There was a silence and for a moment Alison held her breath, not sure what to do or say to rescue the situation her tactless father had plunged them into.
‘So can we order one of them pies from the pub?’ he asked plaintively, apparently forgetting all about Mac and refocusing on his belly.
Mam glared at him. ‘No! You can get a pack of four for a quarter of the price of one from the pub! Stop moaning or I won’t get you any pies at all this week.’
Alison sighed and turned back to Mac. ‘See what I mean? That’s why I zoned out.’
He nodded solemnly. ‘I understand.’
She couldn’t resist a peek into his basket. Three ready meals and a multipack of crisps.Healthy.
As if reading her mind, he shuffled awkwardly. ‘I know, it’s terrible, isn’t it? I need to get my act together, but like I said, I’m the world’s worst cook.’
Alison gritted her teeth as her dad laughed and said, ‘You haven’t tasted our Alison’s cooking.’
‘Thanks for that, Dad.’
Mac winked at her, which made her heart flutter in a very weird way. ‘I did try to make sure the ready meals were healthy ones but it’s not easy, is it? Maybe I should add some salad or veggies to make it a bit better,’ he mused, not sounding too keen.
‘There are some proper bargains in the reduced-to-clear section,’ Mam said helpfully.
‘I thought you were busy arguing about pies,’ Alison reminded her.
‘Oh, we’re done with that. I’ve got these, look.’ She held up a box of ShopSmart bargain minced beef pies and Alison mentally shuddered when she noticed the price of them. What sort of meat would be in those?
‘You ought to join forces with our Alison,’ Mam continued, giving her daughter a sympathetic look. ‘She’s trying to eat more healthily, aren’t you, love? She’s just been told she’s a diabetic, Mac,’ she added, mouthing the worddiabeticas if it was some shameful secret.
Alison could have throttled her, because, truthfully, she felt as if it was. ‘I’m sure Mac couldn’t care less about all that,’ she said. ‘I’m onlyjustdiabetic,’ she added defensively. ‘It hardly counts at all.’
‘Best to nip it in the bud now, though. It’s all the junk you eat,’ Dad said, dropping a four-cheese pizza and a box of chocolate profiteroles into the trolley. ‘Alison, where would we find the curry powder?’
‘How should I know?’ Alison demanded. ‘I don’t shop here usually,’ she told Mac hastily. ‘I tend to shop at Maister’s.’
‘And spend twice as much as you need to for the privilege,’ Mam pointed out. She nudged Dad. ‘The curry powder will be in the world foods section. What do you need curry powder for anyway?’
‘I fancy a curry,’ he said forlornly.
She rolled her eyes. ‘Then you get a jar of curry sauce! If you think I’m faffing about making a curry from scratch, and me with a broken arm… Honestly! Alison, mind the trolley, will you? I’m just going to take your father to the sauce aisle. Won’t be long.’
Alison leaned heavily on the trolley handle and let out a long sigh of relief.
‘Are they always like that?’ Mac asked, his eyes twinkling.
‘Always. They’re a pain in the sodding arse.’
‘What happened to your mum’s arm?’ he asked, switching the basket to his other hand.
‘She had a fall,’ Alison said soberly. ‘Broke her arm but not her spirit, as you can tell. She took it all in her stride, like she always does.’ She smiled fondly at the thought of her mother’s determination to look upon it as a learning curve. ‘She’s been practising writing with her left hand and now she says she’s better at that than she is with her right hand, so she’s going to use it all the time now, even when the plaster’s off.’
‘Great attitude!’ Mac said admiringly.
‘Yeah…’ Alison couldn’t deny it. Her mam was something else. Would Jenna ever say the same abouther, she wondered. Somehow, she couldn’t imagine it.
A kind of grief overwhelmed her as she thought about the days when she and her daughter had been so close: when Jenna had cuddled up on her lap while Alison read her stories; when she’d held on to the trolley handle as they’d wandered round the supermarket together; when she’d sat Jenna on the draining board and soothed her as she gently bathed her knees because her little girl had fallen off the swing and now they were all scraped and bleeding.
She blinked away tears as Mac gently asked, ‘Are you okay?’
‘I was just thinking back to when I was a mum,’ she admitted.
