‘Tomorrow at 6 a.m. I’ve a flight to London and from there to Beijing. I’ve an interpreter meeting me at the airport, so sayonara, baby. But enough about me, what’ve you been doing?’
Cassie’s heart sank a little. How to follow that? She explained about the disastrous bridesmaids’ dresses and their dash to replace them with something decent. In fairness to Ramona, she wasn’t the least bit snobby and laughed heartily at the online slithery horrors.
‘Oh, man. Some people have a neck like an armadillo with the stuff they’ll try to pass off. Just make sure she gets her refund.’
Spoken like a pro, Cassie thought.
* * *
The apartment felt empty over the next couple of days, although that meant Cassie had plenty of time in the evening to cut out the black-and-white cow costume from a pattern off the internet and then start the tricky job of piecing it together without accidentally sewing the legs to each other. She was settling in for the evening, when her phone buzzed. It was Finn.
‘Hey, what’s going on?’
There was a rueful laugh from the other end. ‘Guess?’
‘Er .?.?. OK. The guy at work who should be on call tomorrow night was abducted by aliens, so you need me to babysit?’
‘You don’t have to, I can find somebody else. But if you do, I’m going to bring you out for dinner on Saturday to make up for it.’
‘Shut up. You can’t afford to keep bringing me out for dinner every time you get an emergency. That guy seems like a lazy shite, with his endless excuses, and deserves to be fired but apart from that, it’s fine, I’d like to. I’ve been sewing together a cow’s arse all week and I could do with a change of scenery. See you tomorrow at six thirty.’
It was only when she put the phone down that she reflected on how she’d got used to what was actually a pretty weird situation, when you took a step back. Far from being furious that somebody else was stepping in to look after her children, at this moment Marisha didn’t seem to have the energy to care. She was obviously coasting until the end of term. Nonetheless, a wave of unease passed through Cassie, what Da used to call a goose walking on your grave. Come on. Was she just looking for something to worry about when everything in reality was fine?
* * *
Only Cici and Con were there when she arrived. Finn stopped her in the hallway.
‘Just to let you know, Samantha is expecting her period so she might be a little salty when she gets back. Don’t be surprised.’
‘Got it, it’s a tricky time,’ she said, while what was going through her mind was,Feck that!Teenagers could have particularly dramatic period symptoms, true. Nonetheless, this smacked of a Samantha Special. She was being granted a pass to hold the family to ransom. How was she getting away with it? Imagine if she’d tried a lark like that with Mam or even Da at fourteen? Cassie had vivid memories of being given two Feminax and a hot-water bottle, and told to lie down and stop moaning.
She slipped into the routine. Cici’s homework seemed to consist mostly of drawing pictures of what her summer holidays would be like. Yikes, she thought, here’s hoping all the kids had something exciting planned. Con glanced at her neutrally and then continued with his maths, which wasn’t unusual for him, and not to be taken personally, she’d recognised.
Cici vanished for a moment and returned with St Teresa, who was kitted out in a dress made entirely of tinfoil, including a tinfoil hat. Cassie knew better than to even crack a smile but there was no doubt the doll had a new and important role.
‘It’s armour,’ she explained gravely. ‘She has to protect my daddy.’
‘I see .?.?.’
‘Samantha says we have to protect him from you because you’re the wicked stepmother.’ Cassie was not totally surprised, but something about Cici’s innocence made the situation even more upsetting.
‘Cici, I’m not trying to take anything away from anyone. St Teresa is very special at protecting the family, and I’ve no doubt she does, but she doesn’t need to protect it from me.’
Cici’s round hazel eyes were unsure. ‘Is that true?’ she whispered.
Cassie felt a surge of fury. What did the teenager think she was doing, manipulating the younger children? And yet, she’d to remind herself, Samantha was technically still a child too.
As though on cue, the buzzer sounded and a minute later Samantha flounced into the hall and flung down her bag, coat, hockey stick and a bottle of Lucozade in a jumbled pile.
‘Hi, what’s for dinner?’ she called breezily.
Feck that, she wasn’t going to get away with causing devastation and then pretending it’d nothing to do with her.
‘Samantha, have you a moment?’
Cassie followed her into the bedroom that used to be Finn’s but was now Samantha’s, although there was little evidence she’d actually moved in, apart from an oversized yellow check duvet cover.
‘What?’
