Rose shook her head. “Not in the house. I don’t like having things on my feet.”
“Okay. So when your mum comes down, she’ll be okay with no slippers or socks?” I had my doubts.
Rose nodded and jumped up on a chair. “I’ll put my feet like this then they’re warm.”
She tucked her feet under herself which basically meant that she was meant to have slippers on. I glanced around the kitchen and saw a tiny pair of them, slightly battered.
“Here you go.”
She scowled at me in the same way her mother had last week when I’d eaten a piece of toast with Marmite on it.
“What’s that face for, Rose Amelia?”
Georgia’s voice made us both jump. I looked to the kitchen door where she was standing, still in the same clothes that she’d answered the door in.
“Nothing, Mummy.” She pulled the slippers on.
“Hmmm.”
I recognised thathmmm. My own mother made the same noise.
“Do you remember Seph from yesterday?” Georgia looked at me. “She was meant to wait for me to bring her downstairs, but Little Miss Rose doesn’t like to wait.”
“I’m hungry, Mummy.” There was a practiced whinge to her tone.
I laughed. “Rice Krispies coming up. Are you okay if it’s me and you while your mum gets a shower?”
Rose nodded. “Can I have scrambled eggs?” She looked hopefully at me.
I looked at Georgia, who shook her head. “For lunch. Cereal for now. Are you okay with her?” Her voice was soft and I heard concern filling it.
“We’ll be fine. Shower. Get dressed. I’ll sort coffee.”
“Thank you.”
I didn’t think about her in the shower when I heard the noise of it from above us. I didn’t imagine being in there with her as I gave Georgia’s daughter breakfast. I didn’t think about how she’d smell of her soap afterwards and how that soap had been rubbed over her skin.
I didn’t think of any of that.
I was a liar.
“I wantto paint my bedroom, but Mummy says we have to ask the person who owns it first.” Rose was bored. TV was banned and she wasn’t allowed to read. She wasn’t a kid who was bothered about electrical devices, so that was one less thing to stop her from using, it was just the not being allowed to read that was making her start to climb a wall.
“I’m sure you’ll be allowed to paint your room.” I made a note to tell Ava to tell Georgia that they could decorate how they wanted. I could tell them now, expose myself as the person who owned the home they were creating, but I felt weird about it, as if I was trying to have power over them.
Rose snuggled further under the blanket she had over her. “Mummy will be too busy and Auntie Liv is bad at painting.”
“Why’s Auntie Liv bad at painting?”
Rose shrugged. “Mummy said.”
The joys of being young. No detailed explanation needed.
I pressed send on an email and closed my laptop when I was sure it had gone. For the last three hours, Georgia and I had bashed out what felt like a day’s worth of work. Rose had switched between napping and playing with a set of toy ponies on the lounge floor, keeping herself entertained, while we’d made up for yesterday. I’d taken a phone call and Georgia was now in a virtual meeting in the small study opposite while I kept an eye on the patient. The patient who seemed to be back to full health.
“Shall we cook Mummy lunch?” Hunger was starting to seep in, and I knew if I didn’t eat, hanger would claw its way out of my skin like the Hulk.
Rose nodded and pushed her blanket down. The unicorn onesie had been lost and sweatpants and a T-shirt put on in its place. “Can we have lunch too?”
