He stopped when he saw the snowman and frowned. Lorna braced herself and fixed on a smile. She waved to her husband from the window, but he pointed at the snowman and mouthed:What the fuck?
God, men could be such humbugs at times, thought Lorna. She went to the front door and opened it.
‘Hi, darling,’ she said.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Simon, looking back at the snowman.
Nice to see you too, thought Lorna. ‘It’s our new decoration,’ she said. ‘Like it?’
‘How much did it cost?’
‘Why does everything have to be about money?’
‘Er...because we haven’t got any?’
‘That’s not true and you know it.’ Lorna walked into the house, Simon following. He took off his jacket, put it on the kitchen table.
‘Lorna, I’m serious,’ said Simon, and he did actually look it. ‘We don’t have the spare cash to buy naff snowman decorations.’
Lorna bristled. It wasn’t naff, it was cheerful and festive. It put a smile on her face.
‘You do know how much I earn, don’t you?’ continued Simon. ‘And while we’re on the subject of money, we stillhaven’t had a proper conversation about schools. I know it’s great that Phoenix got a scholarship and all that, but there’s no way we can pay the rest.’
‘I’m going to contribute,’ said Lorna. ‘I’ve been applying for loads of jobs.’ She hadn’t really, not yet. Things were always so busy in the run-up to Christmas, she hadn’t had time to look. ‘And Mum is going to help too.’
‘Is she? Has she actually said that?’
‘Yes,’ lied Lorna. ‘She’s going to help a lot. Who do you think bought the snowman?’ It was another outright lie but better that Simon thought Carol was putting her hand in her pocket than the actual truth. And there would be more where that cash had come from – much more. Lorna planned on staying class rep and chair of the PTA for a very long time.
‘I don’t feel comfortable relying on your mum,’ said Simon.
‘She wants to be a part of her grandchildren’s lives,’ said Lorna, switching on the kettle. ‘It would be unkind to stop her,’ and she turned away to get a couple of mugs to make them both tea. Conversation over.
FIFTY-FIVE
Friday 11 December
The last of the receipts were tallied up and Imogen was once again very pleasantly surprised by how much they’d taken. She sat back in her chair. She was the only one in the restaurant as the lunch staff had finished and the evening staff didn’t start for another hour. And they were fully booked for that night too. She gazed around, a feeling of contentment washing over her. She should have done this ages ago, she thought, then remembered that actually, it hadn’t been possible – still wouldn’t be without private financing. James had come good, but with his investment she’d noticed a growing sense of propriety about him. Or was that the fact they were sleeping together? Maybe the two things were so intertwined, it was hard to distinguish what was what. She felt a low sense of unease and knew it was something she had to be mindful of. She’d noticed him getting irate at the opening night and it had annoyed her. He did not own her.
She heard a rap on the window and frowned. The closed sign was clearly up. She turned to see who it was.
Talk of the devil. Imogen morphed her frown into a smile, even though she could really do without a visit from her business partner right now.
She got up and went to let him in. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Do I need a reason to come and see my investment?’
He didn’t but it riled how he was looking at her, as ifshewas the thing he’d invested in. Or maybe she was reading too much into it. She decided to defuse the situation and went to kiss him.
‘Not at all,’ she said. It was an unexpected surprise, that’s all. A nice one,’ she added. ‘I don’t usually see you on Friday afternoons, there’s too much going on at school just before the weekend.’
She felt James place a hand on her backside and pull her closer. ‘I managed to escape for a bit,’ he said, ‘seeing as we’re neither of us going to get our Saturday run in tomorrow.’
No, thought Imogen, they weren’t. The Christmas fair meant they’d both be at the school in the morning.
She wriggled away from him. ‘Not now,’ she said, of his desire for sex.
He looked disgruntled. Like a child who’d been told no more chocolate biscuits, she thought.
