Dolphin-san: Yay! Kai returned! Lol, back to the story.

Chapter 20

'Hello.' Ray looked at Kai Hiwatari, then at his watch, then at Florence. 'Where's Hiro?'

'Sshh.' Florence raised her eyebrows in alarm. 'Careless talk costs lives. Forget you heard that,' she instructed Kai. 'Ray's boyfriend is officially The Man With No Name. Honestly, darling,' she returned her attention to Ray, 'if you're going to be a secret agent, you'll have to do better than that.'

Ray took in at a glance the almost empty bottle of wine on the table, the relaxed way Kai Hiwatari's arm was draped across the back of the sofa, the barely suppressed grins on both their faces. Almost as if they were in league with each other.

'Where is he?'

Florence looked innocent.

'Who?'

'Hiro.'

'Sshh!'

'It'll never work.' Kai was shaking his head. 'You'll have to call him something else. How about Percy?'

They were definitely making fun of him. Ray sighed. And it was ten past eight, so where was Hiro?

'We mustn't tease. Poor darling, he's only just met the boy,' said Florence. 'It's a traumatic business, this falling in love. No sign of him yet.' Airily she waved Ray over to the sofa. 'But don't worry, I'm sure he'll be here soon.'

Being ganged up on was bad enough. When it was coupled with the first niggling oh-God-don't-say-I'm-about-to-be-stood-up ripples of anxiety, the effect was horrible.

'What are you doing here anyway?' Ray knew he sounded irritated, but he didn't care. Hiro had never been late before. He wouldn't stand him up, surely?

Kai Hiwatari patted the space next to him on the sofa.

'I was passing; just dropped by on the off-chance. We need to fix up a couple of dates for filming. This week, if you could manage it.'

Pointedly, Ray perched on the arm of the sofa, as far away from him as possible.

'I'm busy this week. I can't take any time off work.'

'Okay, but we could interview you here. Thursday evening would be good for us.' He consulted his battered Filofax, then looked up. 'Actually, any chance of seeing your room now?'

Not a chance in the world, Ray thought with a shudder. His room was currently awash with all the clothes he had tried on, discarded and flung to the floor.

'No. And I'm busy on Thursday evening too,' Ray added for measure. Honestly, talk about impertinent. Did he look like someone with no social life at all?

'Seeing your boyfriend. You mean?' Kai glanced at his watch, his eyebrows registering dismay. 'Oh dear, twenty past.'

Ray gritted his teeth until his jaw hurt.

'Kai, your glass is empty,' Florence protested. 'Come on now, have another drink.'

The doorbell went before he could reply. Ray flew to answer it.

'You're here! You're late!'

'Accident on the Bayswater Road.'

'Oh no . . .'

'Not me,' said Hiro. 'A bus and a Fiat Uno. The fire brigade are still trying to cut the driver out the Fiat.'

'That's alright then.' Ray threw his arms around Hiro. 'So long as you're okay.'

Smiling, Hiro said, 'Maybe I should be late more often, if this is the kind of welcome I get.'

'Don't you dare. I thought you'd stood me up.' Ray covered Hiro's face with kisses, breathless with relief. 'Come on, I want to introduce you to Florence.'

'Well? What d'you think?' said Ray eagerly ten minutes later. Kai Hiwatari had made his excuses and left, and before they followed suit, Hiro was paying a quick visit to the bathroom.

'I think you should ring Kai and say Thursday evening's fine. Playing the prima donna only works if you're Elizabeth Taylor,' Florence pointed out, 'and you haven't won any Oscars yet. They can always make this documentary without you, you know.'

'I meant, what do you think of Hiro?' Ray waved an impatient arm in the direction of the door. 'Do you really like him?'

'Oh. Well, yes, of course I like him. He seems quite . . . charming.' 'Quite' was a useful word. It could mean perfectly charming, or it could mean slightly charming. You could take your pick.

Oh dear. Florence struggled to be fair. Hiro did seem nice and he did seem charming; she just hadn't automatically clicked with him as she had with the other one, Kai. Out of the two of them, she knew which one she preferred.

But that was beside the point; Hiro was the one Ray wanted her to like, and how could she fault him? He was good-looking, smartly turned out, polite . . . and clearly as taken with Ray as Ray was with him.

And if the charm seemed a bit forced, a touch excessive . . . well, Florence conceded, he probably couldn't help that. It was undoubtedly an unfortunate side-effect of having worked for years selling insurance.

'He seems very nice,' she repeated, reaching for her cigarettes and swiftly changing the subject. 'Anyway, before you go, let me tell you about my visitor this afternoon.'

Ray hid his disappointment. He didn't want to hear about some boring visitor, he wanted Florence to sing Hiro's praises – with delirious enthusiasm, preferably – and tell him over and over again how perfect Hiro was. So far, all he'd got was very nice, pronounced in the kind of voice adults reserved for five-year-olds when they were handed a painting – Is it a tractor? Is it an aeroplane? – to admire.

Swallowing his impatience, Ray forced himself to sound interested. He jiggled the loose shoe dangling from his foot and said, 'Visitor. Okay, fire away.'

'I asked Max to come round. Pregnant Max who works for Bruce,' Florence prompted when Ray looked blank.

'Oh, right.'

'He's had to give up his flat. The husband refuses to help out financially. He's a lovely boy.'

Just not very bright, thought Ray, if that was the kind of man he'd chosen to marry in the first place.

At a guess, Florence had slipped the boy some money.

'I told him he could move in with us.'

'What!'

'Not for ever,' Florence explained. 'Just until he sorts himself out.'

'But that could take years! He hasn't even had the baby yet.' Ray was alarmed. 'You mean you've offered him the room next to mine?'

Oh great, thanks a lot.

'He's desperate,' Florence said calmly.

'Honestly, and you call me a soft touch! All I did was share my sandwiches with a down-and-out,' Ray protested. Well, a bogus down-and-out. 'Here's you sharing your whole house.'

'It's big enough. Anyway,' said Florence, 'I get bored here on my own. I'll enjoy the company.'

'The company of a screaming baby?' Agitated, Ray jiggled the shoe right off his foot. 'It won't know how to play poker, if that's what you're after. And what about all the sleepless nights? You definitely won't enjoy those.'

'I'm sure Max would have found himself somewhere else to live by then. Like I said, this is only temporary.'

'Well, I still think you're mad.'

'Not mad, just bored. And look on the bright side,' Florence said cheerfully. 'It'll annoy Bruce and Verity no end.'

Bruce and Verity weren't the only one's. Ray was relieved to hear Hiro's footsteps on the stairs.

'You aren't thrilled,' said Florence as Hiro appeared in the doorway. 'I'm sorry, darling. Maybe I should have asked you first.'

She sounded disappointed. Ray chewed his lip as guilt kicked in. It really wasn't like him to be so uncharitable.

Oh, all right, so selfish and stroppy and mean.

This was Florence's house after all. She could fill it with whoever she liked.

'Don't worry, its fine by me.' Ray turned to Hiro. 'Florence is collecting waifs and strays,' he explained. 'We're going to be having a homeless pregnant guy moving in.'

'Better you than me,' said Hiro. He jangled his car keys, impatient to leave; pregnant men weren't his favourite topic of conversation.

'The thing is, the room's going to need redecorating.' Florence looked at Ray. 'I wondered if you wouldn't mind giving it a coat of paint before he moves in.'

'No problem.' Ray nodded vigorously, eager to make up for his grumpiness earlier. He touched Hiro's sleeve. 'We could do it on Sunday, couldn't we? Make it look really nice.'

'I'd love to,' Hiro lied, 'but I'll be pretty busy myself this weekend. I'm moving too, remember.' Clasping Ray's hand, Hiro pulled him to his feet. 'Right , we'd better be off. Nice meeting you,' he added, flicking back his hair and smiling broadly over his shoulder at Florence.

'Oh, and you.'

'I feel a bit rotten,' Ray murmured, out in the hall. 'I wasn't very nice when Florence told me about this guy moving in.'

'I'm not surprised.'

'Still,' Ray paused, half in and half out of his jacket. 'It might be fun. Babies can be cute, can't they?'

'Do you mind if we change the subject?' said Hiro, opening the front door. 'You're beginning to sound like Bev.'

'Max's doing what?' Bruce pressed the phone to his ear and gestured furiously at his son to lower the volume on his PlayStation. 'Mother, hang on – I can't hear a word. Jason, for crying out loud, turn it down. Now, Max's doing what?'

'Moving in with me,' Florence repeated with maddening cheerfulness. 'Isn't it the most marvellous idea? Killing two birds with one stone!'

I should be so lucky, thought Bruce. Anger began to well up in his chest. O h, this was too much.

'I don't see what's so marvellous about it.' His voice was cold. 'I don't see why you have to interfere with matters that have absolutely nothing to do with you. For heaven's sake, mother, you don't even know Max!'

'I do now. He came to see me last night.'

'He came to see you?' Bruce spluttered. 'You mean he - ?'

'Don't get your knickers in a twist,' Florence interrupted. 'I asked him to. Max needs somewhere to live and I have room to spare. I don't understand why you're shouting at me, Bruce.' I thought you'd be pleased.'

Bruce's mind was in such turmoil that for a couple of seconds he couldn't remember why he wasn't. Then it came to him; he was planning to sack Max.

Soon.

He exhaled slowly. Once you'd sacked an employee, it was easier all round if you never had to clap eyes on them again. If Max was going to be living with his mother, that wasn't going to happen.

It would, in fact, be bloody awkward.

Knowing Florence, Bruce thought darkly, that was more than likely why she'd done it.

For this reason alone, he forced himself to calm down.

'Okay, I can see why it helps Max out. But what's in it for you?'

'I'll be getting myself a house-sitter,' Florence replied chirpily. 'Now that Ray's found himself a young man, he's not going to be around often. All the hanky-panky, I imagine, will be taking place over at his man's flat. And I'm going to be away a fair bit myself of course . . . did I tell you that Orlando and I are thinking about Vegas? . . . so it makes sense to have someone here, taking care of the house.'

Las Vegas.

Bruce shuddered.

Twenty-four-hours-a-day gambling and a gigolo on your arm.

This was truly a nightmare. Florence had lost her marbles and she was planning – gleefully, dammit – to lose all her money to.

'Mother, I'm not sure Vegas is a good idea.'

'Why not, too many wedding chapels?' Florence teased. 'Don't worry, darling, Orlando's already asked me and I turned him down.'

Thank Christ for that, thought Bruce. His hands were slippery with sweat.

'I have no desire to be married by a crooning Elvis lookalike in a white crimplene jumpsuit,' Florence went on consolingly. 'I told Orlando straight. If we decide to get married, we'll do it in England, with a real vicar and in a proper church.'

Dolphin-san: sigh I just adore Florence. She's just the best old batty woman that anyone would want for a grandmother, right? Unlike Jason. But anyway, bit close there wasn't it? With Hiro in the house when they were talking about Max? Ha.

Until next time. Ja ne.