‘How are you?’ he asked.
I tried not to look too shocked that he was enquiring after me.
‘I’m okay.’ I paused. ‘Liv and Jay have invited us over for a BBQ, actually.’
He raised his head and looked at me blankly. ‘Who has?’
I lowered my voice so Elliot wouldn’t hear. ‘You know, the couple that go to the counselling session before us. Liv and Jay,’ I reminded him. ‘They have a little boy in Elliot’s class.’
He seemed amused. ‘The short, fat couple?’
‘That’s mean, Hugo,’ I retorted.
‘Come on,’ he snorted. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t notice? They’re both wider than they are tall. I didn’t realise you were friendly?’
‘Well, I’ve met her at the school a couple of times and we’ve gone for coffee… She’s a really lovely person.’
‘I’m sure she is, I just didn’t have her down as your type.’
I felt myself bristle. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing,’ he said with a smirk playing on his face. The tender softness I had watched just moments ago as he played with Elliot was gone and he was back to his cocky, arrogant self once more.
‘Their little boy is in the same class as Elliot,’ I continued, refusing to get dragged into an argument. ‘It’ll be nice to get to know another set of parents and it will be good for Elliot too to get to know Finn a little better.’ I knew this was the angle I would have to play on if I had any hope of convincing him to go; although he didn’t care about pleasing me, I knew he’d do it for Elliot’s sake.
‘When is it?’
‘Well they suggested this evening.’
‘All right,’ he sighed.
‘So you’ll go?’ I said, trying but failing to conceal my shock.
‘Yeah, of course, it’s important that we get to know the parents of Elliot’s friends.’
I nodded. ‘Great.’
26
LIV
I felt two pudgy arms circle my neck like a koala and a warm head snuggle against my chest. I peeled my eyes open and saw Finn had climbed into bed between Jay and me. I pulled him in tightly to me and breathed in my darling boy. He was wearing his favourite dinosaur pyjamas and his long hair was sticking up chaotically from how he had slept on it.
I picked up my phone and looked through it. I saw I had a message from Maya saying that they’d love to come over tonight. I’d almost forgotten that I’d asked her.
‘What do you want to do today?’ Jay asked.
‘Well, I kind of invited Maya and Hugo over for dinner later…’
‘Are you kidding? Why didn’t you tell me?’
I winced. ‘I wasn’t sure if they would come but Maya has just texted me back to say that they can make it.’
Jay reached across the bed and pulled me into his arms and Finn lay sandwiched between us. ‘Where will we fit them? Our table only seats four. What about the boys?’
‘We can eat outside.’
‘But it’s almost October!’
