‘It’s so kind of you to see me so early,’ said Gilly to her hairdresser as she was handed a cup of tea. ‘I should have sorted it out sooner but I got distracted.’
‘That’s OK,’ said Debbie. ‘I don’t mind an early start. Working from home means I’m here. Aren’t you lucky with the weather!’
‘I know! We had made provision for it being cold and rainy but I don’t think we’ll need the heaters.’
‘These days all the seasons are unpredictable,’ said Debbie. ‘So, just a wash and blow-dry?’
‘Please.’ Gilly settled back to enjoy the blissful experience of having her hair washed. ‘I couldn’t drop off last night and of course went into a deep sleep at about five thirty.’
‘Oh, I hate that! But you feel all right now?’
Gilly nodded as Debbie’s skilful hands rubbed away her tension. ‘I’m fine.’
‘You know, when people say “fine” they always mean the exact opposite.’
Gilly laughed. ‘No! I really am fine!’ She crossed her fingers under her robe. While she longed to confide in Debbie and knew she’d be wise and non-judgemental, she felt that not talking about Martin’s refusal to accept William made it less real. Besides, there was nothing she could do about it today.
‘So, tell me about William then,’ said Debbie, when Gilly had moved from the washbasin and was in front of the mirror.
‘He’s lovely. Sort of quiet but exciting enough for me.’
‘What do you mean? Or shouldn’t I ask?’
Gilly was perfecting her ‘I’m totally happy’ laugh and executed one now. ‘I mean, he took me gliding and I loved it!’
Debbie was suitably impressed. ‘Wow, Gilly!’ She hesitated. ‘Should I just take a bit off the back? It seems a bit heavy …’
Gilly liked the effect her new enthusiasm for gliding had on people. She briefly considered buying a set of motorbike leathers and telling everyone she had a Harley. Her reputation as a ‘nice lady’ would finally be in pieces.
Feeling better for having her hair done, when Gilly arrived home she went out to meet the caterers who had arrived while she’d been away.
Franco from the Italian wine bar near William’s house, who was in charge, was delightfully Italian, full of compliments and charming comments on the surroundings. Once she had been reassured that everything that should be served hot would be, and the cold things would be cold and not room temperature, she allowed herself to be taken to see the contents of Franco’s special van.
There were platters of charcuterie, so finely cut you could probably read through it. Plates of stuffed artichokes like little roses, finely sliced courgettes formed into cylinders and filled with (Franco told her) pine nuts and breadcrumbs, parmesan and thyme. Salvers of stuffed courgette flowers, almost too pretty to eat, and comforting troughs of aubergine parmigiana, lasagne and something Gilly couldn’t identify but looked delicious.
‘Everything will be served just as it should be,’ said Franco. ‘Our waiters will fill glasses, provide water and soft drinks; everything will be perfect.’
‘I’m so happy,’ said Gilly.
‘We are doing our best for William,’ said Franco. ‘He is good man.’ There were also bowls of salad and piles of roasted asparagus: enough vegan and healthy options to please even Cressida (should she happen to come).
‘It all looks amazing,’ Gilly said. ‘Thank you so much.’
‘As I said, it is for William. He once helped us when we were in trouble. And now he has a beautiful companion, we want to do our best for her, too.’ He took this opportunity to kiss her hand.
As she went back into the house she was blushing and chiding herself for being flattered. Franco probably said that to all the girls, she told herself.
Now to see to the flowers for the tables.
As she went round her garden, secateurs and bucket of water in hand, followed by Ulysses who was grumpy because he’d been thrown out of the catering van several times, she realised she was excited.
Mostly she was looking forward to seeing William. He had rung her while she was in bed and it had been lovely talking to him. Sadly one of the things he had said was that he wouldn’t be able to get to the house until just before the party, but that was OK as she was used to dealing with these things on her own.
As she went round, snipping and stripping off excess leaves, she fought the cold little bit of her heart that reminded her Martin was unhappy. But she wouldn’t have behaved differently, she realised, she was just as entitled to happiness as he was. He would get over it. He was an adult and he would eventually realise she was allowed to be happy with another man.
She left the flowers in her favourite dark shed to soak up as much water as they could (she was aware she should have picked them the previous evening) and then went up to have a shower. She would get ready after Helena had come and helped her arrange the flowers.
A shower using her favourite honey-scented soap cheered her and she pulled on some old and comfortable clothes which were also soothing. The outfit she and Helena had chosen the previous day was hanging outside the wardrobe. She didn’t dare look at it too closely in case she changed her mind and had to go through the whole process again.
She remembered Helena’s surprise that she hadn’t wanted to buy anything new. This made her laugh – Helena was notoriously reluctant to buy new clothes herself.
She had finished doing her make-up when Helena arrived.
‘Are you up there! I’m here to do the flowers!’ She ran up the stairs. ‘Oh! Jeans and an old linen shirt – I thought we’d sorted out your outfit yesterday? Your hair’s looking good though.’
‘Thanks! But I’m not going to do the flowers in my glad rags. Let’s have a cup of coffee and get these flowers done. Time is moving on!’
When there were flowers on every table and the large arrangements had been tweaked (not everything looked as perky as it should have done) Helena and Gilly looked around them.
‘Oh, this is exactly what I’d love for my wedding!’ said Helena.
‘Yes, but it’d only work if you just want something very small,’ Gilly reminded her patiently.
A split second later Helena said, ‘I think something a bit bigger would be lovely as long as it can be here, like this. But we’ll squash it into the garden somehow.’
When Gilly went up to dress she realised that Helena wasn’t particularly bothered about having a big wedding but that she wanted her mother to have what she wanted for her daughter. She was touched and knew she was very lucky that they got on so well. They were bound together by adversity, she decided, and that was why she and Martin weren’t as bonded.
As Gilly was tweaking her hair and worrying about her earrings she was aware of feeling anxious – stage fright probably – and then she heard the front door creak.
She went to the top of the stairs and listened. It could be the one bed and breakfast guest she hadn’t managed to cancel, or one of Franco’s staff members. It was unlikely to be a burglar but she thought she should go down and check.
She was halfway down the stairs when she saw a man with his back to her looking at the visitors’ book. On the bottom step she realised it wasn’t a burglar, it was worse.
It was Leo.
He turned as he heard her and she realised when she saw him properly that he was very drunk. She took a breath. She would have to play this very carefully.
‘I heard you were having a party,’ he said.
‘Yes. But I didn’t invite you, Leo.’
‘No! You didn’t! That’s because you’re having it with your new fancy man!’
‘His name is William,’ she said calmly, lowering her voice, hoping it would encourage him to lower his.
‘I know what his name is! He’s your accountant. And does he know that you must have been keeping us both on a string at the same time?’
‘It wasn’t like that, Leo, and now could you please leave?’
‘No. You may think you can have everything you want but you can’t.’
‘I can have who I like in my house and I don’t want you in it, so please leave.’
‘Is it your house though? Or is it your children’s heritage?’
‘You’re drunk, Leo. You’re not making sense.’ He was giving her information about how he got to know about the party though. Martin must have told him for some reason. Possibly spite.
‘Oh, I am making sense! I’m just not quite as clever about life as you are, am I? You saw the main chance and you took it. You decided shacking up with your boring accountant was a better bet than I was. Women don’t reject me, sweetheart, I reject them!’ He started to walk towards her.
Gilly was beginning to feel really frightened now. It was early, no one who was likely to come into the house was due yet and William said he might not be able to arrive until just before the guests were due. Leo was so menacing, angry, resentful. The thought that he might try to rape her crossed her mind. She didn’t let it linger. She was a relatively fit woman and she could either fight him off or escape. She backed away, edging towards the sitting-room door. The French windows were open; if she got into the sitting room she could get outside.
‘You’re a little slut, do you know that?’ he said, still walking towards her.
His hand shot out just before she reached the door and his fingers gripped her shoulder. She shut her eyes, not wanting to see his face approaching hers. Her mouth went dry, and her brain stopped functioning.
Then suddenly he was pulled away; there was a crunching noise and a crash. Her eyes flew open to see Leo sprawling on his back on the floor.
‘Now get out,’ said William. He went to Leo and helped him get up from the floor. ‘Oh God, he’s drunk. He can’t drive.’
‘I’ll ring Helena,’ said Gilly. ‘I’m sure Jago will help if he can. Taxis aren’t keen on taking drunk people.’
‘I’m perfectly fine!’ said Leo, furious, but clearly more in control of himself now.
‘I’ll make him some coffee,’ said Gilly, glad to have an excuse to leave the scene.
Once in the kitchen she found her phone and called Helena. ‘Darling? Is Jago there? Leo came round here and is drunk. We need to get him out of here urgently.’ She paused. ‘William hit him.’
‘Oh my God!’ said Helena, extremely impressed. ‘I’ll call Jago. He’s just in the shower but he can come out.’
A very short time later Jago said, ‘Hello? Gilly? What can I do for you?’
‘You couldn’t come and pick up Leo and take him home? I know William would do it but, between us, I’d rather it was someone young and fit like you. Also, it won’t matter if you’re a bit late to the party.’
‘On my way. No worries.’
Helena came back on the phone. ‘He is so kind,’ said Gilly. ‘I must make him a cake or something.’
‘Don’t worry, Mum,’ said Helena. ‘He loves helping people. Mind you, he also loves cake.’
Gilly made a strong cup of instant coffee and took it out to the hall. Leo was sitting in the hall chair while William stood over him.
‘Here’s some coffee. You’d better drink it, Leo,’ she said.
‘I’ll take him home,’ said William.
‘No need,’ said Gilly quickly. ‘Jago is on his way.’
She suddenly felt weak and shaky. She went back to the kitchen quickly so she could sit down and breathe deeply. She realised now what a narrow escape she’d had. Thank goodness William had been earlier than he’d said he’d be. It took her a little while before she felt herself again.
At last she heard sounds that meant Jago had arrived. A few moments later, William came into the kitchen. Gilly got up and fell into his arms. ‘Oh God, thank you so much for rescuing me! I felt so vulnerable!’ She had a horrid feeling she was going to cry which she really didn’t want to do as she’d made such a good job of her make-up.
‘Darling, of course I’d rescue you! If I didn’t, or couldn’t, there would be no point in my being in your life,’ he said, holding her and murmuring into her hair. ‘I’d go through fire for you!’ He paused. ‘Although I must say, punching someone hurts so much more than I ever thought it could.’
Gilly instantly went into caring mode. ‘Oh, William! Come with me to the downstairs loo. I’ve got some arnica and plasters and things.’
‘I’m not sure I need a plaster.’
‘If you’ve broken a finger I’ll have to stick it to the next finger—’
‘I’m sure I haven’t broken anything,’ said William, following Gilly.
‘Let me just have a look.’
He allowed her to put arnica on it and they were still crammed together in the tiny bathroom when he said, ‘Is there time for me to have a cup of coffee before the guests arrive?’
‘Of course! You arrived early – thank goodness.’
‘I know. I’m so glad. My errand took less time than I allowed for it.’
Gilly found her curiosity piqued. ‘Was it anything exciting?’
‘Hardly,’ said William. ‘I’m a boring accountant.’
She laughed, all her fear dissipated. ‘Boring accountants are absolutely my favourite kind,’ she said and kissed him.
Helena found them in there. ‘Um, is this the party venue? Sorry, didn’t get the email …’
Gilly laughed, beyond embarrassment. ‘No, there’s no room for the band in here.’
Now Helena really did look confused. ‘You’re having a band?’
‘No! Figure of speech,’ said Gilly. ‘Now let’s get this party started. Woo!’
‘Mum?’ said Helena. ‘Now you’re scaring me.’
‘And me,’ said William. ‘A quick cup of coffee and we’ll be ready to greet our guests.’
Gilly glanced at her watch. ‘I think we need to open a bottle of something.’
‘Oh, me too!’ said Helena. ‘I’ll do it.’ She took a bottle of champagne out of the fridge, one of a few Gilly had hidden in there for later. When she’d dealt with the bottle and handed everyone a glass of champagne, she said, ‘I want to hear all about William decking Leo. I so wish I’d seen it!’
‘I’m afraid I had my eyes shut,’ Gilly admitted.
‘Just as well. It was very inelegant – not at all like it is on telly,’ said William. ‘If Leo hadn’t been drunk and off balance he’d never have fallen over.’
Gilly realised William wanted to make light of it so didn’t point out that Leo had been gripping on to her very hard, so in spite of being drunk he wasn’t off balance. It must have been quite a punch.
‘What would you have done if he’d stayed standing, William?’ asked Helena.
‘Punched him again, but I’m very glad I didn’t have to. My hand hurts quite enough.’
Jago walked into the kitchen. ‘Has the party started without me?’
‘Not really,’ said Gilly, ‘but thank you so much for getting rid of Leo for us.’
‘It was a pleasure,’ said Jago.
‘Are you wearing that for the party?’ asked Helena.
Jago was wearing jeans with ripped knees and a band T-shirt that he probably used for sleeping in. He looked down at himself. ‘Oh, I see what you mean. Should I go home and put on my suit?’
‘I think you look absolutely fine,’ said Gilly firmly. ‘Don’t go anywhere.’
‘Totes agree,’ said William seriously. ‘Isn’t that what the young people say?’
Helena closed her eyes, shook her head and took another sip of champagne, but she was smiling.
‘Oh, are we late?’ said a voice.
It was Amy and she had James with her. ‘I thought I was early,’ Amy went on. ‘I came in case you needed any help.’ She pulled James forward. ‘You said I could bring a plus one,’ she said shyly. ‘This is James.’
‘How lovely,’ said Gilly.
‘It’s so cool you’re still friends!’ said Helena. She gave them both a hug.
‘Don’t get overexcited,’ said Amy, after there’d been quite a lot of hugging and arm punching. ‘It’s very early days.’
Gilly and Helena exchanged glances. They’d heard those words before.
‘I think you both need a glass of champagne,’ said Gilly. ‘Not that we’re celebrating …’
