Lottie racked her brains. ‘Not since she opened it, no.’
‘She’s lost it.’
Lottie could hear her mother’s dramatic performance coming from the other room. ‘Could it have got caught up with the wrapping paper, perhaps?’ she suggested.
‘Great thought!’ Scott punched the air. Bless him, he was so excited about everything, thought Lottie. Then she thought of the porn films and sniggered. He frowned at her as he went past so she turned it into a fake cough and his smile returned.
Eventually her mother’s dramatics reached the kitchen. ‘It’s gone! My Swarovski pen has gone! I was going to finish writing my autobiography with it, but I can’t find it anywhere.’
Lottie carried on battling with the ham.
‘Lottie!’ Her mother stamped her foot. ‘Why aren’t you searching for it?’
Lottie openly sighed at her mother’s lack of perspective. Yesterday poor Bernard had almost died and she had barely noticed; today she’d mislaid a sparkly pen and was declaring Armageddon. ‘It’s not gone,’ said Lottie, carefully putting down the carving knife. It was always safest not to handle sharp objects when she was arguing with her mother.
‘It has.’
‘You’ve just mislaid it.’
‘But I’ve checked everywhere,’ wailed Angie. ‘I don’t know what I’ll do.’ She slumped onto a kitchen chair and dropped her head to her chest. Lottie stared at the ceiling and counted to ten. ‘Lottie. Did you hear me?’
‘Yep. But other than suggesting you check again, there’s not a lot I can do.’ She picked up the carving knife. ‘Are you openly eating meat again?’ she asked. One less vegan to cater for would at least mean she wouldn’t be eating ham for the foreseeable future.
‘No, I’m a vegan.’ Angie swished her hair.
‘No, you’re not. You’re play-acting for Scott.’ Poor Scott; he seemed quite sweet really, and completely different to anyone her mother had dated before – which was most definitely a good thing. ‘Why can’t you just be yourself? Why do you hide behind this …’ she waved the carving knife and put it down hastily, ‘… this act, all the time?’
Angie looked affronted. Her mouth dropped open and she pulled her body back into the chair. ‘Me, acting? What about you?’
Lottie froze. She didn’t know where her mother was going with this. Her own secret, Melissa’s secret and Zach’s engagement plans all whizzed through her mind. ‘What about me?’ She felt like an ant under a magnifying glass watching a cloud move away from the sun.
Her mother’s cheek twitched; she hated that Angie knew she’d hit on something. ‘You’ve been keeping secrets.’ Angie narrowed her eyes but kept them firmly fixed on Lottie.
Lottie’s skin began to prickle. ‘What secrets?’ She raised her chin defiantly.
‘Oh. My. God!’ said Angie, each word getting louder. ‘Daniel!’ she yelled. ‘Daniel, come here.’
Daniel came into the kitchen with an irritated look on his face, closely followed by Zach, Joe and Emily. ‘What’s going on?’ Daniel asked.
‘No idea.’ Lottie shrugged and tried to remain calm. ‘Ask her.’ She stabbed a finger in Angie’s general direction. She couldn’t make eye contact with her brother or Joe. Was this the moment she’d been dreading for years? Her cheeks were burning. She didn’t want Joe to witness this, but what could she do?
Angie stood up and addressed her audience. ‘She knew.’ She pointed at Lottie and gave a fake sob. Lottie’s stomach plummeted. ‘She knew our mother was dying and she kept it to herself.’
That wasn’t what Lottie was expecting. Relief mixed with indignation washed through her. For now, her secrets were safe. As usual her mother had gone off down the path to crazyland and she would have to coax her back.
‘What? Nana didn’t say anything to me. Honestly, I didn’t know. Nobody knew,’ said Lottie. Angie was shaking her head. Daniel was frowning hard at Lottie. ‘I had the Christmas card, same as the rest of you.’ She struggled to stop her voice from rising to a shout. ‘If I’d known, then Nana wouldn’t have had to write me a card.’
Angie pushed out her bottom lip. ‘Proves nothing. You could have hatched the card thing up together.’
‘For crying out loud,’ said Lottie. She heard Nana in her words and it galvanised her resolve. ‘What would I possibly have to gain from keeping that secret?’
‘My mother,’ snapped Angie. ‘You always wanted her to yourself. You did everything you could to get between us.’
Lottie threw up her hands in frustration: this was madness. ‘How could I get between you and Nana whenyouwere never here?’ Lottie shouted.
Zach stepped fully into the kitchen and strode over to stand next to Lottie. ‘Mum, that’s enough. Lottie didn’t know about Nana.’
‘How could you possibly know that?’
