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‘I never once said that!’ Evelyn’s eyes had widened in shock, and Lily found herself taking a step back down onto the driveway at the vehemence in her mother’s voice. ‘You’re my daughter. Nobody is too good for you. Now get inside this house before the neighbours start talking.’
Blinking in surprise, Lily did as she was told.
She was upstairs, trying to find space in the already overstuffed closets for the few items of clothing Edward had decided she would need, when the doorbell rang. Lily tensed, hands clenched in the fabric of a top she’d never really liked, waiting to hear a voice to go with the bell. Would it be Edward, come to try and talk some sense into her? Or would it be one of Mum’s friends, come to sympathise – and get all the gossip?
Neither, as it turned out.
‘Ready?’ Max’s familiar voice was utterly incongruous, his too-large, overly enthusiastic presence an aberration in Evelyn’s perfectly neat and tidy, cool, calm house.
Lily dashed for the stairs. ‘Ready for what?’ Leaning over the bannister, she had the perfect position to see her mother jump at her words.
Evelyn turned slowly, a social smile rigid on her lips. She’d never really liked Max, and they’d clashed words at a few of the local events they’d both attended. Evelyn thought Max was too brash, too bold for Felinfach. Of course, that was exactly what Lily had always liked best about him. Max had always complained that her mother tried to interfere too much. Still, they seemed to have come to a sort of truce over recent months, after Evelyn hosted a charity craft night at the Mill over Christmas. Apparently that just meant they could both gang up on her together now. Fantastic.
‘Mr Hughes very kindly offered to stop by and try and talk some sense into you.’ Evelyn stepped aside to let Max into the hallway. ‘Why don’t you two talk in the living room. I’ll bring you both some coffee.’
If Max planned to talk to her about her love life, Lily rather thought she’d need alcohol more than caffeine. But Max was looking uncomfortable, and Evelyn had already disappeared into the kitchen, so Lily did as she was told.
‘Are you really here to convince me to beg Edward to take me back?’ Lily asked, perching on the arm of the sofa.
Max settled against the cushions of the armchair. ‘God, no. But if your mother asks, I tried my best.’
‘Fair enough. So what are you doing here?’
Max glanced away. ‘Can’t a boss check up on his favourite employee when things are bad?’
‘I suppose.’ It was sweet, really. Max was rubbish at emotions usually. He’d made an exception for her. She should appreciate that.
Sliding down onto the sofa proper before her mum came back and yelled at her, Lily sighed. ‘To be honest, I’m not sure things are bad. I mean, yes, it’s sad and terrible and awkward. But I still think I did the right thing. I think I’ll be happier, once everything settles down.’
Max smiled at her. ‘So do I.’
It shouldn’t matter, Lily knew. She needed to make and own her decisions by herself. But knowing that Max and Alex both thought she was doing the right thing… It made the terrible swirling of fear in her stomach calm a little.
‘And apparently we’re not the only ones,’ Lily said. ‘So it can’t actually be the end of the world, whatever my mother thinks.’
Max raised his eyebrows. ‘Alex?’
‘He didn’t say anything until after I’d given the ring back,’ Lily said. ‘But yeah, apparently so.’
‘Hmm.’
Lily felt the swirling start up again. ‘Is that a good hmm or a bad hmm? You’re going to give him the studio, right?’
‘You know that’s not up to me, Lily. We have a committee for making that sort of decision.’
‘Yeah, but. They listen to you.’
‘Relax, Lily. As long as his portfolio’s decent, I’m pretty sure he’s in. Everyone I talked to liked the idea of having an accountant onsite, apart from anything else.’ He tilted his head to look at her. ‘This really matters to you?’
Lily shrugged. It did, not that she could fully explain why. But having grown accustomed to the idea of her new, single life featuring Alex Harper just across the way, she felt strangely reluctant to give it up. ‘He’s an old friend,’ she said, knowing it wasn’t much of an explanation. ‘It’s nice to have him home.’
‘Have who home?’ Evelyn asked, bustling in with a tray loaded with coffee cups and a cafetiere.
‘Young Mr Harper,’ Max said, and Lily shifted under his gaze. God only knew what Max thought was going on with her and Alex, but there was no way she could correct him with her mother in the room.
‘Cora’s cousin?’ Evelyn shook her head as she started to pour. ‘Why on earth are we talking about him?’
‘He’s taking a studio up at the Mill,’ Lily explained. ‘That’s all.’
‘We should be talking about how she’s going to apologise to Edward.’ Evelyn handed a coffee cup to Max, who raised a hand. ‘It’s decaf, for pity’s sake,’ she snapped.
Max took the cup.
‘I don’t want to apologise to Edward,’ Lily said. It felt good to say it, even if the statement elicited a death stare from her mother.
‘You have to. Tell her, Max.’
Max looked at the ceiling. ‘I’m not sure she should apologise either.’
‘Then what the hell are you doing here?’
Lily stared. Had she ever heard Evelyn say ‘hell’ before? If she had, she couldn’t remember it.
Shifting on the sofa to face Evelyn, Max sighed. ‘Look. I
f she’s unhappy – ’
‘That man was a saint! She was going to settle down and be happy. It was all planned out!’
‘But maybe I didn’t like the plan,’ Lily said, softly. ‘Sorry, Mum.’
‘Do you think you’re going to find a better one? Do you think anyone else could look after you like he did?’
‘What happened to “nobody’s too good for my daughter”?’ Lily asked.
‘That doesn’t mean he wasn’t good enough! You’d have been stable, settled –’
‘Miserable,’ Max finished and Lily nodded. ‘Face it, Evelyn. It’s over between them, and I think that’s for the best. So now we need –’
‘You need to get out,’ Evelyn said, her face stony. ‘If you’re not going to help me… Well. You can just leave.’
Lily blinked. Evelyn Thomas, stickler for propriety and politeness and hospitality, had just thrown her daughter’s boss out of her house for disagreeing with her. What was the world coming to?
Even stranger, Max looked just as shocked. Horrified, even. Like he couldn’t believe what was happening.
Finally, Max put down his coffee cup and got to his feet. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll go. Lily, I’ll see you at the committee meeting tomorrow. Evelyn…’ He inclined his head towards her, a gentlemanly gesture Lily hadn’t seen from him before. ‘Thank you for the coffee. I’ll show myself out.’
They sat there in silence for a moment after the slamming of the front door had finished reverberating through the house.
‘Mum,’ Lily started, but Evelyn stood up, moving away towards the door.
‘I need to start dinner,’ she said.
Lily sighed. ‘Can I help?’
Waving a dismissive hand, Evelyn said, ‘It’s fine,’ and disappeared into the kitchen to poke holes in the plastic on some microwave meals.
Lily stared at the coffee cups for a while. Time to get back to the unpacking, she supposed. It was either that or figuring out what the hell she did next.
Chapter Seven
Later that evening, Alex was reviewing the wedding shots when the hammering on his front door suggested something more urgent needed his attention.
