‘Kim?’ Kim is a good friend of Madeline’s. Her daughter goes to school with my daughter, Alice. ‘But I thought—’
‘It’s just with the party coming up, Nick and I thought you had enough on your plate.’ Her words are clipped.
‘No, not at all,’ I try to reassure her. One of the juniors, Lily, comes into the staffroom and heads towards the kettle. I debate whether or not to go outside for more privacy, but I don’t think I’ll have time before my next client. Instead, I try to inject some lightness into my voice. ‘Alice and Jamie are really looking forward to it, so there’s really no need for Kim to have them. I was planning on doing makeovers with Beth and Alice, and baking with Freya and Jamie. It’ll be fun.’
‘Well, sorry about that, but I’ve arranged it with Kim now, so you don’t need to worry.’ Madeline sounds strangely defensive and formal, and I get a small knot in my stomach. An inkling that something odd might be going on.
Over on the sofa, despite my attempt at levity, Becky must sense my distress because she’s mouthing if everything’s all right. I shake my head in response and shrug.
‘Madeline, is something wrong? Have I done something to—’
‘Sorry, Zoe, I’m busy at work. Got to go.’ The line goes dead.What the hell?I’m not having that. I call her back, my mind thick with confusion. I’ve never been good at confrontation, but I can’t leave things as they are.
‘Hello—’
‘Madeline, is everything…’
‘Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now, but if you’d like to leave a message I’ll get back to you.’
Damn! Voicemail.I wait for the beep and leave a quick message, keeping my voice low. ‘Madeline, is everything okay? I get the feeling you might be annoyed about something. Maybe I’m imagining it, I don’t know. Anyway, can you call me back, put my mind at rest? This is Zoe.’
I end the call and slump in my seat, staring at my phone screen, wondering if she will actually ring me back, or whether she’ll ignore me. I don’t buy her excuse that she had to go because she was too busy.
‘What was all that about?’ Becky asks. ‘You okay?’
I stand and walk over to the sofa, sit down next to my friend, trying to think what I could possibly have done to upset my sister-in-law. In all the years we’ve known one another, we’ve never fallen out, and she’s never used that distant, over-polite tone with me before either. Madeline has always been a person I can rely on to be there for me and I’d like to think that goes both ways.
‘Zo?’
‘Sorry, Becky. That was Madeline. She was changing some arrangements.’
‘Arrangements? You mean the party?’
‘No. I was supposed to be looking after my nieces this weekend while they’re away, but now she’s got someone else to do it.’
‘Sounds like you dodged a bullet there,’ she says through a mouthful of sandwich.
‘No, not at all. I love my nieces. I was looking forward to having them over.’
She nudges me with her elbow. ‘I was teasing.’
‘Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m a bit distracted. It was weird. She sounded annoyed with me or something.’
‘No one could ever be annoyed with you, Zoe, you’re too… un-annoying.’ Becky gives me a comforting wink. I give her a weak smile in return. ‘You sure she wasn’t just stressed, or busy? Sometimes it’s hard to tell from a phone conversation. You might be worrying over nothing.’
I replay the conversation in my head. ‘No. She was definitely pissed off.’
‘Well then, you’ll just have to speak to her about it.’
‘I know. But you know how rubbish I am at stuff like that.’
‘Put on your big-girl pants, Zoe.’
I stick out my tongue and sink back into the sofa, closing my eyes for a few seconds.
‘Better eat your lunch if you’re having any. Your two o’clock will be here soon.’
I sigh and pull a face. ‘I’ve lost my appetite.’
