Katie opens her mouth to speak, but Eva glares at her so she clamps her mouth shut.
‘Girls,’ I say with a warning note in my voice.
‘Nothing,’ Eva replies.
‘Well, Daddy and I are going out in a minute, so I’d like you both to get along while we’re gone. Eva, you’re the eldest, so be nice.’
‘I am!’
‘No she’s not,’ Katie says. ‘She’s being bossy and mean.’
‘Are you going to tell me why you’re arguing?’
Silence.
I realise my best bet is to get Katie to spill the beans, so I fix her with my crossest stare.
She finally crumbles. ‘Eva won’t let me be Sadie!’
Eva glares at her sister again, but Katie doesn’t let her sister intimidate her this time.
‘We’re playing “families”,’ Katie explains, ‘and one of us has to be you and one us has to be Sadie.’
‘And you both want to be Sadie,’ I say, realising why Eva was trying to keep Katie quiet – she didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Stupidly, ithashurt my feelings, but of course I would never let my children know that.
‘No, it’s okay, Mum,’ Eva says. ‘I actually want to be you, because you’re nice too.’
‘Yes!’ Katie cries, oblivious. ‘That means I can be Sadie!’
Eva scowls and nudges her sister in the ribs.
I try to shake off the silly knot of jealousy that has lodged in my chest. Of course they both want to be Sadie. She’s new and interesting and exciting. And she’s giving them all her attention. Unlike me. I make a mental note to do something fun with them at the weekend. Something that will make me the centre of their universe again.
Robert comes down the stairs and pops his head around the door. ‘You ready? It’s almost half six.’
We hug the girls and say goodbye to Sadie before getting into Robert’s car.
‘It’s good, isn’t it?’ Robert says, pulling out of the driveway.
‘What’s good?’
‘You know, having Sadie here. Being able to go out like this.’
‘What, to parents’ evening?’ I laugh.
‘You know what I mean.’ He grins. ‘Why don’t we go for a drink afterwards?’
I think about all the work waiting for me at home on my laptop. Then I look across at my handsome husband and think that actually he’s right. ‘Okay, I’ll text Sadie, let her know we’ll be late back.’
Robert puts a hand on my leg and strokes it with his thumb. ‘I love you, Gemma.’
‘Love you too.’ I lean back in my seat and think about how life is pretty perfect at the moment.
Mrs Slade is running half an hour late, so Robert and I wait outside the classroom flicking through Eva’s work books. It all looks fairly impressive. Her writing is imaginative, and her maths book is neatly laid out with lots of ticks and good-work stickers. Through the window, I see that my friend Suri and her husband Steve are in there, talking intently to Mrs Slade. Maya isn’t in with them, but they also have a teenage daughter, Jade, so they’ve probably left them both at home.
Five minutes later, Suri comes out, her eyes red. Steve’s arm is wrapped around his wife’s shoulder. I try to catch her eye to say hello, but she bows her head and they leave quickly. I don’t have time to speculate with Robert because Mrs Slade is beckoning us in. Robert and I park our backsides carefully in the child-sized chairs and wait for Mrs Slade to start talking. Up until recently with the Lauren incident, Eva has always been a model child – never getting into trouble and always working hard, so these evenings typically go well. But I’m a little anxious about tonight’s meeting.
‘So,’ Mrs Slade says, ‘some good news for you both.’
