He turned and went back into the kitchen and she was left alone for a moment.
‘Mint?’ he called, and she followed and took a seat at the breakfast bar and watched as he made the tea. Neither of them said anything. He pushed a mug towards her and then holding his, leaned his back against the counter and looked at her expectantly.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Laura. ‘Truly, deeply sorry. They’d just told me you were likely to . . .’ she paused, remembering the awful meeting, ‘not make it. In fact, you didn’t have a lot of time. I was devastated, and knowing I was about to lose you, I wanted . . . I wanted you to myself. To give you all of myself. I wanted the last few hours to be like they were when you were little. Just us.’
‘And then?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, I woke up. At no point did you tell Cherry I’d recovered. And you told me she’d left me months before.’
‘I know. I—’
‘Did you not think I missed her? That I could’ve done with her when I was recovering?’ His voice ached with hurt and she felt an urge to put her arms around him, but he wasn’t a child she could comfort anymore. And anyway, she was the source of the hurt.
‘Daniel, it wasn’t an easy decision. I agonized over it, even after you’d come round.’
‘That makes it even worse – if you held my future in your hands, tossing it this way and that.’
‘No, you misunderstand—’
‘At least if you’d known for a fact she was bad news, it would make it easier to stomach.’
Laura took a deep breath. ‘Look, I know it’s been hard, and I should’ve been the one to tell you, but . . . well, this isn’t going to be easy to hear . . .’
He stiffened. ‘What?’
‘Cherry manipulated me out of the way yesterday. She faked a call to my PA, pretending to be ITV, and told me I had to be at a meeting yesterday morning. Meanwhile, she comes to the house to drop the bombshell.’
Daniel put his cup down in exasperation. ‘Mum, she didn’t know I was alive.’
‘No, you see, she did. She’d come to my office the day before.’
‘Yes, she told me.’
Laura was surprised. ‘She did?’
‘Said she’d come for some closure. You hadn’t told her anything about my funeral, or where she could visit my non-existent grave.’
She tried to ignore his sarcasm. ‘Is that all she said?’
‘What else was there?’
‘She threatened me. Told me she knew you were alive and in revenge for what I’d done she was going to take everything from me.’
He made a small exhaling noise, incredulous. ‘What?’
‘I’m sorry, Daniel,’ she said. ‘I know you like her, but she is bad news.’
‘Revenge? Take everything? How’s she going to do that?’
‘I don’t know.’
He was staring at her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. Hurt was etched across his face, along with something else he was trying to fight. Dislike.
‘She came to the house yesterday morning to bring you some memorabilia,’ he said. ‘Photos of our trip to Wales. She thought you might like them.’
Her heart missed a beat. ‘She’s clever, don’t you see? She’s playing you.’
The buzzer went. Daniel picked up the phone, listened and held down the door release.
‘Expecting someone?’ she said apprehensively. She thought she knew who.
His look confirmed it and she sat up straight. ‘What are you going to say to her?’
There was a rap at the door and Daniel left. Laura could hear quiet murmurings in the hallway. A few seconds later, he came back, followed by Cherry.
‘Laura,’ she said demurely. ‘I hope I’m not intruding.’
Laura looked at her. She was as cool as you like and not a trace of their previous conversation could be read in her face.
‘He knows everything.’
Cherry looked puzzled. ‘About what you said to me? The lie?’
‘No—’ she started heatedly before pulling herself together. ‘About you. Coming to my office and threatening me.’
Cherry looked at Daniel, wide-eyed. ‘I don’t know what she means.’
‘Oh, come on . . .’
‘I’m sorry, Daniel,’ said Cherry softly. ‘I know she doesn’t like me, doesn’t want us seeing each other, but I’m finding this very hard to deal with. Maybe we should rethink our plans.’
‘What plans?’ said Laura anxiously, looking at Daniel.
He was silent for a moment.
‘Cherry’s moving in. Moved in.’
‘She’s what?’
‘I’m not. I can’t cope with this.’ Upset, Cherry turned to go. ‘Look, I’ll just get a cab, take my things home again.’
Daniel grabbed her arm. ‘No—’
‘She’s moving in now? You don’t waste any time, do you?’
‘Mum!’
‘Whose idea was it?’
‘What?’
‘For her to move in?’
Daniel was losing patience. ‘Mine, of course.’
‘Are you sure? Think back. Are you sure she didn’t plant the idea?’
‘No!’
Cherry was in the hallway, dragging her bag to the door.
‘Cherry, wait!’ Daniel ran over and put his hand on the door to stop her from opening it.
Laura took a deep breath. She spoke awkwardly, under her breath. ‘Daniel, this is what I’ve been saying . . . about the money. There was the ticket too, remember? Telling you the flight to France was six hundred when it was only five. I saw the ticket.’
She saw him hesitate.
‘Daniel, please believe me. Everything I’m telling you is true.’
He looked at Cherry, who she saw was doing her best to appear perplexed.
‘Are you talking about when I came to your villa?’ Cherry said. ‘I don’t understand . . .’ She blinked, hurt, then started rummaging in her suitcase. ‘You think I tried to scam money out of you? I didn’t . . . Look . . . I’m sure I have it here somewhere . . . I kept it, a keepsake . . . It was our first trip together . . . Here!’ She produced a piece of crumpled paper with a flourish. ‘My ticket.’
Daniel took it.
‘That’s all I ever asked you for, right?’ continued Cherry.
Laura frowned at the piece of paper in Daniel’s hand. It looked the same, but the amount was ￡600 . . . ‘That’s not right. That’s not the ticket I saw . . .’
‘I need to go,’ said Cherry, tears welling in her eyes.
‘Not yet.’ Daniel turned to Laura. ‘Mum, I think you’d better leave.’
‘But can’t you see? She must have made that up, printed another one or something. She’s lying!’
He spoke quietly. ‘Mum, it’s not Cherry who’s the liar.’
She broke her gaze from him when she could feel the tears prick, and holding her head as high as she could, left the flat.