‘Woah, you are looking good, Jess.’ Robyn was standing next to me looking at my reflection in the mirror.
‘Jesus, you made me jump.’
‘You left the back door open.’
‘For the dog,’ I said vaguely, smoothing my hands down the sleek lines of the skirt.
‘You’ve lost weight. Not that you needed to. I keep telling you, you’ve a figure to die for, Jess. S’pose Dean kept telling you otherwise?’ Not waiting for an answer, she went on, ‘I’ve come up to warn you…’
‘Warn me?’ My eyes met Robyn’s in the mirror.
‘Hope you’ve done lots of veg. There seems to be one hell of a lot of people downstairs.’
16
‘Mum, Dad and Granny Pat were going to be all by themselves, and it’sEaster Sunday.’ Lola’s look of defiance was tempered somewhat by the biting of her full lower lip, a sign, I knew, that she was anxious as to my reaction to the extra uninvited guests at my table. ‘You’ve always said no one should ever be by themselves at Christmas, Mum.’
‘It’s Easter, Lola!’ I glared in her direction.
‘Same thing, really.’ Lola pouted. ‘All about Jesus and being nice to people. And inviting people for lunch when they haven’t got a nice turkey of their own in the oven. We sing a hymn at school about sharing bread with starving friends…’ She started to sing the words, but stopped as I shot her a warning look. ‘I’ll lay the extra places on the table, Mum, and I’ll wash up…’ she went on.
‘We have a dishwasher,’ I said, folding my arms.
‘….and I can organise an Easter egg hunt for all of us,’ Lola added as Pat Butterworth, not in the least put out at being the centre of the current dispute, set off to make herself at home in the sitting room with a large glass of sherry. ‘Ican provide the entertainment.’
‘It appears we have a surfeit of Easter eggs.’ My eyes left Lola’s face and came to rest on Jayden, standing in the doorway, his arms stretched to the limit – like a contestant on that ancient kids’ TV game ofCrackerjack –around a towering pile of Easter eggs. Jayden had obviously been into the local Co-op, buying up all they had left in order to make his uninvited appearance back in Beddingfield meet with some modicum of approval. ‘What areyoudoing here, Jayden?’
‘Lola invited me.’ Jayden looked hopeful.
‘Lola did?’ I turned back to her.
‘She saw me next door, trying to get in,’ Jayden explained. ‘Looking for your mum.’
‘Mum’s not here.’
‘Well, I can see that. Where is she?’
‘I’m here.’ Mum had walked into the kitchen and, as I exchanged glances with Robyn, I had to admit it was quite an entrance. Dressed in a simple black-and-grey striped long-sleeved shift dress and black heels, her long dark hair a shiny curtain to her shoulders, Mum was the epitome of style and elegance. ‘I don’t believe you have an invitation, Jayden,’ Mum said pleasantly, adjusting her own cache of Easter eggs.
‘Come on, Lisa,’ Jayden almost crooned, smiling winningly in her direction. ‘Since when do I need an invitation to see my own wife and family?’
‘You never married Mum, Jayden, so don’t give us that,’ I snapped. Seeing Kamran hovering behind Mum, his own arms laden with – very much more upmarket – Easter eggs, champagne and flowers, I smiled in my dad’s direction. ‘Have you met Kamran, Mum’s fiancé, Jayden?’
Jayden’s face fell in shock, at the same time as five of the chocolate eggs fell to the floor, Arthur immediately moving over to sniff at the contents. Jayden and Kamran turned to each other, squaring up, but smiling politely, unable to shake hands with all the goodies they were holding.
‘Where’s Sorrel?’ Jayden asked Mum, as Kamran, his arms obviously aching, headed for the fridge with the bottles.
‘Do put those eggs down, Jayden.’ Mum shook her head in his direction. ‘You can see this isn’t a good time.’
‘Oh, let him stay.’ Robyn and Lola spoke as one, and Lola went to help relieve her grandfather of the boxes of eggs. ‘It’s very trendy to have one’s exes at family gatherings with one’s present partner,’ Robyn went on. ‘I read an article once in theSunday Times: India Knight does it all the time. She says?—’
‘Oh, you’d be happy to have that ex of Fabian’s here, would you?’ I sent a derisory whisper in Robyn’s direction.
‘Bit different, that…’ Robyn started, glaring back at me.
She broke off as Dean, speaking for the first time since coming in uninvited with his mother and Lola, nodded in agreement. ‘Hear, hear, no reason to carry grudges…’
‘Hear, hear?’ I glared at Dean. ‘Hear bloody hear?You’re not in sodding parliament, Dean.’
