‘Oh, Soph. He’s awful. Was he supposed to have her the whole weekend?’ Ever since Sophie and Lewis, Florrie’s dad, hadsplit two years ago, he’d let Florrie down time and time again, despite them having arranged amicably between them that he’d have her to stay every other weekend, plus have her over to his one evening a week after school for dinner.
‘It was. I shouldn’t have told Florrie and got her hopes up, but he’d been so insistent. He’d even told me he’d booked tickets for the cinema, so I stupidly assumed he would keep to the visit.’ Sophie slapped her forehead.
‘Hey, you’re not the stupid one.’ Linking arms with her friend, Gemma pulled her closer and nodded ahead towards Florrie, who was now attempting to teach little Alfie to spin on command. ‘He is. Look what he’s missing out on.’
‘I know.’ Sophie smiled as Alfie lay flat on the grass, oblivious to Florrie’s demands. ‘It’s tricky though, as then I have to ring my parents and get them to have her whilst I go to work, and they shouldn’t have to. They have her every weekend she’s with me, which in reality means just that, every weekend.’
‘I know for a fact they don’t mind. They couldn’t love anyone more than they do Florrie.’
‘That’s true but they deserve a life of their own too. They’ve done so much for me and Florrie. Taking us in when me and Lewis first split, babysitting while I work, you name it, they’ve done it for us.’
‘Well, as I’ve said a million times before, if you ever need a hand, I’m here.’ Gemma grinned. ‘And I happen to have a little bit of experience with children.’
‘Haha, thank you. You know I just hate asking.’
‘You wouldn’t be asking because I’ve already offered.’ Gemma shrugged.
‘Thank you.’ Squeezing Gemma’s arm, Sophie smiled. ‘I really am lucky to be living here close to my parents and my besties.’
‘Just as lucky as we are to have you here, too.’ Gemma looked down at the ground. ‘I just keep going over how the new head spoke about me and my singing session this morning.’
‘Well, don’t. He’ll soon come to learn how fabulous a teacher you are.’ Sophie shook her head vehemently. ‘Florrie sings your praises every single day, and she doesn’t even have you as a class teacher!’
Gemma gave a quick smile. She’d needed to hear that. ‘Aw, that’s sweet. I just, I don’t know, I normally love work and look forward to going in each day, but quite honestly, if it wasn’t for the kids, I’d be tempted to take a sick day tomorrow and lick my wounds.’
Pausing, Sophie turned towards her and cupped her friend’s elbows. ‘Don’t you dare let him win. Show him that he can’t come swanning into the school, not knowing Bob from Bill or whatever the saying is, and criticise everyone.’
‘Not knowing them from Adam.’ Gemma laughed quietly.
‘Yes, that too.’ Sophie rolled her eyes at herself. ‘But it’s true, he’s never met you or any of the other staff before. He can’t make a snap judgement like that, and he’ll realise that. He’ll realise he’s made a mistake.’
Gemma nodded as they began walking again. ‘You’re probably right. He probably just wanted to come in hard because he thinks it looks good or something.’
‘Or his behaviour is to cover up the fact he doesn’t really have a clue what to do.’ Sophie sighed. ‘You never know, Mrs Norton might decide to come back after all.’
‘Umm…’ She knew Sophie would find out anyway, if there was one thing Gina was better at than leading the PTA, it was feeding the gossip train. Better than Annie even and that was saying something. ‘Look, if I tell you something, then you’ll promise not to mention it, won’t you? To anyone?’
‘Of course.’ Sophie frowned. ‘You know you can trust me. I didn’t say a word about Reece and… you know who.’
Gemma nodded, memories of the school summer fete three years ago flashing through her mind. After spending hours at the raffle stall sweltering in the heat of a particularly hot July day, she’d managed to sneak inside for a quick break and had headed straight to her classroom and the promise of a warm and soggy cheese sandwich she’d left on her desk. Only when she’d walked in, she’d found Reece, her then-partner of six years, in an embrace with Mrs Norton’s daughter, Issy, which hadn’t left much to the imagination.
‘Gemma? Are you okay?’ Sophie’s voice was quiet, etched with concern.
‘Sorry, I was miles away.’ Shaking her head, Gemma pushed all thoughts of Reece and the mess he’d left behind out of her head. Of course, she’d never uttered a word to Diane Norton about what she’d seen and later learned about Reece and her daughter’s relationship, but shortly after Gemma had chucked Reece out, Diane had come into school upset that her daughter had left her son-in-law for another man. Still, Gemma had kept quiet. It hadn’t been Diane’s fault that her daughter had ruined Gemma and Reece’s relationship. In fact, she hadn’t. Reece had managed that perfectly well on his own. ‘Rumour has it that Diane didn’t leave of her own accord and that she was pushed out.’
Bringing her hand to her mouth, Sophie was clearly shocked. ‘Seriously? Why? What on earth could Mrs Norton have done to lead to dismissal?’
‘People are saying it’s something to do with the finances.’ She shrugged. She’d possibly said too much, but she knew Soph wouldn’t tell anyone. Not after she’d promised not to, and she had no one else to talk to about this sort of stuff. Hannah was on holiday, and she always struggled to catch Lucy when she wasn’tworking or helping out with the guides. Besides, Sophie was the only one of the four of them who had a child and understood the school system. Plus, the only one the change of headteacher affected besides herself. ‘I don’t know. I’m sure it’s nothing and she’s off with work-related stress or is poorly or something.’
‘Umm, I won’t say it, but there is one way to find out.’ Sophie looked at her out of the corner of her eye.
‘No chance! There is absolutely no way I’m going to be asking Reece. Nope, he’s in my past, and he can jolly well stay there.’ Gemma grinned. ‘Actually, whatever the reason for the change of head and however much Diane Norton will be missed, at least there’s that sliver of silver lining.’
‘That’s true. No running into Reece at school productions or fetes or anything else Mrs Norton’s daughter decides to drag him along to in order to support her mum.’
‘Exactly.’ It was true. With Reece now living with Issy in Meadowfield, there would be no reason for Gemma to cross paths with Reece again. Good riddance.
‘Talking of school, I’d best get this one home and up to bed.’ Sophie waved her hand towards Florrie and called to her, ‘Time to head back, Florrie.’
