Page 43 of Clara's Secret Garden
(Yes, we’re also having to endure the ah, ah, ahs.)
‘You sound happy.’ I smile as she plops down in a chair witha sigh.
‘I am. No pasta for me tonight. The food at La Scala ismeant to beamazing.’
‘It is.’And eye-wateringly expensive, I should imagine.‘Ikept wanting Ronnie to take me there but he couldn’t stand the idea of aseven-course taster menu.’ She snorts. ‘No class at all. He actually preferredhis mum’s steak and kidney pie. Rory’s far more sophisticated.’
I refrain from commenting. We never talk about why she andRonnie split up.
At the time, when she was newly incensed at being rejected(Lois is usually the one doing the rejecting), she told me that Ronnie hadaccused her of just being after his money, which of course she deniedstrenuously.
‘I don’t think you and Ronnie were really suited,’ I saydiplomatically. ‘Remember how you used to hate going to those big shindigs whenhe’d invite his extended family over for lunch?’
She shudders. ‘Awful. He’d let his mother and those boringsisters of his go on and on about what they’d been up to, and I could never geta word in edgeways.’
I smile in sympathy, imagining how Lois would haveabsolutely hated not being the focus of everyone’s attention. ‘Well, Rory’ssister isn’t boring. Elsie’s lovely.’
Lois grunts. ‘Rory mollycoddles her. And so does her mum.Honestly, Elsie hardly has to do athingfor herself. And that meansshe’ll grow up with a sense of entitlement... expectingeveryone to fawn over her, instead of being able to fend for herself.’
‘You had anunusualupbringing,’ I say carefully.(I’m still not over the idea of Lois having to make her own school packedlunches at the age of six.) ‘But every parent is different.’
She stretches her arms above her head and yawns happily.‘Anyway, I’m not thinking about that. I need to think about what to weartonight.’
‘Haven’t you decided, then?’
‘Sort of.’ She gets up and looks at her nails. ‘Better getstarted on the beauty treatments.’
‘So did you just get talking to Rory when he came over tocut the lawns?’ I ask quickly as she heads for the door. ‘Is that how yourealised you liked each other?’
She stops and turns with a smile, remembering. ‘It was areally hot day and he stripped off his T-shirt. He didn’t realise I waswatching, and when he looked up and saw me at the window, he winked at me. Ithought he was cute so I went down and offered him a cool drink, and we gottalking. I started to look forward to him coming round and we just clicked.’
‘Nice. But why did you keep it a secret?’
She shrugs. ‘I don’t know. I suppose I was still raw afterRonnie dumped me and I wanted to keep it to myself until I knew it was anactual thing. He always came round late afternoon as if he was on his way homefrom somewhere but he’d just be really vague when I asked him where he’d been,saying he’d been cutting his mum’s lawns or something like that. And then once,he let slip that he’d been over at Paula’s, so then it all came out, that he’dbeen working on getting the garden looking good with you.’
‘Ah, so it wasn’t Bertie who let the cat out of the bag andtold you, then.’
‘No. It was Rory. He said you were keeping it a secretbecause the boys were planting flowers for your gran and you wanted it to be asurprise?’
I nod. ‘Um... that’s right.’ (I’d been‘Charlie Dimwit ha-ha’ for a couple of weeks after Lois and Irene had found outwhat I was doing, and the joke had worn thin pretty quickly.)
‘He’s very sexy in a sort of boy-next-door way,’ shemurmurs. ‘And so smart. Once he’s qualified as a solicitor, he’ll really begoing places. Away from Sunnybrook, hopefully.’
‘What do you mean?’ I ask, surprised.
‘Well, London’s the place to set up a practice. That’s wherethe money is. All the wealth. And Rory’s got the personality as well as theintelligence. He’ll make it big, I’m certain.’ She grins. ‘But of course he’llneed a strong woman alongside him to help schmooze all those rich clients.’ Shewinks and disappears upstairs.
I stare after her, feeling uneasy.
She’s going to be in for a big disappointment when she findsout that Rory has no intention of doing schmoozing of any kind – unless‘schmoozing’ is also the name for something technical related to stables or asmallholding in the country.
Lois in wellies, mucking out the hen coop? I can’t reallysee it.
But if her feelings for Rory are strong enough, I guessstranger things have happened...
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Over the next few weeks, as high summer edges towardsautumn, I’m kept busy making sure Gran’s all right, and getting Bertie sortedout to start back at school.
