Her shoulders slumped, and she left the shop without replying.
She was on her way home when she decided to stop by and see Rachel.
Rachel opened the door when Claire knocked, looking distinctly hassled, a tearful Nathan balanced on her hip. “What—oh, Claire.”
“That’s a bit better than ‘oh, you,’” Claire answered with a smile. “How are things?”
“Hectic.” Rachel shifted Nathan to her other hip. “Do you need something? Because I’m kind of busy.”
“No.” Claire wondered if she looked like she needed something, or if Rachel had just assumed because she’d always been the needy one. “Actually, I wondered if you needed something. If I could help.”
“You?”
“Don’t sound quite so surprised. I can be fairly capable, on occasion.” Claire spoke lightly.
“No, sorry. I didn’t mean...” Rachel sighed. “Look, you’d better come in.”
The house was far messier than it had been when Claire had come last week; Rachel led her into the kitchen, which was filled with dirty dishes, and the smell of grease and old fried food hung in the air.
“Sorry,” Rachel said as she shrugged at the disaster zone. “I haven’t had time...”
“I have time.”
Rachel simply stared. “Sorry, what?”
“I have time,” Claire said again, her voice firm. “You look shattered. Why don’t you go in the sitting room and have a moment to relax and I’ll clean up in here? I’ll make you a cup of tea while I’m at it and keep an eye on Nathan.”
“But...” Rachel blinked, looking completely flummoxed. Was it so hard to believe she could manage to tidy a room and boil a kettle?
“I happen to like tidying up.” Gently Claire shooed her towards the sitting room. “Go on. Can your mum manage without you for a few minutes?” She hadn’t heard anything from the closed dining room door, so maybe Janice was asleep.
“Lily’s sitting with her.”
“That’s all right, then. I’ll come in with your tea in just a few minutes.”
“That okay, Nath?” Rachel asked, and Claire gave him a bright smile. Children made her nervous.
Predictably, his lip wobbled. “Ray-Ray . . .”
“It looks like you’ve been doing some coloring,” Claire tried. She reached for the cheap coloring book that had been left open on the kitchen table, a half-scribbled picture of Thomas the Tank Engine obscured by a coffee ring. “Can you do some with me? And perhaps I can find you a biscuit.” Claire pulled out a chair and patted the seat, and Rachel tiptoed to the sitting room while she helped Nathan sit down.
It was surprisingly cozy and cheerful, cleaning the Campbells’ tiny kitchen while Nathan colored and the kettle boiled. It didn’t take long to rinse and stack the dishes in the dishwasher and then spritz the cleaning surfaces and give the cooker a good wipe down.
She found a somewhat stale digestive for Nathan, who munched it as he colored, only looking up when the kettle whistled.
“What’s your name?”
Claire laughed. “Claire,” she said. “And I know you’re Nathan.” He looked surprised but pleased by this, and Claire brewed two cups of tea and carried them into the sitting room, Nathan scrambling off his seat to follow her.
Rachel was sitting on the sofa, her feet propped up on the coffee table, her eyes closed. She barely opened them as Claire came in and tidied a few magazines away to make room for their cups.
“Here we are. You look like you’re about to doze off.”
“I think I just did.” Rachel straightened with a yawn and took her cup of tea. “Thank you, Claire.”
“I made one for myself. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, of course not.”
