All Because of You (Lakeview #2) (13 page)

“No, it’s fine.” Tara sat forward, not at all insulted by the question. “But it’s funny, you sound just like Liz, the friend I was talking about just now. As I said, she’s been married for years, is blissfully happy and for the life of her can’t understand why I’m a million miles away from following suit. But in all honesty, I love my life the way it is and I’ve never had any interest in getting married.”

“But why not? Don’t you want the fairytale and the big white dress and all the trimmings?” Natalie’s face took on a faraway expression. “Personally I can’t wait, and I’d give
anything
to walk up the aisle.”

“You’re certain that’s what you want?” Tara asked and Natalie nodded dreamily.

“And what about Steve – what do you think he wants?”

“Hopefully the same thing as I do,” Natalie replied. “If not, I’m in a spot of bother, aren’t I?”

Chapter 8

Liz strapped Toby into his buggy and took a short walk down the hill from her house, towards the centre of the village. Although the weather was chilly, the sky was a glorious clear blue, and as she crossed the low stone bridge over the lake she thought the large body of water after which the village was named had never looked so impressive. From her side of town, Liz needed to cross the stone bridge above the lake in order to get to the centre, and to the shops where she was headed this morning. 

As she
and Toby walked along, most of the villagers she passed gave her friendly but distant smiles. As well as commuting ‘Dubs’, the inhabitants of Lakeview were of course used to a continual influx of tourists and so, even with the smiles, she knew she had a long way to go before she was accepted as one of ‘their own’ . . . if she ever was.  

“Liz, hello!”

She looked up to see Colm, one of Eric and Tara’s childhood friends, waving at her from across the road. He was standing outside Ella’s cafe, the popular village café he worked in, which had an enviable position right at the edge of the lake on the corner where Main Street began.

S
ince its inception by local resident Ella Harris thirty-odd years before, the place had become a Lakeview social institution. Colm was also one of the few people in the village that Liz had got to know properly since the move from Dublin.

“Hey Colm
” She waved back, nipping quickly across the road to talk to him.

“Hello there, little lad,” said Colm, bending down to talk to Toby, and briefly pausing in his task of cleaning the premises’ glass fro
ntage. “Gosh, he’s gorgeous, Liz. Who would have thought an ugly bastard like Eric would produce a cutie like that?”

“Wash out your mo
uth, or I’ll set my dogs on you,” Liz laughed, and Colm feigned terror. 

“Hmm
you didn’t threaten to set your husband on me all the same – he must still be as much of a wimp as ever,” he said with a grin. “How is Eric anyway? I haven’t seen you two around town in a while.”

Liz grimaced. “We haven’t been around town in a while, unfortunately. And Eric’s fine, working like a maniac lately – he’s hardly ever at home.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m beginning to th
ink he has a mistress on the go.”

“Well, if he doe
s, he’s an idiot,” Colm replied a little more earnestly than the remark necessitated. She was only joking after all.

“So are you coming inside for a cuppa?” he asked then. “I’m trying out a new recipe involving sinful amounts of cream and mascarpone – and I’d love a guinea pig.”

Judging by his slim and perfectly toned physique, he obviously didn’t try out too many of his creations on himself or if he did he was conscientious enough to work the excess off.

Colm managed the café
on Ella’s behalf and, knowing what she did about him, Liz had decided that rural attitudes had surely come on in leaps and bounds when the residents of such a close-knit community didn’t bat an eyelid at being served tea and coffee by the local homosexual.

“Don’t tempt me – not this early in the morning,” Liz replied, groaning. “But I might call back later for a coffee. I’ve got a bit of shopping to do first, and then I’m popping up to Eric’s mum for an hour or two. I think she may have forgotten wha
t Toby looks like at this stage.” 

Maeve McGrath didn’t particularly like animals, so needless to say she wasn’t a regular visitor at the cottage. And in truth, she wasn’t exactly a huge fan of kids either, a subscriber to the ‘children should be seen and not heard’ camp. So, Liz and Eric usually went to visit her. Liz privately suspected that Eric’s mother, with her reserved and standoffish pe
rsonality wasn’t particularly liked in the village. Colm’s response confirmed this.

“How
is
the old bag?” he said, rolling his eyes. “I haven’t seen her in donkey’s years myself – but of course, she wouldn’t
dream
of coming into a place like this. Heavens no,” he mimicked exaggeratedly. “After all, who knows
where
the chef’s hands have been!”

Liz smiled. Maeve McGrath was the one, and possibly the only resident of
Lakeview who had a problem with the the Heartbreak Café’s in-house baker, and according to Eric, once his mother had eventually discovered Colm’s sexual preference, had never forgiven herself for allowing the two boys to go off camping together when they were growing up. He might have turned her darling, heaven forbid.

Well, Liz thought now, it was certainly the woman’s loss. Colm was one of the nicest and most genuine guys you could meet, and despite being a friend of Eric’s rather than hers, he was someone in whom Liz instinctively knew she could confide, should the need arise. 

According to Eric Colm had recently begun a serious relationship with a man who was also living locally and, while Liz hadn’t yet met the boyfriend, she was pleased for Colm. Living such a lifestyle in a small, close-knit community like this couldn’t be easy, but at the same time it was impossible not to love Colm. Outgoing and gregarious, his gossipy mannerisms always made her laugh yet he wasn’t over-the-top camp. Liz had really taken to him, and  decided when she met him first that it was lucky in a way that he was the other way inclined, otherwise she might be tempted to make a play for him herself.

“Tara was telling me she and Glenn met you in the
pub last time the two of them were home,” Liz said, her thoughts then segueing to her friend, who also knew Colm well. 

“Yes, Tara looked stunning as usual,” he said.
“That girl has such great taste. You know, I still can’t figure out how a girl from this dive ended up being so fabulous.  She really knows how to make the most of herself, doesn’t she?”

“I know what you mean,” Liz grimaced, suddenly aware of her own dowdy jeans and boring T-shirt. 

“Although, I have to hand it to you, Liz, you’ve smartened Eric up quite a bit. Honestly, when we were teenagers, we all used to be bewildered as to where that boy got his clothes – especially those reindeer jumpers he loved so much.”

Liz giggled. “Reindeer jumpers?”

“You mean you’ve never seen the pictures?” Colm’s eyes widened dramatically. “I must hunt them out and show them to you sometime. Eric used to wear this
horrific
knitted brown jumper with patterned reindeer prancing gaily all over the front of it. Can you imagine?  Talk about ironic! Honestly, Liz, I’ll have a look for the photos. We’d all get a good laugh out of it – especially when it’s at Eric’s expense.” He winked conspiratorially. “Anyway, I’d better get back inside and give Ella a hand – I see another horde gathering like lost and hopefully hungry, sheep.”

And as well as being endowed with such an amiable personality, Colm had also been blessed with stunning culinary ability.
In conjunction with his delicious savoury breads, tomato chutneys and homemade pesto, the man made the best chocolate and vanilla cheesecake Liz had ever tasted. Evidently, she wasn’t the only one who appreciated Colm’s talents.  

Deciding she’d better not keep him any longer, Liz bade Colm a quick goodbye, having promised to return soon for a cuppa and another chat and continued on  pushing the buggy further along the street to the shops.

Within the next half hour, she’d done most of her shopping and was inelegantly trying to stow her vegetables at the back of Toby’s pushchair, when she looked up and came face to face with another Lakeview resident – one she really wished she hadn’t.

“Emma,
” Liz blurted in surprise, her face suffused with colour – not just from surprise, but also from her exertions in trying to put away the heavy groceries.

“Oh, hello.
”

Tara’s si
ster was typically off-hand and maddeningly, looked stunning as usual, dressed in a pretty flower-patterned skirt and stylish white top. Blast it, why hadn’t she made more of an effort. Baggy jeans and a sweatshirt that had seen better days were barely suitable for slobbing around at home, let alone going shopping. But Toby had been narky that morning and she’d had a couple of dogs changing over before she left, so really she had been lucky to get out of the house at all. So, trust Eric’s ex to look like something from the
Cosmo
fashion pages, all pretty and feminine and glowing with health while
she
looked like something from
Down-and-Out Weekly
. 

Then Liz recalled why it was that Emma looked so glowing.

“Tara tells me you’re moving home again,” she said, trying to inject some warmth into her tone. Granted over the years, neither woman had made any bones of their dislike for one another, but Liz saw little reason not to be polite, if not exactly friendly towards Emma. It was unlikely that the two would ever be bosom buddies but …

“Did she?” For a brief mo
ment, Emma looked surprised and Liz thought, slightly wrong-footed. “I didn’t realise my personal life was up for public examination.”

Liz gritted her teeth. Right. If the girl wanted to play silly buggers, then to hell with being polite. “Emma, to be honest, I’m not too concerned about your personal life, OK?  I was just making small-talk as people tend to do when they bump into one another. But seeing as you’re not capable of basic manners, let alone anyth
ing else, then good luck to you.”  She went to push the buggy away.

“Will Eric be at home this weekend?” Emma enquired pointedly. “I haven’t seen him around here in a few weeks. Anyone would think he was staying away on purpose.”

“Of course, where else would he be?” she replied sweetly.

“Oh, I don’t know. From what I can make out, he seems to be spending a lot of his time in Dublin. I bumped into him once or twice up there and we had a few drinks. It was good fun actually.”

Despite herself, Liz’s heart began to pound loudly in her chest. “Did you really?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Yes
it was just like old times actually,” Emma replied, her voice full of meaning, before walking away in the other direction, her shapely backside moving haughtily from side to side.

Liz’s hands gripped the handle of the buggy so tightly her knuckles almost broke through skin. What the hell was all that about? Granted, Eric had been spending a lot of time in Dublin lately but he was working, wasn’t he? She took a deep breath, and shook her head, trying to get a grip on herself, trying to contain the jealousy and suspicion that had out of nowhere aroused itself within her. 

What on earth was wrong with her? Why did the mere sight of Emma Harrington turn her into some raging, jealous wreck almost every time they met? It had been years since Emma and Eric had been together – way before him and her, she reassured herself as her heartbeat began to slow a little and her stomach stopped spinning. And Eric was married to
her
after all, and as far as she knew had barely even spoken to Emma since who knows when.

Despite herself, Emma words planted themselves in Liz’s brain.
“I bumped into him a few times – we had a few drinks.”
  Had Eric and Emma met up when he stayed over in Dublin? And if they did, wasn’t it strange that her husband hadn’t mentioned it? 

Emma walked further along the road, a mischievous grin plastered across her face.  OK, so she shouldn’t have said anything to Eric’s wife, but she couldn’t help it.

For some reason that goody-two-shoes friend of Tara’s had always got up her nose, and she couldn’t resist telling her that she and Eric had met up in town. That had certainly wiped the smug
smile off her silly little face. The slip of the tongue had been worth it, just to see Liz’s stupefied reaction.

Emma smiled and headed for home. Well, she’d lit the fuse, now all she had to do was sit back and watch the fireworks. 

Eric returned home from work that evening bustling with energy, and all throughout dinner raved enthusiastically about the extra hours he’d secured at work. 

“Which means an extra few quid to spend on the house, love,” he told his wife, gleefully rubbing his hands together and apparently not noticing Liz’s sombre mood.