her head. ‘Everyone knows Thailand’s the sex tourist capital of the world. What’s the tagline…“Land of Smiles”? Those smiles are for one reason only.’
Luce looked ready to implode.
‘I thought Thailand had jungles and pandas?’ Izzy was puzzled. It was hardly like Luce to pass judgement, especially on someone who definitely wasn’t on her Friday night list. Ollie and Luce hung around with the rest of the crew. They were friends, that was all. Izzy had once seen Ollie flare up on a night out and tell Luce she was worth more than some guy she was about to leave with, but apart from that, as far as Izzy knew, that was it. Izzy knew Ollie had always had a soft spot for Luce, ever since they made friends at school, but Ollie was punching above his weight as far as Luce was concerned.
When Izzy first brought Luce back home, back in the day, which must be twelve years ago now, Ollie had followed Luce around the house like a doe eyed puppy. Even if Luce had laughed a lot at Ollie’s jokes, Ollie didn’t have the rock star looks to make him a serious contender. That was the one time Izzy had to get fierce with Ollie, and insist that his sister’s best friends were totally off limits.
That was when Izzy was sixteen and prickly, and mortified at having to leave her upmarket school, and go into the sixth form at the local comprehensive. Izzy got a job at the coffee shop, to help with the dire family finances, and Luce, who worked there too had seen beyond Izzy’s growling, and befriended her. It helped that they were both doing art. A shared, if unhealthy, obsession with Busted and Robbie Williams cemented the deal. Luce, whose calm exterior was a front that hid a riotous sense of humour, considered Izzy, with her rarefied girls’ school background, to be underprivileged, and took it upon herself to fast forward Izzy’s real world education.
Since they’d all worked together at the cinema, Izzy was aware that Ollie sent Ruby into fits of giggles on a regular basis, and sometimes helped Luce out with babysitting, but as far as she knew, that was the extent of it.
‘Apart from anything else, think of the STD’s.’ Luce’s voice was verging on a wail.
If Izzy needed anything to prove Luce was off kilter today, this was it.
‘Yuk, this is my brother we’re talking about, please can we not go there.’ Izzy cringed. ‘Ollie’s old enough, he’s miles away. And it’s nothing to do with us anyway…Is it?’
Izzy watched, as Luce’s mouth froze in the open position, as Izzy posed that last question. It was almost as if someone had put Luce on pause, as if she’d suddenly been reminded it wasn’t anything to do with her. Which it wasn’t.
‘Errrr…’ Luce appeared to be struggling to pull herself together here. ‘No…You’re totally right…I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if I wasn’t kicking myself over that GI Joe thing.’
Right, Okay. Why might Luce be suddenly interested in Ollie’s sex life? It didn’t make sense at all. Even if Luce hadn’t been out of his league, the kind of one night stands Luce dealt in weren’t Ollie’s style at all.
Izzy had a sudden thought. ‘Have you emailed Ollie at all since he left?’
Luce pulled the corners of her mouth down, and shook her head. ‘No.’
Exactly as Izzy imagined. So there was no reason at all for Luce to be getting her thong in a twist over this then.
Izzy’s phone beeped, and she looked away from Luce as she opened the text. It was Dida. No surprise there.
GI Joe’s? Let’s have a Vintage Cinema Club Progress Meeting
Izzy banged off a return text,
Good idea - tomorrow before we open? xx
When Izzy looked up again, Luce was already half way down the cinema, and disappearing behind a large wardrobe.
Monday Afternoon, 9th June
IZZY & LUCE
Vintage at the Cinema
Hand signals and hidden messages
Pssst. Stop messing about with cushions and get over here quick. Talent in the grey section x
Izzy hooked the ribbon garland she was hanging on the stepladders, took out her phone, and read the text message from Luce.
Luce could arguably have walked across the shop and said the words to her, in the time it took to send the text, but Luce had been playing hide and seek all morning, and still was this afternoon. Wherever Izzy had been – and actually she’d been everywhere, desperately assessing ways she could make things better – Luce had made sure she was somewhere else. Izzy wasn’t quite sure why Luce was avoiding her. It was obviously something sparked by Ollie’s email, but although she wracked her brains, Izzy couldn’t imagine what it could be, other than that Luce was feeling mega guilty about the tanning shop name.
As for Luce’s messages about talent, after Friday’s delivery fiasco, Izzy wasn’t sure she wanted anything more to do with Luce’s particular brand of talent spotting. The wave of crashing anticlimax that had engulfed Izzy since Friday evening made no sense at all. A guy she had no interest in was flagged up as unavailable, end of story. Right now, there was no space for romance in her schedule, regardless of whichever hot guy popped his head over the parapet. The radical re-styling of the stock she was working on in response to the Vintage Cinema Club crisis was a welcome distraction, that kept her mind off a certain man she shouldn’t be thinking about at all.
‘What do you want?’ Izzy squinted across the store to where Luce had now bobbed up behind the counter. She was handing a receipt to a customer who was propping up a gigantic mirror, by the main desk.
Luce gave a nod in the direction of a monumental grey armoire, and held up five fingers. Izzy got the message. Hot guy, five star rating.
But then Luce flashed her fingers again. And again.
In hand signal terms Izzy read this as a cross between a red alert and a mayday signal. She craned her neck to see, but despite being half way up a ladder, she failed to get a view past the massive butler’s pantry piece. Luce’s hands were both flapping now, so Izzy untangled herself from the ribbons, climbed down, and went across.
‘He’s here.’ Luce was hissing excitedly. ‘Over there by the chiffonnière, looking at the daybeds and the chests of drawers. It’s the guy you delivered to.’
Izzy felt her heart fray, and her stomach lurched, and landed somewhere down by her knees ‘Forget the hot. I told you, he’s taken.’
She fished in her pocket, pulled out some gum, unwrapped it, and chomped on it hard. One unavailable guy elsewhere, she could cope with. Having him dangled under her nose, yet again, seemed downright unfair.
Luce brushed away Izzy’s protest. ‘Whatever, he’s doing just what he did on Friday. Taking pictures on his phone, then talking to someone. Look out, he’s turning this way.’
Izzy chewed, narrowing her eyes to get a better view, then as the broad shoulders
