Page 82 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

‘Oh my god,’ she moans again. ‘I can’t believe that happened.’ She looks down at herself. ‘I can’t believe I’m wearing pink cat pyjamas. I had such a good outfit planned for this meeting. I was going to wear a jacket with shoulder pads, Nico. Shoulder pads!’

‘I—’ I don’t know how to respond to this, but it seems my response is not needed.

‘Not like, Eighties Working Girl shoulder pads or anything,’ she continues, her eyes slightly wild. ‘But an extremely tasteful, tailored suit in understated neutrals. And Louboutins. Very high ones, immaculately polished. I was not going to be barefoot, wearing novelty pyjamas with unbrushed hair.’

I take a step forward, and put a hand on each of her un-padded shoulders.

‘Daisy?’ I say.

‘Yes?’ She blinks helplessly up at me.

‘Take a breath.’ I pull her gently against me, and her arms wind around my waist. Her cheek rests on my chest.

‘Okay,’ she murmurs, her eyes fluttering closed as she exhales. ‘Okay. I can fix this.’

‘We can fix this,’ I agree.

‘You know if we’re going to fix this you’re actually going to have to say something,’ she grumbles. ‘Not just stand there looking shell-shocked.’

‘I think you were talking enough for the both of us,’ I laugh, and she pokes me hard in the chest, but there’s the ghost of a smile on her lips.

‘… and that’s why Pluto is included even though it is only a dwarf planet,’ Phoebe is loudly explaining to Charles as her bedroom door opens.

Charles holds a small notebook and makes an annotation in it with a shiny gold pen. Presumably giving me negative marks on my astronomy knowledge.

I’m about to offer him a cup of coffee, when there’s another knock at the door.

‘Wow.’ I force a smile. ‘We are popular this morning. I wonder who that is.’

When I open the door it is to find an extraordinarily glamorous woman, swathed in a fur coat and matching fur headband, peering at me from behind enormous sunglasses, a wide, gleaming white smile on her face.

‘Darling!’ she exclaims, throwing her arms out wide.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lee

‘Ma?’ Nico gasps and I freeze.

I absolutely must be dreaming. This has to be a nightmare. There’s no possible way that Nico’s mother is here on his doorstep, while the terrifyingly unimpressed-looking lawyer sent by Nico’s dead father to evaluate his life hovers nearby. And certainly not while I am wearing my pink cat pyjamas. That is too absurd to be real.

I pinch myself, but the results are disappointing.

‘What… what are you doing here?’ Nico asks, blocking the doorway so that Claudia can’t get in.

‘Darling, Magda told me all about this lawyer your absolute bastard of a father was sending…’ I hear her say with devastating clarity. Her clipped, American-English hybrid of an accent carries beautifully.

Nico lets out a strangled cough. ‘Yes,’ he interrupts hastily. ‘Mr Saunders. He actually arrived a few minutes ago.’

There’s a heavy silence. While I can only see Nico’s back, I’m certain that there is a very intense soundless exchange happening between the two of them. Finally, Nico steps back, a frozen smile on his face. ‘Why don’t you come in?’

Claudia glides into the house, her tall frame draped in furs, and she pulls off her sunglasses, her gorgeous green eyes sweeping the room until they land on me. ‘Lee!’ she exclaims, her arms thrown out as she approaches me. ‘My beautiful daughter-in-law! How are you, darling? You look…’ There’s a hitch in her stride as she actually registers what I look like, but it’s barely noticeable… ‘So charmingly cosy,’ she finishes, bundling me into a Chanel No. 5 scented hug.

‘Hello, Claudia,’ I say robotically. ‘What a nice surprise.’ I haven’t seen her for almost two decades, but honestly, if anything, she looks younger than the last time. Her skin is absolutely poreless; the perfect bone structure that put her face on the cover of every major fashion magazine still looks sharp enough to be dangerous. Her hair is a long, straight dark curtain underneath the unnecessary fur hat. It’s not really that cold outside, but she looks like she’s stepped out of a glamorous ’70s après-ski photo shoot.

Claudia turns the focus of her attention on Charles. ‘Of course, you must be Mr Saunders, hello, I am Claudia Hart.’ She delivers the line in a way that makes it clear that she knows that he knows who she is, but she’s graciously not going to make a big deal of it… which somehow makes a very big deal of it.

Even Charles Saunders’ professional game face can’t stand up to this, and there’s a light flush on his cheeks, his hand goes to touch the knot of his tie.