“I’m so sorry,” Carrie said. “I had no idea...”
“Don’t worry,” said the first woman, who now introduced herself as Jo and who worked part-time in the coffee shop. “If it’s all right with you, it won’t take us five minutes to get everything set up. You won’t even know we’re here.”
“Though it would be lovely if you’d join us. Have you read the book?” asked Lucy.
“I have actually,” said Carrie. “I was just going to get my little girl ready for bed though...”
“What if you came back afterwards?” said Jo and the others nodded encouragingly.
“I wouldn’t be happy leaving Poppy alone upstairs,” said Carrie.
“I don’t mind staying with her if you like,” said Layla suddenly.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Carrie said.
“You’re not, she’s offering!” one of the women said, laughing.
“It’s fine. I can just watch TV or whatever,” Layla said. “I don’t have any plans.”
“Would your dad be all right with that?” Carrie asked.
“I think so,” said Layla. “I can go check.”
“All right, thank you,” said Carrie. She was feeling bewildered as there was another knock on the door. More cheerful women, including Nat and Sam from the holiday club, armed with alcohol and food, were invited in.
“I’ll go upstairs and get Poppy in the bath,” said Carrie.
“See you soon!” chorused the women.
“You must bring your daughter down to meet us before she goes to bed,” said Jo. “Mary’s shown us photos — she looks adorable.”
“I will,” Carrie assured her.
Carrie returned to Poppy, smiling at how welcoming and friendly the book club members were. And what about Layla so sweetly offering to watch Poppy for her?
Poppy, wearing her panda bear pyjamas, came downstairs shyly after her bath to be introduced. She was made a huge fuss of and was soon tucking in to a plate of food and being treated like the star of the show, while her disorientated mother attempted to come to terms with the hijacking of her planned evening, albeit by such lovely women.
The book club attendees had brought out chairs which Carrie had seen stacked in the stock room and delicious smelling refreshments were lined up along the shop’s counter. It looked like quite the party.
Layla had returned with reassurances that her dad was more than happy for her to spend the evening next door.
“When do we start the book club part of the meeting?” Carrie asked after everyone had been cheerfully eating, drinking and chatting for a good half an hour.
The women laughed. “We learned long ago that there was no point to us even attempting to talk about the book until we’ve got all the gossip out of the way first,” said Nat who was sitting next to Carrie. “Though,” she continued, checking her watch, “we should probably get started soon.”
Carrie looked over to where Poppy was talking with Layla. Layla caught her eye. “Shall I take Poppy upstairs now?” she said.
“I want to stay here,” said Poppy. “I want to talk about the book.”
“It’s a grown-up book, Pumpkin,” explained Carrie.
“I was hoping you’d show me your books upstairs...” Layla said. “Maybe I could read you one before it’s time for bed.”
Technically it was already time for Poppy to go to bed, but Carrie suspected pointing this out wouldn’t go down too well. “You can stay up until eight thirty,” she said to her daughter.
Poppy’s eyes widened.
“Come on, Poppy. We don’t want to hang around down here and listen to them talking about a boring grown-up book, do we?” Layla held out her hand to the little girl.
