‘Are we going to be able to get three seats together?’ her mother asked with a nervousness she could relate to.
‘Four, Mum. Jamie’s coming,’ she reminded her, and saw Midge stiffen.
‘Oh, gawd, I forgot!’ Ruthie’s eye-roll and tight-lipped response kind of summed it up for them all.
‘There’s two.’ Midge pointed. ‘You and Ruthie take them, and I’ll go and stand behind. I don’t mind.’
‘Are you sure, love?’ She didn’t want to be separated, but equally wanted to get her mother seated.
‘Of course. I’ll be right behind you.’ He pointed to a gap between the rows of chairs and the wall where a couple of people were already standing. Touch was their love language, and she brushed his arm as she walked past, sidling into the row.
‘Excuse me.’ She smiled, pointing to the two spare chairs in the middle of the line. ‘Thanks. Thank you. Sorry.’ She guided her mum, as those already seated moved bags from the floor and twisted their legs to the side to allow them access.
‘We can move down, make space.’ One lovely lady spoke out as she did just that, and hey presto! There were three seats.
‘Midge!’ she called, pointing and beckoning. He nodded and made his way over. ‘Thank you. That’s so kind!’
The woman smiled her acknowledgement and Remy felt all her worry over the logistics of the night fade away, as the three took their seats and opened their programmes. Jamie would just have tofind a spot when he arrived. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do about it. She scanned the pages, and there it was, Sophie’s name and the name of her show, the third in the programme.
Sophie Aller-Hughes BA Hons Fashion Design presents ‘All or Nothing!’
‘There she is, look!’ Ruthie held up the pamphlet and pointed to Sophie’s entry.
‘Yep, I’ve got it right here, Mum.’ She raised her own copy, but did so without irritation, knowing her mum felt exactly as she did in that moment: so very, very proud.
‘Here we are then!’ She heard him before she saw him, wincing as she turned her head to face her ex, who spoke at his usual volume, as if she were on one side of an empty field and he were on the other. ‘All right, Rem?’ He clasped his hands and sucked air through his teeth. ‘Any seats?’
‘Erm ...’ She looked up and down the row and pointed to one in front.
‘I need two!’ He stood to one side and pointed at a woman, his guest, his date, his latest, who raised her hand in a wave. ‘This is Lauren!’
‘It’s Laurel,’ Laurel corrected him.
‘We can all shove up, again.’ Lovely woman did the honours and, just like that, two free seats appeared next to Midge.
‘Cheers, darlin’!’ Jamie yelled to the woman who had been so kind, and gave her a double thumbs-up. His leather jacket squeaked as he raised his arms.
‘All right, Midge, me old mucker!’ Jamie punched him lightly on the arm as he liked to do and Midge nodded, quietly, slowly.
‘Yep, all good, Jamie. Nice to meet you, Laurel.’ He twisted to greet her.
‘Hi!’ Remy, too, waved at Jamie’s very attractive date, who wore a tight-fitting leopard-print dress.
‘This is something, isn’t it?’ Jamie bounced in his seat like a child at the cinema. ‘A bloody fashion show! She’ll be in Paris next, or Milan, you mark my words!’
She felt her face colour, as it did whenever Jamie spoke loudly in public, paying no heed to the room, none at all, as if he were unaware that everyone there was supporting their own Sophie and all of them harboured the same kind of dream.
‘Yep.’ Midge, it seemed, was in the firing line to deal with the man and had no choice but to converse. She felt her insides flip and knew she owed her husband big time.
‘You all right then, Ruthie?’ Jamie leaned across and raised his voice as if her mother were deaf or deficient in her understanding.
‘Yes, thanks.’ Her mother smiled briefly at him and his date before burying her head back in the programme.
Ruthie had always been cool yet civil to the man, and Remy silently thanked her for it, knowing that if Sophie or Harper turned up on her own doorstep in a similar predicament, she couldn’t guarantee the same treatment. Not that it was entirely Jamie’s fault. It wasn’t.
Without further ado, the doors at the back of the hall closed and the lights dimmed.
‘Here we go then!’ Jamie shouted.
