nodded in agreement and said, “It was.”

“Sorry about the Spanish Gold.” After dinner Bonnie had served coffee and Evie had brought out the paper bag; within minutes the chocolate-dusted coconut strands had been demolished. Joel said, “Next time I'm in Bristol I'll buy a massive box of the stuff.”

“I had two helpings of plum crumble,” Evie pointed out. “It's a fair swap.”

“Anyway, thanks for staying.”

“And now I have to go.” She curled her fingers around the door handle.

Joel said hopefully, “I wish I could kiss you. But I suppose you wouldn't want me to.”

Evie's heart did a little shimmy of pride; this was what having the upper hand felt like. As the rain spattered onto the windshield, she said, “No I wouldn't. Let's leave things as they are, shall we?”

“You're right.” Joel's smile was sad but accepting. “Dammit, you're always right.”

“Thanks for the lift.” Evie opened the passenger door and climbed out. “Bye.”

In the kitchen, Lara and Gigi were doing the dishes and singing and dancing along to Enjay's new single as it blared out of Gigi's laptop. Since returning to the States to start his world tour, Enjay had been keeping them updated through emails and via his website diary. The actual TV show was due to air on MTV straight after Christmas. Harry, now back in Keswick, was doing his best to get back to living a normal life but was being asked for his autograph on a daily basis by the fans who'd been following Enjay's video blog. Harry still found the entire experience utterly surreal and baffling, but there was no escaping the fact that it had broadened his horizons. Sales of Flying Ducks were still on the up. More staff had needed to be taken on. And next week his shirts were due to feature in a photo shoot for
Vogue
.

Evie smiled at the memory of his phone call to them the other evening. Only Harry could wonder if there was really any point in having men's clothing featured in a women's fashion magazine.

Lara turned to greet her. “There you are! Have you been at Bonnie and Ray's all this time?”

“And Marina was there too.” No need to mention Joel. “We had chicken casserole and plum crumble with custard.”

“How did you get home?”

“Ray gave me a lift.”
Only
a
tiny
fib
.

“Oh right. It's just that your eyes are all sparkly and your cheeks are pink. I thought maybe you'd run the whole way.”

Evie said, “If I'd run, I'd be purple and crawling on my hands and knees. No, Ray dropped me off.”

“Ah well, that's good. There's still wine in the fridge if you want some, just help yourself… BABY, YO IS MIIIIINE,” Lara and Gigi simultaneously burst back into song, bellowing along to the chorus of Enjay's insanely catchy new single. “ALL MINE, ALL MINE, AN' DON'T YOU FORGET IT…”

See? Evie reached into the cupboard for a glass. And it didn't count as lying, exactly.

It was just a matter of leaving certain bits out.