Читать книгу New Year, New Man - Laura Iding - Страница 7

FLORA was in the kitchen, cutting up the caramel slice she’d made that morning, when Nick walked in with a face like thunder.

‘Wasn’t that Sarah at the door?’ she asked.

‘Yep. She won’t be long. You can put on the kettle.’

Flora turned to pop the caramel slice back in the fridge before switching on the electric kettle. ‘It’s good to have her home,’ she said. ‘Isn’t it?’

Nick scowled as he slid onto one of the four stools fronting the black marble breakfast bar. ‘Speak for yourself, Flora.’

‘Come, now, Nick. You’ve missed her. You know you have.’

‘I know no such thing. Ray was out of his mind to make me that girl’s guardian. I’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief when February comes round, I can tell you.’

‘I suppose it has been a big responsibility,’ Flora agreed. ‘Especially considering how much money she’s going to inherit. What do you make of this new boyfriend of hers? Do you think he’s on the up and up?’

‘Who knows?’

‘It’s strange that she hadn’t mentioned him before last night, don’t you think? It makes me wonder what’s wrong with him.’

‘I’ve just been thinking the same thing. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.’

‘I guess so,’ Flora said. ‘So how does she look?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She told me last night that she’d been exercising and had lost weight. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.’

‘Yeah, I noticed.’

‘And?’ Flora asked, exasperated with Nick’s reluctance to elaborate. He was just as bad as Jim sometimes. Why was it that men didn’t like to talk? It would be nice to have Sarah home, just so she had someone to chat with occasionally.

‘I thought she looked fine the way she was.’

‘Isn’t that just like a man? They never want the women in their life to change. Aah, there she is, the girl herself. Come over here, love, and give old Flora a hug.’

Sarah’s heart squeezed tight when Flora enveloped her into a tight embrace. It had been a long time since anyone had hugged her like that.

There’d been no hug from Nick this morning. Not even a peck on the cheek. He never touched her, except accidentally.

Her gaze slid over Flora’s shoulder to land on the man himself. But he wasn’t looking her way. He was staring down at the black bench top, looking highly disgruntled.

Probably wishing he were at golf.

‘Oh, my,’ Flora said when she finally held Sarah out at arm’s length. ‘You have lost quite a few pounds, haven’t you? Still, now you can have a big piece of your favourite caramel slice without feeling guilty,’ she added before turning away to open the fridge. ‘I made it for you first thing this morning.’

‘You shouldn’t have, Flora,’ Sarah chided, but gently.

‘Nonsense. What else do I have to do? Did you know that the whole of the Christmas lunch is being catered this year? Nick says it’s too much for me. All I’m allowed to do is make a couple of miserable puddings. I ask you!’

She rolled her eyes at Sarah, who was thinking to herself that Flora had aged quite a bit this past year. Her face was very lined and her hair had turned totally grey.

‘Not that I’m complaining, Nick,’ Flora went on. ‘I do know I’m getting older. But I’m not totally useless yet. I could easily have baked a leg of pork and a turkey. And some nice hot veggies for those who don’t like salad and seafood. Still, enough of that. What’s done is done. Now, sit up there next to Nick, Sarah, and tell us all about your new boyfriend whilst I pour the tea.’

Sarah smothered a groan, but did as she was told, though she didn’t sit right next to Nick, leaving one stool between them.

‘What would you like to know?’ she asked with brilliant nonchalance.

‘How old is he, for starters?’

Sarah realised she had no idea.

‘Thirty-five,’ she guessed. One year younger than Nick.

Nick’s head swung her way. ‘Handsome?’

‘Very. Looks like a movie star.’

Was she crazy, or did Nick’s eyes glitter when she said that?

‘How long have you been seeing each other?’ Flora asked.

Sarah decided to use the truth as much as possible. ‘We met shortly after last Easter. I hired him as my personal trainer.’

Nick made a small scoffing sound.

Sarah ignored him.

‘Why haven’t you mentioned him before?’ Flora asked.

Sarah winced. She should have realised she’d get the third degree about Derek, from both Nick and Flora. Again, she decided to stick to the truth as closely as she could.

‘We haven’t been boyfriend and girlfriend all that time,’ she replied. ‘That’s a more recent development. He asked me out for a drink one night after my workout, one thing led to another and…well, what can I say? I’m very happy.’

Sarah smiled, despite the lurch within her chest.

‘And very healthy, too,’ Flora said with a return smile. ‘Don’t you think so, Nick?’

‘I think she looks like she could do with some of your caramel slice.’

Sarah found a laugh from somewhere. ‘That’s funny coming from you. All your girlfriends have figures like rakes.’

‘Not all of them. You haven’t met Chloe, have you?’

‘I haven’t had the pleasure yet.’

‘You will. Tomorrow.’

‘How nice.’

‘You’ll like her.’

‘Oh, I doubt it. I never like any of your girlfriends, Nick. The same way you never like any of my boyfriends. I’ve already warned Derek.’

‘Should I warn Chloe?’

Sarah shrugged. ‘Why bother? It won’t change anything.’

‘Will you two stop bickering?’ Flora intervened. ‘It’s Christmas, the season of peace and love.’

Sarah almost pointed out that Nick didn’t believe in love, but she held her tongue. Sniping at Nick was not in keeping with her resolution to move on. But he’d really got under her skin with his remarks about her being skinny.

When Flora presented a plate full of caramel slice right in front of her, she couldn’t really refuse. But she did take the smallest piece and proceeded to eat it very slowly between long sips of tea. Nick chose the biggest portion, devoured it within seconds, then had the gall to take a second salivating slice. The lucky devil had one of those metabolisms that allowed him to eat whatever he liked without getting fat. Of course, he did work out with weights every other day, and swam a lot.

Although thirty-six now, he didn’t carry an extra ounce of fat on his long, lean body. Really, other than some muscling up around his chest and arms, Nick hadn’t changed much since the day they’d met.

Physically, that was. He’d changed a good deal in other ways, matching his personality to suit whatever company he was in, sometimes warm and charming, at other times adopting a confident air of cool sophistication and savoir-faire, both personas a long way from the introverted and rather angry young man he’d been when he’d first come to live at Goldmine.

Though he was never angry with me, Sarah recalled. Never. He had always been sweet, kind and generous with his time. He’d made a lonely little girl’s life much less lonely.

Oh, how she’d loved him for that!

Sarah much preferred the Nick of old to the one sitting beside her today.

In the beginning, when he’d launched himself into the business world, she’d admired his ambition. But success had made Nick greedy for the good life, feeding on hedonistic pleasures that were as fleeting as they were shallow. Other than the holiday house on Happy Island, he owned a penthouse on the Gold Coast and a chalet in the southern snowfields. When he wasn’t working at making more money, he flitted from one to the other, always accompanied by his latest lady-love.

Whoops, no. Amend that to latest playmate. Love was never part of Nick’s lifestyle.

Her father had always said how proud of Nick he was. He’d lauded Nick’s work ethics, his intellect and his entrepreneurial vision.

Sarah could see that, professionally, there was much to be proud of. But surely her father would have been disappointed, if he’d been alive today, at the way Nick conducted his personal life. There was something reprehensible about a man whose girlfriends never lasted longer than six months, and who boasted that he would never marry.

No, that was unfair. Nick had never boasted about his inability to fall in love. He’d merely stated it as a fact.

Sarah had to concede that at least Nick was honest in his relationships. She felt positive he never spun any of his girlfriends a line of bull. They’d always known that their role in his life was strictly sexual and definitely temporary.

‘Glad to see you’re still capable of enjoying your food.’

Nick’s droll remark jolted Sarah out of her reverie, her stomach contracting in horror once she realised she’d consumed a second piece of caramel slice without being aware of it.

She kept her cool, however, determined not to let Nick needle her further.

‘Who could resist Flora’s caramel slice?’ she tossed at him airily. ‘Next Christmas we’ll get back to having a smaller Christmas lunch, Flora, and you can cook whatever you like.’

‘You won’t keep your father’s tradition going?’ Nick asked in a challenging voice.

‘Is that what you think you’ve been doing, Nick?’ she countered. ‘When Dad was alive, Christmas lunch was a gathering of true friends, not a collection of business acquaintances.’

‘Is that so? I think perhaps you’re mistaken about that. Most of your father’s so-called friends were business contacts.’

Nick was right, of course. But people had still liked her father for himself, not just for what they could get out of him. At least, she liked to think so.

But maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d seen him through rose-coloured glasses. Maybe, underneath his bonhomie, he’d been as hard and cynical as Nick.

No, that wasn’t true. He’d been a kind and generous man.

Not a brilliant dad, though. During her years at boarding-school he’d often made excuses for not being able to come to school functions, all of those excuses related to work. Then, when she came home for school holidays, she’d largely been left to her own devices.

If she was strictly honest, things hadn’t been much better when her mother was still alive. A dedicated career woman, Jess Steinway had been totally unprepared for the sacrifices motherhood entailed upon the arrival of an unexpected baby at forty. Sarah had been raised by a succession of impersonal nannies till she went to kindergarten, after which Flora had taken over as carer before and after school. But Flora, warm and chatty though she was, had mostly been too busy with the house to do much more than feed Sarah and make sure she did her homework.

No one had spent quality time with her, or played with her, till Nick had come along.

She turned her head to look at him, a wave of sadness washing through her. Oh, how she wished he was still their chauffeur, and she the little girl who could love him without reservation.

Tears pricked at her eyes, right at that moment when Nick’s head turned her way. She quickly blinked them away, but not before she glimpsed regret in his.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘I didn’t mean any disrespect for your father. He was a good man and a very generous one. Christmas was his favourite time of year. Did you know that every Christmas he gave huge donations to the various charities round Sydney for the homeless? Because of him, they always had a proper Christmas dinner. And no one, especially the children, went without a present.’

Sarah frowned. ‘I didn’t know that.’ she knew about his good work with young prisoners. And he’d given lots of money to cancer research and cancer support groups. There were a few hospital wings named after him, too. But he’d never mentioned his Christmas donations. ‘I hope his estate is continuing with that tradition, Nick. Do you know if it is?’

‘It wasn’t written into his will, so I do it in his name every year.’

‘You?’

‘Don’t sound so surprised. I am capable of generous gestures, you know. I’m not totally selfish.’

‘I…I never said you were.’

‘But you think it. And, generally speaking, you’d be right.’

‘Don’t be so modest, Nick,’ Flora piped up. ‘You should see the huge plasma television Nick bought Jim and me a few weeks ago, for no reason at all except that he thought we’d like it. It has surround sound and its own built-in DVD. You can tape any number of shows and watch them later, when you have time. Jim’s in seventh heaven, watching cricket and tennis at all hours of the day and night.’

‘Why do you think I bought it?’ Nick quipped. ‘Had to do something to stop my right-hand man from spending every summer’s day glued to that TV, when he should be outside working. My motivation was purely selfish, I assure you. And don’t be expecting anything too expensive for Christmas, because I’m flat broke now.’

‘Oh, go on with you,’ Flora said laughingly.

‘Don’t laugh. I’ve made two dud movies already this year. And I’m damned worried about the one coming out in the New Year. We’ve had a couple of test audiences view it and they said the ending was way too sad. The director reluctantly agreed to reshoot it with a happy ending, but I’ve decided to go with his original vision. If this one flops, I might have to come to Sarah here for a loan.’

Sarah was shocked by this news. She knew better than anyone that Nick’s ego would not survive becoming poor again. ‘I can give you as much as you need, come February. And it won’t be a loan, either.’

‘Lord, what am I going to do with this girl, Flora? I hope you haven’t made any similar offers to this boyfriend of yours. Don’t ever give a man money, Sarah,’ he told her sternly. ‘It brings out the worst in them.’

Sarah shook her head at him. ‘How many times do I have to tell you? Derek doesn’t want my money.’

‘He will, when he sees how much you’ve got.’

‘Not every man is a fortune-hunter, Nick. Now, if you don’t mind, I do not wish to discuss Derek any further. I know there’s no convincing you that no man could possibly love me for myself and not my money, so I’d prefer not to try.’

‘Hear hear,’ Flora agreed. ‘I agree with Sarah. Another piece of caramel slice, love?’

The ringing of Nick’s cellphone was a welcome interruption, not only to his incessant questioning about Derek, but also to her escalating exasperation. Tomorrow was not going to be a pride-saving exercise. It was going to be hell!

‘Hi there,’ she heard Nick say in that voice he reserved for girlfriends. ‘Yeah, that’d be great, Chloe. OK. I’ll pick you up tonight at seven. Bye.’

He clicked off his phone and slipped off the stool. ‘Sorry, folks. Change of plan. Chloe’s had a last-minute invitation to a Christmas Eve party at some bigwig’s place, so I’ll have to dash out and do my present-shopping now. We’ll have to put off that talk till I get back, Sarah.’

‘Fine,’ she said, pretending not to care. But she did. She cared a lot. Not about the talk so much but about his going out this afternoon, then going out with Chloe tonight. Pathetic, really. The way she would accept the crumbs of his company.

‘Don’t forget I want a new car,’ Sarah called after him as he walked away. ‘A yellow one.’

Nick stopped walking, then glanced over his shoulder at her. ‘Yellow,’ he repeated drily. ‘Any particular make?’

She named a top-of-the-range model. ‘Of course. What else?’

When he smiled his amusement at her, Sarah’s heart lightened a little. It was still there, that special bond between them. Because they knew each other.

Chloe didn’t know Nick. Not the real him. She only knew the man who had graced the cover of Australia’s leading financial newspaper last year.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ he said. ‘Bye, girls.’

‘Bye,’ Sarah trilled back, smiling on the outside whilst inside she was already sinking back into the pit, that moment of pleasurable intimacy wiped away in the face of where Nick would be going tonight.

Do not succumb to jealousy, she lectured herself, or depression. Do not let him do this to you!

‘You don’t still have a thing for Nick, do you, love?’

Flora’s softly delivered question was almost Sarah’s undoing.

Gulping down the sudden lump in her throat, she straightened her spine and adopted what she hoped was a believable expression. ‘No, of course not.’

‘That’s good. Because it would be a mistake. There’s no future for any woman with a man like Nick.’

Sarah laughed a dry little laugh. ‘Don’t you think I know that, Flora?’

‘This Derek chap, is it serious between you two?’

Sarah hesitated to answer for a second too long.

‘I didn’t think so,’ Flora said. ‘You would have told me about him sooner, if that were the case.’

‘Don’t tell Nick,’ she blurted out.

Flora’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is this Derek a real boyfriend or not?’

Sarah bit her bottom lip. She knew it would be wiser to lie, but she couldn’t, not to Flora’s face.

‘He…he’s just a friend.’

Flora gave her a long, searching look. ‘What game are you playing at, girlie?’

Sarah sighed. ‘Nothing bad, Flora. I just wanted to bring someone to the Christmas lunch and Derek volunteered. I’m sick and tired of Nick’s girlfriends looking down their noses at me.’

‘So it’s a matter of female pride, is it?’

‘Yes; yes, that’s exactly what it is.’

‘You do realise Nick is going to give this poor Derek the third degree?’

‘Yes, he’s prepared for that.’

Flora pulled a face. ‘I hope so. Because Nick takes his job as your guardian very seriously, love.’

‘Derek can hold his own.’

‘None of your other boyfriends could.’

‘Derek’s not a real boyfriend.’

‘But he’s pretending to be one.’

‘Yes.’

Flora sighed. ‘Good luck to him, then. That’s all I can say.’