‘Lizzy, hi.’ She sounded resigned rather than welcoming. ‘You’d better come in.’
The narrow house seemed even more chaotic than normal. An overdressed Christmas tree was wedged in the corner of the small sitting room.
‘It looks fab,’ Lizzy said enthusiastically.
‘I put it up for Molly’s sake more than mine.’ Karen gazed at it. ‘I don’t feel much like celebrating this year.’
Karen had always been a big woman and proud of her curves, but she’d visibly lost weight. It didn’t suit Lizzy’s Night Night Baby client. All of Karen’s bounce and energy had gone.
In the kitchen Lizzy made the tea while Karen walked round listlessly picking up things and putting them down again. She was moving like an old woman. ‘Me and Molly have had this bug. It’s really hit me for six.’
They sat down at the table with their mugs of tea. ‘I’m sorry, Lizzy, I haven’t got anything to offer you.’
‘Don’t be silly.’ Lizzy watched Karen distractedly scratch at the patch of eczema on her neck. ‘How are you?’
‘Sorry I haven’t been in touch,’ Karen said as if she hadn’t heard. ‘Things have been pretty difficult recently.’
‘I’ve been really worried,’ Lizzy said gently. ‘Is Andy still giving you hassle?’
‘Arsehole ex-husbands are the least of my troubles.’ Karen gave her a tired smile. ‘I had a meeting with the bank.’
It clearly hadn’t gone well. ‘Oh?’
‘Unless I start turning a profit in like, the next five minutes, I’m going to go bankrupt. Which means I won’t be able to afford to pay my mortgage, which means Molly and I are going to lose our home.’ It was said in a matter-of-fact way but a nerve was flickering under Karen’s right eye.
‘There has to be a way,’ Lizzy told her. ‘You’ve come so far. We can’t give up now.’
‘That’s exactly why we should give up,’ Karen said dully. ‘You put your heart and soul into something and it still doesn’t work out.’
Lizzy got her work iPad out of her bag. ‘Let’s see where we’re at. I’m chasing up a few things that sound really promising.’
‘I’m sick of promises that never lead to anything!’ Karen exhaled shakily. ‘You don’t have to whitewash it any more, Lizzy. We’re fighting a losing battle.’ She sat back in defeat. ‘I’ve got nothing left, Lizzy, nothing. I can’t even afford to pay you back the money.’
‘Let’s keep going through December,’ Lizzy said desperately. ‘I’ll step up on the tweeting and I’ve got some favours to call in from a couple of journalists. Let me see what I can do.’
‘Lizzy, you’re not listening,’ Karen said angrily. ‘
I can’t pay you back!
’ The next moment her eyes welled up with tears. She slumped down on the weather-beaten table. ‘Oh Lizzy. What’s the point?’
They spent two hours going through every conceivable plan they could think of, but in the end it always came back to the same thing. Night Night Baby wasn’t making money. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see Karen in such a state.
Lizzy left Karen’s house with an impending sense of doom. If only she could get people to see what a great product Night Night Baby was! She felt terrible, as if she’d let Karen down. The worst feeling of all was that Lizzy felt like she’d lulled Karen into a false sense of security. Had she encouraged Karen to go down a path that had no pot of gold at the end of it? Believing in dreams didn’t mean you were going to end up being successful in reality.
‘
Shit
,’ Lizzy muttered to herself. She had got them into a bloody big hole. How the hell was she going to get them out of it?
‘Are you all right?’ Elliot asked her. ‘You seem a little preoccupied.’
He took the menu out of Lizzy’s hand and turned it back up the right way, before giving it back to her.
‘Sorry,’ she sighed. ‘It’s just work stuff.’
Elliot looked sympathetic. ‘You want to talk about it?’
Lizzy shook her head. She was too embarrassed to tell Elliot what she’d done. To make matters even worse Jocasta Reynolds-Johnson was kicking off again and Antonia was about to have a level-ten meltdown. When Lizzy had left the office that evening you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.
‘I don’t want to bore you with it. I’m sure it will work out.’
Starting with me getting fired
, she thought glumly.
Giuseppe came back to take their order. ‘Just the tricolore salad for me please,’ Lizzy said.
‘Is that all you want?’ Elliot asked.
‘I had a big lunch,’ Lizzy lied. She didn’t have much of an appetite.
‘It must be love,’ Giuseppe told Elliot. ‘Normally she’s a real piggy.’ He winked at Lizzy. ‘
Oink oink.
’
‘What do you think of the place?’ Lizzy asked once she’d got rid of Giuseppe. ‘Not quite up to the normal Michelin-starred places you must go to?’
Elliot gazed at the plastic grapevine on the wall with silver tinsel wrapped around it. When they’d walked in there had been a five-foot statue of a glowing Jesus by the front door. ‘It’s got a certain charm, I like it.’
‘Liar.’ Lizzy smiled at him. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind coming to my parents’ on Saturday?’
‘For the fifth time, no. Weirdly, I’m rather looking forward to it.’ He reached across and touched the end of Lizzy’s nose. ‘I’m looking forward to meeting the two people who created a lunatic like you.’
‘Charming. You might change your mind when you meet my mother.’
‘Well, mine’s not exactly normal.’
They exchanged another grin. ‘Stop stressing,’ Elliot told Lizzy. ‘It will be fine.’
Giuseppe came back and dumped their orders on the table. ‘I’m happy to see someone is prepared to take Lizzy on,’ he told Elliot. ‘She had a bad time after the YouTube.’ He lowered his voice. ‘I worry for a while no one would go near her. You know, damaged goods. For time she would come in here and eat and drink too much, nothing else in her life. I say to her: “No one wants to dance with Cinderella at the ball if she like a baby elephant!”’
‘Yeah, thanks for that, Giuseppe,’ Lizzy mumbled.
He gave her a fond look. ‘But now I see her happy again. You think you’ll marry her?’ he added conversationally to Elliot.
‘
Giuseppe!
’
‘Sorry about him.’ Lizzy was still blushing two minutes later. ‘He gets a bit carried away sometimes.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Thankfully Elliot had looked highly amused by the whole thing. Unless he was putting a front on and was planning to escape out of the men’s toilet window any minute.
If my mother doesn’t manage to sabotage my love life
, Lizzy thought,
at least I know I’ve got Giuseppe.
‘I spoke to my mum earlier, she was asking about you,’ Elliot told her.
‘Oh cool. Is she OK?’
Elliot put his fork down. Even he seemed to have been defeated by the four seasons pizza. ‘She wanted to know what was going on with us.’
‘Have you told her then?’
‘Is it so much of a secret?’
‘No! I just wondered what she’d think after, er …’ Lizzy shut up. ‘What did you tell her?’
‘Why?’ he said carefully. ‘What would you have liked me to say?’
‘I don’t know,’ she mumbled. ‘You’re the one who had the conversation.’
Elliot looked distinctly amused. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you look so coy before.’
‘I’m not being coy, I’m just not very good at this part.’
‘What part?’
‘You know.’ Lizzy started shredding her napkin. ‘The “Are we or aren’t we?” conversation.’
‘Are we or aren’t we what?’ he asked innocently.
The twisted sod was actually enjoying this. ‘I mean, have we got an exclusive thing going on? Are we just casually seeing each other, or are we girl …’ Lizzy couldn’t bring herself to say the words. ‘You know what I mean. Are we officially
together
?’
‘Why are you whispering? No one can hear.’
‘Elliot!’
The corners of his mouth tugged up. ‘I’d say so, wouldn’t you?’
‘Nicola come in here the other night getting take out,’ Giuseppe announced when they came to pay the bill.
Lizzy came down from the cloud of happiness she’d been floating on with a bang. ‘Was she OK?’
‘You tell me.’ He shook his head. ‘She not look so good. I say to her: “Uncle Giuseppe is worried. You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders!”’
Lizzy could feel Elliot’s eyes on her. ‘And what did she say?’
‘She say she having hard time at work. That’s all you girls do. Work, work, work! No time for fun or love!’ Giuseppe nudged Elliot. ‘You don’t want to put your career before this one, Lizzy. I can tell this one a
real
man.’
They departed into the cold night air. ‘Are you going to tell me what you and Nic have fallen out about?’ Elliot asked.
‘Just something silly,’ Lizzy said quickly.
Elliot gave her one of his looks that said
girls.
They started walking down a long street of huge white semi-detached houses. Opulent wreaths hung on polished front doors, while plush Christmas trees twinkled out of bay windows.
‘Banker land round here,’ Elliot commented.
‘Would you ever like to live here?’
He shook his head. ‘Too claustrophobic, in more ways than one. And I like being near water.’
A tall, thin figure was hurrying along on the other side of the street. Lizzy’s immediate thought was how late it was to be out with a baby. Blood-curdling wails were coming from the buggy the person was pushing. It was hard to tell from the long padded coat if they were a man or a woman, but as the figure stopped and stooped to look into the pram a swathe of blonde hair fell out.
‘Oh sweetie, what can Mummy do?’
The woman pushed her hood off her face and Lizzy found herself gazing at a face that looked weirdly familiar. A second later she realized why: it was Tiana Dawson – a famous Australian supermodel who now lived in London with her financier husband. She’d made headlines in the
MailOnline
earlier in the year when she’d been pictured on a beach, only a week after giving birth to her daughter, with a completely flat stomach.
Tiana was crouching down by her crying child, desperately trying to calm her. It was a world away from the ice-cool Amazonian who was the face of several major fashion houses.
‘Wait here a minute,’ Lizzy told Elliot.
Crossing over the road, she tentatively approached the celebrity. The supermodel’s eyes flickered towards Lizzy and she pulled her hood back up.
‘Excuse me,’ Lizzy said.
‘Now really isn’t a good time. Aurelia darling, please …’
‘I just wanted to—’
‘What?’ Tiana snapped. ‘Take my picture and post it on Twitter, so everyone can see what an irresponsible mother I am walking the streets with my baby at eleven o’clock at night?’
Lizzy glanced across the road at Elliot. He shook his head.
‘Actually, I just wanted to know if you’d like to try these,’ she said.
Tiana looked at Lizzy’s hand suspiciously. ‘What are they?’
Lizzy held out the selection of Night Night Baby products that had been buried for ages in the bottom of her bag. ‘I’m a PR and one of my clients has this amazing range of products for babies who can’t sleep. I’ve only got a few bits and pieces on me, but you’re welcome to take them.’
‘I’m not going to endorse anything, if that’s what your game is,’ Tiana said frostily.
‘I’m not playing any game. I just thought you might need some help.’ Lizzy tried a smile. ‘Believe me, this stuff works.’
‘I’m paying four thousand pounds an hour for a baby whisperer.’ The supermodel gave a humourless laugh. ‘Thanks and all that, but I don’t think a lavender pillow spray is going to help.’
Lizzy walked into the heady fug of festive pot-pourri and the smell of roasting turkey.
The family home was strangely quiet. ‘Hello?’ she called. ‘Anyone in?’
There were voices coming from the direction of the kitchen. Lizzy walked through to find her sister standing in her running kit gulping down an isotonic sports drink. A strapping young man with a crew cut was stretching his hamstrings by the counter. As he stood up Lizzy got an eyeful of the bulge in his cycling shorts.
‘Hi guys!’ she said.
Lauren put her drink down and opened her arms. ‘Come here.’
It felt like hugging a lump of granite. Her little sister had developed even more muscles since the last time Lizzy had seen her.
‘You smell of booze,’ Lauren said chidingly.
‘Do I? Must be the bottle of Baileys I had on the train over here.’
Lauren’s companion gave her a blank stare. ‘I’m joking,’ Lizzy said hastily. ‘It was only a chocolate liqueur I found in my coat pocket. The centre went all over my fingers …’
Lauren shot her a warning look. ‘Perry, this is my older sister Lizzy.’
‘Not
that
much older!’ Lizzy said brightly. ‘It’s lovely to meet you, Perry. Lauren’s told us so much about you.’
It was hard to know where to look. Perry’s packet wasn’t so much the elephant in the room as a whole herd of them thundering through. He gave Lizzy a formal handshake, obviously keen to keep the mad older sister at bay.
‘Nice to meet you, ma’am.’
No one spoke for a moment. ‘Well,’ Lizzy said heartily. ‘You two have obviously been out in the fresh air.’
Compared to Lizzy, who’d woken up still in yesterday’s make-up, Lauren and her boyfriend were basking in a pink, athletic glow. It was all Elliot’s fault, Lizzy reflected. She’d only gone to lie down next to him last night for a cuddle and ended up not leaving the bed for the next twelve hours. Although it was probably more accurate to say they hadn’t left the bedroom. Elliot certainly had more than just the missionary position in his repertoire …
‘Have you been out far?’ she asked, secretly smiling at the memory.
‘Just a twelve miler.’ Lauren rolled her head from side to side to iron out the kinks. ‘Best thing for getting rid of jet lag.’
‘Mum and Dad not around?’
‘Mum’s upstairs. Dad’s gone to B&Q to get some more fairy lights.’
Lizzy put her bag back on the floor and ended up eye-to-eye with The Packet. ‘Mum said you’re bringing some guy for lunch,’ Lauren said when she stood up. ‘Edward?’
‘He’s called Elliot.’
‘I told you what happened to Lizzy,’ Lauren told her boyfriend.