Page 83 of Snowed In with You

‘I’ve never asked you for anything, Mum,’ said Lucy. ‘But I’m asking you for this. For me. For US.’

Shirley nodded, sitting up straighter on the bed. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘We’ll talk about it with your dad over dinner.’

‘Thank you,’ said Lucy, feeling another tiny weight lifting from her shoulders. Maybe some good would come from today, after all.

‘So what’s next?’ asked Shirley. ‘What’s your plan to find the man of your dreams?’

Nate’s face floated into Lucy’s mind – it had blurred over time, and was now a strange composite of the beautiful, anxious Nate she remembered from Zermatt, the hurt version from Lee and Zoe’s wedding, and the glow-up version she’d seen at Glastonbury. Like an AI-generated Nate that was wispy and insubstantial and impossible to hold on to.

‘I don’t really know. I met someone a little while back, and that felt like something amazing. A connection, you know. Something I never felt with Kristoff. But it wasn’t the right time.’

‘If you have chemistry, the only other thing you need is timing, right?’

Lucy’s brow furrowed as she looked up at her mum. ‘Where does that come from?’ she asked.

‘It’s a thing your father used to say, when we first starting going out. “Love is just a matter of chemistry and timing.” ’

‘I’d forgotten that,’ said Lucy. ‘I remember him saying it to me when I got dumped by my first boyfriend. You remember Dan? His family moved to Reading, and my heart was broken.’

‘I remember,’ said Shirley. ‘Leo didn’t like him much, as I recall.’

‘We were fifteen,’ said Lucy. ‘Leo didn’t like anyone much.’

‘He’d have liked Kristoff, I think.’

Lucy let out a barking laugh. ‘Mum, come on. We wouldn’t have made it through pre-dinner drinks without him kicking off about the CO2 emissions rating on Kristoff’s car. He’d have probably keyed it down the side.’

‘Was he bringing the Aston Martin? Your father had told all the neighbours. They’ll be terribly disappointed.’

‘No, it was the Range Rover.’

‘Well, I don’t think Leo would have done anything bad,’ said Shirley indignantly, plucking another non-existent bit of fluff from Lucy’s duvet cover. Lucy waited, until Shirley realised that their new, more honest mother–daughter relationship was expected to start now. ‘Well, perhaps he might not have approved entirely. Anyway, what about this man you liked?’

‘There was definitely chemistry,’ said Lucy. ‘But as I said, the timing wasn’t right.’

‘Well, you know the other thing your father would say. He’d tell you to reset the experiment and try again.’

‘I haven’t really seen this man in months,’ said Lucy. ‘A lot has changed since then, for both of us.’

‘Chemistry is just another word for love, Lucy,’ said Shirley earnestly. ‘If the bond between you was strong enough, it will still be there. What’s his name? The man you like?’

‘Nate,’ said Lucy.

‘That’s a nice name,’ said Shirley breezily. ‘I was listening to Nate Lambert earlier, while I was cooking dinner. He’s got a lovely singing voice.’

‘Mmm,’ muttered Lucy, definitely not keen to let her know she’d dumped a millionaire and was now setting her sights on a pop star. They may have begun to build bridges, but this would definitely test Shirley’s tolerance for Lucy’s drama.

‘Maybe we’ll play some of his songs over dinner,’ said Shirley.

‘Isn’t it all love songs, though?’ said Lucy quickly. ‘I’m not sure I can handle that right now.’

‘All right, we’ll find something else. Just don’t ask your dad for his choice, he’ll put on the Bee Gees.’

Lucy resisted the urge to laugh, wondering how life was for Andrea and Felix these days. She’d watched a bit of one of their sets on YouTube a couple of months ago, and they’d definitely diversified their repertoire a little.

‘Come on, then,’ she said, holding out her hand to help her mum up. ‘Let’s eat this bloody dinner, I’m starving.’

‘Miso bananas,’ said Shirley. ‘Who’d have thought I’d cook something like that? Do you think Kristoff would have liked them?’