Page 86 of Snowed In with You

‘No, Lucy, I haven’t,’ said Sasha through gritted teeth. ‘Nate has been in tour rehearsals all morning, and me saying, “Hey, can you give Lucy a call?” isn’t going to help him stay focused.’

‘He’s in a good place, Lucy,’ added Alex. ‘We need to keep him there.’ The two of them had a tag-team vibe, like they’d just held an emergency meeting and agreed how to get rid of Lucy as quickly as possible.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. ‘What does that mean?’

‘It means no drama, no distractions. The UK tour starts in three days. Now isn’t the time for surprise visits from old friends.’ Lucy registered the ‘old friends’, even though Alex knew what had happened between Lucy and Nate in Zermatt. It was clearly for Sasha’s benefit.

‘He’s emotionally fragile,’ said Sasha. ‘Small things, changes of direction, unexpected surprises – they can all make him spiral. But you already know that. He’s going through a lot right now.’

‘Yes, but he’s also a grown man. If he doesn’t want to talk to me, that’s fine. But can we at least give him the option?’

‘Yes, but not now,’ said Alex pleadingly. ‘Please. It’s not personal, I’m keeping everyone away right now. Three weeks of touring UK venues, then some time out for him to write some new stuff before he goes to Europe in October. Right now, the UK tour is the only thing he needs to think about.’

‘Ask yourself if whatever you want to talk about is going to simplify his life right now,’ said Sasha, and Lucy’s heart sank.

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘Probably not.’ She wondered what Nate had told Sasha when he got the tattoo. Had he made something up, or had that been the first crack in their relationship?

‘Why are you even here, Sasha?’ she asked. ‘I thought Nate had moved out of your place?’ She’s having just as much trouble letting go as I am, thought Lucy. But if I have to go into battle for Nate, I’d rather know exactly where things stand between him and Sasha.

‘He might have moved out, Lucy,’ said Sasha, tossing her hair. ‘But I’m still his mother.’

There were a couple of seconds where Lucy’s mind went entirely blank, then Sasha’s words flashed through her brain in technicolour neon.

‘His what?’

CHAPTER THIRTY

‘So when I saw him coming out your room in Zermatt, and you hugged him and blew him a kiss, and then you said you were living together, I just assumed you and he were . . . you know. Sleeping together.’

‘That’s disgusting,’ said Sasha, sipping her coffee and shaking her head. They’d decamped to the nearest cafe within minutes of Sasha’s revelation, both realising that they needed to have the kind of conversation that Alex really didn’t need to hear.

‘And you were crying at Glasto on Saturday when he was singing “Can’t Be Mine”,’ continued Lucy. ‘I took that as confirmation that you had split up.’

‘Of course I was crying,’ snapped Sasha. ‘I was watching my only son on stage at Glastonbury, singing a song he’d written in front of a crowd of screaming fans. Wouldn’t YOU cry?’

‘Well, it’s obvious NOW,’ said Lucy, rolling her eyes. ‘And please take it as a compliment when I tell you that it genuinely never occurred to me that you were old enough to be his mother.’

‘I had him when I was sixteen,’ said Sasha. ‘It’s a very long story, that only a handful of people know about.’

‘Why is it such a secret?’ asked Lucy.

Sasha shrugged. ‘For the same reason it would have been a secret if I was actually having sex with a member of the account team.’ She pulled a face and shuddered. ‘Because people would have called him Nepo Nate, and I wanted him to succeed on his own merit.’

‘But what does it matter now? He’s left LUNA. And you can’t keep it a secret forever. The more famous he gets, the more people are going to be digging into his background.’

‘You’re right, it doesn’t matter, but I’ve got a new venture I’m getting off the ground at LUNA, and I’d rather everyone focused on that for as long as possible.’

‘What new venture?’ asked Lucy.

‘I’m starting a spin-off division of the agency called LUNA Gold, specialising in advertising for luxury brands. A team of our top talent, charging a premium price tag. Olly is coming with me, along with a couple of others.’

‘Like who?’ asked Lucy, already anticipating the answer and feeling her stomach start to ache.

‘You, if you’re interested,’ said Sasha, arching an eyebrow. ‘I was planning to talk to you about it later in the week.’

‘Why me?’ asked Lucy, playing for time.

‘Because you’re the best we have, and Shine Spirits is a perfect fit for us.’