‘He doesn’t live here now. We weren’t together long, but we had a little girl, Alexa. She’s eighteen now. I can hardly believe it. The time’s gone so fast.
‘I didn’t want to move her too far from her grandparents and cousins. She adores them, and we don’t have much family back in Glasgow. So I decided to stay here. I’m a freelance hairdresser. I travel to people’s houses all round the area. I’ve got one of the newish apartments on the outskirts of the village. It’s only rented,’ she added, lowering her gaze again, ‘but we like it.’
‘Gosh! You don’t look old enough to have an eighteen-year-old daughter,’ Edie replied truthfully. ‘You must have been a very young mum.’
Anthea tapped the side of her pert little nose and her plump lips curled slightly at the edges in a sort of conspiratorial smile.
‘Och, I’ve had loads of work. It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of Botox and fillers.’
Edie laughed. ‘I’d better have the name of the person who does it for you. They’re obviously very good. But I’ve got so many wrinkles, it’s probably too late for me now.’
Anthea’s eyebrows, which were already halfway up her forehead, rose a fraction higher. ‘Never! You can have it at any age. I’m fifty-four, you know.’
Edie couldn’t hide her surprise.
‘Blimey! I thought you were about thirty!’
‘I wish.’
Anthea stared at her fingernails, which were long and red, like her hair. ‘You should have seen me when I was Alexa’s age. I could turn a few heads then.’
‘I bet you still can.’
When Anthea shrugged, it dawned on Edie her fondness for cosmetic procedures probably had more to do with insecurity than vanity. It must have been hard raising a child single-handed in a foreign country, but she seemed to be making a success of things. Edie was impressed.
‘Which way are you going?’ she said at last, thinking it was time she made a move. ‘I want to check out the other shops before meeting up with my friends.’
‘I’ll walk with you some of the way,’ Anthea replied. ‘I’ve got an hour before my next appointment. It’s been ages since I had a chance to browse.’
Meaty and his little brother, Nikos, were hanging round the door of the supermarket when the women strolled by. Nikos, in a droopy nappy and pale blue T-shirt, was playing with a grubby-looking plastic yellow car, sticking it in his mouth and waving it about as if it were an aeroplane. Meaty, meanwhile, looked a bit bored.
Peering behind him, Edie spotted April in her floral apron behind the counter and waved. April grinned and waved back.
‘Hello,’ Anthea said to Meaty, squatting down on her high heels to his level. They obviously knew each other, but instead of smiling, he hung his head and his mouth drooped at the corners.
‘What are you up to, love?’ Anthea asked gently, clearly sensing something was wrong.
‘I’ve got to mind Nikos all morning,’ came the gloomy reply. ‘It’s my punishment.’
‘Punishment for what?’
‘I gave him some of Mum’s English mustard. It was on the table and he was screaming and crying because he wanted it. I kept saying no but he wouldn’t listen, so in the end I stuck a spoon in and gave it to him.’
‘Och, no!’ Anthea sounded appalled, and Edie had to suppress a giggle. ‘The poor wee lamb. What happened?’
‘He ate it,obviously.’ Meaty clearly thought Anthea was a bit slow off the mark. ‘Then he went bright red and screamed the house down.’
Anthea gasped. ‘Jings!’
‘Mum gave him some water and he was all right after that,’ Meaty went on. ‘But she says she can’t trust me so I’ve got to stay where she can see me. I was supposed to go fishing with my friend.’
Tutting, Anthea rose and pulled up the front of her low-cut scarlet vest.
‘Well, at least Nikos is OK and there’s no harm done.’ She ruffled Meaty’s mop of dark hair. ‘Hopefully your mam will let you go fishing later on.’
‘She won’t,’ he said gravely.
Nikos thrust the plastic car at Edie, which was covered in dirt and dribble. She hopped back out of harm’s way just in the nick of time.
