‘Oh no, an old friend you said. You’re on your own.’
‘Don’t leave me,’ he said as forcefully as one could speak out of the corner of their mouth.
Sylvie considered it but decided the entertainment factor of watching him squirm as Marion approached, rictus beam upon her face and dragging one of her cloned minions behind her, made it worth sticking around. Plus, she was intrigued; Marion’s not-at-all-hidden mention of celebrity in the room had aroused her curiosity. Perhaps Alex’s wife was dead famous. Although notably, still missing.
Marion clearly had no intention of including Sylvie in her intended conversation and with the determination and strategy that generals the world over would envy she managed to manoeuvre herself and her coterie into Alex’s personal space whilst cutting Sylvie entirely out.
Clone number one muttered something about keeping one’s clothes on as she closed the circle around Alex. Did someone in this hall have a penchant for stripping in public? This would make the PTA considerably more interesting. She wondered who it could be.
Sylvie grinned over Marion’s shoulder, gave Alex a thumbs-up and headed for the cheese, eyes peeled for any potential nudity.
Five strawberries covered in chocolate, at least two handfuls of popcorn and half a loaf of bread dripping in melted cheese left Sylvie feeling like the Very Hungry Caterpillar; she had signed up to join the PTA and had let Rosy Winter know that she would love to come in and help with reading. She had also tried to pump the sulky brunette for the inside track on the PTA and whether it really was run as tightly as Stalin’s Russia. But the woman, Beth she introduced herself as, stuck to the party lineand merely said it was an honour to be part of such a committed group of parents, withveryhigh standards of behaviour. Sylvie half expected her to murmur, ‘Run,’ discreetly and through clenched teeth, or semaphore for help using only her eyebrows, but alas neither of these things actually happened.
What was amusing though was watching Alex from across the room. Marion and her Marion Mark Two were only the first to pin him down; he was now surrounded by an awful lot of mothers, all jostling for attention, flicking their hair and laughing very loudly. Every now and then he would peep a look of desperation at her, puppy-dog eyes pleading for rescue, at which point she’d giggle and eat something else.
However, as much fun as it was laughing at his plight, she did need to go and get Sam, so she turned and left the building.
‘Oi!’
She hadn’t even got out of the door as Alex broke free, rather like a Labrador shaking off water droplets, scattering simpering women to the four winds.
‘I thought we were friends.’
‘I never said that,’ she teased.
‘Friends don’t leave friends to be eaten alive by marauding hordes.’
‘That’s no way to describe the upright citizens of Penmenna, selflessly devoting themselves to community only to be slandered so heartlessly.’
Alex quirked a brow, and she couldn’t help but giggle again.
‘Hey, Ellie and I haven’t eaten yet, we were going to make some pizzas. There’s plenty if you and Sam would like to join us.’
Sylvie felt herself flush again before she responded. For goodness’ sake, this was ridiculous!
‘That sounds lovely.’ And it did, but she was split. Firstly, she would love to have a look at where they lived, find some more clues out about him, and Ellie’s missing mother. And althoughshe understood the invitation was a platonic one, she was worried about crossing the line and getting too friendly. For all her talk (to herself) about how she wasn’t even slightly attracted to him, she was self-aware enough to know she might be fibbing. Just a little. She didn’t need to complicate her life even further. What she needed was a job, and some independence, not material to feed any romantic and wildly unhelpful crushes.
‘But I’ve already promised Sam fish and chips on the beach as a special Friday night treat. Thank you for the invite, all the same.’
‘No worries. We can do it another time.’
They reached the classroom and as they entered Sam and Ellie dropped the book they were browsing together in the library corner and hurtled at them at top speed.
‘Hey there, big guy.’ Sylvie dropped a kiss on Sam’s head and for the first time ever he looked up at her with abject horror. Her boy was growing up. She’d have to remind herself to keep her displays of affection limited to the house from now on.
‘Mum, can I go to Ellie’s for tea? We’re gonna make pizza and everything. And she got so much stuff to put onandwe get to throw them.’
‘Throw them. Sounds exciting. But what about the beach?’
‘We could do that tomorrow, after you’re home from work.’ She couldn’t fault his problem-solving skills.
‘The invite still stands and you would both be very welcome,’ Alex murmured into her ear, lending his voice to the appeal, whereas Ellie took a far more flamboyant approach by jumping up and down on the spot and shouting, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes. Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza.’
‘Plus, I know from experience that she won’t stop that until you do as she wants, and in this particular instance I’m on her side so I’m going to let her. Go on, come. Unless the fish and chips thing was an excuse and there’s another reason you can’t?’
Um… how about because if I see you being all domesticated and perfect then my currently teeny crush will escalate to unimaginable proportions, said Sylvie. In her head.
‘OK, that sounds good.’ Were, thankfully, the words she actually spoke. ‘You’d best lead the way.’
