Rumor Has It (37 page)

    'Here.' He chucked her the car keys; she was shattered and it was starting to rain. 'Put mine in the boot and wait in the car. We'll soon be done here.'

    Lou nodded, yawned widely, and wandered off into the dark ness, the case on wheels trundling along behind her. Next to Max, Tom Lewis hauled out a dark green case and said, 'She'll be asleep before you get home.'

    'That one's mine.' Eddie squeezed past Tom and reached for the green case. 'Thanks, sir.' Then, turning, he said, 'Bye, Max. See you. Good trip, wasn't it?'

    Max nodded, straight-faced. 'Great trip. Bye, Eddie.'

    'And if you ever need a hand with… you know, if you're really busy on a job and you could do with someone to help out, give me a call.'

    Max said gravely, 'Thanks, I'll remember that. Is your lift here?'

    'Yep.' Pleased with himself, Eddie extended the handle on his case and carted it off.

    'Well done.' Tom Lewis smiled slightly. 'You did it.'

    'I cheated.' Max slid out a blue case with silver tinsel wrapped around the handle and glanced after Eddie. The boy had now reached a gleaming Mercedes and was being hugged by his mother while his father manhandled the case into the boot of the car.

    'Oh well. If it does the trick.' Tom frowned at a black Nike rucksack. 'This one doesn't have a name tag on it.'

    One of the girls hovering next to the pile of offloaded cases said, 'That's Eddie's bag. Sir, can you reach mine for me? It's that tartan one right at the back.'

    'I'll see if I can catch him.' Grabbing the rucksack, Max started across the car park. The Mercedes had been fired up and its head lights were on, but he saw Eddie spot him from the back seat. Next moment, the driver's door opened and the boy's father strode over to meet him.

    'Hi there. Thanks so much. Ted Marshall-Hicks.' The tone was jovial, the handshake very firm. Eddie's father had a clipped, upper class voice and an impressive moustache. 'We've just been hearing all about you! Your daughter was the one who blacked my son's eye, I gather.'

    Max nodded in agreement. 'That's my girl.'

    'Good for her, eh? Never does a lad any harm to be taught a lesson by a member of the opposite sex.' He took the Nike bag from Max and went on cheerily, 'Anyway, all over now. Sounds like my boy's seen the error of his ways. All part of growing up, hmm?'

    'I'm sure,' said Max.

    'Good man. And in case you were wondering, he didn't get his former views from me, oh no.' Ted Marshall-Hicks shook his head like a great bear then lowered his voice a notch. 'Of course, got the wife and kids now, but back in my boarding school days, all boys together, we did our share of experimenting! Lots of fun after lights out, know what I mean? Happy days! Anyhow, best get off home now. Good to meet you.' He shook Max's hand again with burly enthusiasm, then turned and strode back to his car.

    In the back seat, Eddie waved at him.

    Max automatically raised a hand in return as the Mercedes moved off down the drive.

    Well, well. Max smiled slightly as he made his way back to the coach. Talk about getting things arse-backwards. During his own schooldays, he'd done all his experimenting with girls.

THE MOMENT TILLY CLAPPED eyes on Max on Wednesday morning, she knew what it was.

    As a rule, he was up disgustingly early, showered, and im maculately dressed and ready to go. Today, coming downstairs in his terry cloth robe, he looked as if he'd been on a bender for a week.

    Although if she were to say that aloud… well, she might choose to phrase it differently.

    'I hate to say I told you so,' Tilly lied.

    He shuffled across to the nearest chair and sat down with a groan. 'But you're going to.'

    'But it's your own fault! I can't believe you thought it wouldn't happen!' Tilly softened. 'Oh God, you look awful. Is it really bad?'

    Max nodded, his skin green-tinged and pallid. 'I'm going to sue that bloody takeaway.'

    'Well, you can't do that. It's not their fault you left it out all night and finished it up the next morning.'

    'I don't like to see food going to waste. And it tasted all right.' He heaved a sigh and clutched his stomach. 'God, my muscles hurt. Do you know how many times I've thrown up?'

    'I don't
want
to know, thanks. I'm just wondering how we're going to manage today. I can't do Jamie and Tandy's on my own.'

'I know, I know. You take Lou to school and I'll sort something

out.' Max reached across the kitchen table for his mobile and rose wearily to his feet.

    Right on cue, Lou burst into the kitchen and recoiled at the sight of him. 'Eeuw, Dad, you're all green!'

    'I love you too.'

    'Is this the Szechuan chicken?'

    Max nodded. 'Possibly.'

    'Oh Daddy, poor you! But we did say it'd make you ill.'

    'Yes. Thanks for pointing that out. Again.'

    'And you did keep saying it'd be fine. That means we were right,' Lou persisted, 'and you were wrong.'

    'You know what?' Max aimed a feeble swipe at her and missed. 'I could always have you adopted.'

    By the time Tilly returned from dropping Lou at school, Max had made the necessary arrangements.

    'The schedule's too tight to cancel. So I gave Jack a call. He's on his way over.'

    Just what she needed. Now Max wasn't the only one feeling sick. But under the circumstances, she didn't have a lot of choice.

    Jack arrived ten minutes later. Max opened his design portfolio and ran through the list of jobs needing to be completed.

    'No problem. We'll take care of that.' Having checked through the detailed plans, Jack tucked the portfolio under one arm.

    'Thanks,' Max croaked.

    'I like coming to the rescue, saving the day.'

    'Yeah, right. You just want to have a nose around Jamie Michaels' house.'

    Jack grinned. 'That too. Do you know, you're actually turning greener.'

    'Oh Christ, here we go again.' Shooing them out, Max said with a groan, 'Bugger off, both of you. Leave me to be ill in peace.'

    As they were loading everything they needed into the back of

Jack's van, his phone rang. Tilly was forced to stand by and listen as some female did her best to persuade him to go out with her tomor row night. Gently but firmly, Jack turned her down.

    'See?' He put the phone back in his pocket, his tone self-mocking. 'I can say no when I want to.'

    'It's a miracle.'

    'And how about last Saturday night? Admit it,' Jack went on, 'you were expecting me to turn up with someone a bit different, weren't you? But I didn't. Monica said it sounded like a fun night so I invited her along, and we—'

    'Actually, can we not do this?' Stepping back, Tilly held up her hands. 'We have to work together for today and that's fine, but could we please stick to talking about work, because I really really don't want to hear about your social life.'

    'But—'

    'No, I mean it. Sorry.' She smiled apologetically to soften the blow. 'But you have to promise, or I'm not getting in the van.'

    Taken aback, Jack said, 'Not even—'

    'Not even nothing. I'm serious.' Tilly stood her ground, nodding slightly to show she meant business. She
did
mean business; being in his company was hard enough without having to worry about him getting personal.

    Jack gazed at her for several seconds. She didn't flinch. Finally he shrugged and said, 'Fine.'

The first sign that something was up was the level of activity outside the front gates.

    'Are there usually this many paparazzi?' said Jack as they steered their way past the assembled throng.

    'No.' Recognizing Tilly and the van, the security guard opened the gates and let them through.

    'Hi there! What's going on today then?' Tilly asked chattily when Tandy opened the door. Then she saw Tandy's swollen, pink-rimmed eyelids and clapped a hand to her mouth. 'Oh my God, what's
happened
?'

    'The engagement's off. Jamie's been shagging some hideous slapper. Come on in.' Tandy gazed dully past her at Jack, busy un loading the platinum-plated wall sculptures from the back of the van. 'Who's that?'

    'Jack Lucas. Max has food poisoning. God, I can't believe that about Jamie. Is he here?'

    Miserably, Tandy shook her head. Fresh tears sprang out. 'He left last night. I said I never wanted to see him again. I can't believe you didn't know. Cup of tea?'

    Tilly followed her into the vast kitchen where the central island was awash with today's newspapers. Tandy's face, happy and smiling, beamed up from each of them. The real Tandy, tiny and makeup free, huddled inside her fluorescent pink sweatshirt and wiped her face with an overlong sleeve.

    'Oh, look at you.' Desperately sorry for her, Tilly enveloped her in a hug. 'What a bastard. You don't deserve this.'

    'I know. And she's, like, not even pretty, that's the thing. Just some desperate little tart who works as a pole-dancer and thinks she's so great. It's just… oh God, it's so
humiliating
.'

    Tilly patted her birdlike shoulders. And to think she'd envied Tandy for having managed to meet and fall in love with Jamie. At just nineteen, she'd been living what she'd thought was her dream, and now it was all over.

    'How could he
dooo
this to
meee
?' Tandy wailed. 'I just want to
screeeeam
!'

    Ouch. Bit close to the eardrum, that.

    'Of course you do.' Tilly inched away, aware of Jack waiting in the doorway. Turning, she said, 'The wall sculptures are for the master bedroom. Turn left at the top of the stairs and it's the fourth door on the right.'

    'Hi. Sorry to hear about Jamie.' Addressing Tandy, Jack said, 'Does this mean the party on Friday is cancelled?'

    God, talk about insensitive. Tilly glared at him in disbelief; as if the party was any of his concern anyway.

    'Of course it's cancelled.' Tandy eyed him stonily. 'It was going to be an engagement party.' She held up her left hand, bereft of rings. 'And I'm not engaged any more, am I?'

    Definitely no party then. Tilly felt sorry for Tandy but also a teeny bit sorry for herself. So much for buying that new dress, doing herself up to the nines, and mingling with celebrities; her one and only chance to appear in
Hi!
was now well and truly scuppered.

    Jack, meanwhile, was shaking his head. 'So… excuse me, but Max did mention that a magazine was buying the rights to the party, and that the payment for that was covering Max's bill.'

    'Riiiight.' Tandy nodded slowly.

    'So no party means no money from the magazine. Now I really don't mean to be rude,' said Jack, 'but could that cause a problem?'

    Tilly winced. She hadn't thought of that.

    'The party's cancelled.' Tandy lifted her tiny pointed chin. 'But I'm still doing sixteen pages for the magazine, so don't worry about Max getting paid. In fact, my agent's negotiated an increase in my fee.'

    Tilly was taken aback. 'What, just for photos of the house?'

    The look Tandy gave her was filled with pity. She held up a skinny hand and began counting off on her fingers.

    'For a start, it'll be an exclusive. My heartbreak at Jamie's betrayal. I thought we were so happy together, living the fairytale dream, but now he's done this terrible thing and I'm
grief-stricken
and
devastated
.' She paused, thinking for a moment. 'And I thought I was pregnant and I was so happy because all we ever wanted was a baby, but when I found out about this other girl I had a tragic miscarriage.'

    'Hang on.' Stunned, Tilly said, 'You had a miscarriage
yesterday
? Shouldn't you be in hospital?'

    'Why?'

    'Because after a miscarriage, don't women have to have a D&C?'

    Defensively, Tandy said, 'I thought I
might
have been pregnant. My period was a day late. Anyhow, I'm never going to get over it. And this all happened after I'd worked so hard to create our dream home, so they'll take loads of photos of me around the house. So it all still has to be perfect.'

    'In that case, we'd better get on with what we came here to do.' Jack hefted the wall sculptures into his arms and headed up the stairs.

    When he was out of earshot, Tilly said consolingly, 'I know it feels like the end of the world now, but you'll get over this, I promise. You'll meet someone else and be happy again.'

    'I won't.' Vehemently, Tandy shook her head.

    'You
will.'

    'I won't, because I don't
want
to meet anyone else.'

    'Oh, you think that now, but just give yourself time,' said Tilly, 'and you'll change your mind, that's guaranteed.'

    Tandy gave her an odd little look. 'No, you don't get it. I mean I won't need to meet anyone else because me and Jamie'll be back together next week.'

    'Excuse me?'

    'He played away. He got caught. I could kill him for what he's done.' Tandy took a deep breath then exhaled noisily. 'But he doesn't want us to break up. It's not like he's in love with this other girl. She threw herself at him, that's all.'

    Tilly shook her head. 'You're going to forgive him?'