Page 120 of The Sunrise Sisterhood

‘Friends,’ she said, returning his hug. ‘I’d like that.’

But no more benefits.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Liz

‘Everything’s ready.’ Liz ushered Mike from the hall into the kitchen. ‘And Skye’s laid the table outside for nine places, like you asked.’

‘It all looks great.’ He nodded appreciatively, his eyes roaming across the row of lobsters prepped on the kitchen island.

‘Hi, Dad.’ Clare walked towards him, holding her broken arm out in front of her like a shield. ‘Look at the state of me. Ivy, come and say hello to Grandad!’

Ivy, who’d had to have her dress peeled off after a mushy avocado accident, dutifully staggered a few paces towards him.

Mike kissed Clare’s cheek. ‘You and Ivy will make yourselves scarce, I hope?’

He patted Ivy’s head, which was enough to make her lose her balance and drop back onto her nappy-cushioned bottom. For a second, she looked as if she was going to cry, but Liz quickly scooped her up and shook her head in despair at Mike.

‘I wasn’t planning on it, no,’ Clare replied, reaching for Ivy’s hand and kissing it.

‘Come on, Clare. This is a business meeting.’ Mike’s tone was exasperated. ‘I can’t have an injured woman and a baby dressed in nothing but a nappy at a business meeting.’

‘An injured woman?’ Clare looked at him in disbelief. ‘Is that all I am?’

Liz tutted. ‘Mike, you’re in my home and this isn’t a woman and a baby, this is your daughter and granddaughter. Have some manners.’

Mike rubbed a hand through his silver hair and smiled. ‘I apologise. I’m tense, I want this to go well. There’s a lot of money in it for me.’

Good, thought Liz, maybe that would keep the wolf from the door, and he’d be able to give her more time, or, even better, let her off some of the debt. She’d had another two cancellations this morning, which was odd and, more importantly, disastrous for her bottom line.

‘I need to be seen as agile and energetic, a man on board with forward thinking and new ideas. Being a grandad isn’t cool,’ he explained matter-of-factly. ‘I need to look cool.’

‘For heaven’s sake, Mike.’ Liz felt anger flare in her chest.

‘I tell you what isn’t cool.’ Unsurprisingly, Clare looked hurt. ‘A man in his sixties who’s too vain to admit he is a grandfather, who refuses to have anything to do with his granddaughter. Now, that isn’t cool.’

‘Dad.’ Skye shook her head sadly. ‘That was a terrible thing to say.’

Liz was quite worried about Skye, she looked washed out. Things had been so busy this morning that they hadn’t had long to chat. No sooner had she and Jesse arrived back at the house than it had been full steam ahead to get on with this lunch. But Skye had told them that their relationship was officially over. Jesse would be heading back to Africa as soon as he could arrange a return flight.

‘Women,’ Mike growled, storming out to the patio.

‘He is so annoying,’ said Clare through gritted teeth.

‘He is,’ agreed Liz, ‘but for the next three hours he’s paying the bills, so let’s at least try to be nice.’

By the time the rest of his party had arrived and were seated outside, Ivy was upstairs taking her nap. However, Clare was adamant that she wasn’t going to be banished up to her room and Liz didn’t blame her. Jesse had made a brief appearance to get some water and Mike had pounced on him, wanting to be introduced. Skye had been flustered and ended up introducing Jesse as her boyfriend and Mike had pumped his hand vigorously.

Liz had had the dubious pleasure of meeting Harriet, Mike’s assistant, who’d inspected the food, given her precise instructions of when staff were allowed out onto the patio, made them all sign a form to promise that they wouldn’t talk about today’s meeting to anyone and generally managed to make herself very unpopular. If Liz never set eyes on that abrasive young woman again, she’d be happy.

Skye was serving drinks when Liz made her way out onto the patio with an armful of hats, as per Mike’s last-minute request. She wouldn’t have recommended eating outside today; the sun was beating down and even though she was in her coolest sundress, sweat was trickling down her back and his guests were squinting in the light, their forearms and faces getting pinker by the second.

She set the assortment of headwear down on the table, trying not to catch Skye’s eye. ‘Sorry, everyone, this is the best I can do.’

She’d found several saucer-like affairs she’d worn to weddings, a bucket hat, a straw boater and a floppy hat she’d bought after being influenced by Kate Middleton, and a matching pair of baseball caps she and Jen had bought at a Magic Mike concert. Skye scuttled away, barely able to contain her mirth as the group – five men and four women – muttered their thanks, rooted through the pile and each pulled on a hat. Mike managed to grab one of the Magic Mike ones and looked very pleased with himself.

Harriet shoved her sunglasses up into her hair, examined the bucket hat and curled her lip. ‘Seriously?’