I gathered my things together and followed Lando and the dogs out of the cosy, messy studio and into the freezing night air.
FOURTEEN
The dogs kept haring off through the night after imagined foes, so I bade Lando a chaste and chilly goodnight at the back door and scuttled thankfully into the warm house and up to my welcoming room. I went to move my laptop, which was sitting open on the bed, and of course the bloody thing leapt keenly into life, shining a website at me all about how to rent property in India. Crossly, confused, I clicked it shut, only for my email inbox to be revealed, with a new message from my mother marked ‘High Priority’. I wasn’t particularly moved by this as she does it with all her emails, flagging them up to be sure you don’t dare miss them. If she could, I’m sure she’d have a little red flag to wave in real life, too, just so that you were in no doubt that unmissable pearls of wisdom were about to drop from her lips every time she spoke. It was the subject line of the email – ‘WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT YOUR MOVE’ – that put me off, and with a muttered ‘sorry’ I slammed the laptop shut and stuffed it under some clothes on a chair.
As I got ready for bed, I tried to think about other things, but my mind kept relentlessly returning to the evening I had spent in Lando’s studio. Had I imagined those two near kisses? Or was I nothing but a hormonal, desperate, nearly middle-aged embarrassment? As I undressed, showered, brushed my teeth, got into bed, my mind swung from one thing to the other. One moment I was so sure that the zing between us had been real, the next I was cringing at my hubris in thinking that Lando could possibly fancy me. I would let my imagination run away with me for a while, picturing –feeling– the kisses, then would bring myself back down to earth with a crash, remembering why I had sworn off men and how unpleasant I had initially found this object of my fantasies. As I picked up my book and forced myself to concentrate, I decided that first impressions count.Trust your gut, isn’t that what everyone says now? Well, my gut was churning unpleasantly, so I concluded that I was better off as I was: tucked up in bed, alone, with a good book. I should have tried telling that to my dreams, which raged all night with torrid and romantic scenes and left me quite worn out by the morning.
Breakfast was busy that day as, unusually, everyone was there together including, to everyone’s delight, Daphne, who was radiant in the most glamorous item of clothing I have ever seen in real life, a peach silk floor-length robe trimmed at the sleeves and neck with billowing ostrich feathers. As she wafted across the room, coffee in hand, William stood next to me, where I had stopped, stunned, clutching my bowl of porridge.
‘Isn’t she ravishing, Penny? Am I not the luckiest man on earth?’
‘She’s wonderful, William, I’m so happy for you. But I think I’m a little bit in love with her myself.’
He laughed and crossed over to sit with her, and they both managed to eat breakfast one-handed, as they didn’t stop holding hands the whole way through.
I was nervous but excited about seeing Lando, and I huddled in a chair with a magazine, half wishing he would turn up and half dreading it. But turn up he did, last of everyone. He greeted the room with an uncharacteristic smile, then passed by me and put a hand very briefly on my shoulder.
‘Morning, Penny.’
I felt the redness rush to my face as I managed to choke out a ‘good morning’ in return, then saw Bunny looking sharply between us. Fluffy and ditsy she may appear, but she was nobody’s fool.
‘How did the carving go last night?’ she asked.
‘Wonderfully,’ said Lando, shaking out the newspaper. ‘I think we’re there with Mary, thanks to Penny.’
I was saved from saying anything by my phone ringing in my dressing gown pocket.
‘It’s Lavinia. I wonder why she’s calling so early; we’re seeing her later at the party. Hello?’
‘Penny, thank goodness. I’m in an awful fix and I wondered if you could help?’
‘Of course – if I can.’
‘Thank you. You see, the place is half under water, God only knows what’s happened. Giles is looking into it, but we can’t possibly have Toby’s party here now. Could you possibly ask Lando if we can have it there? I absolutelypromisethat we will leave the place exactly as we found it. Better, if anything.’
‘Oh Lavinia, poor you. Yes, of course I’ll ask. He’s right here, hang on a moment.’
I looked up to see the entire family looking at me, wondering what drama was unfolding on the other end of my phone. My eyes met Lando’s. I quickly explained what had happened. He rolled his eyes but smiled.
‘Yes, of course she can have Toby’s party here, but tell her if all the parents are coming as well, I’m locking the drinks cabinet. Does she need any help getting things over?’
I ignored the flabbergasted faces of the others as Lando calmly returned to his breakfast, and I spoke again to Lavinia, then slipped the phone back into my pocket.
‘She’s so grateful, thank you, and says she can bring over everything herself. She’ll just need to borrow the kitchen to finish off the cake and make the sandwiches – would that be all right with you, Pilar?’
She nodded vigorously.
‘Claro qué sí. I can help make them, too, please tell her.’
‘Thank you so much, I will. As for the rest of it, apparently there’s an entertainer who does almost everything, so it should be a doddle.’
‘Oh God, Pixie.’ This from Bunny. ‘I know you’re a wonderful teacher, but have you everdonea child’s birthday party? They arehell, no matter how many entertainers you have. Food everywhere, tears, sick, everything ends up sticky. Sorry, Lando, but that’s how it goes.’
He shrugged.
‘I’m sure it will be fine, as long as the children enjoy themselves. You know I don’t care about the cushions, or whatever.’
‘You just wait,’ said Bunny darkly. I stifled a giggle. Bunny was lovely, but I couldn’t imagine her corralling hordes of excited children at a sugar-fuelled birthday party.
