‘Sure, isn’t that the way of it. We all have to make compromises.’
Cassie could tell from experience that Mam was in a no-nonsense mood. As soon as she’d made them two cups of coffee and sat down, she started. ‘When are you going to phone Maxine? You’ve been putting it off for months, and it’s already last minute for the dresses. Typical you. I don’t want to find myself sitting here at 2 a.m. the night before my wedding with the eyes hanging out of my head hemming bridesmaids’ dresses.’
In fact, there was nothing Mam would’ve loved more, not to mention recounting it to anyone who’d listen.
‘Look, love, I know there’s been all of that between you and Maxine, and it breaks my heart that we can’t all meet together, but surely now is the time to fix that.’
Cassie nodded uncomfortably. Mam was wonderful but she did have a tendency to place herself at the centre of everything and genuinely felt that nothing could happen effectively without her. She’d whipped out her phone and was scrolling madly to find the number.
‘God, Mam, stop, please. You’re taking over again. I’ll do it tonight, OK? I promise I won’t let you down.’
‘Then that’s all I need to hear. Have another piece of cake.’
Cassie was starving after spending her lunch break on yard duty.
‘We can’t, Mam, remember we’ve got to look like Kate Moss in less than two months.’
‘That girl always looks in need of a good plate of sausage and chips. And what about your poor friend that got beaten up? I must drop over and visit her. I’ll bring her a bedjacket for receiving visitors. Do you think she’d like that?’
‘You know what, Mam? I think she’d love it.’
‘Great. So .?.?. what about this new chap, will he be at the wedding?’
Maybe it was the tension of having to stifle herself around Marisha all day, or light-headedness from hunger, but Cassie found herself blurting the whole story out to Mam. At the end there was silence, which was astonishing in itself.
‘So, you’re working with this woman, and she doesn’t know what’s going on?’
‘No, but I think she might suspect.’
‘Look, I might be very old-fashioned in all of this, but I’d say honesty is the best policy. I mean,ifthey’re living separately andifshe doesn’t want him back, then why are you keeping it a secret in the first place?’
Mam tended to see things in black and white, which was fine for her but really didn’t work out for Cassie.
‘Right, I’ll have a word with her,’ she said, just to keep Mam happy.
‘These blended families .?.?. all I know from cooking is some ingredients just don’t mix.’
Chapter 23
Cassie arrived home to find the apartment in darkness. That’s odd, she thought and pushed open the door to the sitting room, where she saw Ramona lying on the sofa, her face barely illuminated by her phone. She switched on the wall lights and was greeted by the sight of the day’s dishes. Obviously, she’d barely moved. That wasn’t like Ramona.
‘Hey, I’ve brought your pastrami roll, though I was tempted to scoff it myself.’
She’d anticipated a quip but Ramona was silent. Her white-blonde hair lay flat on her head, and her face, normally made-up to meet the world, was pale and scrubbed. She looked almost unrecognisable. It wasn’t that she looked bad – just different, younger. Cassie couldn’t help wondering how many people ever saw behind the mask. She sat by the sofa and gently asked, ‘Hey, how’re you doing?’
Ramona shrugged but didn’t reply.
‘Is something wrong?’ She hardly needed to ask. Cassie could see from the set of her jaw that Ramona was fighting to hold back tears. She pulled a tissue from the box and handed it to her.
‘I don’t want to pry but .?.?. you can tell me .?.?. if you want.’
‘I can’t do it anymore .?.?.’ She broke down and sobbed.
Cassie shifted to the side of the sofa and hugged her, as Ramona’s bony frame shuddered. For all her swagger and uber-sophistication, inside she was little more than a kid, out in the world on her own.
‘Sssh .?.?. It’s OK,’ Cassie said, rubbing the girl’s back like you would an inconsolable child, for whom words have no meaning beyond the sounds. ‘Let it all out.’
‘In that house, when that guy caught me, I thought he was going to kill me. I really thought I was going to die there.’
