Kisses for Lula (24 page)

‘Didn’t mean to give you a fright.’ He picked up one of my hands, clenched on the table, and raised it gently to his lips. My entire body broke out into such mad prickles I thought my hair might actually be lifting off my scalp.

‘Hellohiohthereyouarehaha!’ I gabbled.

‘Finethanks’n’you?’ he replied automatically, his eyes flickering over the rest of the restaurant. The Booth was very secluded, though his seat had a bit of a view of the other tables. Mine had virtually none.

‘I’m fine, thank you,’ I said, and took my hand back.

Ben looked at me properly then, and I flushed as I smiled at him, meeting his gaze. He looked like he was about to give me a compliment when a very skinny, very gorgeous waitress headed over to our table.

Please go somewhere else
, I willed, but no. Beeline for us. She handed the menus over and asked us what we’d like to drink with a very
lingering
look at Ben. I know she thought her lustful stare was returned, but Ben was just gazing blankly, trying to decide between orange or apple juice.

‘Still mineral water for me, please,’ I said when she deigned to look in my direction.

Once the drinks order was out of the way, Ben turned to his menu straight away, so I examined mine also. It would have to be that Caesar salad again. With croutons.

Ben coughed. ‘Well, I know what I’m having!’

‘Yes?’ I smiled.

Through the enormous picture window at my elbow, I caught sight of a shadow slowing on the pavement outside. I glanced up above the line where the frosting stopped and met the blank eyes of Jack de Souza for an instant before he walked past.

I knew it! It
had
been him following me all over the place! Bludgeon’s info had been wrong. The realisation had my heart yammering away, my palms sweaty. I was relieved it had only been him, but I felt angry and betrayed too. What was he up to? Writing me up as a case study for a teen mag? The problem page, no doubt. My blood boiled.

Ben had replied and his eyebrows were raised at me now.

‘Sorry, Ben.’ I felt so brave saying his name. How weird? ‘What did you say?’

‘Said it’s got to be the rare fillet. You?’

The image of a recently blooded tongue moving into my mouth nearly made me gag. I swallowed hard, but my voice still came out like a croak: ‘Uh, probably the Caesar salad.’

‘C’mon. Be daring. That’s such a girly thing to order and you don’t strike me as that girly.’

‘Oh?’

Ben leaned over the table, and I shifted forward slightly too. ‘You seem to have . . .’ He paused and I found it difficult to breathe. Our faces were only inches apart, and I could see a tiny nick on his cheek where he’d cut himself shaving. I wanted to touch it. With my lips.
Get a grip, Tallulah!
I drew a shallow breath, and Ben smiled slowly, staring at my mouth now. Oh, glory be.
Was this going to be it?

But Ben was speaking again. ‘You seem to have more to you than meets the eye.’

I smiled politely. The cliché was a disappointment, even though Ben’s proximity was not. I wondered what he’d do if
I
kissed
him
. My smile grew into a grin and I tried to bite it back, but Ben said, ‘You don’t think so?’

‘Er, what do you mean?’

‘You don’t think there’s more to yourself than meets the eye?’

I cleared my throat, confused. ‘Oh, right. Of course there is – that’s true of anyone I reckon.’

The moment had gone. I straightened up a little and fiddled with the beads at my neckline, then checked that my hair was still behaving. Catching myself fidgeting, I stopped. Ben was watching me. He nodded. ‘I know people,’ he said, and nodded again.

‘So there’s more to you already,’ I said. ‘The scientist who’s also interested in people.’ I beamed.

‘Absolutely,’ said Ben, and he leaned towards me again.

I held my breath. He pushed the small vase of flowers out of the way and reached for my hands.

COUGH! ‘Decided what you want to eat, then?’

Oh, frik. That bliddy skinny waitress was back.

‘Caesar salad, please,’ I said abruptly.

‘Fillet steak, please, Susan,’ said Ben, and he explained how he’d like it grilled. She laughed sweetly and said she’d put a word in for him with the chef. His meal would be as good as if she’d cooked it herself.

‘I’ll have to try that sometime,’ said Ben in a low voice as she bent to retrieve our menus, predictably exposing cleavage that had recently seen a tube of self-tan.

Heat flushed my face and as soon as she’d departed I said tartly, ‘Do you want to try her home cooking tonight? I can tell the maître d’ that I’ve got a headache.’

‘Feisty!’ said Ben, and he leaned back, his arms behind his head, showing off a very decent chest. ‘Forget that, Tallulah. I just didn’t want to embarrass her.’

‘If you’re interested in people, you’ll be glad to learn that leading them on is not a good placatory gambit.’

Frik! What
was
that with the vocab? Did Pen just creep into my head? I could have bitten my tongue off. (Or maybe not. I was no stranger to tongue pain after that episode with Arns.)

‘Intelligent too,’ crowed Ben, and he brought his arms down suddenly, propping his elbows on the table. ‘You are fabulous.’

I was not fabulous. I was gobsmacked.

And suddenly I didn’t know what on earth to make of Ben Latter. He was very good-looking, very well groomed, very assured. He should be perfect, but Arns’s little
wayward comments about my hot date, and that quick look from Jack de Souza through the window, had unsettled me maybe.

Oh, frik. Did I have issues? I did. I had issues. Maybe I was really an ice maiden and now that I was so close to physical contact with a boy I was grasping at straws to find a way out.

No. Not true.

‘Thank you,’ I said sweetly, though it grated. ‘So, tell me how all your research is going. Are you ready to present your findings on Monday?’

‘Wha–? Oh, yes. Yes, I am.’ He coughed.

‘Are you nervous about it?’

‘Me? Oh no. I’m used to public speaking. You know, being house captain and all that. Got to do a lot of chat to large audiences.’

I couldn’t let it go. I’d have to tease him. ‘Oooh, house captain,’ I said, but then I stopped in my tracks.

I could NOT believe it.

Guess who was standing across the crowded restaurant!

No, numpty, not Jack de Souza.

My father
, that’s who!
Here
on his hot date! A petite woman with a short chic glossy bob stood alongside him, smiling up at his face as he bent to kiss her with a laugh and a grin.

How could he bring his mistress to the most popular
restaurant in town?
On the night of his wedding anniversary? The man was clearly so sickened by his own disgusting extramarital behaviour that he couldn’t even do the extramarital bit properly!

Half the town was here this evening, and he
knew
I was going out tonight – did he think I’d be at Pizza Hut? (Okay, well, maybe. Dad still thought I was ten.)

I watched as my father straightened and searched the restaurant. Would he see Mum and
leave
?

Omigod. What if Mum saw Dad? On his hot date with Freya!

I half stood.

‘Tallulah?’ Ben was looking at me in astonishment.

‘Gosh, sorry. I thought I saw someone I knew.’

He laughed. ‘Wouldn’t surprise me.’

‘Oh.’ I laughed too. ‘Yeah, it’s a pretty small town. I meant someone I had to talk to.’

‘Can it wait? I’m enjoying myself here. I still don’t feel like I really know you. I don’t even know about your hobbies.’

‘I-I’m so sorry. It’ll take me just one second.’

Ben smiled politely, but he didn’t like it, I could tell. Too bad. This was critical.

I scampered after my father. He was heading straight for the men’s bathroom. Ms Homewrecker was nowhere to be seen. I grabbed the back of his shirt at the door.

‘Dad!’

‘T-Bird!’ He looked surprised. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Go home!’ I said fiercely. ‘Right now. Mum is here and I won’t have you hurting her feelings.’

‘Oh, you’re here on your date. How could I forget?’ He grinned at me delightedly. ‘Why would I hurt your mum’s feelings?’

‘Dad, I
know
about you and Freya.’

‘I thought you did.’ He sighed.

I couldn’t believe he wasn’t more shocked. More shamed. ‘So leave! Now!’

‘You don’t want your hot date to see your poorly father?’ He laughed bitterly. ‘Where is this guy, anyway?’

‘Dad . . . please. Listen, it’s your anniversary . . .’

‘Exactly. A big one too – twenty-one years, T. I’d hoped to get The Booth.’

I blinked at his miscalculation, but wasn’t surprised. Then wondered –
was
he actually meeting Mum here? Was
she
his hot date? An image of my mother swam into view, rumpled white hair and flowing caftans, alongside the Ms Homewrecker I’d seen my father kiss a minute ago, with her glam hair and sparkling smile.

‘
I’m
in The Booth,’ I said firmly, and raised a trembling finger, ready for accusation.

‘What? No. You’re too young for canoodling!’

‘Dad! I’m not canoodling!’

‘You should be at Pizza Hut. With aaaaall –’ he made a big whole-world gesture with his arms – ‘your friends.’

‘Not gonna happen,’ I hissed. ‘
Go home
.’

‘Where’s this Sven, then?’ growled Dad. He retraced his steps back into the restaurant and peered across the way to The Booth.

Predictably, he could see nothing.

Sirens wailed outside, cutting through the polite restaurant chatter. Something smashed in the kitchen and heads swivelled from the picture windows to the crash, then back to the windows as the flashing lights of a fire engine sped past. Voices went up a decibel, and a few people half stood in their seats for a better view, but the vehicle was gone.

I saw that Ben had stood too. He didn’t sit back down, though, but started to edge out of The Booth. Dad gasped, then clutched my arm when Ben turned to look around.

‘That’s
Sven
?’ he hissed.

Chapter Twenty

‘Not Sven,
Ben
! Ow, Dad. What’s
wrong
with you? He’s looking for me now. I’ve got to go.
And you do too!
Take your baggage and
go home
.’ The last sentence came out tearful and I took a few deep breaths to prevent ruining either composure or make-up.

‘I’m not proud of the situation I find myself in, T,’ Dad muttered back at me, ‘and we’ll talk about that later, but I want you to know right now that I’m not happy about you seeing Ben.’

‘Oh,
now
someone remembers his name!’

Something crossed Dad’s face then, and he had an old look about him that I recognised. It was like we were back where we’d been last year, before he’d started drinking like a sailor on shore leave. ‘T,’ he started, but I saw Ben coming towards me and broke away.

I headed Ben off halfway across the restaurant, and laid my hand on his forearm in what I hoped was a proprietary gesture that could be seen by my father in the wings.

‘Now
I
need a loo break,’ grinned Ben. ‘I’ll see you back in The Booth. Keep my seat warm.’ He winked.

I felt my entire stomach flip over, and smiled back.

Thinking quickly, I decided to take Ben at his word. I’d sit in his seat, thank you, from where I had some view of everyone else in Meat City. Everyone except Dad and Mum, though. I leaned out quickly for a wider view and my head caught the corner of Skinny Sue’s tray.

Ouch!

Oh geez.

The tray went flying and my special-agent sight slowed the crash to give me an eyeful of how carefully crafted Ben’s orange juice was, replete with little parasol and cherry on a stick. My plain-Jane bottle of water and empty glass slid into it and I shut my eyes as the whole lot landed on the floor.

I opened them and whispered, ‘Sorry!’ as Skinny Sue stared down at her white shirt stained with orange. Her eyes went slitty and mean, and I tried really, really hard not to smile.

‘Susan!’ said a fat man, waddling to the rescue. ‘Have you been on the vodka again?’ he muttered in an angry voice that carried too far, providing more entertainment for everyone still watching.

I noticed that Mum’s head had popped up over a partition. She was looking at me and gesticulating madly.

Oh, frik.

No time to lose.

I slipped past the debris and made for her table.

‘Mum?’

‘Lula – I’ve just had a call. Nothing to worry about, but I need to get home. Can you –’

My heart clenched. ‘Is it Blue?’

‘No, no, silly. I’ll explain when you get back.’ I started to say something again, but she stopped me, her hand on mine. ‘Tallulah. I want you to have a lovely time.’ She smiled conspiratorially and I rolled my eyes. ‘Can you tell your dad to get home as soon as he can?’

‘Doesn’t look like he’s coming, Mum,’ I said quickly.

‘He’ll be here,’ said Mum firmly. ‘Keep an eye out for him and let him know I’ve gone home.’

‘You sure Blue’s okay?’

‘Blue is very, very okay.’ She smiled and I believed her. ‘And Pen. Now enjoy yourself. See you later.’ She bustled out and I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.