Page 83 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

‘Ms Hart. I’m a great admirer. How lovely to meet you.’

‘Oh, Charlie!’ Claudia tinkles. ‘Can I call you Charlie?’

‘Well, I—’ Charles begins, but Claudia ruthlessly cuts him off.

‘Charlie, I’m so sorry to come crashing in unannounced when you’re just beginning your work here, but I can never bear to be away from my precious family for too long.’

‘Hi, Granny,’ Phoebe pipes up, her smile angelic.

Claudia swings around and her eyes narrow. ‘Now, Phoebe,’ she says sweetly, but there’s steel at the back of her words. ‘I believe we discussed this before. You’re to call me Claudia.’

‘Oh, right,’ Phoebe says with zero contrition. ‘I forgot.’

‘I’m sure you did,’ Claudia murmurs, but she leans down to give Phoebe a careful hug. ‘I have brought you some fabulous Murano glassware in my luggage,’ she tells her granddaughter.

Phoebe darts a look at her dad, who runs a weary hand over his face. ‘Thanks,’ she says finally.

There’s an urgent knock at the door, and I let out a desperate choke of laughter. What now?

Before anyone can answer it, the door swings open and Magda comes flying in. ‘Nico!’ she yells. ‘Bud’s been to the airport and…’ She comes to a screeching halt in the middle of the room, taking in the scene in front of her. ‘Ah,’ she clears her throat. ‘I see everyone else beat me to it.’

‘Magda!’ Claudia recovers almost instantly, delivering airy kisses to both of Magda’s cheeks. ‘How gorgeous to see you, I was just telling Charles the lawyer here that I can never stand to be away from my family for too long, particularly my beloved daughter-in-law, Ophelia.’

I don’t think anyone can claim to be surprised that Claudia never followed the model to actress pipeline.

‘Right,’ Magda nods with way too much enthusiasm. ‘That’s exactly right. And very normal.’

There’s another beat and Charles steps forward.

‘Charles Saunders,’ he says, introducing himself to Magda. ‘Of Saunders, Saunders and Sneed.’

‘Which Saunders are you?’ Phoebe asks. ‘The first or the second?’

‘The first.’ Charles dips his head.

‘Yeah, but I bet you’d still say that even if you were the second,’ Phoebe muses. ‘That’s what I’d do.’

Charles pauses. ‘The second Saunders is my son, so I think it’s safe to say that I come first.’

‘Ah,’ Phoebe says wisely, ‘a nepo-baby.’ Then when we all look surprised, she shrugs. ‘Hey, I see stuff on TikTok.’

‘Hahaha!’ Nico breaks in. ‘No you don’t! As if my eight-year-old daughter would be allowed access to TikTok!’ He fixes her with a hard stare. ‘That would be ridiculous, because my daughter and I have had several conversations about the dangers of social media and she knows that using my phone to go on TikTok would result in an immediate grounding.’

‘That’s right,’ Phoebe agrees instantly. ‘Sorry, did I say TikTok? I meant Wikipedia, which I sometimes use for educational purposes.’ The angelic expression is back.

God, she’s good.

‘Well,’ Magda says heartily, ‘it looks as if I’m interrupting, but I wanted to come and pick up Phoebe for our usual…’

‘Pancake breakfast,’ Phoebe supplies helpfully. ‘I’ll go and grab my stuff.’ And with that she dashes out of the room.

‘Perhaps Mr Saunders would like to join us?’ Magda offers him a friendly smile. ‘It looks like Nico and Lee have had quite the morning, and I’m sure they’ll want to catch up with Claudia.’

‘Well, I—’ Charles begins again, but once more Claudia steamrolls him.

‘What a wonderful idea, Magda. You and Phoebe really must show Charles the delights of this charming town. Charlie, I do hope that you’ll be able to make time for dinner with me while you’re here? After all, no one knows Nico better than his mother!’ She’s fixed him with a hypnotising, unblinking stare and it must be working, because Charles only nods, his throat bobbing as he allows Magda to guide him towards the door.

‘That would be my pleasure,’ he murmurs. ‘Mr Hart, now that I’ve introduced myself, my secretary will be in touch to set up a more formal appointment.’