I didn’t get much sleep that night. In between running through the argument with Steve over and over again in my mind I worried about Lou. Add my mother and Chuck into the mix, plus every single sound inside the cottage becoming the Bogey Man coming to get me and it was the perfect mix for a terrible night.
Even Nasreen sounded genuinely sympathetic as she told me I looked
“absolutely awful” when I arrived for work. Clearly I needed to buy a better concealer for the dark circles under my eyes - preferably something super strength.
I was supposed to go straight back to the cottage when the bank closed to help Steve continue the renovation work in the lounge. Since that room wasn’t my most favourite place in the world right now, and since I was more concerned about my sister than the freaky fireplace, I texted Lou to meet me in town instead. The bank closed at lunchtime on Saturdays so I could tell Steve I’d gone grocery shopping.
We met in the café at the central shopping arcade. It had taken to advertising itself as a shopping mall but since there were only twenty shops at best, and three of those were charity shops, calling it a mall was a touch optimistic.
Lou looked as rough as I felt. She flopped into the seat opposite mine with a heavy sigh and half a dozen carrier bags of shopping.
“Bad day?” I was pleased she’d agreed to show up.
She shrugged. “As good a day as you can have when you spend all morning wanting to barf.”
“Have you thought any more about what you’re going to do?” I tried to imagine Lou with a baby and failed miserably. Lou struggled to look after herself most of the time so I was having trouble picturing her being responsible for an infant.
“I’ve been thinking about finding the dad. Well, the guy that might be the dad.”
I didn’t know what to say although I had plenty of thoughts running through my head. “Oh?”
“Yeah, I’ve been trying to work it out, you know, and I think I know where to start looking for him.”
“I thought you said Gor, I mean Gary might be the dad?” What did she mean, where to start looking? How many candidates were there likely to be? Couldn’t she remember where she’d met this other bloke? I began to think that I didn’t really know my sister at all.
Lou gave me a hard stare.
“Don’t look at me like that, Kate. I know what you’re thinking. Look, it was a one-night-stand. I’m not proud of it and it isn’t something I make a habit of doing but I’d know him straightaway if I saw him again.”
“You’re not making this sound any better.” I warned her.
“Yeah, well it was one of those things, okay. He was gorgeous, I’d had a few drinks and well, there you go.” Her expression was sullen as the waitress arrived with our drinks.
I waited till we were alone again. “What’s Mum going to say? Have you told her yet?”
Lou paused in the middle of ripping open a sachet of sugar. “I thought that maybe you could prepare the way a bit for me.” She peeped up at me from under a stray lock of blonde hair that had tumbled across her forehead.
“No.”
“Oh Kate, you always were the favourite. She’d take it better from you than from me. Please.” She took on the pouty, begging look she’d always worn when we were little and she wanted me to ask Mum for extra sweets from the tin in the kitchen.
Usually it worked quite well. Not today.
“First, I am not Mum’s favourite. Second, how do I prepare the way for you to announce you’re pregnant?” What do you suggest? That I casually leave Mothercare brochures on the sofa, or subscribe her to Grandparents Today magazine?” I resented her telling me I was Mum’s favourite when we both knew that wasn’t true. As the baby of the family Lou had always managed to get away with far more than me. I was seven years older so I’d always had to be the responsible one. Somehow I knew that Lou getting herself up the duff would somehow end up being partly my fault in my mother’s mind.
“Well, I don’t know, do I? I just thought you could well, sound her out on how she might feel about becoming a grandmother.” Lou gave her cup a vigorous stir, slopping some of her tea into the saucer.
“You need to tell her yourself, but remember she’s only just become a bride again so she might not be very prepared for your news.” My hands shook as I picked up my tea. I cradled my hands around the cup to steady myself, drawing comfort from the heat of the liquid through the white porcelain. I wasn’t going to do Lou’s dirty work for her. I’d been caught out like that too many times before.
My sister surveyed me sulkily over the rim of her tea cup. “Then promise you’ll come with me when I tell her. I can’t face her on my own, especially if Chuck is there as well, hanging around like a bad smell.”
My momentary hesitation was my undoing and Lou, sensing a weakness, went in for the kill.
“I need you with me, Kate. You’re my big sister.” She turned on the big blue puppy dog eyes.
“Oh, all right.” I set my cup back down, my drink untouched. “When do you think would be a good time?”
Lou’s face lit up and we compared notes on the best time to tell Mum she was about to become a granny. We’d just decided that we’d call in Mum’s in the morning when a well-spoken masculine voice disturbed our discussion.
“May I join you ladies?”
I’d been so caught up with Lou and her problems that I hadn’t noticed Mike, our tutor from the evening class, approaching us.
“Of course.” Lou winked slyly at me as she moved along the banquette seat to make room for Mike to sit next to her. “Plenty of room.”
I took the opportunity while Mike ordered his drink from the waitress to kick my sister under the table to warn her not to start meddling. Not that it made any difference. She winced and flashed me an unrepentant grin.
“How’s the research going? Any more spooky happenings at the cottage, Kate?” He turned his attention to me.
By the time I’d finished reciting last night's events both Mike and Lou were gaping open-mouthed at me.
“I’d love to take a look at the find, and at the cottage.” Mike’s eyes shone deeper blue than before and my heart gave a tiny flutter of excitement.
“You could call round tomorrow afternoon.” I suggested, trying to sound casual. Lou gave me a discreet thumbs-up, mercifully out of Mike’s sight.
“I think I’m with Kate on the shoe thing being creepy though.” Lou gave a shiver.
“It’s an exciting historical find. It’ll be interesting to age it and see if it’s from when the cottage was first built or if it’s a later eighteenth or nineteenth century addition,” Mike explained.
Personally, I didn’t give a flying fig when it was from, it was freaky and gave me the willies. The only good thing about it was that it gave Mike a reason to call at the cottage. I couldn’t help hoping that Steve might get a tiny bit jealous if I started to have someone showing an interest in me, and I hoped the sinister shoe wasn’t the only reason he wanted to call in.
“Drop by tomorrow around two if you’re free. Louise and I are busy in the morning, family business I’m afraid.” I gave my sister a look to remind her that she wasn’t about to duck out from telling Mum about the baby.
“It’s a date.” Mike’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled and my pulse zipped up a notch. Perhaps something good was about to happen in my life after all.
“Well, it was nice meeting you again, Mike, but I’d better be off.” Lou shuffled towards him, indicating that she needed to get out.
He immediately stood so she could leave while I started to have a mini panic attack. I knew what she was up to; she thought that if she left me alone with our tutor it would fan the flames of romance. The trouble was, I hadn’t been alone with a bloke who might be interested in me in years. I’d been with Steve for so long I’d lost whatever meagre flirting skills I might once have possessed leaving me with the conversational chat up skills of a retired nun.
I briefly considered hurling myself at Lou’s ankles and begging her not to desert me. But after gathering up her shopping and promising faithfully that she would be ready by ten the next morning for me to pick her up, she departed. Mike took his seat again. He smiled at me across the polished Formica table top.
My tongue glued itself to the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t think of a single opening conversational gambit. I was about to make some lame-brained comment on the weather, when luckily Mike spoke first.
“I’d love to help you with the research on your cottage, Kate. I looked up a few things in my files which I think might be of some interest to you. If you like I can bring them with me tomorrow? There is a picture you might like to see.” He took a bite from the end of the wafer curl biscuit that had accompanied his coffee, spraying crumbs down the front of his pale grey designer shirt.
“That’s very kind of you.” I suppose it figured he would be more interested in my house than in me. I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed but I pinned a bright smile on my face and tried to look thrilled that he was so interested in the mouldering old dump that was Myrtle Cottage.
“Your cottage does have a very interesting history and finding a spirit trap adds to the historic value.” Mike continued, waving the stump of his biscuit around in his enthusiasm.
“I guess that’ll be good when we come to sell up. I’d like to know about the strange sensations I keep experiencing though. Steve says it’s all in my mind because I didn’t want to buy the house.” So much for Lou thinking it would be romantic to abandon me with Mike. It seemed as if both of us had misread Mike’s interest in me.
“Um, I think you said Steve was your business partner?” Mike polished off the last bit of biscuit.
“Yes, he is. We’re stuck in the house together until the renovations are finished and it sells but it’s purely platonic, a business relationship.” My spirits rose.
Maybe I was wrong and he did fancy me after all?
“Ah, good to know, I um, wouldn’t want him to get the wrong end of the stick if I help you with your research.” His cheeks took on a dull pink tinge and his obvious mild embarrassment made me go all gooey inside.
“No, he won’t. He has a girlfriend.” I tried not to emphasise the girl part and was quite proud when my voice came out nice and even.
“So, um, you have no romantic entanglements, then?”
My heart thudded in my chest as he asked the question.
“No, none.” Heavens, I sounded eager.
Mike’s face lit up. He cleared his throat. “Then would you consider, maybe tomorrow after you show me the cottage, perhaps going for a drink with me?”
“That sounds lovely.” I smiled back at him. I’d been invited on a date! A real date with a bloke who wasn’t Steve! I couldn’t wait to call Lou to tell her.
Unfortunately my cosy cuppa with Mike got cut short by an irate phone call from Steve wanting to know what had been taking me so long and telling me to buy more teabags. Mike looked a bit worried when Steve called and I hoped it hadn’t put a dampener on his interest in me. It did occur to me as I dashed through the ten items or less checkout with a box of PG Tips that most men probably would be concerned if they fancied a girl still apparently living in a cosy domestic situation with their ex.