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But there was plenty of sunlight left for Lily to identify the figure crossing from the car park to Max’s office.
‘What the hell is she doing here?’ Lily muttered as she watched her mum glance back over her shoulder and hurry on. Was she meddling again? Surely the news that Edward was marrying somebody else had to be enough for her to give up any dreams of them getting back together?
In fact, maybe she should make sure that Evelyn had heard that news. Just in case it had slipped past the grapevine.
By the time Lily reached the main Mill building, Evelyn had already disappeared inside. Talking to Max, Lily wondered? About her, presumably. Which meant she was well within her rights to interrupt.
Lily knocked on the door to Max’s office but didn’t wait for permission to enter. Something she regretted as the sight of her boss kissing her mother registered in her brain.
Lily screwed her eyes shut. ‘Oh God.’
‘Lily!’ Evelyn’s horrified tone persuaded her to open them again, and this time, she found her mum and Max on opposite sides of the room.
‘What the… I don’t…’ Lily stopped, swallowed, and tried to find the right words.
‘Lily,’ Max said, in his calmest voice. ‘Let me explain.’
‘I’m not sure I really want to know,’ Lily said, still staring at Evelyn.
‘It’s not what you think,’ Evelyn said, the words coming out rushed.
‘I think you were kissing my boss.’ She looked at Max, who nodded. ‘And I think maybe that’s been going on for a while.’
‘Six months,’ Max confirmed. ‘Since the Christmas Craft Evening. We got talking – properly talking – for the first time. And from there… things sort of developed. At least, until you broke things off with Edward.’
‘And you didn’t tell me.’ Lily frowned. ‘And what did Edward have to do with anything?’
‘You were going to marry him,’ Evelyn said, a hint of a wail in her voice. ‘You were going to be settled and happy, and then I could move on…’
‘She wanted you married before she told you about us,’ Max explained.
‘But… why?’
Max shrugged. ‘You Thomas women are a mystery to me.’
‘Because you’re my daughter!’ Evelyn shook a finger at her. ‘I had to see you settled first, before I could have anything for myself!’
Lily blinked. ‘You really, really don’t. That’s what all this has been about? You’d rather me be married to a man I didn’t love so you could stop feeling guilty about… What, exactly? I’m a grown woman, Mum! Why would you think I couldn’t handle you having a relationship of your own?’
‘You’ve always been so… temperamental.’ Evelyn slumped against the desk. ‘Edward was good for you. After your dad died… well, you know. You went off the rails – don’t try and deny it. And maybe I wasn’t much use.’
‘You were grieving,’ Max interjected, and Evelyn gave him a soft smile.
‘Anyway. Edward… He kept you on an even keel. I didn’t want anything to disrupt that before you made it down the aisle.’
Lily tried to imagine her mother, sneaking around to meet Max under cover of darkness, carrying on a secret romance, all because she wanted her wild child daughter – who hadn’t been remotely wild in years until this summer – to stay calm and boring. No wonder she’d been so mad when Lily had called off the engagement. And her latest news probably wasn’t going to go down too well, either.
‘Yeah, well, Edward’s marrying someone else, so I think that ship might have sailed.’ Lily gave her mother a faintly apologetic smile.
‘He’s what?’ Max sounded indignant. ‘Idiot.’
‘He looks happier than he ever did with me,’ Lily admitted.
‘He’s still an idiot.’
Lily decided to let Max have that one.
‘I suppose it’ll have to be Cora’s cousin, then,’ Evelyn said, sounding displeased.
‘Alex?’ Lily asked. ‘What’s he got to do with this?’
‘I think your mother is hinting at your future fiancé,’ Max said, helpfully.
Lily sighed. Time to stop this nonsense once and for all. ‘Mother. I am not getting married. And if, by any freak chance, I do one day decide to do so, it will not be to prove that I am a grown up and settled down. It will be because I’m in love.’ She leant forward to look into Evelyn’s eyes. ‘And you cannot wait until I’m living the life you think I should be living before you get out there and find your own life.’
Evelyn’s eyes were wide. ‘I just want you to be happy.’
‘I am happy,’ Lily said. ‘Or I will be. Either way, it’s up to me to make that happen. Not some man. And certainly not marriage.’
For a moment, Evelyn looked like she might argue, but then her head fell into a nod, and Lily let out a breath of relief. Maybe this was all it took. Maybe, now, she could be New Lily for real, without anyone else’s expectations.
Crossing the small room, Max took Evelyn’s arm. ‘Come on, Evie. You can rant about it all over dinner, if you like.’
Lily raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s it? She lied about your relationship, kicked you out of her house… You’re just going to let her off?’
Max shrugged. ‘I love her. So we’re going to go out for a nice dinner, and we’re going to figure out a way to make things work, out in the open. Right, Evie?’
Evelyn’s smile was tentative but real. ‘It seems so.’
‘Well… okay then,’ Lily said. ‘And I’m going to… go on Cora’s hen night, I suppose.’ Was that all it took? Real love meant you figured things out. Together.
Max opened the door for her. ‘Have fun.’
Lily smiled. ‘I’ll try.’
* * * *
Back at the cottage that evening, Alex couldn’t help but feel his brother was getting a bit too into the idea of being single again. Or perhaps just trying too hard to forget why he’d hated it.
‘What do you think of this shirt?’ Gareth asked, and Alex looked up from his slumped position in front of the TV.
‘It’s a shirt.’ A garishly striped shirt, but Alex wasn’t the fashion police.
Gareth rolled his eyes. ‘Very observant. But do you think it looks okay on me?’
‘I think you haven’t phoned your sons to say goodnight yet tonight, and it’s gone seven-thirty.’
‘Shit!’ Gareth darted back out into the hallway, where Alex could hear him grabbing his phone from the table and, moments later, him saying, ‘Della? It’s me. Just called to say goodnight to the boys…’
Ten minutes later, he was back, in a different shirt. ‘Right, let’s go.’
Alex started. ‘Where?’
‘The pub, of course.’ Gareth gave him his patented older brother, have-you-really-got-a-brain-in-there look. ‘I’ve been here three days, and we’ve not left the house.’
‘I have,’ Alex said. ‘I’ve been working. You’re the one who’s been slobbing about here, drinking my beer.’ He didn’t admit that the only reason he’d been working so hard was it was the only way he’d found to block Lily out of his mind. Gareth would probably decide they should go to a strip club instead of the pub, and the only club within twenty miles of Felinfach was, by all accounts, bloody terrifying.
‘Well then. It’s time you took me out, isn’t it?’ He grabbed Alex’s wallet and keys from the coffee table. ‘Come on.’
Alex had a feeling, as the front door to the cottage shut behind him, that this was a very bad idea.
‘How was Della?’ he asked, setting off down High Street towards the Bull and Frog. No need to mention his visit, and Della had promised not to tell. The boys would probably let it slip eventually, but for now it could wait. Especially since he was still mulling over the advice she’d given him about Lily.
Gareth shrugged. ‘Didn’t say. The boys were excited about going swimming with me at the weekend, though.’
Well, that was something, Alex supposed. At least Gareth hadn’t changed beyond all
recognition. He still wanted time with his boys.
The Bull and Frog was packed, and Alex blinked at the sight before spotting the karaoke machine in the corner. Seriously. Was that still a thing? Was it really still fun for people to stand up and humiliate themselves in public?
‘Excellent,’ Gareth said, rubbing his hands together. ‘I’m just in the mood for a bit of a sing.’
Apparently so, Alex thought, and headed to the bar. Clearly this was going to require beer.
