‘Sorry, we have to get going,’ she said to Lauren.
‘Does Charlie want some cake?I’m serving it now.’
‘It’s okay.We can’t wait.’
‘Let me put some in a napkin for him to take home,’ Lauren insisted.
Sophie gave her an apologetic smile.‘We have to go, sorry.’She put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder and steered him towards the hallway.
*
‘Thank god that’s over,’ Steve said as he came through the bi-fold doors, holding an overfilled garbage bag.Nel sat by the fire with Cath—who had arrived as the guests were leaving—surrounded by streamers and stray balloons.Lauren was upstairs running a bath for Archie.Steve dumped the bag by the kitchen bench and collapsed into an armchair.
‘Yes,’ Cath said, ‘I’ve never heard of a machine-gun fight at a kids birthday party, but then we only had girls.I’m not sure what your father would have made of it.He was always such a pacifist.’She sighed heavily, her eyes glassy, then she looked around at the mess.‘I’ll make a start on the clean-up.’
Steve reached for a sad-looking balloon next to his foot.‘I’ll give you a hand.’He went to the kitchen and picked up a tea towel as Lauren came down the stairs.‘Great party, Loz.’
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug.‘Thanks, babe.’She yawned and pressed his cheek, which was caked with dry mud.It cracked and a piece flaked off.‘Have you had a look in a mirror?’
‘No, why?’he asked, pretending to be unaware of the mud.
‘No reason,’ she said, playing along.
Nel smiled.She liked seeing them together.He softened her edges.
Lauren sat down beside Nel and pushed off her trainers.‘I feel like I’ve been through an actual war,’ she said, rolling her ankles.
They sat quietly for a moment.
‘Do you see much of Sophie Warner?’Nel asked, keeping her tone light.
Lauren shook her head.‘Not really.’
‘I thought you would, with the boys being mates.Weren’t you and Sophie friends at school?’
‘Yeah we were, but it sort of fizzled out once we left school.I used to invite her to stuff but she would never come, so I stopped asking.The boys haven’t had much to do with each other until recently when they started playing Minecraft together.I think she’s a bit …’ She shrugged, leaving the sentence unfinished.
‘A bit what?’
‘Depressed, I guess.’
Nel frowned, remembering that Viv had said something similar.‘Why?’
‘Ryan did a fundraising ride for Beyond Blue a while back.He did a big Facebook post about how depression had touched his own family.I don’t know, I just got the sense he was talking about Sophie.She never goes to anything at school, never volunteers for canteen or reading groups, so our paths rarely cross.And she always seems sort of … detached.’
Detached.Nel knew what Lauren meant.It was as though Sophie wasn’t quite present.Maybe shewasdepressed.There was no record of anything mental health related on her medical record, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.Plenty of people suffered with anxiety or depression for years without seeking help.Still, it felt like a convenient narrative for Ryan, if he was isolating her.
Where was the rest of Sophie’s family?Nel had a vague sense that there was a story there, but couldn’t remember the specifics.
‘What happened with her parents?’she asked.‘There was a scandal, wasn’t there?’
‘Yeah her mum was kind of wild.Leopard-print everything.Too much makeup.She ran the school canteen, remember?She reconnected with her first boyfriend on Facebook and went back to Adelaide.Poor Mr Kelly.Remember him?He taught geography.’
Nel didn’t do geography, but she had a mental image of a balding man with a thick beard and a permanent frown.
‘They’d only moved here a year or so before the marriage broke up,’ Lauren added.‘Sophie was with Ryan by then so she stayed here, but her little sister went to Adelaide with her mum.’
‘Is her dad still in town?’
