Shona leaned into her. “I’m not going to keep banging the therapy drum, but you should at least take some time off work.”
She sniffed. Without work, there was nothing. “I don’t know.” Her phone buzzed and indicated a voicemail. Hoping against hope that it might be Nell, she checked it. That brief moment was extinguished when she listened and discovered it was Simon.
“Hey. Angus wants to interview you for a school project. Typical boy, he’s left it until now to ask and he needs to hand it in on his first day back on Tuesday. Any chance you could help him out, please, if you’re not gallivanting off somewhere else?”
Annoying, competitive, kind, gentle, and steady Simon: the best of both of their parents. This was a gift. She rang him back immediately. “Are you up for a house guest? If so, Angus can interview me in person.”
“Yes, always. When?”
Mattie glanced at Shona, who inclined her head and then nodded. “Tomorrow too soon? Advance warning though. I’m not in a brilliant headspace.”
“Stay here for as long as you want,” said Simon.
Mattie saw the relief on Shona’s face and realised it matched her own. Sure, this was a baby step, but it was at least a start.
“So, Aunty Mattie,” Angus said, flicking his floppy fringe out of his eyes as he looked at his scribbled list. “What are your three top tips for someone wanting to become a journalist?”
Mattie smiled at her nephew’s earnest face. At twelve, he still looked cherubic and hadn’t hit puberty yet. With luck, he’d have got Julie’s genes when it came to his skin, otherwise he had a few years of heavy-duty acne ahead of him. She leaned her elbows on the kitchen table. “Three tips? Keep your eyes, ears, and mind open, your nose clean, and keep your mouth shut when it comes to protecting your contacts.”
Angus wrote down her answers, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated. Cute. Simon used to do that when he was a kid. Bittersweet memories of sitting at the kitchen table doing homework while Mum cooked shepherd’s pie came flooding back. What she’d give to do that again.
“What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you?” he asked.
“Easy. Slipping over on my bum in the middle of a live news report.”
Angus giggled. “Did you swear?”
“She dropped the F-bomb,” Simon said as he cleared the bottles of ketchup and brown sauce they’d used at dinner from the table. “There was a huge fuss, and the TV station had to apologise to the nation.”
“My bum hurt! Next question.”
“Who’s the most exciting person you’ve interviewed?”
“Cate Blanchett.”
Angus squinted at her. “Who?”
Mattie rolled her eyes. “She’s an icon, Angus. Look her up. Another top tip for you: keep up to date with who’s hot, even if they’re from a different generation to you.”
Angus finished his list of questions and ran upstairs to write his article. Olivia appeared, clad in pyjamas following her bath.
“Have you packed your school bag?” Simon asked.
Olivia wrinkled her nose. “I’ll do it in the morning.”
“Do it now, please.” Simon raised his eyebrows at Olivia’s melodramatic flouncing to do as she’d been told. He turned to Mattie. “The school run is chaotic at the best of times. Thankfully, that’s Julie’s domain.”
“I can help if you need,” said Mattie. She would have made the offer to Julie, but she’d gone to Pilates.
Simon snorted. “We want you to stay for a few days, not scare you off.”
“I’d like to spend more time with both of them,” she said. “They could stay with me in London during the February half-term, if they’d like. I’ll do the tourist thing with them. The London Aquarium, the Tower, and Spyscape.”
“You’ve never done that before.”
“Because I’ve been a crap aunt. It’s time to change that.”
“They’ll love it.” He tossed her a towel. “I’ll wash, you dry.”
