‘Yes, but things have changed since then. There are fewer places. It’s very competitive.’ As I’m explaining all this to Diane, I’m realising that I’ve really taken my eye off the ball here. I should have sorted all this out a year ago.
‘Hmm.’ Diane’s eyes narrow for a moment as she thinks. ‘Leave it with me. I’m sure among all my friends at the golf club, I can come up with a good name for you.’
‘Really?’ I’ll say one thing for Diane, she knows everybody who’s anybody.
‘Of course.’
‘Thank you. That would be great.’ With Diane’s contacts, I just might get the opportunity to turn this around after all.
She places four slices of angel cake on a floral china plate and sets it on a tray next to the tea things. ‘We’ll have afternoon tea in the drawing room. Be a dear and take the tray through. I’ll bring the biscuits.’
After a long evening at the office planning the rest of tomorrow’s pitch for Mick, I’m finally home, sitting at the kitchen table with a cheese and mushroom omelette that Robert made me. I still have a little more finalising to do, but it shouldn’t take more than an hour.
‘Wine?’ he asks.
‘Better not. Big day tomorrow. This omelette is delish though. Thank you.’
Robert sits opposite me, sipping a cup of herbal tea while I give him a quick rundown of today’s events, including Rebecca’s delight in making me squirm before she finally accepted my apology. He’s suitably sympathetic. I then go on to tell him that Eva needs a tutor. ‘Your mum said she’ll look into it for us.’
‘Bet you any money she’ll have a name for us by this time tomorrow.’ Robert grins.
‘You’re probably right!’
He sighs. ‘I’m annoyed with myself for not realising she needed a tutor. I should have been on top of it. When’s the exam?’
‘Sometime in November, I think. Thing is, one of us will have to be at home with the girls after school for the next couple of months while Eva studies. We’ll need to be home to help her.’ At the moment, both girls attend an after-school club most days, unless either of us are able to pick them up earlier.
Robert doesn’t reply. He just nods slowly, gazing into his tea.
‘Is there any way you could cancel your afternoon clients for a few weeks? Just until the exam’s over.’
‘I would if I could, Gem. But if I let my clients down, they’ll go somewhere else. I know my career isn’t as high-flying as yours, but I love what I do, and I’d miss it if —’
I hold out my hand to stop him talking. ‘Of course. Sorry, it was unfair of me to ask.’ I can feel this conversation has the potential to turn into an argument and I really don’t want that to happen. As long as Robert and I are on an even keel, I can cope with everything else.
‘Is there any way you can cut back your hours?’ he asks.
I swallow the last piece of omelette and put my fork down. ‘Cosgrove’s on the verge of signing this contract, and two of my managers have just left. I’m stretched thin as it is.’
Rob runs a hand through his hair and sighs. ‘Does she have to go to the grammar? There are other schools, surely?’
‘Yeah, but apparently they all have awful reputations.’
‘Can we afford private?’
‘Maybe. But would we want to send her to private school? I mean, I’d much rather she mixed with kids from all backgrounds. And why would we waste the money when she could have a perfectly good state education at the grammar?’
‘It’s a minefield,’ Robert says, shaking his head. ‘I thought school was school. I mean, I know I went to the grammar, but I don’t think things were so complicated back then. We just did the test and if we passed we got in, and if we failed we didn’t. Pretty sure there wasn’t any tutoring involved. Okay, so what about if we arranged some kind of childcare? Some kind of… au pair, or a nanny? Actually, Mum suggested a nanny a while back, but I didn’t pay it too much attention. You know what Mum’s like – always suggesting things. But now I’m thinking she might have actually been onto something.’
‘Do we really want our children brought up by a stranger?’ I reply, shuddering at the thought of someone else living in our house. ‘It would be such an invasion of privacy. Imagine it. You and I would be in here having a late-night chat, and there’d be somebody else drifting around the house.’
‘I suggested a nanny, not a ghost. But I take your point.’
‘So…’
‘I dunno, Gem. I’ve suggested everything I can think of. I suppose I could try to shuffle some of my clients around so I’m home by three. But it would probably mean you’d have to do all the school drop offs and a couple of the pick-ups.’
‘I think I could manage that. Are you sure?’
