Chapter 38
Carmen got the shock of her life when she arrived home an hour later and recognised the man sitting at her kitchen table. Almost jumping out of her skin, she saw the dinner plate in front of him, the half-full mug of coffee, the grubby grey woollen scarf hung over the back of the chair.
Her heart palpitating wildly, Carmen hung back in the doorway. Oh God, this was seriously creepy. What was he doing here? How had he known where she lived? And what on earth did Rose think she was doing, allowing him into the kitchen and feeding him beef stroganoff?
‘Hi, sweetheart,’ Rose said gaily. ‘Hungry?’
Hungry? Was Rose out of her mind?
‘What’s going on?’ Carmen addressed the visitor to the shelter - the one who, according to Nick, had spent the entire afternoon covertly watching her. Although whenever she had in turn glanced over at him he had appeared to be more interested in Nick. Heatedly she demanded, ‘Have you been following me?’
‘No.’
‘Then how did you find out where I live?’
‘God, I’m good,’ drawled the man, sitting back in his chair and peeling off his beard. ‘I should be an actor.’
‘You bastard!’ shrieked Carmen as Rennie pulled off his wig and broke into a broad grin. He still looked so hideous she could barely take it in. As she watched, he popped out the soft contact lenses with their ageing pale grey lines around each iris.
‘Here, clean yourself up.’ Delighted with her part in the subterfuge, Rose was at the ready with a pack of wet-wipes. ‘That’s not really dirt on his face, pet,’ she consoled Carmen. ‘It’s all make-up. Isn’t it clever?’ she went on admiringly. ‘He certainly fooled me.’
‘Fooled Carmen too.’ Baring grotesquely stained teeth at her, Rennie dragged off the holey brown sweater he’d been wearing, to reveal one of his own T-shirts underneath. ‘Better now?’
‘Bastard.’ Carmen was tempted to hit him. ‘And your teeth are revolting.’
‘I wanted false ones but it was too short notice. Remember Lisa?’
Carmen nodded. Lisa, an ex-girlfriend of Rennie’s, had worked as a make-up artist for the BBC.
‘I rang her this morning.’ Rennie sounded pleased with himself. ‘Went round to her house and got her to grubby me up. Gave myself a fright when I looked in the mirror, I can tell you. Then again, it has its good points. Had a whole carriage to myself on the tube.’
‘I’m not surprised. You smell like a brewery,’ said Carmen.
‘Splashed half a can of Tennant’s Extra over me for that authentic, reeking-of-alcohol touch. Nice job, don’t you think? Oh, come on, you know you can’t resist the rough and ready look.’ Advancing towards her, Rennie leered, ‘Come over here and give me a kiss.’
Carmen had been marvelling at the lengths he would go to to play a trick on her. She was about to open her mouth and tell him he had far too much time on his hands when it struck her that she’d got it all wrong.
‘Hang on, hang on.’ Holding up her hands to ward him off, she said, ‘What made you do this?’
Still smiling lasciviously, Rennie bared his hideous brown teeth. ‘Wanted to see where you worked, find out what you do all day.’
‘Really? Or is that a big lie?’
He looked mystified. ‘Sorry?’
‘Oh, don’t give me that. You came to spy on Nick!’
Rennie instantly conceded defeat. ‘OK, is that so terrible? You said I mustn’t come to the flat because I’d be recognised. But it’s OK for Nancy and Rose to go there. Why did Nancy turn up at the flat last night? Because she was dying to meet Nick. And I wanted to meet him too, but I wasn’t allowed to,’ he said simply. ‘So I did it the only way I could, by making sure nobody would recognise me. Not even you.’
‘You wanted to spy on him,’ Carmen repeated evenly.
‘I wanted to see what he was like.’
‘Because you don’t trust me! You think I’m incapable of choosing someone nice!’ Carmen was torn between feeling outraged and touched by his concern.
‘Look, calm down,’ said Rennie. ‘I was right about Joe, wasn’t I? He seemed OK to begin with, but deep down I had this feeling he wasn’t on the level. And now here you are, rushing into another relationship. I just wanted to check him out for myself, that’s all. What’s so terrible about that?’
Carmen sighed and sat down opposite him. Warily she said, ‘Fine, so now you have. And?’
‘The truth?’
‘Fire away,’ Carmen said flatly.
‘OK.’ Rennie nodded. ‘He seems like a good guy. Dodgy clothes.’
‘You can talk.’
‘Don’t be defensive. He’s no fashion icon. But I liked him and I’m pretty sure he’s on the level.’
‘Of course he’s on the level.’
‘It was fun, actually, watching the two of you together. Pretending not to be flirting with each other.’ Amused, Rennie said, ‘He’s mad about you. It’s so obvious.’
‘No need to sound so surprised.’ Now Carmen really wanted to hit him. ‘I’m not a complete troll.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t be so touchy. I’m on your side. And I think you’ve chosen the right one this time. Nick’s a decent bloke.’
‘Well, thank you.’ Should she feel flattered or patronised on Nick’s behalf?
‘If you marry him,’ Rennie’s eyes glittered, ‘will I be invited to the wedding?’
‘Not a chance,’ said Carmen as Rose brought her a plate of stroganoff and rice.
‘Could I just lurk at the back of the church if I dress up as a tramp?’
‘Still no.’ Carmen smiled sweetly at him. ‘And do you think you could go and brush your teeth now? They’re starting to make me feel sick.’
Nancy’s muscles didn’t know what had hit them. Her calves were on fire, her lungs were close to bursting and there was barely enough strength in her neck to keep her head from flopping onto her chest.
But in the weirdest way she was actually enjoying herself.
Then again, it was always nice to stop.
One point nine seven miles on the treadmill. Nearly there. Willing herself on, Nancy watched the computerised counter move to one point nine eight . . . keep going, keep going . . . one point nine nine . . . oof, just a few more seconds . . . here we are, any second now . . .
Yes. Two miles. Triumphantly slamming the flat of her hand onto the Stop button, Nancy felt the blissful slowing of the machine as it began to wind down. She clung to the side bars, panting and perspiring. Savannah, coming up to see how far she’d run, clapped her hands and said encouragingly, ‘Way to go, girl! You’ll be entering the London marathon next. Don’t overdo it though. Give your muscles time to recover. Now, off you hop and have a rest.’
Nancy, whose legs had now turned to not-quite-set jelly, gasped ‘Hop?’
After a shower, Nancy made her way back through to the bar. It was her third visit to the Lazy B since Sunday and already she was being recognised and greeted by other friendly regulars. Spotting Mia taking a break, she carried her coffee over to join her.
‘Hey.’ Mia put down the magazine she’d been engrossed in, something to do with animal rights, and gazed approvingly at Nancy’s yellow tracksuit. ‘You’re looking fit.’
‘Looking fit, feeling knackered.’ Stirring her cappuccino, Nancy said, ‘Knackered, but smug.’
‘Does it hurt?’
‘Well, when I do this.’ Nancy leaned forward to put her coffee cup back on the table in front of her and winced. ‘I think this must be how it feels to be in labour.’
‘But you’re still glad you decided to come here? You don’t have to work yourself so hard, you know.’ Mia took a slurp of mocha milkshake. ‘It isn’t compulsory. You could always give the exercise malarkey a miss and just have fun.’
Nancy knew that, but it wouldn’t have felt right. Mia and Connor had given her the membership and it seemed rude not to use it properly.
Well, that was the official line. The real reason was because she didn’t want to appear to be angling for attention from Connor, only turning up in order to waft around the place eyeing him longingly from a distance. Which was how it would look, both to Connor and, even more excruciatingly, Sadie.
At least this way she could pretend she was here purely for the exercise. And it was fun in a masochistic kind of way.
‘I’m enjoying it.’ Nancy flinched as she reached forward again for her coffee. ‘Ouch. Maybe it’s easier to just hold the cup rather than keep picking it up and putting it down.’
‘Speaking of picking up.’ Mia’s eyes danced. ‘What d’you think of Cyanide Sadie’s latest victim?’
Nancy knew all about this. The whole club had been buzzing with the news that Sadie had taken up with Antonio, the club’s new personal trainer. Antonio - never, ever shortened to Tony - was as sleek as a seal. With his shaven head, liquid brown eyes and sinuous body he actually strongly resembled a seal. Instantly, upon his arrival at the Lazy B, he had attracted a great deal of fluttery attention from the female members of the club. Antonio was twenty-three, single and super-fit. He was also heterosexual. The fact that he waxed the hairs off his chest didn’t seem to bother them in the least.
Sadie had wasted no time getting in there first. Nobody else had stood a chance. Antonio was beautiful and he was hers. Within a few days they had become an item. Mission accomplished.
If Sadie had done it to take her mind off Connor, it appeared to be doing the trick.
‘He certainly seems to have cheered her up,’ said Nancy.
‘Hmm.’ Mia smirked.
‘What? Isn’t that a good thing?’
‘She wouldn’t be quite so cheerful if she’d seen the way he was flirting with me this morning.’
‘What?’
Lowering her voice, Mia leaned closer and added gleefully, ‘Or the way he pinched my bum.’
‘My God! Seriously?’
‘Oh, he was serious all right. Nothing accidental about it.’ Mia mimed sliding her hand behind an invisible bum, first squeezing then giving it a lascivious pinch. ‘He came behind the reception desk to pick up his booking sheet. Too much Italian testosterone, if you ask me. I slapped him away and told him he could be done for sexual harassment, but he just laughed. That’s when he came over all flirtatious.’
‘So then what did you do?’ Nancy pictured the scene: Mia giving Antonio a no-holds-barred piece of her mind and possibly a slapped face for good measure.
‘Ha, flirted back at him of course.’
‘You flirted with Antonio?’ Astounded, Nancy said, ‘Do you like him?’
‘Duh. He’s way too old for me. Plus, if a man waxes his chest hair, what other hideous bits and pieces might he secretly have waxed? And all he likes to talk about is nutrition and ab-curls, which is enough to do any normal person’s head in.’
‘So why . . .?’ Nancy broke off as she realised belatedly why Mia was flirting with Antonio.
‘Because I can,’ Mia said mischievously. ‘And because it’s going to have Cyanide Sadie foaming at the mouth with fury.’
Was this what was known as a death wish?
‘It’s over between Sadie and Connor,’ Nancy protested. ‘You don’t have to hate her any more.’
Checking her watch, Mia knocked back the rest of her milkshake. ‘Are you joking? She’s still bad-mouthing me - it’s her mission in life to get me the sack. Anyway.’ Jumping to her feet she said chirpily, ‘Compared with drawing up rotas, fighting with Cyanide Sadie’s much more fun. It brightens my day.’
It was obvious that Mia had no intention of backing off. As Nancy left the club ten minutes later, Mia was behind the reception desk, swinging her blond hair and doing her flirty thing while Antonio leaned across, whispering provocatively into her ear. For a mad moment Nancy almost felt sorry for Sadie, whose advanced aerobics class was currently in progress upstairs. Then she gave herself a mental shake, because Sadie was poisonous. Plus, if she found out about Mia and Antonio, they were the ones who were going to be in need of sympathy. Not to mention hospital treatment.
Catching sight of Nancy, Mia waved and called out, ‘You just missed Dad.’
Nancy smiled and waved back. Had she?
Good.