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‘But there’s no chance of that ever happening,’ I reassured her quickly, trying to ignore the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Why did I feel like my guts were being put through a blender every time I thought about him? Probably because deep down, I didn’t really believe it was over... not for him, anyway. I’d known this when he’d come looking for me, and Janey had confirmed it, saying he wanted me back. Nash wasn’t the sort of person to take no for an answer and walk away without a fight. He might be planning something even now...
But for Blossom’s sake, I forced a smile. ‘Really. You don’t need to worry. That scumbag is out of my life forever.’
She took my hand and squeezed. ‘Good, because you deserve to be with someone strong and funny and caring... a man who knows exactly how wonderful you are and treats you accordingly.’ She smiled wistfully. ‘Only the best for my big sis.’
‘Well, so do you,’ I mumbled, a lump in my throat. ‘Deserve all that, I mean.’
She raised her cup. ‘To newhealthyrelationships and a sparkling future for both of us.’
I clinked with a smile, hopeful in spite of everything. ‘A sparkling future.’
‘Have you heard from Skye lately?’
I shrugged. ‘Not a peep. She’s obviously having far too much fun living the high-life as a famous actress down in London to spare the time for her family back home.’
‘There was a bit about her in the paper the other day. One of the gossip columns. Did you see it?’
‘No. What was it about? Some ridiculous “nothing” story, no doubt.’
‘Skye was photographed coming out of a restaurant with a fellow actor which of course means theymustbe a couple. Talk about jumping to conclusions.’
‘I can never keep up with her love life.’
‘It might not be fact, of course. Remember the last time?’
‘That’s true.’ Blossom smiled ruefully. ‘Don’t believe everything you read in the tabloids.’
The last time our older sister Skye’s photo had appeared in one of the newspaper gossip columns, it was because she’d apparently dumped some lord or other after finding him cheating. But when I phoned her to find out if she was okay, she laughed and said the ‘lord’ was actually her painter and decorator, and his surname was ‘Lord’. She’d had to sack him from the job because she’d caught him stealing the silver!
I drained my cup and was about to suggest I show Blossom the flat, when the door opened and a flushed-cheeked Maddy burst in.
‘Erm, there’s a very weird blonde woman out there, shouting at some boys,’ she announced to Ellie. ‘And I think she might be heading this way.’
‘Shouting?’ I exchanged a worried glance with Blossom, and Maddy looked over at us.
‘Well,lecturingis probably a better description. In a very loud plummy voice.’
My sister and I scraped back our chairs as one and went to the door. Blossom pulled it open and with a sinking heart, I stared at the confrontation that was taking place on the village green.
The woman Maddy had described was tall and dressed in a long sea-green coat and black biker boots, her ash-blonde hair scooped into an elegant up-do. She was presently waving what looked like a vape machine just out of reach of a young teenagerwho kept trying to make a grab for it. Four or five of his mates in school uniform, schoolbags on their backs, were standing there staring in awed amazement at the sight of their friend being given a public dressing down by a stranger – a rather glamorous stranger, at that... a woman who wouldn’t have looked out of place on a catwalk.
The boy made another attempt at retrieving his possession but it was snatched away in a flash, followed by sniggers from his schoolmates.
‘I will return it, young man.’ Her strident tone carried across the green, attracting interested head-swivels from a couple of dog-walkers in the distance. She held the vape over her head, just out of his reach. ‘You can have it back on one condition. You give meonegood reason why you’re smoking thisheinous contraptionand thereby wilfully compromising your precious breathing apparatus, while you’re still just a merebaby!’
The boy, who looked about thirteen, had been putting up an indignant fight, trying to get the vape kit back. But at the honking laughter from his mates following the ‘baby’ label, he looked suddenly defeated, as if all the air had been squeezed out of the compromised lungs in question.
‘He might as well give up,’ muttered Blossom next to me. ‘Becauseshe’sobviously not going to.’
I nodded. ‘Fearsome or what?’
‘Repeat after me!’ Her stern order split the air. ‘Repeat after me: It’s an utterlyfilthy habit.’
The boy made another half-hearted swing for his prized possession, but you could tell his heart wasn’t in it.
‘It’s anutterly filthy habit. What is it?’
The boy scowled at his mates who by now were hanging onto each other, practically on the floor with laughter.
