“So how was the sleepover last night?” Carrie asked.
“It was really fun. We watchedAustin Powers. It was hilarious and Jules’s mum made us tacos. We ate so many sweets.” She giggled.
“I think it’s obligatory to eat too much sugar on a sleepover.”
“Dad said you guys had Chinese takeaway.” Layla made a pile of historical romances ready to take over to that section of the shop.
“We did. It was delicious. Then, after Poppy went to bed, your dad and I talked.” Carrie figured she could skirt around the issue for the next couple of hours or get straight to the point and give them more time to chat about it before Poppy got back.
“He told me about how you were supposed to be spending the summer with your mum, but you changed your mind.”
Layla looked pointedly down at the books she was sorting. “Yeah. It’s been a bit weird at Mum’s.”
“With her new boyfriend?”
“Ian’s OK,” Layla said. “He’s nice to me and I like that he makes Mum laugh.”
“What about his daughters?”
Layla was silent for a long moment. “They’re... just not really my type. We’re not friends,” she finally said.
“Do they get in the way of you spending time with your mum?” Carrie asked. “I can imagine that would be frustrating.”
“A little, but not really. I mean, Kara and Esme don’t come round to my mum’s that much. They live mainly with their mum and see their dad at the weekends and in the holidays.”
“So, why didn’t you want to stay at your mum’s?”
“I do... just when they’re not going to be there,” explained Layla. “And they would be coming over more during the summer.”
“What is it that you don’t like about them?” Carrie asked, gently. “It’s such a shame that whatever it is is ruining your time with your mum.”
Layla finally looked up at Carrie. “They’re mean to me.”
Carrie put down the invoices she’d been pretending to be studying and moved to be next to Layla. “How are they mean to you, sweetie?”
Layla was quiet for a moment before she said, “They tease me.”
“In what way?”
“They say I’m babyish because I don’t wear a lot of make-up and I don’t have a boyfriend. I just don’t really like make-up and most boys my age are idiots.”
“There’s no rush to do those things or to do them at all,” said Carrie.
“And they tease me because I wouldn’t steal stuff when we went out together...” Layla said.
“Aaah,” said Carrie, now understanding what had led to the incident in the chemist shop. Layla hung her head. “When we first met, I was trying to build up the nerve to take something. Somehow it seemed better to do it from a big company like Boots. I don’t know why. Less personal than taking something from a little shop... I’m really grateful to you for stopping me.”
Carrie opened up her arms and gave Layla a hug.
“Thank you for feeling that you can confide in me about this,” Carrie said. “You’ve been put in a really difficult position, haven’t you?”
Layla nodded.
“I know that your mum would want to know that you don’t feel comfortable with Ian’s daughters. You’re the most important person in the world to her and she must be missing having you with her for the holidays. I bet she was really excited to have you around during the summer.’
“She was,” said Layla. “I was looking forward to it too. We had loads of fun things planned.”
“Hopefully you can still do at least some of them. I really think you need to speak to your mum about what’s going on.”
