If You Love Me, I'm Yours Read online

  Maud turned to face her as they stepped into the corridor that led to her kitchen and open plan lounge. ‘I lied,’ she blurted out.

  Dot was confused, then horrified. ‘You didn’t paint the picture?’

  ‘Oh no… of course I painted my competition entry,’ said Maud, frowning as Dot’s shoulders sagged with relief. ‘Although I’m working on a different style now, and I was surprised to win if I’m honest. I assumed you hadn’t had many entries?’

  ‘We had thousands,’ said Dot drily.

  ‘Oh…’

  ‘What did you lie about, then?’

  ‘We’ve never met before. Nate… your brother… asked me who I was with and I felt like a sad loser for admitting that I’d arrived on my own.’

  ‘So you pointed out the most obvious person in the room?’ Although this was said without malice, Dot knew Maud would be able to hear the sadness behind the words. She wanted to stand out, but the feeling that this was a good thing was starting to wear thin. She wasn’t sure others took her seriously, especially her family. She worked really hard, with visible results, so why did they view her as a joke?

  ‘Not obvious, no,’ Maud said slowly as if carefully choosing her words now, but her eyes began to sparkle and her lips formed a cheeky smile. ‘I looked your way and thought you looked interesting. Having interesting friends is very glamorous, I’m told.’

  Dot’s lips rose at the corners too. ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘Not my mother,’ Maud burst out laughing.

  Dot had no idea what was so funny, but seeing the merriment made her laugh too. ‘How’s that?’

  Maud walked towards the little island unit that nestled in the open space between the kitchen and living room. She dumped her bag on one of the stools tucked underneath and reached for two glasses from a cupboard by the sink. She waved one at Dot who nodded her assent, while Maud poured some chilled lemonade from the fridge and topped it up with a splash of orange juice. ‘My mother thinks that normal people dress like this,’ she gave herself a disgusted look and held out the hem of her A-line skirt. ‘She wouldn’t know individuality if it was curled up in her lap and snoring loudly. If I as much as wear a colourful belt she freezes me with one of her death stares, or tells me she’s feeling faint.’

  Dot sipped her drink but her eyebrows shot up. She started to splutter and giggle as Maud spoke so vehemently. An ungainly snort erupted from her nose, and she almost choked on her drink as she visualised Maud’s mum with big bulging eyes and flaming nostrils. Maud started giggling again too and they both moved to the cool tones of the living room and collapsed onto the soft white cotton couches with a sigh of pleasure.

  ‘Nice to meet you, Maud,’ Dot said finally, when she had caught her breath and could talk again.

  Maud seemed shocked that she’d dumped all her personal baggage onto a complete stranger. ‘Maybe my friend Daisy is right and the anger I’ve had simmering for years is bubbling to the surface and ready to explode. Perhaps I should confront my parents, and stop being such a pathetic wimp?’

  Dot sat herself up and looked earnestly at Maud. She made a swift decision and took a deep breath before sighing and rolling her shoulders to try and ease some tension. ‘My parents are completely insane. I have to wear a bird’s nest in my hair to impress them, and my brother hates women.’

  Maud was aghast. ‘What?’

  ‘Well… not me obviously,’ said Dot conversationally. ‘His ex… my ex-best friend,’ Dot’s face filled with pain at the memory and then started to go a bit red as her jaw set in anger, but she kept her tone neutral to try and mask the hate she felt. ‘She burnt herself alive and tried to take Nate with her.’

  Maud’s face paled. ‘How awful!’

  Dot slapped her forehead with her hand, then jumped up and threw her arms wide in exasperation ‘Not you as well? What is it about the moody git that makes women want to literally lay naked on the floor before him and surrender all wit and will?’

  Maud blushed furiously. ‘Of course not me as well! Anyway… I have a sort of boyfriend.’

  ‘Sort of?’ scoffed Dot.

  ‘He asked me out today.’

  ‘Hey! Congrats.’ This made Dot feel so much better. She breezily grabbed her drink and took a cooling sip as she sat back down. ‘What’s he like?’

  Maud hesitated. ‘He’s dreamy…’ she said finally, giving a brief description of Tasty Tom.

  Dot sighed in relief that this poor girl had escaped the dastardly clutches of her big brother, and she decided she quite liked her. For all of her protestations of normality, she seemed pretty quirky to Dot, who had lived around these types of people all her life and could spot one a mile off, even dressed like a nun. Dot was well known for making swift decisions and, given that half the people who lived in her family home had been collected along the way over the last twenty-five years by her parents, a gleam of excitement lit her eyes.

  ‘I’d like to invite you to a party.’ Why on earth she would feel an urge to invite this stranger, Dot didn’t know. She wished her big mouth would stop running away with itself sometimes. They were of similar age, both around their mid-twenties, but other than their mutual respect for art, and nutty parents, they surely couldn’t have anything in common.

  Maud looked up sharply. ‘A party? Whose?’

  Dot looked at her strangely, as if she was the dimmest human on the planet. ‘Mine, of course,’ she said, as if that explained everything. She decided she quite liked Maud, as she hadn’t thrown her out yet and looked like she was bored and up for a challenge. Dot thought that inviting someone to her own party that her parents hadn’t met yet was hilarious. Why hadn’t she thought of this before? The fact that Maud had a boyfriend and Nate obviously had the hots for her made it even funnier. Finally, she could make them all pay, Dot plotted happily. She would never intentionally hurt Nate, as he was already living in his own kind of hell, but it was about time that he was taught a lesson on how to treat women. She saw Maud’s hesitation as she frantically glanced round the room for inspiration for an excuse as to why she couldn’t make it, which made Dot even more determined to get her there.

  She put on her best I’m going to make you do what I want voice. It was friendly, but persuasive. ‘I’d really love you to come. It’s not for a while yet, but it’s at my parents’ house and they’ve already been planning it for months. They begin as soon as the last birthday party finishes and make it even more extravagant than the one before. There will be free booze and food, and their house is full of art for you to gawp at. Surely that’s enough to tempt someone who paints?’

  Dot could see the cogs of Maud’s brain go round as she thought for a moment, before excitement lit her eyes. She’d obviously chosen to live a little. Dot had decided that they were going to be best friends anyway. She assumed Maud’s daily existence was humdrum – and Dot always got what she wanted in the end. Looking at the boring interior of Maud’s house, and seeing no smiling photos of gorgeous men or raucous friends, Dot decided she had a new project to keep her busy until she found her artist. She loved a challenge. Dot could sense that Maud wasn’t quite ready to let go of the excitement that ebbed and flowed around her, and found her slightly exotic.

  Maud’s eyes sparkled suddenly. ‘I’d love to come.’

  Chapter Eleven

  Maud felt relieved that Dot hadn’t discovered what she was talking about earlier. She’d started to panic that someone had found out she was leaving paintings around the vicinity. For the first time, she wondered if she could get into any trouble, for fly tipping or something. She’d only been trying to be nice and finally find people who liked her pictures. Then she felt the panic reduce slightly as Dot jumped up, clapped her hands in glee and turned round to start opening doors and peering through them. Maud wondered what the hell she was up to, as within minutes she had found the second bedroom and the bathroom. ‘Uh, hold on. What are you doing?’

  Dot just laughed as if Maud had lost the plot. ‘Looking fo
r your bedroom, so we can find you something to wear to my party. It will be…’ she paused and seemed to make a quick decision. ‘I don’t want to frighten a new friend away, but it’s a fairly big party…’ she hedged, smiling apologetically, but not looking in the least bit sincere at Maud’s suddenly ashen face. ‘I think it’s best to be honest and I may as well get all the details out of the way now. There may be a few crazies coming, but you will still need to look knockout.’

  ‘I do? Crazies?’ Maud felt her stomach form a tight knot. Who were these crazies and how on earth was she going to look a knockout? Dot obviously didn’t know about straight curly hair. Before she could make a grab for Dot’s hands to pull her away, she had thrown open Maud’s bedroom door with a big, ‘aha!’ Maud groaned and surrendered to her fate.

  ‘Don’t worry. The crazies are what I affectionately call my family. They all drive me mad.’ She stood in the centre of Maud’s bedroom and hitched her hands onto her hips with a frown as she took in every detail. She craned her neck to look back out to the lounge and frowned again. ‘Spill?’

  ‘Spill?’

  ‘Yes. Spill. What’s going on here? I know we just met, but surely your mum must know this is the real you? You can’t tell me that a boring bungalow hides this lush interior…’ she paused as she gazed at the huge double bed with soft grey padded headboard, which was covered with a delicately-sewn throw and an array of colourful and textural cushions. The walls were painted with slim trees that leaned into each other, with endless green leaves that seemed to be reaching out. ‘It’s magical and even I’m almost lost for words, which is rare,’ Dot joked. She looked stunned, and seemed to remember something she should have thought of saying earlier, but then gazing at the detail of the art made her go quiet again, as if she’d decided it wasn’t that important. ‘Sorry, I can’t think when I’m looking at this. It’s so perfect and all I want to do is to immerse myself in the feeling of being surrounded by a beautifully painted and gorgeously lush forest. I want to jump onto the bed, put my arms behind my head and lie there gazing at the walls forever. It’s breathtaking. Who painted this?’ she asked in awe. Maud got the impression Dot was going to ask if it would be ok to rip out the walls of the bungalow to steal the artwork for her gallery, as she was reverently running her hands across the murals. Surely she couldn’t like it that much?

  Maud hesitated. No one but Daisy came into her bedroom, and she felt her privacy had been violated. Dot didn’t seem to notice the polite formalities of being a houseguest. Perhaps she was more like her ‘crazy’ family than she realised? ‘It was here when I arrived,’ she lied quickly, crossing her fingers behind her back and hoping that lightning wouldn’t strike her for two lies in one week.

  Dot screwed up her face and moved even closer to the walls for a better look, running her palms reverently over the surface again. ‘People would pay an artist a fortune for a design like this.’

  It was Maud’s turn to frown now. ‘Surely not?’ She peered closely at her own work as if seeing it with fresh eyes.

  ‘Really. The artist is very talented. It reminds me of something, though. It has similarities to your competition entry. Is this where you got your inspiration?’

  ‘Um… yes,’ Maud admitted, as it was true. She had wanted to create the same feeling of serenity that engulfed her when she went to bed at night, in the little seascape Daisy had entered. She had saved a spot for it on her bathroom wall, but the gallery hadn’t returned the artwork yet.

  ‘I don’t blame you,’ said Dot candidly. ‘I would probably do the same. Such a shame you don’t know that artist. I would love to represent them.’

  ‘You would?’

  Dot looked at Maud as if she was thick and then plonked herself, without invitation, onto Maud’s bed and turned onto her side to stare at the walls with a big sigh. Make yourself at home, why don’t you? Maud huffed silently, but the buzzy feeling in her stomach was back. This girl meant change, somehow, and Maud was scared that she wasn’t brave enough to cope with it.

  Chapter Twelve

  ‘So how did it go?’

  Daisy looked at Maud in confusion, then a wicked grin spread all over her face. ‘Are you referring to the dirty weekend away I’ve just enjoyed with my boyfriend, where we only surfaced for sex and food?’ She gave Maud a lascivious wink and a smug look that said it all.

  Maud smothered a grin and then stuck out her tongue at her friend’s glowing face. ‘One of us needs to be getting some action and it certainly isn’t me.’

  Daisy rolled her eyes heavenward. ‘If you loosened up a little and let up from ironing your knickers every once in a while, maybe you would attract a man too.’

  Maud pictured Daisy’s perfectly nice boyfriend, who looked as though he was part of a grunge metal band. He had messy hair, a long beard, and was dynamite in bed, apparently. Daisy had never been happier. He was about two inches shorter than Daisy too, but she had started to babble on about how this made the ‘downstairs’ sex so much better, before Maud stuck her fingers in her ears and started singing, ‘la la la la,’ so that she didn’t have to hear the gory details. Ryan treated Daisy like a princess and Maud had never seen her friend so happy; she just wished she could find a man to adore her, the way Ryan adored Daisy. Maud thought Daisy was beautiful inside and out, with her curvy figure, abundance of blonde curls and round cherub face. Daisy looked angelic, but could drink more than most and had a filthy laugh, which was so loud when she was drunk, that Maud often vacated the building.

  Maud suddenly remembered what she had come to see Daisy for in the first place and started hopping from foot to foot and clapping her hands with excitement, which was not a good idea while she was standing in the school reception area, as various children and their parents who were arriving at the school stopped to watch with interest.

  Daisy quickly shepherded her to the back of the little reception room, full of row upon row of brightly-coloured files and walls covered in A4 daily rota sheets. She sat Maud down in the little blue school chair that was used for the sick bay. It was in the furthest corner and a square cabinet was hung on the wall nearby with a big red cross on the front, full of various Mr Men plasters and a thermometer.

  Maud tried to wriggle around to get comfortable and realised how massive her bottom seemed in the child’s chair so she sprang back up. She was about to hop about again, but saw Daisy standing expectantly with her hands on her hips, making Maud panic that she would have to get a move on to her own class. She leaned forward conspiratorially. ‘I almost forgot to tell you. I spent the weekend with a madwoman and Tom asked me out!’

  If Maud had wanted to shock her friend, then it worked. Daisy looked dumbfounded and confused about the first part of the statement, then registered the last bit and started hopping around and clapping her hands in glee too.

  Maud realised that they must look like a couple of demented penguins, but then coughed as Daisy squeezed her so hard she felt she might crack a rib. She broke the contact with a smile and a wince.

  ‘You got asked out by Tasty Tom? When, why and how did I miss this?’

  Maud blushed and hid behind her hair, but Daisy flicked it aside. ‘He asked me out on a little yellow note last Friday.’ Maud reverently straightened out the small square of paper and handed it over.

  Daisy took it carefully and read the scribbled text, noting the kiss after his initials, and her eyebrows shot up into her hairline in surprise. ‘Well?’

  ‘Well, what?’

  ‘When’s the big date?’

  Maud’s face started to grow hot and pink and she looked at her feet. ‘I don’t know. I guess we’ll talk about it today.’ Her stomach plummeted and she suddenly felt her breakfast of porridge and a rather old banana come back to haunt her. ‘What do I do? Do I just saunter over and say… hey sexy pants… about that note?’

  Daisy seemed to be enjoying seeing her friend blush as she was grinning from ear to ear. ‘You might want to find a different opening line. It’s been f
ar too long since you’ve even mentioned a man by name, other than ‘bastard’. You’ll be a dried up old prune and your lady parts will shrivel from under-use, if you’re not careful!’

  Maud tried to ignore Daisy’s unfair remarks as she walked to her class and pushed open the door, which creaked a little, making Tom look up from where he was seated at his utilitarian wooden desk. He winked at her, making her blush, and he grinned before turning back to his work. The children filed into the room and chatted noisily before Tom cleared his throat and raised a hand to quiet them. How did he do that? Maud wondered in awe. The kids usually talked over her when she asked them to pipe down. One look from Tom and they all hushed immediately. It must be a skill he’d learnt before he came here as it had worked from the moment he arrived. Maybe that was why Maud was a little bit intimidated by him, and perhaps the kids felt that way too? Although a frisson of heat tinged her skin when he looked at her – and that was all adult.

  She was on edge all day, expecting him to approach her about meeting up, but he left her in a state of anxiety and excited bliss until the very last child had left the room for the day and she was bending over her own desk, collecting her belongings and shoving them into her bag in readiness to go home. Just as she was despondently pushing the shoulder strap of her smart leather bag over her shoulder, preparing to face the fact that he’d obviously changed his mind, he came up behind her and ran his hand along her hip, making her spin round and smack her side on the desk at the contact, her skin prickling with goose bumps where he’d touched her, then stinging where she’d collided with the desk. This was getting so embarrassing. She’d burst into flames next if she wasn’t careful. If this was how she responded every time he came near her, she really needed to get out more – or get laid.