As Lily opened the café door, Mary glanced up and smiled. ‘Hello, stranger. Thought you’d come to keep me company on this blustery old day? Honestly, I can’t believe it’ll be advent calendars next week. Where does the time go?’
Lily smiled, and stepped aside to allow Victoria to come in after her. ‘I brought someone for you to meet,’ she said, as Victoria pulled off her hat, picked a leaf out of the plastic flowers fed through the ribbon, then gently placed it back on her head.
‘Yeah?’
‘Mary, this is Victoria,’ Lily said, as Victoria looked up and gave a shy smile.
‘Hello, dear,’ she said.
‘Nice to meet you, Vic—’ Mary’s jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. ‘Oh my god. You’re not…?’
‘I am,’ Victoria said, looking a little sheepish.
‘She is,’ Lily added.
‘No way,’ Mary said. ‘I absolutely love your books. And Trainspotter’ Guide—’ She patted her heavily pregnant belly. ‘—me and the soon-to-be watch it all the time.’
‘Well, thank you….’
Victoria still looked awkward, but Lily took her arm and guided her forward. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll get easier with practice,’ she whispered. Then, to Mary she said, ‘Victoria’s just bought Sycamore Cottage. You know, where Christina used to live.’
‘No way,’ Mary said again. ‘We’re practically neighbours.’
‘I just thought I’d bring Victoria out to meet a few of the locals,’ Lily said, as Victoria sat down at a table and picked up a menu card.
‘And I … have a request,’ Victoria said.
‘Oh, sure, what can I get you?’
‘Ah, an autumn special, if you’re still serving them.’
‘December’s not until next week. With maple and whipped cream? And walnuts on top?’
Victoria gave a nervous chuckle. ‘Sounds perfect.’
‘Two,’ Lily said.
Mary laughed. ‘To hell with it. Three. If you don’t mind me joining you? I mean, I don’t want to be like a weird fangirl or anything….’
Victoria smiled. ‘It’s quite all right. Um, Lily here has managed to convince me that my books meant a little to some people.’
‘A little to some people?’ Mary said. ‘They mean a lot to practically everyone I know.’
Victoria gave another little laugh, and Lily grinned. It had taken some convincing to get Victoria out of her new house, but she was becoming more comfortable as the minutes passed.
‘Your compliments are very flattering,’ Victoria said.
‘Don’t worry,’ Mary added. ‘I won’t tell a soul. Not unless you want me to.’
‘Lily said I could trust you,’ Victoria said. ‘Which is why I … ah, have another favour, if you don’t mind.’
‘What, me?’
Victoria leaned down and opened the satchel she had brought. She lifted a thick cardboard envelope and put it on the table.
‘It’s my next book,’ she said, with a shy smile. ‘It took a little longer to finish than I’d hoped, but I would be very happy if you could do me the pleasure of reading it, and then letting me know what you think. Kind of a beta reader, so to speak.’
Mary wiped her brow. ‘My goodness, I think I’m about to go into labour.’
Lily stood up quickly. ‘Seriously?’
Mary shook her head. ‘No. It was a pregnant woman’s figure of speech. Victoria, it would be an absolute pleasure to read your book. I gather it’s a total secret?’
‘For now,’ Victoria said. ‘Thank you very much.’
Lily helped Mary bring over the coffees—although buried beneath mounds of whipped cream, nuts, and maple syrup, it was difficult to be sure what exactly was underneath—then the three of them sat down, and within a couple of minutes they were talking as though they’d all been friends for years.
‘So what do you think about Willow River?’ Mary asked, nodding at the window. Across the road, skeletal trees encircled the churchyard. Rain blown under the awning by the wind spotted the glass. ‘It can get pretty grim over the winter.’
Victoria spooned a lump of cream into her mouth, licked her lips, and lifted an eyebrow.
‘I think it’s a delightful little place,’ she said.
‘It’ll be a bit weird living with Mother again after all these years,’ Michael said, one arm behind Lily’s back as they half sat, half lay on the sofa in her parents’ living room. Both Pete and Sarah were out, giving them a little space. ‘She’ll need me for a while until she’s properly moved in, but perhaps then I’ll look at renting a flat in Brentwell for a while.’
Lily looked at him. ‘Really?’
Michael shrugged. ‘I mean, I’m a modern man and all that, and I know you’re a modern girl, and neither of us believe in whirlwind romances or love at first sight and all those crazy storybook things, but you know, I kind of don’t want to be any further away from you than I have to be.’
‘What about your work?’
‘Well, it’s kind of the closed season now, so if you can get a bit of time off work, we can go together. There are so many naff museums I need to show you. You have no idea.’
‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Lily said. ‘Uncle Gus has agreed to sell me the annexe, so I can turn it into a café, but I won’t get started until after Christmas.’ She leaned into his chest, listening to his heartbeat, feeling the warmth of his body. ‘Do you think Victoria’s book will be a success?’ she asked at last.
‘She’s only just shown it to her editor and apparently a bidding war for the film rights has started already,’ he said.
‘That’s great. What’s your favourite bit?’
Michael leaned sideways and lifted an unkempt stack of printed sheets of A4 paper. He turned over the title page and put the rest on his lap.
‘Probably this bit,’ he said. ‘The dedication.’
He lifted up the page and tilted it towards her. Lily had seen it before, but it still made her smile.
For:
Tiffany
Rebecca
Mandy
Felicity
Penelope
Belinda
and Marigold
The girl who saved everything
‘But I have another favourite bit,’ Michael said. He flicked through the pages until he found the section that he wanted, near the very back. ‘Here,’ he said, pointing at a paragraph at the bottom of the page. ‘When Lily says to Victoria, “Will you do me the honour of becoming my mother-in-law?” You know, I was just wondering when you were going to say that to mother.’
Lily looked at him. ‘What?’
Michael shrugged. ‘You know, neither of us believe in all those silly things that I mentioned, like holding a flame for someone you knew in childhood, meeting them by chance, falling in love literally from the first moment their eyes met, having a whirlwind romance, and then getting engaged within a few weeks … but what if we did?’ He shifted until their eyes met. ‘I mean, I’m not asking you to marry me right now, because your parents’ sofa is not really the most romantic of places, particularly with your mother’s DVD collection of that terrifying Doreen woman up there on the shelf—I mean, I swear her eyes are following me—but if I found somewhere incredibly romantic, went down on one knee, and held up a ring, what do you think you would say?’
Lily smiled and shrugged, trying to look as casual as possible, when she could be sure her thundering heart was giving her feelings away.
‘I suppose,’ she said, wishing she could speak in more than a dry croak, ‘You’ll just have to do it and see.’
Michael nodded. ‘Do you fancy a walk down to the river?’ he said. ‘I’m sure it looks lovely at this time of the year.’
Through the window, the sun was high in a cloudless sky. The last leaves of autumn clung to the tops of the trees, soon to fall.
‘I’m sure it does,’ Lily said. ‘I’m sure it looks lovely.’
‘Then, Lily Markham,’ Michael said sitting up and turning to face her. ‘Would you do me the honour of walking down to Willow River with me?’
Lily nodded. ‘Just let me get my coat,’ she said.
#####