between two fingers. Then, as if making up my mind, I tapped his mobile number into my mobile. It couldn’t hurt to have it. I thought back to what he had said about Alan. I knew Alan liked me but it was gratifying to hear that he really thought I could become a QC in my thirties.
That thought triggered something in me, the knowledge that I needed to concentrate, to seize this opportunity. Recently I had lost focus and, although things had been great fun, I shouldn’t be neglecting my career. I had worked too hard to let things slip now. And my life was fine now that Grandad was happier, Luke and I were back on track and I had even proved to be a decent friend to Amy this weekend. I needed to ensure I wasn’t slacking off any more, no more days hungover from having fun. I knew I could do more, needed to be seen to be working the hardest if I was going to make my goal. If that meant a few things had to be sidelined, then so be it.
Chapter 17
Love is why I kept marrying them
PAUL, 79
‘So, what have you planned for us tonight?’ Luke grinned as Grandad let us both in, wearing a striped apron. ‘Cupcake making? Pancake tossing?’
‘No, no, nothing like that,’ Grandad said, drawing me into a hug. ‘It’s good to see you both, come through, come through.’
I could make out noises from the living room and we walked in to see furniture pushed to the edges of the room, the dining table pulled out and a cluster of people sitting or milling around. Arjun and Geoffrey looked to be deep in conversation next to the reading lamp, Howard was lifting his shirt up and seemed to be showing Paula something on his lower back, and Margaret was sitting quietly on the armchair, sipping a drink.
‘Hello, Lottie,’ she said. ‘The gin’s infused with a rare tea, apparently.’
Laughing, I moved across to her. Grandad had placed some flowers in a vase on the mantelpiece and the room was filled with the sweet scent.
He returned with two more glasses on a tray that he placed down on the table, carefully avoiding the familiar board game in the middle, the rows of coloured money round the four edges, and the counters and cards in neat piles.
Monopoly.
‘Seriously, Grandad?’ I couldn’t help but look pretty underwhelmed.
He ignored my expression as he removed his apron and threw it over the arm of the sofa. ‘It was Margaret’s idea, actually. She said you thought it would be fun.’
Luke was already cracking his knuckles and calling, ‘I want to be the racing car, I want to be the racing car.’
‘We thought we’d play in teams,’ Grandad explained. ‘Four teams of two people. Luke and you can play together.’
‘I’m going to go with Paula here. You seem like an ambitious sort,’ Howard said, turning to her.
She simpered and smacked her glossy pink lips. ‘I always saw myself as a property mogul.’
Geoffrey and Arjun both looked up at the same moment.
‘I’ll play with Geoffrey here,’ Arjun said, mostly, I suspected, so neither of them needed to move. They dived straight back into their conversation. Arjun was trying to persuade Geoffrey out on his next foreign golf tour. ‘You’ll love it, the course in Portugal is fantastic, the views, the landscape, the excellent wine. And if we share a twin room we can save £40 . . . ’
I watched Grandad walk over to the armchair, holding out his hand to Margaret. ‘That leaves you and me, Margaret. I hope that’s OK with you.’
She blushed and nodded, staring into her glass. ‘I’m not the luckiest at board games but I can try.’ Then, allowing Grandad to help her up, she moved over to the table.
‘No luck involved in Monopoly,’ Howard boomed, pulling out a chair for Paula and steering her into it. ‘Killer instinct. Killer instinct and a thirst for capitalism.’
‘Christ,’ Geoffrey muttered at Arjun.
Paula looked like she was in heaven, staring at Howard with a delighted smile. ‘I do like a man who’s good with money.’ She poured herself some more gin.
We settled at the table and it took precisely ten seconds for the first row about the rules to break out. It transpired Howard was aiming to hoard one of each set of properties, Arjun would only sell anything for ‘a million dollars’, Luke seemed intent on only collecting the train stations – ‘Honestly, Lottie, it’s a good tactic’