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‘Ooh, careful.’ I point at her seat as she returns with a tray.
‘What?’ She looks at it, puzzled.
‘Make sure you sit facing forwards, or conversation might be difficult.’
She flicks her eyes to the ceiling. ‘Yes, yes, very funny. I put the wrong foot in the stirrup.’ Plopping onto her chair, she unloads the coffees and tips two sachets of sugar into hers. ‘I quite enjoyed that, once I got the hang of it.’
‘You were good,’ I say truthfully. ‘So... are you going to tell Rory you’ve been for a lesson? Is this the surprise you were talking about?’
‘Oh, no. I’m planning somethingfarmore exciting to surprise him with.’ She grimaces. ‘I’m not sure if I should tell you, though. Not yet. Rory should probably be the first to hear it.’
‘Oh?’
Lois smiles mysteriously, and my insides shift uneasily.
What’s she got planned? Will Rory like it? Maybe she’s booked one of those ranch holidays and they’re off to America to wear Stetsons and pretend to be cowboys?
‘You haven’t bought him a horse, have you?’
‘What?’ She laughs. ‘No, of course not. I’m pretty much skint, for a start. And even if Ididhave a healthy bank balance, why would I splash the cash on something like that?’
‘Er... because Rory loves horses?’
She shakes her head. ‘You’re on the wrong track entirely. It’s nothing to do with horses.’
‘Right.’ I wait, my heart thudding warily, as she weighs up whether or not to spill the beans.
A weekend in Paris, maybe? She had a trip to Paris booked with Ronnie, but they never got there in the end and I had a feeling Lois was almost as disappointed about not staying in the grand Hotel George V as she was about losing Ronnie.
Lois deftly changes the subject at that point, and it’s not until we’re in the car– and I’m driving us to Gran’s to collect Bertie– that I pluck up the courage to bring up the subject again.
‘So... come on, then, Lois. What’s this big surprise? I won’t breathe a word to Rory. I promise.’
She frowns. ‘Look, I know you’ll probably tell me I’m out of my mind to even think of it, but I don’t care.’
I’m starting to feel a bit sick now.
I park on Gran’s drive, and before I nip out to collect Bertie, I ask casually, ‘Okay, so what are you up to?’
Her eyes sparkle. ‘Well... we’ve been getting on so well, Rory and me. We just gel, you know? He’s so much nicer than Ronnie.’
I swallow hard, keeping my smile in place. ‘So you’re going to whisk him away somewhere really romantic, like Bora Bora?’
‘No, no.’ She shakes her head and the tension in my shoulders– up around my ears by this point– eases just a little.
‘It’s better than that.’
Bertie runs out of the cottage at that moment, so I get out to chat to Gran. And then in the car journey home, with my little half-brother sitting in the back, ears flapping, I decide to wait. Back home, Bertie runs straight into the living room to put on a movie, and I follow Lois into the kitchen.
‘So what’s better than Bora Bora?’ I ask, keeping my tone casually light and turning away to add more water to the jug of flowers on the windowsill.
Oh, hell, she’s going to suggest they move in together, isn’t she?
Behind me, Lois takes a big breath in and exhales slowly. ‘Well, the thing is, Clara, I’ve decided to ask Rory to marry me.’
CHAPTER TWO
I almost laugh, it’s so completely unexpected. But Lois isn’t joking.
