“I do appreciate the fact that you are, by your own admission, Michael’s best friend, but do you actually have the authority to give away his food?” asked Carrie.
Michael’s head popped up next to his friend’s. “He actually had a clause added to the friendship contract to include this,” he said.
Poppy came back out into the garden and stared at the two heads.
“Hi, Poppy!” said Michael.
Both men waved.
“Michael,” Poppy said, seriously. “Mummy says it’s a castle on top of the hill in the park, but it doesn’t really look like one to me.”
“Poppy!” Carrie started laughing. “I can’t believe you’re doubting me!”
“I just wanted to check,” Poppy explained.
“It’s a real castle,” Michael said. “Just a very battered small one.”
The little girl still didn’t look convinced but turned her attention to the heads peeping over the fence. “Why are you up there?” she asked.
“We were wondering if you and your mum would like to join us for leftover barbecue food,” explained Dylan.
“Oh, yes, please,” said Poppy, immediately. “Mummy was going to make shepherd’s pie, and I don’t like that very much.”
Both men and Carrie laughed.
“I’m sure her shepherd’s pie is very delicious,” said Dylan, “but we could really do with your help over here.”
Poppy gazed at her mum beseechingly. “Fine,” Carrie said laughing. “I won’t subject my daughter to shepherd’s pie. When would you like us?”
“Right away,” said Dylan.
“We’ll be round in a few minutes,” promised Carrie. “What can we bring with us?”
“Nothing, please!” said Michael. “We have so much to get through! There’s a whole cheesecake that was completely forgotten about in the fridge and goodness only knows how much meat.”
“Don’t worry,” Poppy reassured. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Carrie and Poppy went inside and up to their flat. Carrie tidied herself up a bit while Poppy tried to convince her to hurry. Carrie was fairly sure her daughter was worried the cheesecake would all be gone by the time they got next door.
They went out the back door and through the garden. Poppy forgot her drawing pad which she wanted to take to show Layla, so she ran back inside the bookshop and grabbed it from under the shop counter before they retraced their steps.
There was a car parked next to Michael’s. Even Carrie, who knew absolutely nothing about cars and didn’t really want to, could tell it was worth a lot, and she made sure Poppy gave it a very wide berth as they went around it to knock on Michael’s garden gate. A very smiley Layla welcomed them, accompanied by Monty who was wagging his tail so much at the sight of them that he almost fell over. They had to be careful not to trip over him as they walked through the garden.
Layla kindly sat down with Poppy straight away to be shown her drawings and Monty settled contently next to them.
“Very glad you could come to help us out,” said Michael, handing her a beer. Did they both linger just a little longer than was usual as their fingers met?
Tabitha appeared from a bush. She glared at Carrie but deigned to go and rub herself against Poppy for a moment before climbing up and over the wall.
Dylan appeared from the kitchen and raised his bottle to Carrie. “You made it!”
“We did,” said Carrie with a smile.
“Perfect timing. Food’s almost ready. I hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving,” said Poppy, looking up from her drawing pad.
Carrie felt like a VIP as she was taken over to the large table, still in place from the previous night. Chairs had been added today, rather than it being simply a place for all the food and drinks. Carrie was offered the chair at the head of the table, the only one with a cushion on.
