The Cherry Tree Cafe Read Free Page B

sorry.’ Jemma started to cry again.
    ‘Look,’ I shrugged, ‘don’t worry about it, at least you didn’t lie.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Well, he did have something up his sleeve, didn’t he? Just not what we were expecting, that’s all.’
    I hung up, knowing I couldn’t hold back the tide any longer. I was going to have to telephone home and keep everything crossed that Dad, not Mum would pick up. I forced myself to eat a
bowl of cereal, then had a shower and washed my hair. There was no point going into battle half-arsed. Where my mother was concerned, you needed all your armour intact before advancing.
    ‘Hello, Dad?’
    ‘Hello, darling . . . oh hang on, your mother wants to talk.’
    ‘No, Dad, wait!’
    The sheer relief I had momentarily felt at hearing Dad’s voice evaporated as I heard Mum snatching the phone from his grasp and installing herself on the sofa for a cosy chat.
    ‘Lizzie!’ she gushed, ‘where on earth have you been? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for days!’
    ‘Mum—’
    ‘Now, tell me. Where did that gorgeous man take you for your birthday? I bumped into Jemma in town and she told me he had something special planned, that’s why I didn’t ring on
the day. Do you know, she had Ella with her and her behaviour was quite appalling?’
    I blessed my goddaughter and her ability to shock my mother. I was grateful for anything that would distract her from her current course of interrogation.
    ‘Anywho,’ she laughed, ‘that’s all by the by. When are you both coming home? Can we expect a big announcement?’
    I could hear Dad frantically trying to shut her up in the background and the way her voice started cutting in and out suggested that she was wafting him away with a duster much the same as she
would a fly.
    ‘We’re not,’ I said firmly, drawing myself up for the moment of impact, ‘and no.’
    ‘Pardon?’ She stalled.
    ‘We’re not coming home and no, there is no announcement, well, other than that Giles and I are no longer a couple.’
    ‘Sorry, Lizzie,’ she murmured faintly, ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘Then let me spell it out for you,’ I sighed. ‘On my birthday Giles moved all his stuff out of the flat while I was at a spa and then in the evening, he took me out to dinner
and told me that he didn’t love me and that he was getting back with Natasha, his former fiancée and marrying her.’
    I stopped to draw breath. It was the first time I’d said the whole thing so plainly and the words tore my heart in two. I still didn’t want to believe it had happened.
    ‘Oh, Lizzie!’ Mum sobbed. ‘Are you absolutely sure?’
    I took another deep breath.
    ‘How on earth has this happened?’ She sniffed.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Well, had you been fighting? Had you fallen out with his mother or one of the brothers?’
    Sometimes I thought, as I tuned out my mother’s disapproving prattle, it would be cool to have a brother or sister. Someone else to conspire with, share the heat and hassle. But then I
realised that knowing my luck I’d end up playing second fiddle; I’d be Monica Geller not Ross and that would be undoubtedly worse, wouldn’t it? Constant comparison to a saintly
sibling was not a comforting thought. Perhaps I should start pinning my hopes on Dad trading in who I’d ended up with for a mother for a kinder, less sharply edged model.
    ‘Lizzie!’
    ‘What? I mean, pardon?’
    ‘I said, are you listening?’
    ‘Of course I’m listening!’
    ‘Then tell me, what did you do?’
    ‘What do you mean, what did I do?’
    ‘Well, you must have done something? Giles wouldn’t have just decided this was his only course of action if your relationship was all tickety-boo, would he?’
    ‘Why is everything always my fault?’ I retaliated.
    ‘And who is this Natasha person? I had no idea Giles had been engaged before!’
    Ah, I’d forgotten about that. Dad and I had decided it would be better all-round if Mum was kept in