‘Oh, Fallon, I’m so glad. And you do like Douglas, don’t you?’
‘Yes, very much. I’m truly happy for you.’
She clutched for my hand, the one that wasn’t using a fork to spear another scrumptious piece of scampi.
‘That means a lot. I just wonder if maybe you and Alexander…’ She tailed off as she saw the look in my eye. ‘No, okay, maybe not then. The important thing is that you’re feeling better. Oh! Come on, ten minutes until this massage. It’s meant to be utterly restorative – I can’t wait.’
‘Are you having one too?’
‘Well, of course, darling, I need to experience it to review it properly. Don’t worry, they offered to do it side by side in the same room, but I thought it might be more relaxing to enjoy it separately.’
I grinned at her.
‘I agree. And no photos of my half-naked body being pummelled going up on the grid, okay?’
She started to object, then stopped.
‘Okay. Spoilsport.’
Maybe, after all these years, Mum was developing a sense of humour.
We floated home from the massage. This was worth a few dodgy photos on Mum’s Instagram page, I thought, as we pulled up outside the house and I inhaled the mingled scent of lavender and rose from the essential oils the therapist had used. I smiled dreamily at her as we got out of the car.
‘That was wonderful, thank you.’
‘My pleasure, darling. Can I quote you?’ she asked, smiling wryly.
‘In this case, you absolutely can. Sinead was a miracle worker.’
‘Sometimes your mother does know best.’ I rolled my eyes at her exaggeratedly, and we both grinned. ‘Now go and lie down or have a bath or something, extend the benefits.’
‘I think I will,’ I said, picturing relaxing in that sumptuous bathroom, staring out of the window as the afternoon darkened into evening. ‘What are you doing now?’
‘I have some work to get on with and then Douglas is taking me out for the evening, so I’ll get ready for that.’
Finally,finally, it was my turn to needle her on the subject. I raised an eyebrow and grinned.
‘Ooh, special night out, just before Christmas, that’s got “proposal” written all over it.’
Mum wasn’t to be outdone.
‘We’ll see. Just make sure you redo your make-up after that bath. Alexander is a very handsome man, and if you’re going to be spending the evening together, you’ll want to look attractive.’
‘No, Mum,youwant me to look attractive. I told you, nothing’s on the cards there.’
She gave a satisfied smile before turning to go into the house.
‘As I said, darling, sometimes your mother does know best.’
The bath was, as predicted, perfect and, as I emerged from it with twenty minutes left before the time Coco had given me for dinner, I decided that it couldn’t hurt just to refresh my make-up a tiny bit. Job done, I pulled on some jeans and the cashmere sweater Mum had bought for me and headed downstairs. With Mum and Douglas out, there were five of us at the table and we had a very jolly time of it. We were all in good spirits – me after my massage, Theo and Alexander because of the success of the sanctuary, Constance because she had experienced a breakthrough with her book and Coco because she had metsomeone new and was going on a date later that evening. And we were all starting to look forward to Christmas.
‘Fallon and I are testing our cocktails once Theo’s in bed,’ said Alexander. ‘Would you like to join us, Constance? I’m sure you wouldn’t be backward in coming forward with your opinion,’ he added teasingly.
I must admit that my heart stopped just for a second when he said that: I had, it was now clear, been looking forward to a cosy evening just with him. But did I see a flicker of relief on his face when she replied:
‘I am usually delighted to tell people what I think, as you know, but not tonight. I’m going upstairs with a cup of tea – don’t want to interrupt the archaeological muse when she’s in a good mood.’
‘What are you going to call them?’ asked Coco. ‘The cocktails, I mean. You’ve got to come up with some fun names to draw people in.’
