Following on from
The Girls, Roy and Mum:
Lily chucked her bag in the hallway just in time as George the English bulldog came pounding towards her, a look of madness in his eyes. Lily squatted down, balancing precariously on her bootys and braced herself. He jumped straight up at her neck and started licking it furiously. Lily could feel her balance go and before she knew it she’d toppled over backwards. “ARGH! Mum! Georgie, no!” Maggie came wobbling around the corner, wash cloth in hand, glasses tipped on the end of her nose and hair in her typical pineapple piled on the top of her head.
“George! No! Come here! I’m sorry Darling, he’s so rowdy today!” She wiped her hands on the cloth and grabbed George. Lily quickly straightened up and tried to rid herself of all the hairs and saliva he had left her with. She took off her coat and hung it on the coat stand next to the first of many walls of photos. Maggie loved having photos of everyone around her and her flat was like a museum. Unfortunately it also had quite a few nude pictures of Lily, which always made for a laugh when her friends visited.
“Isn’t it awful outside?” Maggie began faffing about and tidying (something Lily had obviously inherited). Lily checked herself in the mirror and brushed away the snowflakes in her face. She took off her boots. “Er mum, where shall I put these where George won’t get them?” Maggie smiled, “Here Darling, take this cloth and then put them on the cabinet.” Lily did as she was told, grabbed her handbag and followed her mum through the beaded curtains into the living room. “I’ve just been with Riza and Natty. It was really nice. We went to Nan’s.” Maggie was busy making coffee in the kitchen and um-med and aah-ed at Lily. “We had cake and milkshakes, I’m really stuffed!” Lily watched the upset George settle in his little bed and nuzzle his snout into his cuddly toy. “Oh, you probably don’t want any cake then, right?” Lily looked at a ladder in her tights and cursed under her breath; “I HATE tights…” She looked up and out of the wall-to-wall windows. “No thanks mum, just a coffee.”
Lily stared at the pictures in the flat as Maggie came through with coffee. There were pictures of everyone in the family but mostly photos of Lily from her modelling days. And ofcourse there were photos of Lily with Matt. One she particularly loved was of the two of them in Paris. It had been a particularly love-filled long weekend. Lily had treated them both to it and organised for them to stay with Jess, Matt’s ex, as she lived there. At first she had been reluctant to stay with her just because it meant they saved money for accommodation (as Matt was a student it didn’t make their financial situation any easier) but Jess and her had met a few times and she had also met Jess’s mother, a charming lady, and so she thought why not? And it had turned out to be a weekend of turbulent events from being bored to death by the garbage that left Jess’s mouth to being dragged from one ridiculously expensive café or bar to the next where Matt and Lily left almost half of their spending money on the first day and even to leaving a bit of a stain on the bed sheet which had caused them to break out in tears because it made them laugh so much. They had also been accused of being spoilsports for not going to a club where Jess had arranged for them to be on the guestlist but had last-minute decided she couldn’t go herself; as if they were going to go to a club in the middle of Paris to buy over-priced drinks, watch under-dressed people live an overly-arrogant lifestyle. No, Matt and Lily instead went out to a gorgeous little thai restaurant and had a wonderful evening just the two of them. And the whole weekend had been filled with getting away from Jess and her rants and gushes as quickly as possible and trundling through Paris, disgustingly in love, for the entire day. It had been a weekend they would never forget and this photo reminded Lily of how much she loved Matt again.
“So, what’s up? You didn’t sound so good on the phone.” Maggie propped herself up on the pillows piled on the couch with her mug of coffee. She looked somewhat worn out and Lily considered not pouring her heart out for a moment. But as soon as the thought had entered her head she knew she had to get it all out. And her mum always had an open ear (although frequently also said all the things you didn’t want to hear). And so Lily began telling Maggie about Matt and how she was still always jealous when Jess came to town and he immediately jumped to meet up with her. Sure, she had her mum that covered her credit card, which meant she could invite Matt out for steak and expensive things but Lily didn’t think of Matt as that shallow. There had to be more.
“I just get so annoyed that she snips her fingers or just turns up and immediately he drops everything and goes to meet her. What am I doing wrong? I really don’t get it.” Lily fiddled with the hem of her skirt, which was coming undone.
“Darling, it really is something he needs to grow out of. Or the two of you need to talk about it openly.”
“Mum, we have spoken about it and it ended up with him smashing a tea cup in the kitchen and leaving a huge dent in the wooden flooring. It doesn’t work. It’s as if I just have to be hushed and deal with it. And I can’t. Matt is the opposite of Stuart but sometimes he irritates me just like Stuart did.” Lily could feel the heat in her rising just at the thought of all the liberties Stuart had allowed himself.
“Darling I don’t think you can compare Stuart and Matt. And the thing with Jess will settle. Maybe he just needs a change of scenery?” Maggie slurped her coffee.
“A change of scenery? Why? Am I too boring? I mean, sure: I don’t have as much money as her, I don’t live in the glamorous Paris, I’m not a size zero and I don’t have time for spontaneous meetings or outings. But I thought he loved me for all the things she is not?” Lily disliked it when she doubted herself. She had achieved so much in life, experienced so much and been through so much. On a good day she thought of herself as an accomplished, clever young lady. But on days like this one she wanted to curl up and quietly sob to her self-loathing little self…
“Now Lily, don’t even start to compare yourself to her. You said yourself that that girl probably isn’t half of what Matt fell in love with all those years ago. And he loves you; he loves you so much. So stop being daft. Are you sure you don’t want any cake?”
Lily pulled out the tissue from her cardigan sleeve. “No, mum.”
“You just have to focus on yourself again. How’s work going? What’s the plan there?” Maggie knew Lily loved working in the boutique but aspired to more and wished that her daughter would use all her talents and experience in a better-paid job.
“Oh, same old. Claudine has been in a bad mood the last week; not enough revenue. We can only sell when people actually come in to the shop… She has her difficulties with that. I’m still debating asking for a pay-rise. Don’t know how I’m going to approach that subject. But the funniest thing happened last week.” Lily loved telling stories about the customers that visited the boutique. And Maggie loved hearing them. Lily’s mum was a right character herself. She was approaching 65 now and her face was a picture of perfection. Time had of course left its mark and after four kids she certainly wasn’t a Jane Fonda, wrinkle-free and a perfect size ten. But Maggie was still a beauty (Lily had to get it from somewhere!). A little top heavy, not always at her best when she couldn’t be bothered to do her hair or had clumsily and hastily put make-up on but on a good day she could charm the socks off any man. And Maggie had a huge heart; it had left many a wrinkle on her face but it welcomed people in and cared and nurtured like a lion mother. Lily smiled at her mum; they were so close. Sometimes it felt as if Lily was Maggie’s mother when they chatted. Maggie had become slightly anxious and her self-confidence had suffered over time. Lily always remembered her mother as an absolute power woman but she knew that even the strongest of women had their soft spots.
