Your Sister is coming to dad’s birthday! isn’t that wonderful!
She sighed, again trying to fathom how she and Midge ran around after her parents day after day without thanks or acknowledgement, and yet news of her sister setting foot in thecounty and her mum went into raptures. Almost as if the novelty of Ashleigh and the fact she was preoccupied with her London life made any visit doubly precious. Maybe it was; maybe Remy needed to be a bit kinder, a bit more understanding.
Great! she replied.
No sooner had she put her key in the door than the cacophony assaulted her ears. Either Harper had McFly over for tea or was playing their music loudly in her bedroom. Remy didn’t mind, knowing if the lads were here they could easily make room at the table, grab the spare chair from the landing; some would have to stand, of course, or eat in the lounge on their laps, but they seemed like nice enough lads who wouldn’t mind.
Midge was in the kitchen.
‘Please, kids, put your school stuff away and tidy the mess up in the lounge. We don’t want Mum to come back and think we’ve been burgled.’
‘Too late!’ she called in response.
‘Mummy!’ Bertie ran from the kitchen and threw his arms around her waist. She inhaled the scent of her boy, who was a little stinky – he often smelled like a dirty straw after haring around all day, in a way that her daughter never did.
‘You need a shower, baby boy.’
‘I had one yesterday!’ he responded without a whiff of irony.
‘Yep, that’s how it works: you have to have one every day. Did you have a nice time at Max’s?’
‘It was okay. They’ve got a cinema room.’ He sounded impressed, and she had to admit, it sounded fancy. ‘But his mum made garlic bread and she putcheeseon it!’
‘Oh no! That’s awful! What iswrongwith her?’ She liked to match the drama. ‘What did you do?’
‘I said I didn’t like cheese, and she said scrape it off, but it was stringy, and I didn’t want it on my fingers, so I left it.’
‘I’m sure Max’s mummy won’t mind.’
‘We had Haribo for pudding, so that was good.’ His eyes sparkled with delight, and she suspected a healthy smack of sugar coursing through his veins.
‘Lucky you. I hope you said thank you for having you.’
‘I did.’
‘Good.’ He was a lovely kid, polite and chatty. Her heart swelled to be this close to him.
‘You’ll never guess where we found Morty this morning?’
‘In Max’s cinema room?’
‘No!’ He laughed.
‘In the bath?’ She kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair.
‘Nope!’
‘In the fridge?’
‘No!’
‘Erm.’ She sat on the bottom stair and pulled off her Uggs and socks, wiggling her bare feet on the cool laminate flooring, which felt quite blissful. ‘In your school bag?’
‘Mum! Come on, guess!’ His skinny legs danced on the floor with impatience.
‘Iamguessing!’
Midge appeared behind their son, a tea towel slung over his shoulder, as he drew a circle with his finger; she was grateful for the clue.
