I closed my eyes, praying it wasn’t anything to do with my and Leo’s wedding.
Chapter 8
“You’ve got to see this!” Ryan said.
Sal and I spun round as Ryan burst into the room.
“Honestly, you’re not going to believe it.” He waved a newspaper around, desperate to show us what he’d found.
“Believe what?” Sal asked.
Plonking the paper down in front of us, Ryan eagerly flicked through the pages. “Brace yourselves,” he said, struggling to contain his excitement. Finally, he found what he was looking for.
Curious as to what all the fuss was about, Sal and I looked down at the article. My stomach sank. Mum clearly hadn’t listened to a word I’d said. “Please tell me this is a joke,” I said, desperate.
Ryan chuckled. “You should be so lucky.”
“Why is she doing this to me?” Staring at the huge photo of me and Leo, I didn’t know which was worse. The fact that we were even there, or the image Mum had chosen to submit. The camera had always loved Leo, but I wasn’t so lucky, and I cringed at the thought of my demented smile appearing on every newsstand, phone screen, and breakfast table across town. I thought back to our family gathering and Mum’s insistence that we mark the occasion with a few snapshots. If I’d have known Mum was going to run a feature in the local paper, I’d have flat out refused. “Look at the state of me,” I said.
Sniggering, Sal put a hand up to cover her mouth, while I wanted to die of embarrassment. “I’ve seen worse photos of you.”
“Now you’re being kind.”
“It’s a full-page notice, telling everyone about your engagement,” Ryan said. “There must be a shortage of news this week. Look at all the write-up.”
“But why?” I asked, not daring to read the piece. “After everything I said.”
“I told you. When it comes to Mum you have to be forceful,” Sal said.
Ryan’s focus shifted. “What’s she doing?” He nodded in his daughter’s direction.
“An experiment,” Sal said.
“Really?” Ryan asked. “What kind of experiment?”
Watching India pick up her first mix of water, baking soda and mints, and pour it into the paddling pool, Sal and I shrugged. However, Ryan’s interest grew, and he wandered outside for a closer look.
We continued to observe through the window as India poured her second bucket’s worth into the paddling pool. As soon as the last drop landed, my niece immediately darted out of the way, leaving her dad stood there, evidently as bemused as us by India’s sudden haste. Mine and Sal’s eyes widened, and our faces lifted skyward as a huge volcano of thick red foam erupted high into the air. “What the…?” we both said. The foam, at last, began to rain down, covering everything in sight. Including Ryan.
“My beautiful garden,” Sal said. “It’s ruined.”
As India hopped and skipped in delight, she turned to give Sal and me a thumbs up.
Ryan continued to stand there red, soapy, and motionless.
Mortified, Sal looked from her daughter to Ryan and back again, while my attention returned to the awful newspaper photo.
“I’m going to kill her,” Sal said, of her daughter.
“Me too,” I said, of our mum.
Chapter 9
Ilet myself into our cottage and continuing to fume over Mum’s full-page announcement, I marched down the hall and into the kitchen. I plonked my bag and Ryan’s newspaper down on the dining table and, without saying a word, headed straight for the fridge. Pulling out a bottle of wine, I handed it to Leo.
In the middle of preparing dinner, he stopped chopping vegetables to open it. “One of those days?” he asked, while I reached in the cupboard for a couple of glasses.
I watched him pour, nodding for him to keep going until I put up a hand for him to stop. Raising the glass to my lips, I downed the lot. “Something like that,” I said, ready for a refill. After decanting me a second, more reasonably measured, drink, Leo got back to his task at hand. He tossed Otis a piece of carrot, while I retrieved the newspaper off the table. “You’ll never guess what she’s done now?” I said. “Honestly, I could murder the woman.”
