‘And you can hand back the keys for the office I’m paying for,’ said Hugo.
‘Sure. I’m folding the business, anyway. It’s never really got off the ground. Nicola and I have other plans. Her agent has got her a season at a ski resort in Switzerland. Apparently stand-up comedy is the latest trend in entertainment. I’ll work as a ski instructor. You know that’s what I’d planned to do straight after school?’
‘I remember talking sense into you.’
‘Well, anyway, this is all a few months away. In the meantime, I’ll find some sort of temp work. It will be hard being away from Bertie, but Liv’s going to bring him out to visit at Christmas, aren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Bertie can’t wait.’
‘Mum!’ We all turned to where Bertie stood waving at the side of the pool.
‘What is it, Bertie?’
‘I couldn’t hold it.’
‘Hold what?’
‘I peed in the pool.’
‘GET OUT!’ screamed Marion, picking up dishes of salad and smashing them down on the patio. By now, all her hair had escaped its pins and flew around her face in an angry halo. ‘GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!’
I picked Bertie’s clothes off the back of the chair and as he reached me, I wrapped a towel around his shoulders. ‘You seem a bit angry, Grandma,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry about the pee. It really was an accident.’
Marion let out a scream that reminded me of the foxes I sometimes heard at night. I bundled Bertie through the house, Rob following close behind. We climbed into the car in silence. Half a mile down the road, Rob pulled into a lay-by and turned off the engine.
‘Are you all right?’ I asked. ‘That must have been really hard. They’re still your parents, however badly they may have behaved.’
‘Do you know?’ said Rob. ‘I’ve never felt better. And don’t worry about Mum and Dad, they’ll get over it.’
‘Aren’t you worried about them disowning you?’
‘No. They’re old, I’m an only child. If they cut all ties with me, they will only be hurting themselves. I’ll take Nicola to meet them once they’ve calmed down.’
Rob’s relaxed attitude surprised me almost as much as the faith he had in his parents. From what I’d just witnessed, I thought it would take a long time for their anger to subside, if it ever did. But they were no longer my problem. I laughed.
‘What’s so funny, Mum?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, wiping tears from my eyes. ‘Maybe it’s the peeing in the pool, maybe it’s the memory of your pet toad, or maybe it’s relief that I never have to eat Marion’s overcooked cabbage ever again.’
‘Mum, shall I tell you a secret?’
‘Go on.’
‘I didn’t really pee in their pool. I just wanted to see the look on their faces when I told them.’
‘That’s my boy,’ said Rob, turning the engine on and heading for home.
Chapter Fifty-Two
‘Woah, hi, Emmy. You look… different.’
‘Hi, Aunt Liv. Mum’s in the kitchen.’
‘Thanks.’ My niece went back to her position on the sofa, pulling her headphones back on and picking up a magazine. The missing eyebrow had been consigned to the history books, as was the green hair. In fact, her entire goth phase seemed to have been binned, replaced by silver leggings, a Taylor Swift T-shirt and bubble-gum pink lip gloss.
‘Emmy looks different,’ I said, walking into the kitchen and kissing my sister on the cheek.
Cass rolled her eyes. ‘I can’t keep up. She’s now saying she hates her black walls and wants them repainted mint green. Unfortunately, Jake’s still firmly stuck in goth, so we’re going to end up with a bedroom that resembles a cross between a mint humbug and a mint Aero. I can’t keep up. Wine?’
