midnight. I assumed you’d gone to pick Max up, but he says not.’
Ellie spun round with a look of alarm on her face.
‘You asked him? You told him I’d been out?’
‘Calm down, sis. He mentioned that he’d been brought home by a mate. So I realised that wasn’t why you went out. So what was it?’
Ellie had bent her head over the canapés again, her dark hair swinging down to hide her face, but Leo could hear the stress in her voice as she replied.
‘Nothing. It was nothing. Just a friend in trouble, that’s all. Please - don’t mention it to Max, Leo.’
Leo was excused from responding by the ringing of Ellie’s mobile. She watched her sister walk over to where she’d left it charging and pick it up. But she took one look at the name on the screen and rejected the call, throwing the mobile back onto the worktop.
Leo was puzzled but said nothing, observing her sister carefully. The phone rang again immediately, and Leo was amazed to see her sister’s eyes narrow as she switched her phone off and pushed it as far away from her as the worktop would allow. Ellie’s mouth was drawn in a hard, straight line of irritation.
‘What’s going on? Who was that on the phone? Is there a problem?’
There was no time for Ellie to respond as just then they heard the ringing of the doorbell. To Leo, it was almost as if Ellie sagged with relief as she turned round.
‘Forget it, Leo. Just forget it, please? That will be Fiona and Charles. I’d better let them in.’
Wiping her hands on a tea towel, Ellie headed off to welcome the first of her guests, and a puzzled Leo made a hasty exit before she could be trapped into making polite conversation with Fiona.
* * *
Ellie was glad to have been saved from further interrogation by Leo, although she suspected it was a temporary reprieve. But Max had come down from reading to the twins and the moment had been avoided. Thank goodness.
Fiona had breezed in on a whiff of very expensive perfume in a dress that Ellie guessed must have cost thousands. It was gorgeous, but for God’s sake, she was only coming round for dinner, not attending the Queen’s Jubilee garden party. She handed Ellie a tastefully gift wrapped box.
Ellie was still stressed by the events of the last half hour but forced herself to calm down. Her phone was off so she was safe, and Leo would keep quiet. She took a deep breath and painted a smile on her face as she unwrapped the present.
‘It’s good to see you both and thanks for the gift. It’s very generous of you.’
‘I sent Charles for it,’ Fiona said, waving the back of her hand rather dismissively. ‘He’s quite good at that sort of thing.’
Ellie looked at the beautiful glass bottle of Pomegranate Noir bath oil. Much as she loved it, she thought she might put it in Leo’s bathroom as an apology for being such a grumpy guts earlier.
‘We’ve got a few minutes before I need to make any progress with the food. Perhaps Max could show Charles round. You’ve already had the tour, Fee - so do you want to have a drink in here, or go out into the garden?’
Fiona walked over to the window, no doubt to check the garden paths. Clearly finding them wanting, she took a seat on a chair by the window.
‘Here’s fine, darling. We don’t need to go outside yet, do we? If that’s fizz in the ice bucket, I wouldn’t say no to a glass.’
‘Of course. We can toast the house. I know I shouldn’t say so myself, but it does look pretty amazing, doesn’t it?’ Ellie said, pouring two glasses of the delicious sparkling liquid. ‘It’s taking some getting used to. We’ve been here three weeks already, but it still all feels very new.’
‘Your builder was quite a guy, wasn’t he?’ Fiona took the drink from Ellie’s outstretched hand. ‘Not only did he make a great job of the house, he had a hell of a body too. Especially when he was working without his T-shirt. I know you think I came round to offer moral support and ‘ooh and aah’ over progress, but it was actually primarily to look at him. Don’t you just love a man with wide shoulders and narrow hips?’
Ellie’s reaction was instinctive.
‘God, Fee. I wasn’t looking at his body. He was here to do a job, that’s