To the Moon and Back

Chapter 34




Opening the door at eight o’clock in the morning, Roo wasn’t that surprised to find Niall on her doorstep. Ellie had told her all about the recent encounter with him and Yasmin outside Claridge’s.

But to show willing, she said, ‘What are you doing here?’

‘You’ve blocked my number. I need to talk to you, find out what’s going on.’ He wasted no time. ‘You went to see Yasmin.’

‘And?’

‘I want to know why.’

‘Just curious, I suppose. I was interested to find out what she was really like. And guess what? She was lovely. Better than you deserve, that’s for sure.’

‘Well, don’t do it again, OK? Leave her alone.’

‘Don’t tell me what I can’t do,’ said Roo.

Niall exhaled. ‘OK, please don’t go there again. If you tell her, you’d break her heart.’

Fancy that. She’d be the one who broke his wife’s heart. Aloud she said, ‘You think?’

‘Roo. Please.’

***

Working in a charity shop might not be glamorous but it was undoubtedly a good thing. People gave away stuff they no longer wanted, and it was bought by people who did want it, and the money raised went to a worthy cause.

It was just a shame that sometimes people gave away stuff they no longer wanted without first making sure it was clean. This was Roo’s first morning in the shop and she was discovering that rubber gloves were a necessity. Already, unpacking the mound of plastic bags left outside overnight, she had lifted out a pair of jeans with boxer shorts still inside them. Neither of them had been washed. For a good long while. If ever.

But it didn’t matter, because she was atoning. Making up for a lifetime of hedonism and selfishness. She wasn’t going to throw a diva tantrum and demand to be given something easier and less gross to do.

Besides, it had all been worth it to see the look on Niall’s face this morning when she sent him packing with the words, ‘Anyway, I have to go now, I mustn’t be late for work.’

Stunned, he’d said, ‘What d’you mean, work?’

And she’d got a real kick out of replying, ‘Oh, didn’t Ellie mention it? I’ve got a new job.’

The other upside to having turned over a new leaf was discovering how buzzy and clear-headed it was possible to feel when you gave up drinking. She hadn’t realized before what a difference it made when you didn’t even have a hint of a hangover fuzzing up your brain.

‘’Scuse me, love, this one’s too small for me, d’you have it in an eighteen?’

The customer was in her forties and had one of those tartan shopping trolleys on wheels. She was holding up a pink cardigan and looking hopeful. The old Roo would have said, ‘Hello? We’re in a charity shop, darling. This isn’t Harvey Nicks.’ Or she might have said, ‘If you lost a couple of stone, it’d fit you.’

But she wasn’t Old Roo anymore, she was New Roo. Sans makeup, sans snarky attitude. She made a conscious effort to envisage this customer’s life: poverty-stricken, unlucky in love, lots of daytime TV… oh God, apart from the poverty bit, that’s me!… and said, ‘I’m so sorry, we don’t. But a lovely pale green one just came in this morning, I’m sure it’s an eighteen and the color would really suit you. Shall I pop out to the back room and find it?’

Pat, who was the manageress, told her it was to be priced at six pounds fifty. Roo brought the cardigan out and it fitted the woman perfectly. She’d been right about the shade too; it really brought out the color of her eyes.

‘Oh dear, six pounds fifty, though.’ The woman hesitated, visibly torn. ‘That’s more than I can afford.’

God, imagine not being able to afford six pounds fifty. Roo leaned forward and whispered, ‘It’s all right, you can have it for one pound fifty.’ What the hell, she’d make up the difference herself.

‘OK.’ The woman beamed, as well she might. It was a lamb’s wool cardigan from Jaeger, in pristine condition. ‘I’ll take it!’

Three minutes later, glancing up as the woman was about to leave the shop, Roo saw her deftly removing a pair of Russell and Bromley stilettos from a display stand and sliding them into her tartan shopper. She blinked in disbelief as an armful of scarves and handbags followed them.

‘Hey!’ yelled Roo, outraged.

The woman looked up, gave her a one-fingered salute, and shot out of the shop faster than Usain Bolt, the tartan trolley bouncing at her heels. Roo, cursing this morning’s unwise choice of four-inch zebra-print stilettos with multiple ankle straps, yelped, ‘Stop her! She stole stuff !’

But this clearly wasn’t going to happen. She was the only person in the shop under eighty. By the time she managed to unbuckle the fiddly straps and get her shoes off, the thief and her tartan trolley would be in Camden.

Pat, emerging from the back room, shot her a disapproving look. ‘Didn’t you chase after her?’

In reply, Roo pointed to her bondage heels.

A disparaging sniff, then Pat said, ‘In future, wear something you can run in. And what was that I overheard about you letting her have the cardigan for one pound fifty?’

Honestly, were there secret listening devices hidden under the counter? Roo was forced to bite her lip, hard. ‘It’s OK, I hadn’t forgotten. I owe the till five pounds.’

After six hours of breathing in the stale air of the charity shop—clearly not choosing to volunteer in one of the many clean ones had been a mistake—entering the beauty salon was sheer heaven. The luxury, the gorgeous expensive smells, the relaxing atmosphere, the absence of ungrateful shoplifters…

‘Oh, look at your poor nails!’ Having examined them, Yasmin said sympathetically, ‘And this one’s broken right down. That must hurt. How did it happen?’

Roo shrugged. ‘Humping heavy boxes around. Picking duct tape off a hundred-piece chandelier. Carrying an electric cooker up two flights of stairs.’

‘That’ll do it.’ Yasmin was already preparing to get busy with her manicurist’s equipment. She kept her attention focused on the badly torn nail. ‘So what’s all this in aid of? Are you moving house?’

‘No. I’ve just started as a volunteer in a charity shop. If I smell funny, that’s why.’

‘Oh, you don’t smell! And what an amazing thing to do, giving up your time and working for nothing… that’s so generous. You must be a really nice person.’

On the one hand, this was just what Roo wanted to hear. On the other hand, if only Yasmin knew.

But she wasn’t going to tell her. Niall could relax; that wasn’t why she’d come back here. She wanted to make amends to Yasmin without her finding out the truth.

‘Thousands of people do voluntary work.’ She showed Yasmin her zebra heels. ‘I wore the wrong shoes. Got told off.’

‘But they’re beautiful.’

‘We had a shoplifter.’

‘A shoplifter?’ Yasmin pulled a face. ‘That’s just low.’

Speaking of low… ‘Anyway, how’s your family?’

‘They’re good, thanks. Did your friend tell you we bumped into her the other night?’

‘Oh yes, she did mention it.’

‘How did the baby-sitting go?’

‘With Alice?’ Roo wasn’t stupid; she’d made a point of learning the name. ‘No problem. It was great!’

‘Any more teeth yet?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Teeth? The baby?’

‘Oh… well, maybe a few more.’ OK, now she was out of her comfort zone. ‘I didn’t count them. Babies aren’t really my thing.’

Yasmin smiled. ‘Alice hasn’t made you broody then. Not planning on having one yourself.’

‘Ew, no chance.’

‘You say that now.’ Niall’s wife’s eyes sparkled. ‘But you’ll end up changing your mind. Give it a few years and it’ll happen. Are you with anyone at the moment?’

Roo watched her cuticles being skillfully pushed back with an orange stick, felt the warmth of Yasmin’s fingers cupping her hand. ‘No, no one. I’m all on my own.’

‘Well, that must be your choice. You’re so pretty you could have any man you want.’

Don’t think about Todd. Definitely don’t think about Niall.

‘It doesn’t work like that, though, does it? It’s not that simple. To be honest,’ Roo blurted out, ‘I’ve never had much luck with men.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, you’ll get there in the end. You’ll find the right man, settle down together, have a baby… sorry, are you OK? Have I said the wrong thing? Here, have a tissue, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you…’

‘No, really, I’m fine.’ It was the guilt and the shame that had done it; Roo hastily used her free hand to wipe away the tears that had sprung up out of nowhere. ‘It just sounds so lovely. Is that what happened to you?’

‘What, with my husband?’ Yasmin paused for a moment. Then she said ruefully, ‘Well, I hadn’t actually planned on getting pregnant, but these things happen, so you just make the best of it, don’t you? And now Ben’s here, I wouldn’t be without him for the world.’

When her nails were finished, skillfully repaired and buffed, and made shorter than before in deference to her new job, Roo paid the bill and added a twenty pound tip.

‘Wow.’ Yasmin’s eyes widened. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. You fitted me in at short notice. And you’ve done a great job,’ said Roo. ‘You deserve it.’

‘Well, thanks.’ Yasmin grinned. ‘You can come back again.’

And the weird thing was, she almost couldn’t wait. Roo picked up one of the salon’s glossy pink and cream brochures detailing the treatments on offer and wondered which of them to have next. ‘I will.’

***

The phone rang that evening just as Ellie was getting ready for bed.

‘Oh, hi! Is that Ellie? Ellie, hi there, honey is Tony with you?’ Tamara, Tony’s personal assistant in LA, had one of those singsong super-sweet voices that made you feel as if you were swimming through treacle.

‘No. He’s not here.’ Ellie frowned; what an odd question. ‘He isn’t in Britain. He’s in LA.’

‘No, honey, he’s not here. He’s definitely over there with you.’

‘He isn’t, though. And he would have told me if he was coming over.’

‘Well, he asked me to organize it. I booked the plane tickets myself and drove him to the airport. OK, don’t worry, I just need to ask him about fitting in an interview but his cell’s switched off. No problem, I’ll keep trying. Bye, honey, bye!’

OK, this was officially strange. Ellie tried Tony’s number. Tamara was right; it was switched off. She left a message asking him to call her and said, ‘If you’re here, why didn’t you tell me?’

Most odd. But he must be all right, surely. There had to be a simple explanation.

Ellie yawned, brushed her teeth, and went to bed.