Claudia wasn’t in any hurry to get back. If her father was so set on humoring Dina—and he was famous for his patience with members of the public when they took the liberty of introducing themselves—she didn’t want to be around to witness it. Serve the silly old fool right.
She had just finished pouring Hugo a quadruple Scotch when Angie materialized at her side.
‘Darling, you forgot to send me an invite! If Hugo hadn’t mentioned it this afternoon I’d have missed the party altogether.’ Ostentatiously reaching up on tiptoe she kissed her daughter’s rigid jaw. ‘And look at you in a pretty new dress. Such a shame about the cigarette burn.’
‘Where? Oh no!’
‘Never mind, make a few more holes and pretend it’s the latest Vivienne Westwood. Where’s Hugo?’
‘Talking to some little tart.’
‘Oh well, what’s new?’ Angie looked amused. ‘You don’t look terribly cheerful, my darling. If there’s some kind of problem, tell Mummy.’
Well Mummy, you see the thing is, I’m completely besotted with someone and I don’t know if he likes me and I’m way too embarrassed to ask and he’s really shy so he might fancy the pants off me but he keeps his feelings so much to himself it’s just about impossible to tell.
‘I’d rather die,’ Claudia said aloud. ‘Since when were you interested in my problems anyway?’
‘I love hearing about problems! I’d make a wonderful agony aunt,’ Angie protested, laughing. ‘If only people would have the nerve to take my advice.’
Nerve was what Angie possessed in abundance. Claudia definitely didn’t want to be Angie, but she wished she could have inherited a bit more nerve. It was a handy thing to have around. Especially right now.
Jake was heading almost straight for them. He was wearing the plain dark blue sweater and a pair of the well-cut trousers Poppy had chosen for him. His dark hair, freshly washed, was flopping onto his forehead. Behind the tinted gold-rimmed spectacles his dark eyes searched the room. He looked so smart and so quietly handsome Claudia felt her heart leap into her throat like a fish. And he had come in search of her.
‘Jake,’ she said, because he was in danger of veering off to the left.
‘Oh. Hi.’ He stopped dead and the look on his face told Claudia he hadn’t been searching for her at all. ‘Um… I thought Marlene would be in here. How… how are you?’
‘Oh, I’m fine. Yes, fine.’
Jake hesitated then said, ‘Fallen off any good windowsills lately?’
It was meant to be a light-hearted quip, an ice-breaker, and it was clearly a line he had prepared earlier, like a Nigella Lawson soufflé.
Except Nigella’s soufflés never fell this flat.
Angie, her tinted eyebrows up in her hairline, said, ‘Heavens, I am intrigued.’
Claudia took a gulp of her drink, clean forgetting it wasn’t her drink. She had never been able to get to grips with Scotch.
‘Aaargh.’ Spluttering helplessly, unable to swallow the burning liquid, she was forced to spit it back into the tumbler. Her eyelids felt as if they were on fire.
‘You must excuse my daughter,’ Angie said smoothly, ‘she has the manners of a warthog. I’m Angie, by the way. And of course I’ve heard all about you! Now Jake, what an enthralling remark. There must be a story behind this. Do tell.’
‘Mother—’
‘Claudia, throw that Scotch-and-saliva away before someone else drinks it. And go and clean yourself up, you’ve got dribble on your chin.’
In desperation Jake said, ‘Actually—’
‘No, no, I insist.’ Angie lowered her voice a conspiratorial octave. ‘I can’t wait to hear what my daughter gets up to on windowsills when I’m not around.’ Reaching up, she smoothed a section of hair behind Jake’s left ear. ‘There, that’s better. It was sticking out. Goodness me, what glossy hair you have, you must take tremendous care of it. And I adore your aftershave.’
‘I’m not wearing any.’ Jake looked nervous. ‘It must be deodorant.’
‘Mum, please.’
‘No, it’s definitely not Mum. And Claudia, what did I just tell you to do? Chin, darling. Chin.’
‘It’s going to seem weird here without you,’ said Caspar. Tom, who had barely left Poppy’s side all evening, was deep in conversation across the room with one of Caspar’s artist friends, who had once been an architect. ‘We’ll miss you.’
‘Me too.’ Poppy grinned. ‘Listen to us. Anyone would think I was disappearing up the Amazon. We’ll still see each other.’
‘Yeah.’
‘We will! Tom’s already said we must have you and Babette over for dinner.’
‘Well,’ Caspar struggled for something to say, ‘that sounds…’
‘Like your idea of the dinner party from hell,’ Poppy suggested dryly. ‘I know. Babette and I haven’t exactly hit it off. And you and Tom didn’t get off to the greatest of starts. But he did say he liked Babette.’ She pulled a face. ‘She’s got her act together, apparently. Tom approves of people whose acts are together.’
Now there was a thought. Caspar glanced across the room at Babette, chatting animatedly to a tall antiques dealer. Poppy followed the direction of his gaze.
‘Can I ask?’ she said suddenly. ‘Why did you marry her?’
But Caspar’s expression was unreadable. He raised his glass of Beaujolais to the light, apparently studying the color.
‘Because you told me to.’
‘Really?’
‘I thought it would simplify matters. And I wanted to know what being married would be like.’
‘And has it? Simplified matters?’
‘Of course.’ Was Caspar mocking her? It was impossible to tell. ‘Only one notch on my bedpost nowadays. I’m a respectable married man.’
‘You must still get chatted up.’ Poppy was disbelieving. ‘That hasn’t stopped, it can’t have.’
Caspar broke into a grin. ‘Oh, I get my share of offers. But being married is a great excuse for saying no. They don’t get offended. Some of them are even impressed.’
‘I’m definitely impressed.’
‘So how about you?’ Swiftly Caspar turned the tables on her. ‘Are you happy? Sure you’re doing the right thing?’
Poppy gave him a strange look.
‘Of course I’m sure.’
‘Because—’
‘What a bloody stinking awful pig of a party,’ howled Claudia, barging up to them. ‘If there wasn’t such a queue for the bathroom I’d slash my wrists.’
Caspar said, ‘Don’t tell me. Someone else has turned up wearing the same dress as you.’
Claudia commandeered his glass and downed the contents in one.
‘My unspeakable mother is chatting up Jake. My father is being chatted up by your even more unspeakable friend Dina. And some total bastard has burned a sodding hole in my dress.’ Gathering up material from the back, Claudia showed them the evidence. ‘If I find out who did it, I’ll kill them.’ Her eyes narrowed to slits. ‘Does that look like the kind of hole an Embassy Regal would make?’
Poppy left them to it. She had spotted Rita in the doorway.
‘I’m so glad you’re here.’ She hugged Rita, who was wearing an orange and white polka-dotted frock and matching shoes. ‘I thought you weren’t coming.’
‘Said I would, didn’t I?’ Rita lit a cigarette. ‘Never been one to miss out on a good party. How’s it going?’
‘If you don’t want to be depressed, steer clear of Claudia.’ Poppy took her arm. ‘Come on, let me introduce you to some people.’
‘Don’t worry about me, love. I don’t need looking after. Just point me in the direction of the drinks. When I see someone I like the look of, I’ll introduce myself.’
It was dark outside in the garden, apart from the colored lights Caspar and Poppy had strung up somewhat haphazardly in the trees.
‘Aren’t they pretty?’ sighed Dina, gesturing dreamily with her cigarette at a ball of lights Caspar hadn’t been able to untangle. ‘It’s like a fairy tale. Like… Cinderella.’
‘Mind your glass slippers don’t get stuck in the mud.’
She looked down at her stiletto heels, ringed with earth and leaves.
‘That’s not very romantic. Fine Prince Charming you’d make.’
Hugo smiled. ‘I’m rather afraid my Prince Charming days are over. Far too old.’
Dina’s stomach did a cartwheel. She flicked her cigarette into the bushes and turned to face him.
‘I don’t think you’re too old. I said, didn’t I? I like older men. Especially you.’
She half-closed her eyes, waiting for him to kiss her. They were away from the house, unobserved. All he had to do was take a step forward and pull her into his arms.
But Hugo tilted his head to one side and gave her a look of affection mingled with genuine regret.
‘Oh, my dear. It’s delightful young things like you who get men like me into trouble.’
‘I wouldn’t.’ Dina shook her head eagerly. ‘Honest. I’m on the pill.’
Hugo’s mouth twitched.
‘You’re very sweet. Nevertheless, maybe we should be making our way back to the house. Before people start to wonder where we are.’
Claudia waited until Jake had taken her mother’s empty glass and disappeared in search of a refill. She was over in a flash.
‘Hello darling, fancy bumping into you again so soon,’ said Angie. Claudia had been scowling at her from a distance for the past ten minutes. She unclipped her evening bag, took out a mirror, and calmly redid her lipstick. ‘I must say, I can quite see why you’re so keen on Jake. What a poppet.’
A poppet…
‘You always have to ruin everything,’ hissed Claudia, ‘don’t you?’
‘Ruin everything?’ Angie looked surprised. ‘Baby girl, I had no idea there was anything to ruin. I assumed he was a free agent. I’m sorry, are you saying you and he are a couple?’
‘You know I’m not!’ Claudia spoke through gritted teeth. ‘You just come out with the most embarrassing remarks, like, “I’ve heard all about you.”’ Viciously she imitated her mother’s words. ‘That was a lie for a start. I’ve never told you about Jake.’
Angie’s smile was pure Cheshire Cat.
‘I didn’t say you had. Caspar did, while I was sitting for my portrait. He told me all about your crush on Jake.’
Bloody Caspar.
‘But that was months ago.’ Angie shrugged. ‘Let’s face it, sweetheart, if he was interested, he’d have made his move by now.’
Since there was no answer to that, Claudia scowled and said instead, ‘So what were you talking about?’
‘Oh, money mainly. Jake’s little windfall…’
‘How typical.’
‘…how to spot gold diggers…’
‘Well, you’d know about that,’ Claudia said bitterly.
Angie looked at her. ‘You should try smiling occasionally, darling. It does wonders.’
‘Don’t—’
‘Just a suggestion. Ah, there’s your father. Speaking of gold diggers, who is that frightful creature with him? He looks as if he needs rescuing.’
As Angie drifted away, Claudia wondered if the evening could possibly get worse.