To the Moon and Back

Chapter 30




‘Jamie? Are you there?’ She didn’t say it out loud, just in her head. But he heard her anyway.

‘I’m always here.’ He appeared in the living room, grinning and barefoot. ‘I’m like Lurch in The Addams Family. You rang?’

‘You’re better looking than Lurch.’ Ellie waited. ‘Which is your cue to tell me I’m looking pretty good too.’

‘You already know that. That’s my favorite dress.’

They’d spotted it three years ago in the window of a little shop in Totnes. Simply styled in slippery, matte silk, it was peacock blue with swirls of emerald green and gold handprinted around the neckline and hem. It was a beautiful dress and she’d worn it when they’d gone out to dinner on his last birthday.

‘The main reason it’s your favorite is because you discovered you could undo the zip with one hand.’

Jamie said good-naturedly, ‘Just as well I’m staying home tonight. Wouldn’t want your dress coming undone while you’re out at your fancy do with your boss.’

Ellie pumped her tube of lip gloss. ‘I hate to break it to you but you aren’t really here. Your zip-unfastening days are over.’

‘I know.’ He watched her apply a layer of gloss to her lips. ‘Is that the one that tastes of apricots?’

‘Yes.’ Ellie’s throat tightened; he used to kiss it off her, deliberately getting it all over his own mouth.

‘Don’t cry. You’ll wreck your makeup.’

Easier said than done. She threw the lip gloss into her evening bag and said, ‘I’m going now.’

‘Have fun.’ Jamie’s expression softened. ‘I mean it. I want you to enjoy yourself.’

A glitzy dinner at Claridge’s in Mayfair. What wouldn’t she give for her and Jamie to be able to spend the evening there together? OK, stop this, don’t think about it now. ‘I will. Bye.’

***

Zack wasn’t Jamie but he created quite an impression. As the taxi pulled away down Brook Street, Ellie glimpsed their reflection in the window of Vidal Sassoon opposite Claridge’s. She was looking like a better than usual version of herself and Zack, in his dark suit, was quite literally turning heads. One girl, too busy ogling him to look where she was going, slipped off the curb and almost toppled into the gutter.

Zack, not realizing why she’d stumbled, rested a protective hand in the small of Ellie’s back and said, ‘Careful, these pavements aren’t great.’ He steered her across the street towards the hotel and she caught sight of them both in another window.

Yee-ha, look at us, heading towards the entrance to Claridge’s like a proper glamorous couple in a Chanel ad, if girls in Chanel ads have ever worn emerald-green shoes from Topshop and jeweled hair combs from Primark. Well, you never know, they might.

They reached the other side of the road. Ellie paused to gaze up at the row of flags hanging outside the hotel entrance. Heads of state stayed here. Royals stayed here. Think how many famous people had passed through those revolving doors and—

‘Oh, hello! It’s Ellie, isn’t it? How funny, I was just admiring your dress and then I recognized you from the salon! You came in with your friend the other week.’

It was Yasmin Brookes. Time did that thing of simultaneously speeding up and going into slow motion as Ellie took stock of the situation. And she’d never met Niall but Roo had shown her a picture of him. The man with Yasmin was definitely Niall. Heavens, out with his own wife, what was he thinking of?

‘Oh yes, hi.’ Yasmin was glancing at Zack; hastily Ellie leapt in before she could come to embarrassing conclusions. ‘This is my boss; we’re off to a business event.’

‘At Claridge’s, how fab! I really do love your dress. This is Niall, my husband.’

As Niall nodded affably at them, Yasmin said to him, ‘We had a lovely chat in the salon, the three of us. I told you about Ellie’s friend. She was the one who looked like that pop singer, Daisy Deeva. Remember from the Three Deevas, years ago? It wasn’t her, of course. But she was still nice!’

Niall’s expression had frozen; his eyes darted from Yasmin to Ellie, a muscle tensed in his jaw, and his neck went blotchy as he realized who she was. Ellie smiled back at him, reveling in his discomfort. Was this schadenfreude? Excellent!

Aloud she said, ‘She is nice,’ and saw Niall’s Adam’s apple bob up and down like a rubber duck in a choppy sea.

‘And is she looking after your baby while you’re out this evening?’

Yeek, this was schadenfreude coming back to bite you on the bum. Ellie said quickly, ‘Yes, yes she is. So where are you off to tonight?’

‘Oh, just meeting up with friends in a bar on South Molton Street. It’s a treat, isn’t it, getting out in the evening? Ellie has a girl,’ Yasmin explained to Niall. She turned back to Ellie. ‘I’m so sorry, I’ve forgotten her name…?’

Oh bugger bugger bugger… Ellie’s heart began to gallop, she couldn’t remember, she had no idea and Zack was now giving her a quizzical look… oh help, for crying out loud, what was her baby’s name?

‘Got it! Alice!’ Yasmin mimed relief that didn’t begin to compare with Ellie’s. ‘Honestly, I hate it when that happens. This is what having babies does to us, isn’t it? Gives us nappy brain!’

The narrow escape had left Ellie feeling sick. Alice, that was it, thank heavens one of them had remembered. She managed a smile and said gaily, ‘Tell me about it. I can’t remember my own name sometimes!’ She pointed to Zack. ‘Or thingamajig’s.’

***

Once inside, Zack said, ‘So I take it your friend Roo isn’t baby-sitting tonight.’

‘No, she isn’t.’ Could he hear her heart, still clattering away in her chest like a monkey trying to get out?

‘I hope that doesn’t mean you’ve left Alice home alone.’

‘Oh, she’ll be all right. As long as she’s got a bottle of rum and the TV remote in her hand, she’s happy. She’s very advanced for her age.’ Ellie looked over her shoulder, double-checking that Yasmin and Niall hadn’t followed them through the revolving doors. No, it was safe. She exhaled and said, ‘Thanks for getting me away from them.’

‘Don’t mention it.’ Zack had skillfully intervened, explaining that they were late and needed to get inside. ‘Although I have to say, for a few seconds you had me there. I was starting to wonder if this was another family member you hadn’t told me about.’

‘I don’t have a baby. I promise.’

‘I gathered that, when you couldn’t remember its name.’

‘Oh God.’ Ellie winced. ‘Was it obvious?’

‘Only to someone who was fairly certain you didn’t have a baby. I don’t think they noticed.’

‘Phew. Anyway, I’m never going to see them again.’ She checked her watch. ‘Are we late? Shall we go up now?’

‘We have a few minutes.’

‘You mean you want to hear all about how I managed to acquire an imaginary child?’

‘Want,’ said Zack, ‘would be an understatement.’

‘OK, I’ll tell you, but it’s not pretty.’ Ellie took a deep breath. ‘Niall’s the married man Roo was having an affair with. She found out where his wife worked and made me go along with her to see if Yasmin was the nightmare Niall said she was. At the time it seemed like a good idea if I had a baby, so we’d have something to talk about. Which was great until it got to discussing childbirth.’

Zack said gravely, ‘I hear it hurts a bit.’

‘It does, but I was very brave. Anyway, you’ve just met her. Yasmin was lovely. But Roo couldn’t bring herself to admit it. Except last week she found out she wasn’t the only mistress. So she’s dumped Niall and now she’s busy turning herself into a nun.’

‘And he’s one of those men who isn’t happy unless he’s cheating on his partner. Nice.’ Zack’s expression made his feelings on the subject clear. ‘I hope your chap’s not like that.’

‘No, he isn’t.’ Since she still hadn’t come clean about Todd, she could hardly tell him about the Todd-and-Roo fiasco.

‘He doesn’t mind you coming here this evening with me?’

‘He really doesn’t mind.’ This much was true at least.

‘Good. Well, we’d better head on up there.’ As Zack ushered her towards the lift, his hand brushed against her arm and Ellie’s skin tingled. Weird; she’d never noticed that happen before. The next moment, the lift doors glided open and he tilted his head, indicating with a brief smile she should go in ahead of him. For a split second she felt a squiggly response in the pit of her stomach. Oh God, stop it, she was hopelessly out of practice on the man front and her first attempt at a comeback had been a disaster. Don’t say she was about to launch into a desperate rebound crush on—of all people—her own boss. How embarrassing. How pathetic. How completely, humiliatingly inappropriate.

Right, this wasn’t going to happen. Mind over matter. She was going to put a stop to it before it could take hold.

Just… don’t let it start.