‘Thanks a bunch,’ Alison said.
‘Sorry. Didn’t know you were seventy,’ Poppy said, blushing.
‘I’m not! Bloody hell, I’m really glad I came,’ Alison said, as Rosie laughed.
‘Maybe your gran’s having a midlife crisis.’
‘Seventy’s not midlife!’ Poppy said, wide-eyed.
‘Not unless you’re Moses,’ Ryan said. ‘Has Mum made any of those mini quiches?’
The party, it turned out, was only for family members. None of Poppy’s friends had been invited, but Kendra explained that the birthday girl and her five besties were going bowling the following day and then to a burger bar in town for tea – no adults allowed.
‘We were going to have a proper party for her,’ she said, ‘but she wanted it this way. I suppose it’s so she gets to celebrate twice, which is quite crafty of her. Blimey! How have all those sandwiches gone so fast?’
She hurried off to the kitchen to whip up more of them, since Alison’s dad had stormed through the first lot like a plague of locusts.
Alison sipped her SlimKwik and tried not to look at the mini quiches and the savoury filo pastry triangles and the little samosas that were calling her name.
‘Mum?’
She almost choked on her rather disgustingly synthetic-tasting chocolate drink as Jenna moved beside her.
‘Hello, love!’ Alison swallowed hard, trying her best to look and sound casual and welcoming all at the same time. ‘How are you?’
Jenna, she thought, looked pale and thinner. She’d lost weight and it was more noticeable than her own weight loss, which was a bit galling. Not a single person had remarked that she’d looked thinner, but there was no mistaking it on her daughter.
Jenna shrugged. ‘Fine. You know.’ She handed Alison an envelope. ‘Mother’s Day card for tomorrow.’
‘Oh!’ Alison nodded. ‘Thanks.’
‘I didn’t know what to get you so there’s a voucher inside.’ Jenna hesitated then sighed. ‘Look, I know a lot’s been said and I know we can’t turn the clock back, but I want to know if you’d be willing to see the twins. Not overnight or anything,’ she added hastily. ‘Just for a few hours one day. They really miss you and it’s not fair. Whatever’s gone on between us we shouldn’t make them pay the price.’
‘I’m glad you see it that way,’ Alison said hesitantly. ‘But really, I said from the beginning that I’d be happy to have them, didn’t I? It was Joel who said I was banned from?—’
Jenna gave her a startled look. ‘What?’
Alison frowned. ‘Joel. He told me that if I wasn’t willing to babysit the twins as usual then I wasn’t allowed to see them any longer. Actually,’ she added, ‘he told me that was your decision, and he was just passing on the message.’
Jenna hung her head and turned away. ‘Right.’
Alison touched her arm. ‘You didn’t know, did you?’
‘He was just angry,’ Jenna said defensively. ‘He could see how upset I was and how much hassle it was causing me, fixing up alternative arrangements. That’s all.’
‘Really?’ Alison eyed her steadily and Jenna’s cheeks flushed.
‘Look, whatever was said and done the question remains. Will you have the girls for an afternoon? For their sakes, not mine. You got out of the half-term holiday, so you can’t say I’m just using you, because I’d have contacted you earlier if I needed you for that.’
‘Got out of the half-term holiday?’ Alison gasped. ‘It wasyourhalf-term holiday, too. It’s not like you had to work the entire week and needed childcare, is it?’
‘You know as well as I do that school holidays involve work for teachers,’ Jenna said frostily. ‘I had lessons to plan, marking to do…’
‘And every evening free to do it,’ Alison pointed out. ‘Unless, of course, you’d made other plans?’
Jenna glared at her. ‘I can see I’m wasting my time.’
‘No, no, you’re not. I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.’ Alison sighed. ‘Look, of course I’ll have the twins one afternoon. I’ll pick them up and take them out for the day. Your grandma and grandad would love to spend more time with them,’ she added, nodding over to where her parents were happily chatting to the twins and her mother was showing off her plaster cast to the girls, who were begging to be allowed to draw on it.
