‘I know wheremycar keys are,’ Brittany pointed out.
‘Did you move them when you got home last night, Mum?’ Savannah asked, after completing a slow turn of the room. ‘I heard you stomping about down here.’
‘I would have remembered moving them and told you,’ Jenny said, putting the wriggling toddler back on the ground.
‘I heard that too. It was like … after midnight. Were you only just getting home then?’ Brittany asked, her eyes widening as she looked across at her mother.
‘I don’t know what time it was,’ she said, eyeing the doorway and planning her escape from the sudden interrogation. ‘I’m sure it wasn’t that late.’
‘So how was it?’ Brittany prompted.
‘Fine. Nice.’
‘Uh-oh,’ Chloe intoned with a doomed expression. ‘What happened? Is he a dud kisser?’
‘What? No,’ Jenny denied quickly.
‘So he was agoodkisser, then?’ Brittany surmised, nodding slowly.
‘I didn’t say—’ Jenny started to protest before giving an impatient huff. ‘Can we just find these stupid keys?’
‘Okay, sheesh, calm down,’ Chloe said, backing away.
‘Muuuuuummmmmm!’ Sophie yelled from across the room.
‘What!’ All four women turned and answered impatiently, startling the toddler, who stood beside her open doll house, holding up a set of car keys on a dream catcher key chain.
‘I find,’ Sophie beamed proudly.
‘Good girl!’ Brittany crooned with a proud smile.
‘Oh, yeah, because she stashed them there—we’d have never found them,’ Savannah snapped.
‘Don’t leave them lying around and she won’t play with them,’ Chloe advised, taking a condescending tone with her older sister that she seemed to enjoy.
‘Shut up, Chloe.’
‘Just sayin’,’ she said.
‘Well, don’t.’
‘Come on, girls, just stop now. Savannah, hurry up and get to work. Chloe, can you do the dishwasher this morning and hang out the clothes in the washing machine before you leave the house, please?’
‘I hung out clothes yesterday,’ Chloe protested.
‘You’re the only one who isn’t leaving the house this morning.’
‘Well, that’s convenient.’ She pouted.
‘Stop complaining,’ Brittany cut in. ‘You haven’t had to do anything compared to when we were your age.’
‘Oh, right,’ Chloe scoffed.
‘It’s true! You’re the youngest. You got out of everything.’
‘I did not. Tell them, Mum!’
‘She didn’t get out of anything,’ Jenny said wearily. God, she hated when they did this. How soon the older pair forgotthe arguments and complainingtheyused to do whenever she asked them to do anything when they were teenagers.
