Mini Shopaholic

‘Oh, you do, do you?’ Luke looks as though he’s not sure what he thinks about this.

‘We really bonded over this whole thing. It’s been such a saga.’ I take a swig of cocktail and kick off my shoes. Talking everything over with Luke, it feels as if some wound-up part of me is finally starting to relax. ‘You can’t imagine. Trying not to let you see the internet, and breaking your BlackBerry …’

‘I still can’t believe you did that.’ He raises a half-grin –although I’m not sure he totally has a sense of humour about his BlackBerry.

‘And the worst thing was that bloody meeting in Paris! Oh my God, I nearly killed you!’ I can’t help starting to laugh. ‘We were all, like, “What do we do? How do we move it?” And you were so bloody pleased with yourself …’

‘Shit.’ I can see the realization hitting Luke. ‘Of course. The meeting was supposed to be today—’ He breaks off. ‘Wait a minute, though. You’re not saying …’ I can sense the cogs whirring in his brain. ‘You couldn’t have been behind that, surely. You’re not telling me that you personally somehow arranged for Sir Bernard Cross to decide he wanted to give me a meeting?’ He gives an astonished laugh. ‘I mean, I’ll believe many things of you, Becky, but that …’

I keep smiling, but inside I’m kicking myself. I’ve said too much. Let’s move on, quick.

‘Not me, exactly. Oh God, and the marquee …’ I hastily launch into a full account of bartering for the marquee, and Luke laughs at all the right places, but I can tell he’s preoccupied. When I’ve finished, we lapse into silence and he sips his drink pensively, and I know exactly where his mind is roaming.

‘I always knew someone influential was behind that meeting,’ he says at last, staring into his drink. ‘I said so at the time. I could sense some powerful person behind the scenes, helping me out. And now I think I know who it was.’ He looks up, straight at me. ‘It’s obvious. And it’s obvious why you don’t want to tell me.’

My heart has stopped. My hand has frozen round the stem of my glass. Luke’s so sharp. His mind’s so quick. I should never have let anything slip out.

Is he angry?

I lick my lips nervously. ‘Luke, I really can’t say anything.’

‘I understand.’ He takes a deep slug of his drink and for a while neither of us speaks.

As we sit there, the party thrumming around us, I keep darting cautious looks at him. He hasn’t exploded. He hasn’t stormed out saying that the whole evening’s spoiled for him now. Is he not as bitter as I thought?

I keep thinking of Elinor, hidden away in her tiny, musty hole. If I’d just persuaded her to stay … could I somehow have worked things out between them?

‘But Becky, you realize this isn’t just some tiny little favour.’ Luke breaks into my thoughts. ‘This is immense. I mean, all this.’ He gestures around the room and lowers his voice. ‘This … person. They were behind that too, weren’t they?’

Slowly I nod. If he knows, there’s no point pretending.

Luke exhales sharply, cradling his drink. ‘You know I’m going to have to say thank you, Becky. Somehow. Even if they don’t want to be thanked.’

‘I … I think that would be nice, Luke.’ I swallow. ‘Really nice.’

I can feel a pressing of tears behind my eyes. Just like that, things have been mended. We’ll meet up and yes, it’ll be stilted and awkward, but they’ll talk. And Luke will see his mother with Minnie. And he’ll realize there’s a different side to her.

‘No time like the present.’ Luke gets to his feet with sudden energy. ‘You know, I didn’t say anything – but all along I half-suspected Tarquin. How do he and Sir Bernard know each other? Go shooting together, do they?’

It takes a moment for me to catch up with what he’s saying. He thinks all this was Tarquin?

‘And of course he’s been desperately trying to repay me for that help I gave him earlier this year,’ Luke is saying. ‘But really, such extraordinary generosity was uncalled for.’ He looks around the room as though with fresh disbelief. ‘I don’t know how I can ever thank him properly. And Suze, too. I assume they were in it together?’

Noooo! Wrong! You’ve got it all wrong!

I want to say something; dislodge him off this track. But what can I do? I can’t betray Elinor’s confidence, not after everything she said.

‘Wait a minute!’ I scramble to my feet, depositing Minnie on the sofa. ‘Luke, you mustn’t say anything!’