Tuesday
24th December
33.
With love …
When I wake up next morning the first thing I hear is Merwyn huffing and as I get out of bed to go to the bathroom the temperature in the bedroom feels positively tropical. The heating engineer was waiting as we arrived back at the castle last night and he had the boiler working again within the hour, so when bedtime came everyone was okay to take their duvets and go off to sleep upstairs again. So when Merwyn and I come in from our not-so-early morning walk on the beach everyone in the kitchen has shed their extra jumpers, and Milo is by the Aga cooking his crusty golden triangular griddle scones with only a T-shirt under his stripy apron. I have to say, just as we were leaving for the beach, Bill knocked on the bedroom door, but I couldn’t talk. And luckily when I get to the kitchen he isn’t there.
I make a large pot of coffee, pick up a loaded plate and an extra wide smile from Milo and go to join Fliss and the little ones at the table. I may be shouting on the beach where the wind can whoosh my howls out to join the white streaks of sea horses on the expanse of the diesel blue sea, but in public I’m determined not to let anyone see I’m anything other than fabulous.
However much I’m aching inside after yesterday, I can’t help smile at Harriet leaning back and rubbing her tummy in her high chair. ‘Someone’s enjoying their syrup.’ Her cheeks are slicked with the shine of grease and she’s got a chunk of scone stuck to her ear. The clang of fish slice on colander tells me Oscar is in his usual place under the table, but the rest of the chairs are empty. ‘So where is everyone?’
Fliss’s reaction to yesterday’s news from Rob was much the same as mine. The immediate relief that he wasn’t about to desert her eclipsed the awful, but more distant, news aboutDanielsand our disappearing jobs. When she grinned at me and said ‘Phew, don’t need to wash my hair after all then’, I took it as a joke, but from this morning’s haystack where her messy ponytail should be, she was telling it like it is. As she thinks about my question she’s rearranging her hair pins.
‘So many changes since you left.’ Then she grins at me. ‘The wifi secret’s out, everyone’s in Bill’s room watching YouTube clips.’
‘After all our efforts! Who told?’
She peers under the table. ‘Oscar was chanting about Facetiming, Tom and Tarkie heard, grilled him and that was it.’
I’m even more puzzled. ‘But Libby had promised them a day at the ski slope today, surely they should have left by now.’
‘Keep up.’ Fliss laughs. ‘They’re in there with Rip, Brian, Bede, Taj and Slater watching big wave clips. Who wants fake skiing when winter waves are on offer. They’re all picking up wet suits and going in later.’
‘Oh my. Rather them than me. So what else have I missed?’
Fliss’s smile stretches. ‘With everyone in the family room the barriers tumbled. Tiff and Tansy abandoned their tulle and swapped into Scout’s spare dungarees.’
‘You’re joking. I bet Willow loved that?’
‘She wasn’t so keen on the red lippy. But Tiff insisted they needed that to maximise their girl power.’
‘What a great couple of days.’
‘That’s not all.’ Fliss’s eyes are dancing. ‘When Solomon, Scout and Sailor’s dad arrived for Christmas, he took them into the tower room and his treat was that they all did calculus.’
‘What?!!’ I can’t conceal my horror. ‘Jeez, I’m pleased I missed that.’
Fliss is on a roll. ‘And Libby did a deal with Taj and the guys. They get to stay for the whole of Christmas so long as they help with cooking and clearing and put on their pixie hats and elf waistcoats whenever she does a photocall. They’re proving very popular on Instagram, she’s got this ongoing story thing going.’
I’m not sure if that’s progress or not. I look up as Milo comes with another plate of scones. ‘Delicious baking, Milo, as usual.’
He pulls up a chair. ‘We missed you, Ivy, but on the upside it was bliss to have the run of the kitchen.’
I take it he’s meaning without Bill’s interference. ‘It’s good to see you looking happier.’
He dips his head towards Fliss and I, but as his voice drops to a confidential whisper I’m the one he ends up touching fringes with. ‘There’s very little I can do about Dad and Miranda.’ He smiles and wiggles his eyebrows at me. ‘But if the castle is such a romantic venue, maybe it’smytime after all?’
Fliss leans over and gives him a punch on the arm. ‘Yay, good to hear, knock yourself out, Milo.’ Instead of reacting to my sharp kick on her shin she laughs. ‘Sorry, as of yesterday morning, I’m definitely off the market again. But I can’t speak for anyone else – just saying.’ Considering I went all the way to London to sort out her husband, her wink issonot funny. Obviously I haven’t shared any of what happened at mine.
I’m opening my mouth to clarify this once and for all with my own jokey climb down when I look up and see Bill in the doorway, with a scowl like thunder.
‘Hey, welcome back, Mr Happy.’ Milo sends him a dead eye, so that has to be ironic.
Fliss’s eyes narrow, then she grins again. ‘Anyway, for anyone not surfing today why don’t wemix things upwith abaking competition?’
It’s so fab to hear her so upbeat but I still let out a groan. ‘That pun was awful.’
