They sat in a square at the table, Lily and Ella on one side with Max and Arlo facing them. Max sliced up the pizzas and she felt a rush of pleasure at the delight on Arlo’s little face as he ate. Lily was taking her time and Prim was at Arlo’s side, no doubt hoping for crumbs or better.
‘What else did you cook in your restaurant, Ella? I love your pizza.’ Lily had a slice halfway to her mouth and her head on one side. She was still wearing her seahorse apron and Ella caught a piece of falling tomato before it hit the floor.
‘Thank you, it was fun to make it together. But I didn’t work in a restaurant, Lily, at least not in my last job. I cooked for a company who created special parties and events.’
‘What kind of parties? Birthday ones?’ There was a hopefulness in Lily’s voice that had Max jumping in firmly.
‘Before you say it, Ella will not be cooking for your birthday, okay?’ He’d already finished his first slice of pizza and she was gratified to see him going back for another. ‘We still haven’t decided what we’re going to do.’
‘But Daddy, I want a party and it’s next month. Everyone in my class is having parties and I want to invite all my new friends.’ Lily pouted again. ‘It’s too far away from home to invite my old ones.’
Ella saw the flash of guilt in Max’s expression, certain Lily had played her trump card on purpose. ‘What kind of party would you like, Lily?’ She hoped he would not mind her asking.
‘I don’t know yet.’ Lily sighed dramatically, giving her father a look that suggested her pleas were falling on deaf ears. ‘Daddy says I can invite eight friends as the whole class is too many, but I’m not allowed a sleepover.’
‘A sleepover is not practical, Lily, because there’s only really me to look after you all.’ Max tilted a glass of water at her. ‘We can hardly expect your grandmother to crash on the sofa with a bunch of wild seven-year-olds leaping about. And none of the other parents will ever let your friends near us again if I send them all home strung out on sugar and no sleep.’
‘I understand, Daddy. Could you give me some party ideas, Ella, please?’ Lily elongated the final word into a heartfelt plea and Ella knew she and Max were both being played by this clever little girl.
‘I didn’t see a lot of the parties I cooked for, Lily.’ Arlo held up his plate for more pizza and Ella loved how Max and Arlo were digging into it. The extra cheese had been a success and the sauce was perfect. ‘I was always in the kitchen making sure the food was ready exactly on time.’
‘I’ve made a list.’ Lily scrambled down to fetch her iPad and dragged her chair closer to Ella’s. ‘Please will you have a look with me?’
‘Lily, we’re eating.’ There was a warning note in Max’s voice. ‘This can wait.’
‘I don’t mind if you don’t?’ Ella didn’t want to challenge his authority too obviously in front of his children. ‘I should go as soon as we’ve finished anyway, so maybe now is a good time?’
‘Animals?’ Lily wasn’t waiting for her father to agree. The screen lit up and she touched it again. ‘We could have bugs and stuff or go to the wildlife park but someone in my class already did that and Tilly, my best friend, doesn’t like spiders.’
Lily deleted a line from her list. ‘I don’t wantFrozen, everyone’s done that. Or princesses.’
Two more lines went, and Ella was struck by inspiration, remembering an event she had cooked for last year. ‘What about a wonderland party? As your birthday is in December it could work really well, especially for just a few of you.’
‘I love that!’ Lily jumped up and a frown creased her brow. Max glared as Prim hurriedly left Arlo’s side to investigate the source of excitement. ‘But what do you do at a wonderland party?’
Ella was rapidly improvising as she tried to remember the details of a party for a millionaire’s daughter that had begun at midnight in the garden of a stately home. She wouldn’t mention the sleigh though; she was pretty sure Max wouldn’t thank her if he had to track one down a real one. ‘Hot food as the weather’s cold. Maybe hot dogs and s’mores around a campfire, and a scavenger hunt. It would be a lot of fun to search for things like pinecones or fallen leaves of a particular colour. What about hot juice and telling stories, or stargazing? Making a stickman instead of a snowman?’
‘That’s my party,’ Lily shrieked, clambering onto Max’s knee and winding her arms round his neck. ‘Papa, please, can we do that, like Ella said. Pleeeease? With the s’mores and everything? I can help too; Ella won’t have to do all of it.’
‘Oh, I don’t know, Lily, it sounds complicated and what do I know about a winter wonderland?’ Max shot Ella a look and she wasn’t sure if his level gaze meant he was pleased with her suggestion or not.
‘It’ll be fine, Papa, I promise. We won’t eat too much sugar and I’ll ask Ella really nicely to help us. And I won’t ask again for a sleepover.’
‘It’s not Ella’s job to sort out your party, Lily, she has other things to do.’ He gently tipped Lily off his knee, but they all knew he was wavering. ‘I’d better feed Prim; she must be starving if those sad stares she’s giving me are anything to go by.’
‘I don’t mind helping with the party,’ Ella assured Max, happy to see Lily’s little face light up and her hands clutched together in glee. ‘If you’re okay with that?’
‘Do I have any choice?’ he said dryly as he poured dog biscuits into a bowl and added some meat from a tub in the fridge. ‘Looks like you’d better include children’s parties on your job description along with the life modelling, Ella.’
‘Daddy, what’s life modelling?’
Chapter Seven
Ella didn’t want to put off leaving once Max had insisted he would do the clearing up, despite her anxiety at the thought of that sad, silent flat waiting. Lily wanted her to stay and talk about the party some more; she was all for planning another meeting of her own and adding it to the calendar on her iPad. At the front door she threw her arms round Ella’s waist and clung on for a few seconds. Ella saw Max’s impassive gaze above Lily’s head as she bent down to hug her back. Arlo was more reticent, offering a shy grin and, encouraged by his dad, a polite thank you for the meal. Ella accepted Max’s wry thanks for ruining his children for ever for frozen pizza.
The courtyard was dark and sinister in the frigid air, and she managed not to scream when an owl hooted near the barn. It was far too early for bed and once she’d let herself in she laid the fire, adding sticks to rolled-up newspaper she found in the log basket. The fire barely got going and after an hour Ella gave up and changed for bed, logging into the Wi-Fi with the password Max had given her and scrolling through Dylan’s Instagram, half-wishing she was in France with him. Maybe it wasn’t too late, perhaps she could get a flight for Christmas? She’d be happy to sleep anywhere if she didn’t have to be on her own.
A bang on the front door made her drop the phone and she slithered down the ladder, remembering the dodgy rung just in time, and pulled the door back a fraction. It was far enough to see Max shivering in his hoodie, and she resisted the wild and reckless urge to tug him inside out of the cold.
