Freeing Alex (11 page)

“He’s just being overzealous. I suppose he’s trying to show
you that he can do his job, and you told him his expensive wine was ‘
nice’.
”
James articulates the word with air speech marks.

“Well, it is nice, what else am I expected to say about it?
I’m no connoisseur and I don’t profess to be. You know, up until three months
ago I was Mrs Average, at best. Anyway, how long has been here?” I question,
the wine probably giving me just a little Dutch courage to speak my mind.

James reaches for his own glass and takes a deep drink of
the
nice
wine.  “Unsure, he was here when I arrived. If it’s any
consolation, he was awkward with me for a few weeks.” 

“Umm, well there’s a way of asking things and anyway isn’t
it wrong of him to assume that we’re all experts on wine?” I feel stroppy;
James just nods at me, clearly ignoring my comment.

“Mum!” Anna looks daggers at me.

I huff, “I’ve had too long pussy-footing around people,
being ultra-pleasant, especially to your dad. Well, now it’s my turn, my turn
to kick a little butt from time to time… but his isn’t that little, is it?” I
smile at my own joke.

We all laugh, proper belly laughs that draw attention from
the other diners. “Oh dear, whenever I come in here I seem to end up having
other guests staring at me. We’d better keep it down, Marcus may come back and
tell us all off.” I continue the joke that causes further raucous laughter and,
as expected, Marcus appears.

“Is everything okay over here?” he asks, looking confused.

“We’re fine, Marcus. I’m sorry I didn’t appear to appreciate
your fine choice of wine. I know very little about it, having never been
educated in that area.” I try and explain, as tactfully as I can, why I didn’t
rave over his excellent choice.

“Not to worry, perhaps we can arrange for a little lesson?”
he suggests.

“That would be a good idea. I’ll let you know when I have
some free time.” I look at James and Anna as I sort of half accept his offer.
Of course, I’ve no intention of taking a lesson in wine.

“Has Lola brought your menus over?” Marcus asks, looking at
the table.

“No, not yet. But don’t bother her, we’ve plenty of time,
haven’t we?” I direct my question at James.

“Sure, I’ve got an hour spare. I’m seeing someone at two
thirty but up until then I’m all yours!” He smiles.

“I’ll chase up those menus for you.” Marcus sounds annoyed
as he wobbles towards Lola. I hope he doesn’t give the poor girl a dressing
down. I watch as he stands before her, his arms flapping; she looks terrified.
I’m told that Marcus does an excellent job but I think that James needs to keep
an eye on him – talking to the staff like he’s doing now, in front of our
guests, is not good, very unprofessional.

He walks away to his station and Lola appears at our table
soon after with the menus. “I’m sorry I delayed in bringing your menu over, Mrs
Drake.” She’s sheepish, looking at the floor.

“No worries, Lola, it’s not a problem.” I place my hand on
hers. “Truly, it’s all right.” I look at her and try to reassure her, it really
isn’t a problem.

“I’ll give you a few minutes,” she says and wanders off to
clear a table that has only just been vacated.

The restaurant is busier today, or maybe we’re eating
slightly later, but there are certainly more comings and goings; it may just be
that it’s the end of the week.

“I’m just going to have the smoked salmon, sounds lovely,” I
announce to Anna and James whilst picking up my wine glass.

“Isn’t that a starter?” James looks at the starters. “Yes,
it is. Is that all you’re having?”

“Yes, I’m not that hungry, and I’m cooking tonight anyway.
Will you join us?” I ask him. He just looks at me, so does Anna.

“Maybe,” he mutters, possibly feeling a little
uncomfortable.

“Mum, this is great.” Anna continues to look down, reading
the menu in its entirety.

“It’s a very good menu.” James looks at my daughter. “You’ll
have to let us know what you think, you know, from a young person’s
perspective.”

“The only thing is…” She falters.

“What?” The Bossman looks up quickly, frowning, waiting for
the criticism regarding the menu.

“Well, I would expect that a lunchtime menu would have maybe
a quality burger and fries, or a choice of sandwiches and fries, or is it a
case of food like that isn’t served in a restaurant like this? Are burgers
available on the bar menu?” she questions.

“Clive does offer burgers from time to time. The bar menu is
light lunches and snacks, mainly sandwiches and, as you say, a portion of
chips. We serve chips here, not fries. That was one of Maggie’s directives!” He
smiles.

We laugh. From what I
do
remember of Maggie and my
mum, that sounds just like something they would both say, British through and
through.

Lola returns to take our order, her pale blonde hair scraped
back neatly and her pale blue eyes alert, her notepad at the ready.

“Just the tea-smoked salmon for me, Lola, but I want it
served as a main course.” I give my order first.

She looks at Anna. “Can I have the lamb, please, sounds
great, but can you hold the Lancashire Pudding from that – whatever that is?”

Lola then looks towards James. “Mr Aconi, and for you?”

“I’ll also have the lamb, as it comes
with
the
Lancashire Pudding.” He smiles at Anna.

As we wait for our food we sit chatting about the morning,
what we’ve bought and how I’m feeling. They both keep asking me how I am. “I’m
fine,” I say every time someone asks. Eventually I announce to Anna and James
to, “Let it drop – it’s just the relief coming out, relief that you know what
happened and that I’m not with him any more.” But they keep fussing over me. I
suppose it will be a few weeks and no melt-downs before they finally believe
that I am truly okay. Anna is a little giggly, perhaps from wine at lunchtime,
but whatever the reason it makes for a great light-hearted couple of hours.

As we wait for our food I let my foot drift to James’s. He
looks at me and smiles, a cheeky smile, just the edge of his mouth turned ever
so slightly. We both listen to Anna intently as she tells us what she’s planned
for her and Katie when she arrives tomorrow.

“We’re going to go shopping, I
have
to take her to
Harvey Nichols, I just
love
that store, and then we’re going to go to
Madame Tussauds, I’ve never been and Katie is desperate to go, she wants her
photograph taken with the One Direction boys, and then we want to take a picnic
into Green Park, do you remember, Mum, when you took me for a picnic in Green
Park when I was, I don’t know, about seven?” She rambles away.

I laugh. “I do, you had a tantrum and I told you that the
Queen would be able to see you from her window and unless you stopped she would
come out and tell you off!”

“I remember that, it gave me nightmares for ages.” She
frowns at me.

“Mmmm, but the tantrum stopped!” I laugh and am joined by
both Anna and James. The restaurant now busy, our laughter drowned out by the
clatter and chatter.

“Are you still okay to collect Katie tomorrow?” I ask James.

“Please can you collect Katie from Euston and bring her
home? Please…” Anna whinges. “Mum won’t drive in London, please, James,” Anna
begs. “She’s a scaredy-cat.” She laughs at me, she’s had one too many glasses
of wine!

“Of course I will, but it’ll have to be in my car, you can
come with me.” He looks at Anna.

“OK,” she agrees.

“Is yours the Vauxhall?” I ask.

“Yeah, you’ve seen the old girl?” He looks slightly
embarrassed as he refers to the beat-up Vauxhall in the car park.

“Umm,” I mumble, as I watch Marcus fuss around the other
guests.

Our food arrives and, as I expected, it is truly delicious.
We chat and laugh whilst we eat, and of course Anna has an idea of what is
going on between me and James. In fact, I can read her like a book. The looks
she sends my way give me no doubt at all that she knows, but she also smiles,
which makes me happy. She appears comfortable with the situation and she’s
already said that she likes James.

We finish our meal and James stands up from the table.
“Ladies, if you will excuse me, I need to speak with Marcus and then there’s a
call I need to make before my two-thirty.” He’s such a gentleman, not like the
oaf I left behind.

He places his napkin on the table and walks towards the
kitchen area where I see Marcus talking to Lola again. I can’t hear what’s
being said but it looks like he’s telling the poor girl off again!

“What’s that all about?” Anna asks.

I look over to Marcus and Lola. “I don’t know, but have you
seen the way that Marcus is talking to Lola?”

“Yeah, he’s a bit of a one, isn’t he?” Anna slurs.

“Are you okay, Anna, lunchtime drinking not agree with you?”
The concerned mother is coming out in me.

“I’m fine… I’ve only had two.” She hiccups.

We both sit perusing the surroundings, it really is a super
restaurant. Special, indulgent and very comfortable, and although Anna hinted
that the menu was a little “stuffy”, the surroundings don’t feel that way,
we’re treated correctly and served efficiently, as you would expect in any fine
dining establishment.

I relax as we chat about our morning’s shopping and Anna’s
plans for tomorrow, when my mobile starts ringing and I fumble around in the
depths of my handbag, searching for the phone which, as usual, has found its
way to the very bottom of the soft leather.

“It’s your dad,” I sigh, retrieving the phone.
Do I want
to take this?
I think to myself. No choice really, if I don’t speak with
him now he’ll only keep on ringing and ringing.

I tap the accept button on the screen. “Hello, Lewis,” I say
matter-of-factly. I really don’t want to speak to him and confessing what has
been happening in the past to James and Anna has only reignited the sheer hate
and fear I have for this despicable man! Anna looks at me, open mouthed.

“Need to talk to you about the divorce, Alex,” he grunts.

“Oh, you have my final offer, Lewis, I know you do, I’ve
discussed this with my solicitor. I really think that if anything needs to be
discussed it should be via our lawyers.”  I close the door on him.

“But, Alex, can’t we just talk about this like grown-ups?
You know, just discuss it, the two of us?” He’s trying his hardest to be nice,
to get me to enter into discussion with him.

“Even if I agreed to do that, Lewis, I can’t now, I’m busy.”
I try to shut him down again. Despite feeling very nervous at speaking to him,
I’m trying to be strong, the new Alex.

“I know you are, I know you’re very, very busy, Alex, what
with your new businesses and your new
friend.”
The way he says
friend
makes my skin crawl, just speaking to him creeps me out. “How’s your lunch with
Anna going? Lover boy gone, has he?” He’s noxious.

He’s here, he’s watching me. How does he know I’m having
lunch with Anna, how else would he know that James has left the table?

“Where are you, Lewis?” I ask, flustered. I can feel myself
start to flush, getting warm, my insides starting to churn.

“I’m somewhere, Alex! We need to speak about the divorce and
we need to speak very soon, otherwise I won’t agree to anything. Do you
understand me? Do you? I don’t even know why we have to split, what you have
now is all mine really. Maggie made a mistake when she left it all to you, it’s
mine really, all mine!” He’s getting nasty now, hissing at me. He’s deranged
and I can hear the familiar aggressive tone in his voice.

“I’ll call you, Lewis. Once… once I get home, I–I’ll call,”
I stammer and hang up. Of course I’ve really no intention of calling him back,
but I will speak with Shauna.

Anna’s looking at me, wide eyed, horrified.

“I didn’t like the sound of that, Mum. You’ve gone pale,
I’ll get James.” She stands to move away from the table.

“No, sweetheart, don’t. Please don’t,” I beg, “please,
don’t!”

We sit staring at each other. I’m wringing my hands in my
lap and starting to feel very warm. Anna looks at me, she looks worried. “I’m
going to the loo,” she says as she stands from the table.

I sit alone as Anna walks to the rear of the restaurant. I
turn and watch her as she weaves towards the ladies. I can hear James talking
with Marcus, over in the corner. I feel woozy, my stomach knotted, I’m so
scared. I thought I’d escaped the bastard, that he was gone – well, nearly gone
– and yet he claims to be watching me.

Anna is gone a little while but returns with James, who is
frowning as he sits back down at the table. “Anna said that Lewis phoned – what
did he want?” he asks, clearly annoyed that I’d received a call from Lewis.

I look at Anna. My look, I hope, says it all –
What the
hell did you tell him for?

“It was nothing, he wants to talk about the divorce.” I try
to sound plausible, trying to calm myself.

“Really?” James says as he raises an eyebrow. “Then why are you
looking like you’ve seen a ghost and why are you wringing your hands? Why is
your neck flushed?” His tone, whilst concerned and sympathetic, is also
clipped, bordering on a little harsh. His beautiful face now looks angry.

I ignore him. I don’t have to answer to him about anything.
I just look down the centre of the restaurant and out of the window.

“Alex,” he presses, “why?”

I’m not aware that I’m still wringing my hands together, not
aware that I must look drained, but I feel so warm and my breathing – it’s
becoming rapid. I want to run away, leave the place.

“Why, Alex?” he presses again.

“Because he can see me!” I raise my voice, speaking firmly
and clearly. “He knows I’m having lunch with both of you and he knows that you
left the table, James,
that
’
s
why I am nervous. He’s here, he’s
somewhere out there looking at me now, he’s here, now… He’s here, he’s here…
James, he’s here!” I can feel the tears prick up in my eyes and I start to
shake.