Oh. My. Jesus. She’d been so wrong. She’d actually thought there was nothing more Marisha could do to her. For a moment there was a ringing in her ears and everything felt very, very far away.
‘I’m sure that might come as a bit of a surprise.’
Surprise didn’t come within light years of what Cassie was feeling.
‘And does your .?.?. husband .?.?. know?’
‘My husband?’ she burst out. ‘Oh .?.?. him, God no. Can you keep a secret? Really?’
Cassie nodded. She was so relieved at the last remark that she’d have agreed to anything.
‘I mean, it’s all going to come out sooner or later .?.?. I have to tell someone and it may as well be you.’
Cassie decided to ignore the implied insult. ‘Right.’
‘It’s Roger’s.’
‘Roger .?.?.?’
‘Roger Newcombe, the principal. We’re obviously .?.?. a thing.’
Cassie nodded – for longer than was normal, she realised. ‘Rrrright. So, if you don’t mind my asking, how far along are you?’
‘Oh, not long .?.?. nine weeks. I mean, it’s a mess because it’s all happened so fast, but it’s wonderful at the same time. We’ve both secretly known for ages but we couldn’t act on it because of family situations. I know I shouldn’t really be telling you all this but .?.?. Oh, who cares. We’re in love and obviously you can see what an amazing guy he is. He’s such a .?.?. fucking adult. It’s so attractive.’
Wow. That was one way of describing him. Not everyone’s.
‘That’s amazing, congratulations, I’m delighted.’ Which was absolutely true. Also, she wasn’t imagining it: pregnant women were actually stalking her.
‘Thank you, Cassie, that really means a lot.’ Marisha actually squeezed her hand. ‘Look, I’m going to be honest: at my age, I’m forty-three – I know .?.?. it’s hard to believe – I’m finding it a little exhausting. I’ve really enjoyed directing the children, and I know they’ve loved it, but I’m going to have to hand over most of the play. I know it’s not really fair to ask, but d’you think you’d be able to manage? Roger knows that I may be taking a bit of time off here and there.’
‘Of course, Marisha, I’d be happy to do it, don’t you worry about a thing.’
And there it was, the solution to everything, and all she’d had to do was keep turning up.
* * *
Cassie was heading home, trying to process what had happened. She drove down the N11, turning the situation over and over in her mind as though it were a Rubik’s cube, and heaven knows, she was never much good at those.
First of all, this was great. Marisha had moved on in no uncertain terms. The only problem was, from a purely selfish point of view, it could totally upend her relationship with Finn. If he’d felt unavailable before, surely that was only going to get worse? You could be sure Marisha would be unshipping the younger children onto him now that it suited her. She could just imagine Mam rolling her eyes. Had she a point? Was their relationship going to become just another experience of her feeling bottom of the list? The thought was dispiriting. Also, what was she going to do about Marisha’s confession? She now knew this huge fact about Finn’s ex-wife – should she tell him or not?
Just then the sudden blast of a car horn made her jump, and as she looked up, she realised she’d been sitting in front of a green light for ages. She waved an apology before speeding off down the road with a stream of angry drivers behind her.
* * *
Finn phoned around seven that evening. ‘Hi, babe, what’re you doing?’
He sounded distracted and it turned out he was mashing potato for the children’s meal, which she remembered had to be more-or-less identical every day for Conor. In the background she could hear a female voice yelling, ‘You pair are driving me fucking crazy. Dad, I’mnotsitting in there anymore. They’refucking mutants!’
‘Samantha, will you calm down, please. Put your headphones on or go into the bedroom.’
‘This place is driving me fucking crazy. I’m fourteen, why can’t I just stay athome?’
The last word was delivered at such volume that even Cassie winced. There was some more muttering to the effect that she was going out for a walk and a warning not to try to stop her.
‘Sorry .?.?. Sorry about that. Listen, I have the kids tonight, obviously, and .?.?. Look, I’m really sorry but Marisha’s asked me to take them tomorrow evening as well. She’s not well, I don’t know what’s wrong with her. I know we’d planned—’
‘It’s fine, honestly, it’s absolutely no problem.’ Oh God, this was awkward. She was on the verge of blurting out, ‘I know exactly what’s wrong with her,’ but something stopped her.
