Part 2 (2/2)

The five bedrooms are going to be put to use tonight. I have made sure that Laura and Amelie's rooms are aired. I've left Vogue and Now in Laura's room and Tatler and a holiday brochure in Amelie's. The boys will share a room tonight, which they'll enjoy, and Freya will get to sleep in a double bed on her own. Also a treat. Although I'm not in a hurry to be called mummy just yet, I adore being the fairy G.o.dmother. Whenever Freya, Davey or Eddie visit I make sure that I provide them with all the treats I can. I go to Blockbuster, hire a couple of kids' movies, buy ma.s.sive bags of b.u.t.terkist and lots of chocolate. I buy comics, glitter glue, micro cars and c.o.ke. Anyone who says money can't buy happiness is shopping in the wrong place.

Amelie arrives first. She brings with her an air of seriousness and purpose. She had this before Ben died but I notice it more now as it is no longer balanced with his irreverence and flippancy. Not that Amelie Gordon is dull. She is thoughtful and thought-provoking, she's simply less silly than any of my other friends. She reads the quality papers. She took a masters degree in religion and philosophy so she knows something about Scientology (beyond the fact that Tom Cruise practises it). Not only has she actually read the Bible but she can talk intelligently about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, s.h.i.+nto, Sikhism and Taoism. In short, she is the type of woman I'd like to be when I grow up; either like Amelie or a Charlie's Angel.

The children stumble into the house carrying large amounts of luggage. They always bring their own Disney sleeping bags, several spare sets of clothes and a mountain of toys. Amelie is also oblivious to the idea of packing light. She's arrived with the entire Estee Lauder skin care range, clean clothes for tomorrow (two outfits; one befitting a walk in the park, another an amble down King's Road), nightwear, flowers (for me), several huge bars of chocolate (for everyone), books, articles cut out from magazines that she thinks are interesting and hopes I might too (Amelie a.s.sumes other people find th.o.r.n.y issues appealing and she has a higher opinion of my intellect than anyone I've ever met), and a bottle of Chablis (already chilled).

'I'm thinking of buying some ceramic hair straighteners and thought you might have a set I could try,' says Amelie, in a timely reminder that she enjoys frivolity too. I confirm that I have the latest type and that they work miracles.

'Aunty Bella, will you pierce my ears?' asks Freya who has watched Grease about fifty times and definitely sees herself as Olivia Newton-John.

'No,' her mother and I chorus.

The doorbell rings.

'The oven should be hot now, will you stick the pizzas in?' I ask Amelie. The kids are already searching through the DVDs and arguing over whether they should watch Shrek or Honey. Amelie wanders through to the kitchen and I answer the door to Laura and Eddie.

They arrive with similar noise and commotion. Eddie is just in time to cast a deciding vote in favour of Shrek. Freya looks crushed but is somewhat comforted when I say there is time for both films. Amelie and Laura stare at me as though I'm insane as they see the chances of getting their offspring in bed before 10 p.m. recede. I shrug off their concerns as I know after they've had a couple of gla.s.ses of wine, they'll be less tyrannical.

It's about fifteen minutes before the children are safely ensconced upstairs in front of the TV. The pizza is almost ready and the wine is already affecting our brain cells. We lounge around the kitchen, propping up the breakfast bar. Whenever I'm with Amelie my first instinct is to ask her how she is.

'How are things Amelie?' I c.o.c.k my head to one side I read in a magazine that this stance encourages confidences.

'Oh, you know,' Amelie holds up the box of chocolates I've bought Swiss they cost a packet but are worth it. 'Should we open these before the pizza? Can we risk it? Sweet before savoury?'

'My mum's not here,' laughs Laura, 'no one is going to tell us off.'

Amelie opens the chocolates and pops one in her mouth, I wait for her to answer my question. She doesn't. Instead she turns to Laura and says, 'You look lovely.'

I haven't had a chance to do more than glance at Laura, since she arrived I've been focusing on the children and Amelie but Amelie's right: Laura does look great. Really great, not just the-new-T-s.h.i.+rt-demands-attention great. She's smiley and relaxed. She's taken the time to wash and scrunch-dry her hair, allowing her curls to celebrate their bounce. She's wearing another new top, a pink, floral-print one, it's cool, not mumsy. And besides these outward changes, I can see that something has s.h.i.+fted on the inside too. She is gleaming.

'I've met someone.'

'You have?' Amelie and I sound delighted and incredulous at once.

'Where?' I ask. 'At nursery? Do I know him?'

Laura grins mischievously. She's enjoying the attention. 'I met him after I left you on Monday.'

'You met him on Monday and you've taken until now, Friday, to tell me about him?' I'm mildly offended. Considering Laura sometimes rings me to talk about a new brand of was.h.i.+ng powder, I can't understand why she'd hold back something of this magnitude.

'I wanted to see your face and... well, nothing is concrete.'

'Tell us everything,' says Amelie, hopping on to a bar stool and patting the one beside her.

'Well, at first, and I can hardly believe this now, I didn't notice how cute he is. I just heard him busking-'

'He's a busker,' I say with indecorous astonishment.

'Yeah. So?' demands Laura tetchily, suggesting that she already knows what point I'm going to make. From the look on her face she is warning me not to pour cold water. 'He was being moved on by an underground official.'

'Not even an authorized busker?' Did I say that? I hadn't meant to.

'Actually, that's not his real job. He's an Elvis impersonator, a tribute act,' declares Laura as though he is more important than the chancellor of the exchequer.

I feel sick. Is there anything worse? I want to tell her that tribute guys are never more than that. I object to the whole premise: if you have to be an entertainer, why be an imitator? Why not be yourself? I can see her now in the audience of working men's clubs, surrounded by wasters and alcoholics, sipping Blue Nun as her man squeezes himself into his sparkly suit changing room nothing more than a curtain pulled around a makes.h.i.+ft stage. I contain my criticism as a discontented mumble.

'Well, that should impress the bank manager.' Laura glares at me. 'Sorry, no more interruptions. Go on.'

'And then I got on the train and the next thing I knew he was sat in my carriage and we got chatting. He's got the most beautiful smile.'

'What did you chat about?'

'Little House on the Prairie.'

'Oh.'

'And as I got off the tube he kissed me.'

'He kissed you?' Even Amelie is taken aback but she's grinning as though this forward, stalking busker is a good thing!

'When are you going to see him next?' she asks.

'I don't know. That's the problem. I didn't take his number.'

'But you gave him yours,' said Amelie.

Laura shakes her head. She then retells the story of her brief encounter with gory detail. She goes on about 'connections' and feeling 'something in the air'. I tell her that's smog. She pretends not to hear me.

'You are insane,' I p.r.o.nounce and then I panic. 'He could have been insane. Really, I mean.'

'I thought that at first but he was too cute,' smiles Laura.

'Insanity comes in all sorts of guises, even practised flirts,' I point out. I feel like her mother.

'I'm so glad I was wearing my new T-s.h.i.+rt,' she says dreamily.

Visions of the countless eligible guys that I've trailed past Laura for her inspection clamber into my head. None of them ever raised an iota of interest. None of them made her so much as twinkle, never mind glow as she is glowing now. She looks fantastic. This brief flirtation, not much more than a fleeting moment, that wouldn't even have registered on my s.e.xual Richter scale, had clearly sent her into a spin.

'I wonder how you can track him down,' muses Amelie.

'Why would she want to do that?' I demand.

'Look at her. She's all shook up.'

Amelie and Laura collapse into giggles. I pour some more wine and search for something else to talk about. It's not that I don't want Laura to be happy I want her to be very happy I want her to have everything I have but she is not going to find it by hooking up with an Elvis impersonator. There would be no happiness that way. No stability, no regular income. I didn't marry Philip for his money but I'm glad he has money. Laura needs someone who can help support Eddie. Or if not that, then at least she needs to avoid anyone who is a bigger financial drain and has a similar income capacity to Eddie's.

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