‘Spoken like a true May! Don’t let anyone walk over you! Come out fighting!’ She hands me a paintbrush. ‘Now, let’s get inside and we’ll do that wall.’
19
The Hideaway, St Aidan
Cornets, chimes and bright ideas
Tuesday
‘There’s no point looking at the colour when it’s wet, it changes as it dries.’
Mum and I spent quite a while wandering round the beach hut before we settled on how much wall to include in the feature area. We’ve painted the edges with small brushes, and the first inky aquamarine lines of the midnight ocean paint we’re using are already looking dramatic. And so far there’s more paint on the wall than on my threadbare shorts and old shirt.
Mum’s throwing out her thoughts as we work. ‘This is one of my favourite go-to shades. It’ll fly on once we start, which is why we only need two of us.’
I turn to check that Shadow is keeping his distance and see the wag of his tail get wider until it’s waving in large circles. By the time he’s jumping up and down on the spot barking his head off, Mum turns around too.
‘What’s Sophie doing here? And Maisie!’
I’m wondering the same. ‘She may have come to pick up the lanterns?’
My mum sniffs. ‘She probably wants input on the colour. You’d think she was the only person in St Aidan who’d ever made a mood board.’
‘Mum!’ I’m firing a warning shot. When it comes to interiors, she and Sophie get oddly competitive.
Decorating is still a mystery to me, so I need to check. ‘Haven’t Sophie’s houses all been white?’
There’s a knock on the French door, and Sophie’s already in the room answering. ‘Cream, actually, but I still know the Pretty Green chart inside out.’ She smiles at me. ‘Nice top, Floss.’
I grin. ‘Not my usual, but St Aidan’s pushing me to explore my wild turquoise side.’ She has so many this colour I can’t blame her for not remembering this was once one of hers.
Our mum is still tutting. ‘This isn’t a painting party, Sophie, there’s barely room for Floss and me as it is.’
Sophie pulls a face. ‘You’d better get used to a crowd, there are more coming.’ Then as my mum’s face falls as there’s a clattering on the deck steps, she backs down. ‘It’s only Nell, Clemmie and the children. We’re on our way to Busy Bee Storytime, but there’s important business to see to first.’
Mum puts down her brush. ‘We only have half an hour of painting to do, and I’m busy elsewhere after that, so thisbetterbe special.’
Clemmie leads Bud in, and by the time I uncover a chair for her and Nell, there’s another knock at the door.
‘Plum, too! Lovely to see you all.’
Clemmie sits down and arranges Arnie, then she squints at Sophie and me. ‘What’s with the twin vibe? You’re usually like chalk and cheese, and today you look very alike!’
I couldn’t have hoped for a better cue. ‘I’m wearing a Sophie cast-off top. It’s Ted Baker.’
Sophie’s eyebrows shoot up. ‘Why did I givethataway? It’s gorgeous!’
It’s not often I get to tease her, so I laugh. ‘Different clothes suit different people.’ Then I laugh even more at her indignant look. ‘I’d give you it back, but you’d drown in it. It’s from when you had Marcus and Tilly.’ Only Sophie could be pregnant with twins and still be smaller than I am now.
She recovers herself. ‘That’s all right then.’
I stare around the circle of faces. ‘So what’s this about?’ Then, as Shadow starts to whine again, I check the deck and I turn to my mum with a sinking heart. ‘I’m sorry, I have no idea why Kit should be here, he knew we were painting.’ My heart sinks even further. ‘With Rye too.’
Sophie opens the door, and beckons them in. ‘We asked Kit over so we could share the news with you both at once.’
Yet another disadvantage of living so close. And when I glimpse Kit’s rear view in inky blue jeans, it hits me that dishing out advice to neighbours is another bad call that’s come back to bite me. Who’d have thought a simple swap from flannel to denim would elevate a disgustingly hot tush to off-the-scale can’t-keep-my-hands-off status? All in the most politically correct, unobjective way, obviously.
Mum must be thinking of her free smoke alarms more than she resents the disruption, because she greets the guys like long-lost friends, plants a kiss on each of their cheeks, then makes space for them on the dust-sheet-covered sofa.
