right, too, because David told him he was glad to see his broken heart was on the way to being mended.
‘Don’t be stupid, Cally’s just really nice and we’re interested in similar things, but mostly we’ve been talking about her little girl. She was born with a very serious heart condition and Cally’s trying to raise money to send her to America for an operation in autumn.’
‘Oh, poor little thing,’ Sarah said.
‘She’s set up a charitable website, called Stella’s Stars. I’m going to have a look at it later.’
‘Well, I hope you’re not going to give them all your lottery winnings, Jago,’ David said forthrightly, because he knew his friend’s soft heart. Being bullied at school because of his dyslexia, and being always in the shadow of his older and academically gifted brother, had dented Jago’s self-confidence, so that he always felt for the underdog.
‘She’s already raised the bulk of it by selling her flat in London, so she only needs about another twenty thousand … and I did offer,’ he confessed, ‘but she turned me down, because she knew by then I’d only just won enough to set myself up in my own business. She told me not to try anonymously donating it either, because she’d guess it was me and give it back.’
‘She’s certainly got your measure in a short space of time,’ Sarah said admiringly. ‘I like the sound of her.’
‘Yes, and she’s much more your type than Aimee ever was,’ David agreed. ‘I can’t imagine why she ever agreed to marry you. Unless it’s like Sarah says, that it was just to pay her dad back for getting engaged to his PA.’
‘Oh, once she was the wrong side of forty she probably found good-looking straight single men willing to settle down were thin on the ground. I expect panic had set in by the time Jago proposed and that was part of it too,’ Sarah said airily.
‘I keep telling you, she’s younger than me,’ Jago protested.
‘No way: you only had to look at her knees.’
‘Her knees?’
‘Baggy, saggy knees.’
‘She has the longest legs in the world …’ Jago sighed reminiscently. ‘I can’t say I noticed her knees. And gee, thanks for the confidence boost, by the way.’
Still, it was true that he hadn’t been able to believe his luck when the tall, elegant, beautiful, sophisticated Aimee had accepted his proposal … which actually he would never have had the courage to make if she hadn’t prompted him into it.
‘You’re a good-looking guy, don’t get me wrong,’ Sarah said kindly, ‘but you had absolutely nothing in common.’
‘I know,’ he said humbly.
‘All that late night partying followed by the early starts for work ran you ragged and made your friends worry about you,’ David said.
‘And while we’re speaking of the devil who wore Prada,’ Sarah said, ‘you had a phone call when you were out. She’s back.’
‘Who’s back?’ Jago demanded, startled.
‘Aimee.’
‘Aimee? Aimee’s back in the UK?’
‘Yes, she’s been back a while, but she’s only just tracked you down. I expect she heard about our winnings,’ David said drily.
‘Her new stepmother uses the salon and she told me weeks ago that Aimee was back. She’s pregnant, too, because she didn’t want to have her hair coloured, in case it harmed the baby.’
‘Aimee’s pregnant?’ Jago exclaimed.
‘No, you idiot, it’s her new young stepmother who’s pregnant.’
‘Right …’ He looked at his friends. ‘You both knew all this time she was back and didn’t tell me?’
‘You said you were over her and wanted a fresh new start in a different part of the country,’ Sarah pointed out. ‘Anyway, she’s bad news.’
‘Yes, we didn’t want her messing you around again,’ David said.
‘I think I’m old enough to decide for myself,’ Jago said with dignity. ‘And of course I’m over her … Anyway, I expect she just wants to get back in touch to be friends.’
‘Yeah, right,’ Sarah said acerbically, but Jago wasn’t listening. He’d thought he was over her, and his friends were probably right that breaking up had been a good idea, but still … knowing she was back unsettled him.
‘Did she leave a number? Or did you give her my mobile number?’
‘Neither, because we were a bit busy at the time. You were having an extended lunch, if you recall?’
‘Oh, yes … Did she say anything else?’
‘Something about things not working out with that bloke she chased off after to Dubai, so I expect she’s been dumped and now you’ve won all that money you’re a much more interesting prospect.’
‘You’re such a cynic,’ Jago said. ‘But I can’t believe you didn’t even get her number.’
‘She said she’d ring you again and why the interest? Didn’t you just tell us you were over her?’
‘I am over her,’ Jago insisted, though he suspected that a few embers of his love still smouldered deep in his heart and might just reignite at the sight of her.
In the late afternoon, just as they were clearing up the shop ready to close, the phone in the back room rang and Sarah stuck her head in the door and said it was for Jago.
He went past her into the back room and returned ten minutes later looking sheepish.
David and Sarah exchanged glances.
‘Don’t tell me,’ David said, ‘it was Aimee again. She really doesn’t let the grass grow under her feet, does she? So, what happened to the new life with what’s-his-face in Dubai?’
‘She said she knew it was a mistake almost the minute she got there and Dubai was a tricky place if you weren’t married – and he certainly didn’t want to get married. And she missed me.’
‘Not enough to look for you as soon as she got back,’ Sarah put in.
‘She didn’t know I’d left London and it took her a while to track me down,’ Jago explained.
‘Your post is being forwarded on, and anyone at Gilligan’s could have given her your new mobile number as well as the one for this place,’ David said.
‘Yes, someone at Gilligan’s did give her our number eventually, but they were a bit reluctant.’
‘Considering that after she took off we all ate your wedding cake and commiserated with you, it’s hardly surprising,’ David said drily. ‘And she could have asked Sarah in the salon.’
