‘Hi, Gemma. No thanks, I’m okay.’
‘It’s so lovely to come home and find the girls fed and bathed. Thank you!’ I find myself speaking to Sadie in overly bright exclamation marks. I need to calm down and speak normally. It’s just, I’m trying to make her feel welcome; we haven’t really established our relationship yet. Hopefully it will all start to feel more normal soon.
‘They’re such lovely children,’ Sadie says. ‘We’ve had fun today, haven’t we?’
My daughters nod enthusiastically.
‘We also worked through an English past paper this afternoon. Eva’s a bright girl. I think she’ll do well in the entrance test.’
‘Really? I mean I know she’s bright, but it’s great to hear you think she’ll do okay.’
‘More than okay, I think.’ She winks at Eva, whose cheeks turn pink. ‘Well, I’ll go up to my room now and leave the girls with you for a while, if you like? Then I can come back in an hour to put them to bed and read them a story.’
‘No, that’s okay,’ I reply. ‘I’ll do it. You go and relax for the evening.’
‘Are you sure? I don’t mind.’
‘Absolutely.’ It’s great to have Sadie take care of all the minutiae – the household chores and practicalities – but I want to be the one to tuck them up and read their bedtime stories. Having Sadie here will enable me to do that. It will allow me to concentrate on spending quality time with my children.
‘Have you eaten yet?’ I ask Sadie. ‘Do you want to have dinner with me and Robert later?’
‘It’s okay, I ate with the girls.’
‘I saw the cottage pie. Very nice.’
‘There’s enough left over for you and Robert, if you’d like?’ she says. ‘I’ve left it to cool, but you can heat it up in the microwave and have it with the salad I made. It’s in the fridge.’
‘Wow! Really?’
‘Sure. I love cooking. Katie helped me while Eva was doing her English paper at the table. Katie and I can make something different each night, and if you want I’ll make enough for you and Robert, too. Then you don’t have to worry about what to cook when you get in from work.’
‘That sounds wonderful. Let me know what ingredients you need and I’ll make sure to add them to the weekly shop.’
‘I can do the shop,’ Sadie says. ‘Just let me know anything that you and Robert don’t like to eat and I’ll make sure I don’t cook it.’
‘Fantastic.’
‘Mummy hates olives,’ Katie says.
‘And mushrooms,’ Eva adds. ‘And Daddy only likes healthy food, because of his job. But he does drink wine.’
Sadie and I laugh, and the kids join in.
‘Great,’ Sadie says. ‘I’ll work out a nice, healthy meal plan with no olives and no mushrooms.’
‘And lots of wine!’ Katie cries, breaking out into more peals of laughter.
‘That’s settled,’ Sadie says. ‘Okay, I’ll go on up. Shout if you need anything, Gemma. Night, girls.’
‘Night, Sadie!’ they chorus.
‘We’re glad you’re here,’ I add.
‘So am I,’ Sadie replies with a grateful smile.
Twenty-Five
I stare out the window of my attic lounge, sipping my coffee, feeling like a student in a bedsit. Another place, another view. The garden below is covered with a sprinkling of autumn leaves, and the sky is a uniform pale grey. Gemma is at work, Robert is out with a client, and the girls are at school. It’s nice to have the whole house to myself. I can wander around and imagine it belongs to me. Of course, if it was mine, I would never have let it get into such a state. It wouldn’t take much to give this place a lick of paint, update the kitchen, revamp the garden and sort out the windows. The house has good bones, it just needs some TLC. But Gemma Ballantine seems more concerned with looking after her clients than looking after her home.
