The One You Really Want (21 page)

Everyone was agog as Sadie stalked across the room and snatched the magazine page from Mia's grasp.

‘Where did you get this?'

‘Cupboard under the stairs. Your handbag accidentally slipped off its hook and everything fell out onto the floor.'

‘And my make-up bag accidentally unzipped itself, I suppose.' Acidly Sadie said, ‘My God, you are an evil piece of work.'

‘OK, so maybe I was looking through it.' Mia shrugged defiantly. ‘And maybe that was a naughty thing to do.' Pleased with herself she added, ‘But then again, sometimes the end justifies the means.'

White with fury, Sadie turned to Connor. ‘This is too much. I've had it up to here with your precious daughter.'

‘I'm just trying to protect my dad,' Mia retaliated.

‘You're a poisonous little witch! You rummaged through my handbag.' Sadie's eyes were sparking like fireworks. ‘Through my private and personal belongings. And then you have the nerve to accuse me of planning to trap your father into marrying me. Well, let me tell you, the last thing I want is a baby. Especially when there's an outside chance I might end up with one like you.'

‘So what were you doing with that article hidden away in your bag?' Mia demanded heatedly.

‘Therese?' Sadie glanced across the room, to where her co-workers were clustered. ‘Why don't you tell Mia what's wrong with your father?'

Startled, Therese said, ‘My dad? He's got Parkinson's Disease.'

‘Thank you.' Returning her attention to Mia, Sadie said evenly, ‘He's really not very well at all. Therese is worried sick about him. So when I was flicking through a magazine yesterday and happened to come across an article about a revolutionary new treatment for sufferers of Parkinson's, I thought Therese might like to see it.' Turning over the ripped-out page, she showed the relevant section to Connor then slowly crossed the room and handed it to Therese. ‘Here you are. You never know, it might help your dad.'

‘Th-thanks,' stammered Therese.

‘Don't mention it.' Marching back to where Mia was standing, Sadie said, ‘So there you go. I hadn't actually noticed the article on the other side of the page.' Coolly she added, ‘Feel free to apologise any time you like.'

Mia stood her ground. ‘Just because you wriggled out of it this time? I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than apologise to you.'

Carmen wondered if everyone else in the room was secretly enjoying this, loving every excruciating moment as much as she was. There was something horribly fascinating about witnessing a no-holds-barred argument that didn't personally involve you. This was better than an extra riveting episode of
EastEnders
. And now Mia was beginning to realise that she had made a mistake after all, while Sadie was looking as if she was on the verge of giving Mia a resounding slap.

Gripping stuff, and you didn't have to worry about the showdown coming to an abrupt end, leaving you on tenterhooks for the next episode in two days' time.

‘Could someone put some music on please?' said Connor, keeping himself between the two warring girls like a boxing referee.

‘No,
don't
.' Sadie turned to glare at a thin, nervy looking male guest who'd had the temerity to make a move towards the CD player. ‘Let's sort this out once and for all, shall we? I'm your girlfriend,' she told Connor, ‘and she's your daughter. Clearly, you have a choice to make here. Do you want to carry on seeing me? Or are you going to allow this interfering brat to stay and make the rest of your life a misery? Because it's either me or her, Connor. One of us has to go.'

Carmen held her breath, enthralled. Sadie was looking confident. Mia was looking . . . actually, she was looking a bit green around the gills. And Connor had to make his decision right here, right now . . .

Connor turned to Mia and said evenly, ‘What you did was very, very wrong. I can't believe you rifled through somebody's handbag and accused Sadie of planning to do something like that. I'm ashamed of you.'

Mia said nothing. Sadie preened and looked smug, like the beauty queen who, having slept with all the judges, knew she was about to be pronounced the winner.

‘Sweetheart.' Taking her hand, Connor said, ‘I'm sorry.'

Sadie gave his fingers a triumphant squeeze. ‘You don't have to apologise. She's the one who should be doing that. Oh, darling—'

‘No, what I mean is,
I'm sorry
.' Connor shook his head. ‘You gave me an ultimatum. I know Mia's behaved appallingly, but she's still my daughter.'

Sadie, her magenta hair quivering with disbelief, said tightly, ‘You mean she's
won
? Are you completely
mad
?'

‘Look,' Connor attempted to explain, ‘it's not as if—'

Crack
went Sadie's hand across his face. What with her being so fit, it must have hurt, but Connor didn't even flinch.

‘You bastard.'

‘I know,' said Connor.

‘She's going to ruin your life,' Sadie spat, ‘and you're just going to stand back and let her do it.'

‘I'm not—'

‘Well, I feel sorry for you. From now on, your life is going to be miserable. I'm out of here.' Addressing Mia, Sadie said icily, ‘Is there still enough money in my purse to pay for my taxi home, or did you help yourself to that too?'

Pale and swaying, Mia looked as if she'd just witnessed her first autopsy. Without a word, she turned abruptly and shot out of the room.

Sadie's upper lip curled with derision. As she headed for the door she hissed at Connor, ‘I hope you realise you're making the biggest mistake of your life.'

 

Mia hadn't had time to close the bathroom door. Nancy found her crouched on the floor next to the lavatory, wiping her mouth with a crumpled-up length of loo paper.

‘Sorry, do you need the bathroom?' Mia glanced up apologetically. ‘I'll be out in a sec.'

‘I came to find you, see how you are.' Relieved to have missed the pyrotechnics, Nancy ran a white flannel under the cold tap, then wrung it out and handed it to her. ‘Feeling better now?'

‘Much. I'm not that great at drinking. Haven't had the practice. I keep forgetting you aren't supposed to glug it down like water. Thanks,' said Mia as Nancy helped her to her feet. She pressed the cool flannel to her forehead and exhaled with relief. ‘That feels nice. Has she gone?'

‘Oh yes. Didn't you hear the front door flying off its hinges?'

‘Dad's going to hate me. I suppose I should be sorry, but I'm not.' Perched on the side of the bath, Mia watched as Nancy squeezed toothpaste onto her pink glittery toothbrush.

‘You went a bit over the top.'

‘I know. I don't make a habit of snooping through people's handbags, honestly. And I'm not out to ruin Dad's life either, but she was just such a nightmare, wasn't she? Once he gets over being cross with me, he'll realise I was right. He'll end up thanking me for it.'

‘Hmm.' Much as she agreed with Mia's verdict on Sadie Sylvester, Nancy couldn't help feeling she was being overly optimistic.

‘I mean, I do
want
him to be happy,' Mia went on, between vigorous bouts of tooth-brushing. She slooshed Colgate foam around her mouth then spat into the sink. ‘I'd just love it if he met somebody nice. Like you.' She caught Nancy's startled eye in the mirror above the sink. ‘It'd be great if he got together with someone like you. I wouldn't be a nightmare daughter if that happened, I promise.' Brush, brush, more slooshing and spitting. ‘What d'you reckon then? Think you could fancy my dad if you set your mind to it?'

Good grief, did this girl never give up? Feeling the familiar rush of heat to her cheeks, Nancy was just glad that Mia currently had her head bent over the sink and was unable to see it.

‘You're not saying anything.' Mia finished rinsing her mouth from the tap and righted herself once more. As tenacious as any terrier, she prompted, ‘Well? Yes or no?'

‘Look, it doesn't work like that,' Nancy said helplessly.

‘Of course it does! How else is it going to work? Trust me, I've got a real feeling about this.' Reaching for a towel, Mia wiped her mouth. ‘The two of you could be great together. I'm serious, all my friends say how brilliant I am at fixing people up. I just know these things. I have the eye for it. In fact, I think I could be romantically psychic.'

‘Really.' Just because Mia wasn't slurring her words and staggering around, Nancy was discovering, didn't mean she wasn't still three sheets to the wind.

‘OK, marks out of ten,' Mia went on, holding up her fingers like a bossy teacher. ‘Don't be shy, let's get this out in the open, we'll score him for looks, personality and—'

‘Right, that's enough.' A voice behind them caused both Nancy and Mia to wheel round. Nancy winced at the sight of Connor in the doorway. Just how much had he heard? Oh God, did he think she and Mia had cooked up this entire scheme between them?

Thank heavens she hadn't started giving him marks out of ten.

‘Excuse my daughter. Thanks for keeping an eye on her.' Connor nodded briefly at Nancy, his expression grim. ‘I'll take over now.'

‘Time for my talking-to,' said Mia, pulling a face. ‘Time for my big telling-off. If you don't see me for the next six months it'll be because Dad's locked me in the cellar.'

‘What you did tonight wasn't funny,' Connor countered.

‘Just as well we aren't giving you marks out of ten after all,' Mia grumbled. ‘You wouldn't get a very high score while you're being this mean.'

‘I'll leave you to it.' Relieved to be escaping, Nancy edged her way out of the bathroom. ‘See you . . . um, later.'

‘Probably in July or August,' Mia flashed her an unrepentant smile, ‘when I get out of the cellar. That's if the rats haven't eaten me by then.'

‘Personally,' said Connor, ‘I'd feel sorry for the rats.'

As she made her way downstairs, two unwelcome thoughts struck Nancy.

Connor looked knee-tremblingly magnificent when he was angry. Which was bad news, because it meant she only fancied him all the more.

Worse still, would the fact that Mia had effectively forced her father to end his relationship in such an abrupt fashion result in him only fancying Sadie Sylvester all the more himself ?

Carmen was clearing the tables after lunch at the shelter, carrying piles of plates through to the kitchen where Nick and Annie were ploughing through a mountain of washing-up.

‘Carmen, stick up for me,' Nick pleaded as Carmen began scraping left-over shepherd's pie into the bin. ‘Annie's making fun of my wardrobe again.'

Annie shook her head at him. ‘I'm not making fun of your wardrobe, I'm making fun of the clothes you keep in it. Carmen, he just doesn't understand how embarrassing it is, being seen out with him in public. You're on my side, aren't you? Explain to Nick that real men don't wear Mr Blobby T-shirts.'

Carmen smiled; she really liked Nick and Annie, and enjoyed their bickering arguments. Annie was short, bouncy and in her early twenties. Nick, tall and endlessly cheerful, sported lots of dark hair that seldom saw a hairbrush and had that cut-it-myself-without-looking-in-the-mirror air about it. He thought it was funny when strangers visiting the shelter mistook him for one of the homeless rather than a volunteer helper. He and Annie lived together in a flat just round the corner and had, over the course of the last year, invited Carmen along to several parties, each of which she had invented some spurious excuse or other not to attend.

‘Some of your T-shirts aren't too bad,' Carmen said diplomatically - actually this was a lie, they
all
were - ‘but maybe it's time to let Mr Blobby go.'

‘Have him put to sleep, more like,' said Annie.

‘But it's a perfectly good T-shirt.' Nick plucked at the front. ‘There's months of wear in it yet. And it makes people smile.'

‘It's got
holes
in it.' Annie, who wasn't troubled by the need for diplomacy, poked her finger through one of the offending holes. ‘And people aren't smiling, they're sniggering at you because you look such a dork.'

‘Ah well, everyone's entitled to their opinions. It's a free country. If anyone doesn't want to speak to me because they don't approve of the T-shirt I'm wearing, that's their loss.' Stacking up washed plates on the drainer, Nick added, ‘If Annie here decided not to speak to me, well, frankly that'd be a bonus.'

Carmen said, ‘My boyfriend's got a pair of purple socks with goldfish on. He knows I hate them so he'll deliberately wear them to embarrass me.' Well, it had only happened once, but it was nice to be able to join in on the anecdote front. Just talking about Joe was enough to give her a warm glow.

‘Shows he's got a sense of humour,' said Nick. ‘Doesn't take clothes too seriously. Good for him.'

‘Cut them up into tiny pieces,' Annie stage-whispered to Carmen. ‘Chuck them in the bin. Nip it in the bud before things get completely out of control and he ends up like Nick.'

‘You know who she drools over when we're at home watching TV?' Nick raised his eyebrows. ‘The chap from
Will and Grace
. Mr Immaculate, I ask you. This girl's a lost cause.'

‘It's his eyes. Anyway, he's not really gay.' Annie looked dreamy for a moment, then turned to Carmen. ‘So, how long have you been seeing your chap?'

She'd said it ultra casually, but Carmen guessed they were curious. She had kept herself so much to herself over the course of the last year, it was practically the first personal detail she'd volunteered since coming to work at the shelter.