Second Thyme Around by Katie Fforde Page A

well take some Burgundy, too. So, what am I going to get you for Christmas? A table lamp isn’t enough.’
    Perdita picked up the catalogue which still lurked on Kitty’s kitchen table and took a lingering look at the vet in the sailing trousers. ‘If you can’t tuck a nice man into my stocking, I would love a new spade.’
     
    ‘You’re not taking that rust-bucket to Shropshire, are you?’ Lucas demanded when Perdita delivered the last salads he was going to get before the New Year.
    ‘No, I’m getting a lift.’
    ‘With your boyfriend? That’s nice. What kind of a car has he got?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Perdita without thinking, and then added quickly. ‘He’s changed it recently.’
    Janey, who was making roses out of butter with a potato peeler, gave Perdita a curious look.
    ‘So he’s coming down from Shropshire to pick you up?’ Lucas went on.
    Perdita thought rapidly. If she just said yes, could she
be caught out in a lie? Could anyone – Lucas, for instance – be able to tell that a car driving into the village came from Cornwall, not Shropshire? ‘Mmm.’ She tried to sound noncommittal.
    ‘Perhaps you’d like to bring him here for lunch?’
    ‘Oh no, he’ll be in a frightful hurry. We won’t have time for lunch.’
    Lucas’s steely gaze narrowed frighteningly. ‘I don’t believe in this boyfriend of yours. I think you’ve just made him up.’
    Perdita blushed furiously. ‘How ridiculous! Why on earth would I do a thing like that?’
    Lucas shrugged. ‘To prove something to someone – to me perhaps.’
    ‘I’ve never heard anything so silly in all my life.’ Perdita was wearing outdoor clothes and the kitchen suddenly became unbearably hot. ‘Why on earth would I bother to lie to you? ’ Oh, why had she?
    ‘Then bring him here for lunch – a drink even.’
    ‘No,’ said Perdita firmly. ‘I am not going to disrupt – ’ a moment’s panic while she tried to remember if her mythical boyfriend had a name – ‘his plans just to show you he’s real!’ She made a face. ‘“Sorry, darling, I know you’re in a frightful hurry, but would you mind just coming to lunch so I can prove to –” ’ she almost bit her tongue as she realised how nearly she had referred to Lucas as ‘my ex-husband’ in front of Janey and Greg – ‘“someone I sell lettuce to,” ’ she hurried on, trying to sound scathing, ‘“that you really exist?” I don’t think so.’
    ‘Fair enough, but don’t you forget, seeing is believing.’ Perdita, elated at having got herself out of trouble, smiled sweetly at him. ‘And don’t you forget that if you don’t believe in Father Christmas he won’t bring you any presents. And I don’t suppose you’ve seen him lately.’
    ‘True, but then, I don’t hang up my stocking any more.’
    This produced an ‘oh’ of compassion from Janey, and a tiny spark of it from Perdita. ‘What are you doing for Christmas, then?’ she asked.
    ‘Like your boyfriend, I’m working, except on Christmas Day.’
    ‘Oh.’ Perdita’s compassion warred with relief that she and Kitty were both going away, so she couldn’t possibly feel guilty for not inviting him to spend Christmas Day with them. Or worse, with her on her own. ‘But you’ll have somewhere nice to go for the day, won’t you?’
    ‘Oh, no need to worry about me, Perdita. I expect I can conjure up a “girlfriend”,’ he said the word in inverted commas, ‘from somewhere.’
    ‘Oh, good. Happy Christmas then, Lucas. Janey, we must go for a drink together, or something. I’ll see you before then, anyway.’
    ‘Just a minute. I’ve got a card for you,’ said Lucas. He handed her an impressively large envelope.
    ‘Oh,’ Perdita was horribly caught out. ‘I’m afraid I only send them to people if they’ve sent me them, as they come in. And it’s a bit late, now.’
    ‘So I’m even cut off your Christmas card list? How sad,’ he murmured softly, so Janey wouldn’t