‘Daddy!’ Estelle’s dark hair was caught up in a myriad of different hair bobbles and she had found one of Natalie’s brighter lipsticks – it was slicked across her lips and stretched halfway up one cheek.
‘You look pretty, baby girl,’ he said, smothering a laugh.
‘God, don’t encourage her,’ Natalie said, glancing at their daughter. ‘Oh, Estelle, not my lipstick, too. How many times …’
‘My like lip tick.’
‘I’ll get Mummy a new one when I get home, shall I?’
He said it without even thinking, registering the tightening in Natalie’s frame moments too late.
‘How’s the trip going?’ Natalie pointedly changed the subject, as Estelle climbed onto her lap and reached for the phone.
‘As expected,’ Johnny replied. ‘The chateau is amazing, the scenery around here is fabulous. We’ve already picked up a new supplier, you know how Noel is. I think he’d located this guy before he’d even unpacked.’
Natalie frowned. ‘How is Noel?’
‘He’s … Noel. Life and soul of the party, as always. Why?’
‘No reason. I met up with Belinda for a coffee, she said Ricky told her Noel’s hitting the booze harder than usual. Flirting with anything in a skirt.’
‘As usual,’ Johnny said. ‘Not that he’s getting anywhere with that.’
Natalie’s expression tightened again. ‘You’ll make sure he doesn’t make a fool of himself, won’t you?’
Johnny sighed. ‘Why is that always my job?’
Natalie didn’t answer; instead Estelle reached for the phone again, this time grabbing it from her mother and giving Johnny an extreme close-up of her eyes and nose, breath steaming the screen.
‘Get closer, Daddy.’
Johnny grinned, bringing the phone’s camera up close to his ear. ‘Like this?’
‘No. Silly Daddy.’ Estelle screamed with laughter, instructing Natalie to look as well. ‘Daddy’s ear. Look.’
‘Actually, Nat, if you’ve got time, there’s something I want to show Estelle.’ Johnny headed down the turret room’s steps, locking up behind himself before skipping down the main chateau staircase and into the foyer.
Outside, Johnny walked briskly out into the driveway far enough to be able to see the whole of the chateau, then he flipped the camera and pointed it at the building.
‘Look, Estelle. It’s like the Disney castle.’
He panned the camera to make sure Estelle could see it all.
‘What do you think?’ he said, spinning the camera again so Estelle could see his face.
‘’Mazing, Daddy. Is Snow White there?’
‘I haven’t seen her.’ Johnny swallowed as an unexpected image of Fran popped into his mind. Doing his best to push her out again, Johnny smiled at the screen. ‘If I see her, or any of the dwarves, I’ll be sure to tell you, OK?’
‘I want to live in a castle …’ Estelle slipped from Natalie’s lap, disappearing from the screen.
‘Where’s she gone?’ Johnny asked.
‘Probably to get a toy. Are you going to buy her a castle, too, to make up for all our shit?’ The acerbic tone had returned.
‘Allourshit?’ Now was not the time, but he wasn’t going to let that go.
‘You could have tried to understand.’
