To the Moon and Back

Chapter 17




‘Can you get that?’ Ellie was busy scrubbing her favorite Havaianas flip-flops in the sink when the doorbell went on Saturday morning.

Todd pressed the button on the intercom and waited.

‘Hi, it’s me.’ Roo’s voice echoed tinnily through the speaker. ‘I’m heading out on an undercover mission. Want to come along?’

‘What an offer.’ Todd launched into his Sean Connery impression. ‘Shall we go in my vintage Aston Martin?’

A split second of silence, then, ‘James Bond, is that you?’

‘Shweetheart, I’m afraid that’s classified information. I could tell you, but then I’d have to seduce you.’

‘Let her in.’ Ellie switched off the tap and rinsed the soap off her pink flip-flops. This was going to be interesting; how would her old friend and her new friend hit it off?

Roo bounded up the stairs and into the flat in a black and white checked shirt, white denim skirt, and black Uggs.

‘I can guess who you are.’ She waggled her fingers at Todd. ‘But do you really have an Aston Martin?’

‘Sorry.’

‘See? Now I’m disappointed. And you don’t look like Sean Connery either.’

‘I’m younger than he is. I’m funnier,’ said Todd. ‘Plus, I have hair.’

‘What’s this mission in aid of?’ Ellie finished patting the flip-flops dry with paper towels and put them on her feet.

‘OK, Niall came over last night. And while he was in the loo I happened to find a shopping list in his jacket pocket. Nothing exciting, just nappies and baby wipes and stuff. But it was written in girly handwriting on a Post-it note with the name of a beauty salon printed along the top.’ Roo narrowed her eyes in a sleuth-like fashion. ‘Now, Niall’s always refused to tell me where his wife works. So I rang the salon this morning and asked if Yasmin was in today… and she is! And guess what? I’ve booked an appointment with her for this afternoon! We can go together!’

Ellie pulled a face. How could anyone think this was a good idea?

‘Who’s Niall?’ said Todd.

Roo looked at him. ‘My boyfriend.’

‘He has a wife?’

‘Yes, but she’s awful.’

‘And there’s a baby?’

‘That’s the only reason he’s still with his wife.’

‘What are you doing having an affair with a married man?’

‘I love him. And he loves me.’

‘Where’s your self-respect?’

Roo stiffened. ‘What’s your problem?’

‘Look, shall we talk about something else?’ Ellie was keen to cool the situation down.

‘No, let’s not.’ Todd turned to Roo. ‘When I was a kid, my father had an affair with another woman. He walked out on me and my mum. I just happen to think wrecking other people’s marriages is a pretty low thing to do.’

Roo said defensively, ‘Trust me, Niall’s marriage was wrecked long before I came along.’

‘So why have you made an appointment at this place?’ said Ellie.

‘Because I want to see her. I just want to find out for myself what she’s like. I’m not going to do anything,’ Roo protested. ‘She won’t know who I am. Oh, please come with me,’ she begged. ‘It’ll be easier to have a conversation with the two of us. And then you’ll be able to tell thingy here that I’m not a complete monster.’

Todd was ice-cool. ‘Thingy can make up his own mind, thanks.’

Oh dear. Off to a rocky start.

***

The salon was in Hampstead. From the outside it was all subtle shades of rose-pink and cream. Inside it smelled like heaven. Ellie had never paid a visit to a beauty salon before; given the choice of how to spend thirty pounds, she’d choose a bottle of bubble bath and a new top every time. When it came to waxing and manicures she had always done her own. But never mind that now. They were here on a mission. Roo was more nervous than she was letting on. And the woman behind the reception desk with the terrifying ice-queen face and scraped-back hair could be Niall’s wife.

‘Twelve thirty… let me see…’ She ran a ferocious crimson nail down the appointments book. ‘Yes, there you are. Just take a seat and Yasmin will be with you very shortly.’

So, not the ice queen then.

They sat and waited and watched one of the other customers have a pedicure. Within two minutes the door to the salon burst open and a woman in her twenties rushed in with a multipack of nappies under one arm and a carrier bag from Lloyds the chemist in the other.

Having stowed them in the back room, she returned. ‘Hello, sorry to keep you waiting, just had to dash out to the shops. I’m Yasmin. Gosh, if your hair was different you’d look like that singer from years ago. What’s her name… thingummy… Daisy Deeva.’

‘I get that all the time.’ Roo pulled a face. ‘I saw her once, in Selfridges. She was buying a really horrible hat.’

‘Wouldn’t mind her money though, eh?’ Yasmin didn’t seem like a nightmare. She was smiling and friendly, with wavy, honey blond hair and pretty eyes. ‘Now, I hear you asked for me specially. Does that mean you know one of my regular clients?’

Caught off guard, possibly by her niceness, Roo said, ‘Um…’

‘We were in a wine bar yesterday,’ Ellie leapt in, ‘and a girl at the next table was telling her friend how great you are at manicures. She had beautiful nails, so we asked her where you worked.’

‘Oh wow, how brilliant! I wonder who it was?’ Beaming with delight, Yasmin said, ‘Let’s hope you’re happy too!’

The conversation was all about nails for the next few minutes, as she got to work on Roo. Ellie watched as the hands were painstakingly cleansed and moisturized, a scrub containing exfoliating crystals was applied, then some kind of special oil was rubbed into the nails and cuticles. Finally Roo said, ‘I saw you with the nappies. Does that mean you have a baby?’

Yasmin grinned. ‘Well, they’d be a bit small for me. Yes, we’ve got a boy, Benjamin. Seven months. He’s just adorable.’ Her eyes were shining. ‘I can’t believe the difference he’s made to our lives. How about you?’

‘Kids? Me? No.’ Roo shook her head, then clearly realized a child might come in handy. Indicating Ellie, she said, ‘She’s got one.’

Oh, great. Thanks a lot.

Yasmin turned to her. ‘Have you? Aren’t they fantastic? Boy or a girl?’

‘Girl.’ Ellie nodded and prayed they weren’t about to start swapping childbirth stories. ‘Five months. Her name’s Alice.’

‘Ah, that’s lovely.’ Cheerily Yasmin said, ‘Hard work, though, aren’t they? Does your chap help out much, or is he as useless as mine?’

Luckily her attention was on the job in hand so she didn’t see Roo’s eyelashes bristling.

Ellie said, ‘Not much. They’re all pretty useless, aren’t they?’

‘Tell me about it! My husband was supposed to be buying those nappies yesterday, and what happens? He comes home at midnight, says he had to work late, but it’s just a big fib. He wasn’t working. I know exactly where he was!’

Roo swallowed.

‘Where was he?’ said Ellie.

‘Out with his friends, of course! It’s that old meet-up-with-your-mates-on-a-Friday-night thing. He just can’t give it up. I mean, I wouldn’t mind, but he promised to come home with the baby wipes and the nappies.’ Yasmin shook her head. ‘Still, that’s men for you. They can’t multitask like us, can they?’

Ellie looked at the narrow wedding ring glinting on Yasmin’s left hand. ‘What’s he like with the nappies?’

Smiling, Yasmin said, ‘He changed three-quarters of a nappy once. I’m telling you, that was a sight to behold. You’d have thought he was detonating an unexploded bomb. It was hilarious. There now, let’s just wrap your hands in warm towels to let the moisturizers sink in. And you can choose which color nail polish you’d like…’

‘But he must do it sometimes.’ Ellie frowned. ‘I mean, like today, while you’re here working.’

‘Oh, he’s not looking after him now.’ More amused resignation. ‘Niall likes his lie-ins on a Saturday morning. I drop Benjamin off at my mum’s before I come into work.’

‘This is interesting,’ Ellie murmured when Yasmin disappeared to attend to another client. Roo must be devastated to discover that her boyfriend’s wife was so nice.

‘See? I told you she was a nightmare,’ Roo whispered back. ‘She’s just a complete control freak.’

***

Todd was waiting for them in the pub watching tennis on the giant TV screen up on the wall.

‘Well? How’d it go?’

‘I had my nails done.’ Roo showed him her hands. ‘Actually, she did a good job.’

‘Thank goodness for that.’ Todd’s voice was heavy with sarcasm. ‘What was she like?’

‘Lovely,’ said Ellie.

‘Oh please, that’s not fair.’ Roo shook her head. ‘She was pretending to be lovely because she was doing my nails. She’s at work, I’m her client, of course she’s going to put on a good show. But you could tell what she’s really like.’

‘She was great,’ Ellie insisted. ‘Cheerful, warm, working her socks off. Do you want my honest opinion?’

‘No.’ Roo was busy fiddling with her sunglasses.

‘Niall sounds like an arse.’

‘You’re biased.’

‘Because he’s an arse.’

‘I wish I’d never taken you along with me now.’

‘And Yasmin’s like a single mother,’ Ellie went on. ‘She does everything and he does nothing.’ How could Roo not see it?

‘Because when he does try to do anything, she tells him he’s doing it all wrong!’

‘He told her he was working last night. But he wasn’t, he was with you.’

Roo was defensive. ‘If he goes home, all she does is nag him.’

‘Probably because she’s exhausted looking after the baby on her own!’

‘Look, she was exaggerating, making herself sound hard done by to get the sympathy vote.’

Todd, his head swiveling between them, said, ‘This is better than the tennis. So come on, are you going to finish with this bloke?’

‘Don’t be so horrible! I love him!’

He looked exasperated. ‘The guy’s a liar and a cheat.’

‘Everyone tells lies.’ Their drinks arrived and Roo took a gulp of hers. ‘You should have heard Ellie going on about her baby.’

‘What baby?’

Roo spread her arms. ‘I rest my case.’

But Todd had missed the joke; he was busy staring at Ellie. ‘Are you pregnant?’

Ellie spluttered into her glass of wine. ‘No! How could I be pregnant? We just pretended I had a baby so we’d have something in common.’ She saw the look of relief on his face. ‘It was a white lie, that’s all. Harmless.’

‘Speaking of white.’ Roo checked her watch, knocked back the rest of her vodka, and ruffled her spiky white-blond hair. ‘I’ve got an appointment to get my roots done, so I’m off. Have fun watching the tennis without me.’ She looked at Todd. ‘I’d say it was nice to meet you, but that would be another lie.’

He said pleasantly, ‘That’s because I’m right and you’re wrong. And you know it.’

***

The tennis had evolved into a tense five-set match that had got everyone in the pub cheering and on their feet. Afterwards Ellie and Todd went out for pizza, before heading off to a club in Camden to see a band.

‘That was… loud,’ said Ellie three hours later as they made their way back through Chalk Farm to Primrose Hill. ‘My ears are ringing.’

Todd nodded in agreement. ‘They were so loud I couldn’t even tell if they were any good. Is this a sign that we’re getting old?’

‘We are old. Maybe next time we could stand outside on the pavement, just hear it from a distance.’

‘Why stand? We could take a couple of deck chairs along. Get comfy, roll up our trouser legs.’

‘Wear knotted hankies on our heads,’ Ellie said. ‘You can’t beat a knotted hankie. In fact, why bother with going to see a noisy old band anyway? What’s wrong with watching some nice Morris dancers instead?’

‘Now you’re talking, Ethel, that’s a grand idea. We’ll take along a Thermos of tea and a packet of ham sandwiches.’ He paused, checking she was OK.

Ellie managed a smile to reassure him she was fine. This had been his and Jamie’s thing, taking an idea and running with it, inventing characters, and creating impromptu sketch shows. From time to time she and Jamie had done the same, but it had never happened between her and Todd before. It was a weird experience, like holding your toothbrush in the wrong hand. You knew you were brushing your teeth but it felt all strange.

‘God, I miss him,’ said Todd.

She nodded, the all-too-familiar hollowness in her stomach expanding like a balloon. Together they made their way up Gloucester Avenue. It was a warm night and music drifted out of open windows. In a doorway, a couple in costumes were having a drunken argument, the woman in the nun’s outfit noisily accusing a man dressed as Frankenstein of flirting with someone else. (‘She’s not Superwoman, she’s just a fat slag!’) Further along the road another couple were kissing passionately. Up above, stars twinkled in a black velvet sky and an almost full moon hung just above the rooftops. Now they could hear a soaring soul ballad being played nearby. Under other circumstances this would count as a romantic situation. The hollow stomach feeling increased. If Jamie were here now, she would be so happy. Actually, if he was here now, he’d have grabbed her and waltzed her around in circles all the way up the road whilst singing along to the tear-jerking ballad in the manner of Dame Edna.

They reached Nevis Street and Ellie fished out her key.

‘Thanks. It’s been a good day.’

‘I’ve had fun too.’

‘You didn’t have to walk me home. You’ve missed the last tube now.’

Todd shrugged easily. ‘No problem. I’ll get the bus.’

All the way back to his mum’s in Wimbledon. It would take a while.

‘OK.’ She stepped forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

‘I’ll give you a call. If you’re free next weekend, we could do it again. Check out what bands are on, stock up on earplugs.’ He hesitated. ‘No pressure. Only if you want to.’

Did she want to? Ellie thought she probably did. Over the past seventeen months she’d got so used to not wanting to go out and be sociable that saying no had become her natural default setting. The moment anyone invited her anywhere, her brain began scrambling for plausible excuses as to why she couldn’t make it.

But today had been different. She hadn’t secretly been longing to be back at home on her own. Which had to be an encouraging sign, didn’t it?

She looked at Todd. He was Jamie’s oldest friend and now she’d got over her stupid resentful phase she was comfortable in his company.

‘Yes, call me. I’d like to do that.’ There, that hadn’t been too difficult, had it?

‘Great.’ He sounded pleased. ‘I’ll buy the earplugs.’

Ellie smiled. ‘And I’ll bring the Thermos.’