Cathy Kelly 6-Book Collection: Someone Like You, What She Wants, Just Between Us, Best of Friends, Always and Forever, Past Secrets

‘God, Mum, they’re lovely. And much cheaper than back home. Couldn’t you lend me the money, pleeease? Dad’ll give it to you.’

‘No,’ hissed Leonie. ‘Everyone else is on the plane. They’re calling our names, so come on!’

It was, therefore, a tired and weary woman who arrived with her charges in Denver. They were all happy and excited; Leonie felt as if she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards and, looking at herself in an unforgivingly enormous mirror in the luggage hall ladies’ loo, she discovered she looked like it too.

What had Hannah suggested to her? Bright lipstick and throw on that silky red sweater so you’ll look vibrant no matter how tired you are. It had sounded great when Hannah said it but, under the current circumstances, Leonie decided that messing around with lipstick and red sweaters would merely highlight her exhausted, red-rimmed eyes. Then again, perhaps matching your eyes with your sweater would be seen as a plus. A sort of colour-coordination thing.

Fliss and Ray were meeting them. Originally, Leonie had protested that of course she and the kids would get to Vail on their own.

‘It can’t be that difficult,’ she’d told Ray loftily. ‘There are shuttle buses, I believe. I’m sure we can manage.’

But she was glad now they were being picked up. She couldn’t face negotiating another journey, sorting out which bus they wanted and piling luggage on to it.

Unfortunately, being collected by the soon-to-be-happily-marrieds had its disadvantages: they’d see her in this state. She unscrewed her lipstick and slicked some on before struggling into her red sweater. It was a small improvement, she decided wearily.

Danny had manfully collected all their luggage. ‘What have you got in there, Mel, a dead body?’ he grumbled, hoisting the final suitcase on top of the overloaded trolley.

‘We don’t all want to look like backpackers, you know,’ Mel replied snootily. ‘I’ve just brought a few things.’

‘Oh yeah, like a few trowels to slap all your make-up on,’ he retorted.

So it was squabbling as usual that the family emerged from customs into the bright glare of the arrivals hall.

‘Dad! I see Dad!’ squealed Mel excitedly. She ran through the crowds with Abby, and Danny pushed the trolley rapidly after them. Reluctantly, Leonie followed.

She slowed down. Let them all say hello to each other before she got there. She needed a few moments to prepare herself. A group of people barged in front of her, momentarily separating her from the others. Leonie waited patiently for the group to pass. She hadn’t seen Ray for two years and felt a bit anxious about meeting him now. A large man in front of her moved and, through the gap in the crowd, she could see her children finally reach their father and his fiancée. The joy with which they all greeted each other took her breath away. Ray looked happier than she’d ever seen him: he’d filled out, wasn’t as thin as he used to be. His dark hair was greying, but he was tanned and looked wonderful, just like the slender, vibrant woman at his side. Fliss was even better looking in the flesh than she was in the photos from the kids’ summer holidays. Dressed in denims and a butter-coloured suede jacket, she was lightly tanned and, when she smiled, her teeth were gleaming white against her glowing skin. The short dark hair that had looked like a boyish cut in the photos was now longer but still casually chic. That was the word for Fliss, Leonie decided: chic. Watching them all from her hidden vantage point, Leonie felt like the interloper, the spectre at the feast.

Ray and Fliss could have been the kids’ parents, not Leonie and Ray. They were all laughing and smiling, hugging each other. Ray was saying, ‘You’ve got bigger, Danny, I swear!’ Mel even looked like Fliss: the same long limbs, the same careless beauty. Fliss rested her hand on Abby’s waist and Leonie was horrified to see that Abby was smiling radiantly. Jealousy curled around Leonie’s heart like a starving boa constrictor clutching a small animal. They were her children, yet they were smiling at this woman with love and affection. And yes, Leonie could see it in all their eyes, admiration.

‘Leonie! There you are!’ Ray bypassed the group in front of her and hugged her warmly. ‘You look wonderful. It’s so great to see you. Come and meet Fliss.’

He must need to visit the optician, Leonie thought grimly as she was led round to meet Fliss. You look wonderful, my ass.

Fliss didn’t grab Leonie in a bear hug. Instead, she smiled what seemed like a very genuine smile, held out her hand and said: ‘It’s lovely to meet you at last, Leonie. I’m so glad you could make it.’

Leonie smiled back and said, yes, it was lovely to meet her and what a lovely place Denver was and God, but she could kill a cup of tea or the chance to put her feet up, she was so exhausted.

Listening to herself, she realized with disgust that she sounded like some cardboard Irish woman from a terrible play, the stereotypical solid old bag with an emerald-green headscarf and an Aran sweater who kept saying, ‘Begod, America’s a fine spot and sure, put the kettle on there and boil up some spuds.’ What was happening to her? Where was the sophisticate she’d planned to be? Why had she been replaced by an auto-pilot parody of an Irishwoman?

‘I’m so sorry, forgive me. You must be exhausted, Leonie,’ Fliss said instantly. ‘Come along, guys, we’ve got to give your mom a rest. Danny, there’s a vending machine over there. Here’s a dollar, get your mom a hot drink.’ She handed him some change and he obediently went off.

Leonie stared at him. Getting Danny to do anything without a ten-minute interval of grumbling was impossible. How had Fliss managed it when she, his mother, couldn’t?

‘Ray, honey, we’re parked a long way off so if you get the Jeep, Leonie and I’ll wait for you with the luggage – that way she won’t have to walk all the way round the lot to get to it,’ Fliss commanded.

He rushed off to do her bidding too and Leonie found herself standing with Fliss at the entrance to the parking lot, sipping a plastic cup of something that didn’t taste as if a tealeaf had ever even swum through it. The girls chattered nineteen to the dozen to Fliss while Danny lounged beside her, only saying anything when a particularly nice car drove past.

‘Wow, a Pontiac Firebird,’ he exclaimed as something red and sporty appeared.

Ray pulled up in a huge off-road vehicle and they dumped the luggage in the back and climbed in.

‘Are you OK back there, Leonie?’ Fliss asked in concern from her position in the front seat beside Ray.

‘Sure, it’s lovely,’ Leonie said. Stop with the begorrah act! she hissed at herself. ‘Marvellous,’ she added, determined to get the blarney out of her voice. ‘It’s cold, isn’t it,’ she said, as Ray fiddled with the heater. ‘There must be quite a wind-chill factor. I don’t think any of us knew how cold it would be here. Usually on holiday, I end up going somewhere hot.’ Shit. That made it sound as if she was the sort of vacuous woman who liked baking herself to a crisp on the Costa Del Whatever and couldn’t cope with any other sort of holiday. ‘It’s wonderful to be here in Colorado,’ she continued brightly.

‘We’re glad you could come,’ Ray said. ‘Wait till you see Vail. It’s breathtaking. The skiing is marvellous, you guys.’

The talk turned to skiing and, as Leonie had no intention of trying it, she sat back in her seat and looked out the window as the lights of Denver swept past. Even the ever-laid-back Danny was excited about skiing for the first time and, as the other five talked, Leonie stared out into the inky night. Denver had a marvellous natural history museum with a planetarium, she’d read in a guide book borrowed from the library. And lots of bookshops and plenty of historic sights like the Unsinkable Molly Brown’s Victorian house.

If the wedding fever got too much for her, she’d get a bus back to the city and do her own thing, she decided. Vail was only a hundred miles away and there was daily transport to and from the city.

After the trauma of the flights, Leonie surprised herself by falling asleep for the journey.

‘Mom, we’re here,’ said a voice. Mel, calling her ‘Mom’. Americanized already, Leonie thought sleepily.

She got out of the off-roader to find herself outside a selection of wooden cabins and one small hotel, all of which could have come straight from the pages of Heidi. Windows with adorable carved shutters, sweetly carved porches complete with wooden curlicues and window boxes with little conifers gave the cabins an authentic Tyrolean look. Not that she’d ever been to the Tyrol, but Leonie had looked at enough holiday programmes in her time to recognize the Austrian experience had been uprooted and replanted in Vail. Every little detail, including the hanging wooden signs proclaiming the cabins’ names, was picture-postcard perfect. Only the phalanx of gleaming and expensive four-wheel-drive vehicles parked carelessly to one side of the hotel showed that this was wealthy Vail and not nineteenth-century Heidi-land.

‘Isn’t it adorable?’ sighed Fliss. ‘The hotel has a dining room, bar, sauna, hot tub – everything you could want – but each cabin is self-contained. The best part about the complex is that we’re only two miles outside Vail village itself. They’ll shuttle you into town anytime you want, or it’s a mile by the back path. Ray checked you in earlier so you don’t have to bother with registering; you can do that tomorrow. I’m sure you’re dying to get into bed.’

‘Yes,’ Leonie said. ‘I could sleep for a week.’

‘Sleep!’ exclaimed Mel. ‘How could you want to sleep, Mom? I’d love to explore right now.’

‘I thought you’d want your beauty sleep, young lady,’ Fliss said, affectionately ruffling Mel’s silky hair.

Another dart of jealousy nipped Leonie. She was surprised at how much it hurt her to watch them together. It was ridiculous, being jealous of your children enjoying themselves with someone else. Honestly, what was she like?

‘Thank you so much, Fliss,’ she said, being over-friendly to compensate for how bitchy she felt. ‘This is lovely. It’s a truly beautiful place for a wedding. Which cabin is ours?’

The word cabin was a bit misleading, she felt as Ray let them into it. Leonie had been expecting something practical and spartan in a homespun way. That’s how skiing cabins looked on holiday programmes normally: roomy enough for skiing paraphernalia and with a basic kitchen fitted out for cooking enormous après-ski dinners. This one was obviously the deluxe version.

Decorated in a warm, dark umber colour, the huge sitting room was a shrine to American Indian art, complete with wall-hangings, a driftwood sculpture of a bison and two giant watercolours of rock drawings on pale stone. ‘They’re Anasazi paintings, from the Mesa Verde,’ explained Ray. ‘The Anasazi were native Americans from over two thousand years ago. Fliss’s mom is thinking of getting a trip together to visit Mesa Verde some day. It’s hard going in winter, but it’s worth it, she says.’

‘Great!’ said Abby, who loved history.

‘Knew you’d like that, Pumpkin,’ her father said lovingly. ‘I better leave you to it. I’ll phone you in the morning to see what you want to do, kids.’

Danny threw himself down on a huge couch in front of a big fire and admired the room, while the girls rushed to investigate the bedroom facilities.

‘This one’s huge, it should be yours, Mum,’ Abby said.

‘But there’s two of us and we need more room. And it’s got an ensuite,’ wailed Mel, who wasn’t as giving as her twin and clearly fancied herself in the master bedroom.

Leonie went in to referee.

‘This room’s prettier,’ said Abby, peering into a second room. ‘It’s got twin beds, a fireplace and patio doors.’

‘Oh, lemme see,’ squealed Mel.