Joe swallowed his mouthful. ‘There’s a couple of things I missed.’ He gave the briefest of glances in Lottie’s direction and her stomach flipped.
‘Marmite?’ suggested Zach, and the conversation flowed merrily as they compared the differences between the two countries, largely focusing on food. Everyone was eating and chattering, and it felt like Christmas.
Cutlery was placed on empty plates and contented sighs abounded, which was Lottie’s cue to clear the table.
‘Please can Dave come in now?’ asked Jessie.
‘Not yet,’ said Lottie, but as soon as she opened the dining room door, Dave shot in anyway, performing a quick sweep of the room like a highly trained sniffer dog before grabbing something from under the table and racing off.
Most of the plates had been cleared into the kitchen, and Emily had run out of ideas for ways to help between courses. She found herself sitting at the dining room table with the warring couple. Nicola was glaring at Daniel, who was staring at his phone. The looks between them burned with unspoken arguments. Emily thought her family had disagreements, but this was on a whole new level. The uncomfortable silence was too much for her: it gave her time to think about her own situation, and she really didn’t want to do that.
She needed to get things straight in her own mind. Seeing the two blue lines on the pregnancy test had affected her differently to how she’d expected. Rather than terror or devastation, there had been a surprising pop of something else. She reluctantly had to admit that maybe a tiny part of her would be okay with being pregnant. She didn’t fully understand it. Perhaps she just wanted the silly competition with her sister to be over. Or maybe motherhood was something she’d put to one side for too long?
‘The manor house is lovely. Did you used to live here?’ she asked Daniel, in a desperate attempt to break the silence.
‘Yeah. We moved here when I was about four. Actually, Nicola also lived here for a bit.’ He glanced at his wife. She was laser beaming him with her stare.
‘Did I? When?’
Daniel put his phone down. ‘After you fell out with the university mates you were sharing a place with.’
‘Oh. Yes. I remember.’
Daniel leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. ‘Come to think of it I remember something else about that, too.’ He turned his attention to Emily, as if telling her the story.‘One of them was a bloke, and he kept turning up here. And relentless phone calls too. He was desperate to talk to Nicola. What was his name?’ Daniel clicked his fingers as if trying to conjure up the name as he might summon a waiter.
‘Nigel,’ said Nicola, her tone snappy.
‘Yes, Nigel. I always wondered about Nigel, if maybe he and Nicola had been more than just friends,’ he continued to speak to Emily. ‘But I decided not to pursue it. Because Nicola was with me, so whatever had gone on didn’t matter. It was in the past.’
‘Right,’ said Emily, wishing she could slink away without being noticed.
‘I mean I’ve often wondered exactly what happened between Nigel and Nicola; but I let it lie. Didn’t go on about it.’
Nicola slapped a palm on the table, giving Emily a start. ‘Fine, Daniel. If we’re getting all the secrets out on the table – I kissed Nigel. Okay? Well, we kissed each other after too much cider, and it was all rather awkward. It wasn’t an affair and there was no resulting child.’
‘Ah!’ pounced Daniel. ‘But a kiss is still a betrayal isn’t it?’ he asked Emily.
‘Um. I suppose …’ They were both staring at her now. She swallowed hard.
‘I’ve been helping,’ announced Jessie, returning to the room with Uncle Bernard close behind her.
‘Ooh good idea. I should help too,’ said Emily, quickly getting to her feet, as she spied her chance to leave. She’d heard of being caught between a rock and a hard place, but that was like being under a landslide.
‘We should help too, Daniel,’ said Nicola and they followed Emily from the room. There was no escape.
Everyone had been very keen to help clear the table, so Lottie found herself in the kitchen surrounded by helpers, leaving only Jessie and Bernard in the dining room. She figured they’d all spotted an opportunity to look and feel like they’d helped with Christmas dinner by chipping in with the bare minimum. Oh well, it meant she could focus on the pudding while they squabbled over how best to stack the dishwasher. And squabbling they were.
‘Dad, you can’t put the saucepans in or there’s no space for the plates,’ said Rhys.
‘We’ll need to wash the plates by hand,’ said Daniel.
‘But that’s loads,’ said Nicola. ‘Far easier to wash a couple of pans,’ she added, taking them out of the dishwasher. Rhys and Daniel started adding the plates.
‘I’ll leave these to soak,’ said Nicola putting the pans in the sink. It didn’t take a genius to work out who would be washing those up.
‘If you put the plates in the other way round I can put these mixing bowls in,’ said Emily hovering nearby. There were huffs in response but they made the changes so Emily could add the bowls.
Joe waved a full cutlery holder about. ‘Where does this go?’
