Chapter 12
Saturday came, and Thea rolled over in bed and thanked the gods she wasn’t going to be on her feet today.
Two full shifts at the shop had been fun, but they’d taken their toll on her back and her feet.
She was used to moving around a lot in the classroom, but shop work had put a different kind of pressure on her body, and she was feeling it.
This weekend was going to have its own energy, though: it was Cora’s thirteenth birthday, and her daughter was having a couple of friends to sleep over.
Thankfully, Thea had bought some pizzas in last month when she’d done a big supermarket shop, and the mobile phone Cora had received at the start of the school year had been a joint birthday and Christmas present, so there wasn’t any additional spending to worry about.
Thea felt she could relax and enjoy her daughter’s birthday without the fear of losing control of her finances.
Lorelai was coming over that morning with a home baked birthday cake, and Tristan and Charlotte were also popping round with a present and to celebrate before Cora’s friends arrived later that afternoon.
Thea was glad that they would all make it: she never stopped feeling relieved that her family was all nearby.
Over the years, especially when the children had been younger, it had been a blessing to have her grandmother and her brother on hand for support, and as Cora and Dylan had grown, they’d felt all of the wonderful emotions that came with having a close-knit family.
It wasn’t quite the same as having her parents, still, but it was a near substitute for which she was grateful.
Swinging her feet out of the bed and wincing as they made contact with the bedroom floor, she realised she’d have to toughen up if she was going to cope with even a couple of weeks’ worth of shop work.
You’re not seventeen any more, she thought ruefully as she made her way to the shower.
Back in the day, when she’d had a weekend job working in the local convenience store, she’d do a shift and then go out on the town straight afterwards.
Those days were long behind her, or at least that’s what her aching feet were telling her.
* * *
A little while later, Cora was sitting impatiently in the living room, waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. Thea, whose newly washed hair hung blow-dried straight down her back, almost to her waist, hugged her daughter warmly.
‘I’m so proud of you, Cora-Dora,’ she said. ‘Happy birthday, my darling.’
Cora shoved her mother away playfully. ‘Eww! Get off, and stop being so lame, Mum.’ But there was returned affection in her eyes.
The sound of the doorbell distracted them both, and there were footsteps overhead as Dylan rushed from his bedroom.
‘Must be Uncle Tristan and Charlotte,’ Cora commented. ‘I think Uncle Tristan promised Dylan he’d kick a few balls around while he was here.’
‘Bit cold for that, today,’ Thea replied. ‘And I’m not sure the lawn’ll take it.’
‘Your fault for having me in the winter,’ Cora observed. ‘Should have thought about that.’
Thea grinned at her ever-cheekier and more grown-up daughter. ‘I’ll remind you of that when you’re pregnant one day!’
‘Gross!’ Cora wrinkled her nose. ‘That’s never gonna happen.’
Secretly, Thea quite liked the fact that any mention of boys, or babies, was enough to provoke that kind of reaction in her daughter. She wasn’t looking forward to the days, which would inevitably be approaching, of boyfriends and conversations about keeping safe.
Both mother and daughter turned as Dylan’s footsteps thundered down the stairs and the front door was rapidly flung open. It only took a few seconds for Tristan and Charlotte to appear, bearing a posh looking gift bag and a birthday card for Cora and followed by Charlotte’s bouncy spaniel, Comet.
‘Happy birthday, squirt!’ Tristan grinned at his niece and handed over the bag. ‘Hope you like your present.’
‘Thanks, Uncle Tris,’ Cora replied, flumping down on the sofa to open it.
‘Don’t thank me, thank Charlotte. She chose it.’
‘I’ll take the win!’ Charlotte replied, before adding to Thea in an undertone, ‘My mate, Gemma, helped me to choose something. I was a bit of a nerd as a teenager, I’m afraid, so I wasn’t quite sure what to get her.’
Thea smiled back at Charlotte. ‘I’m sure whatever you’ve chosen is great.’
She didn’t have to reassure Charlotte further, as Cora’s squeals of excitement did the job for her. ‘New Generation Air Pods? Thanks, Uncle Tristan, thanks, Charlotte!’
Thea felt uneasy about the extravagance of the gift, before Tristan, obviously clocking her mood, murmured, ‘I know it’s a bit OTT, but let Charlotte have this – it’s not every day your niece becomes a teenager.’
Thea smiled at her brother, who always had the knack of knowing what to say to make her feel better. The gift was a lot of money, but Cora was obviously thrilled, so she decided to let it go.
‘It’s very generous of you,’ she replied. ‘Thank you.’
Cora had already opened the box and was busily trying to sync the earbuds with her phone. ‘Ella’s going to be well jell when she sees these,’ she said. ‘I can’t wait to wear them on the bus.’
‘I don’t think you should take them to school, Cora,’ Thea cautioned. ‘You don’t want them nicked or confiscated.’
Cora rolled her eyes. ‘I’ll look after them, Mum, I promise.’
Thea opened her mouth to respond, but a gentle nudge from Tristan stopped her.
There’d be plenty of time to hash that one out later.
For now, she’d just let Cora enjoy her present.
Comet, who was sniffing around the room, gave a high-pitched bark as he caught sight of Lupin, the tortoiseshell cat, but the cat was speedier and she gave a hiss before retreating back upstairs.
‘Still ruling the roost, I see?’ Tristan grinned. ‘At least this time poor Comet hasn’t felt the sharp edge of her claws!’
‘She always needs him to know who’s in charge.’ Thea grinned.
‘Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?’ Lorelai’s voice drifted through from the front door, which Dylan, who left all doors ajar in his chaotic wake, hadn’t closed.
‘Hi Gran,’ Thea called. ‘We’re in the living room.’
Lorelai appeared seconds later and handed over Cora’s present to her excited great-granddaughter.
This time, it was an envelope, and as Cora opened it up, she squealed in excitement.
‘Ooh! Thanks, Gran! Mum, we’re so going on a shopping trip in the Christmas holidays.
Can we go to Cribbs Causeway? Or Cabot? Pleeeeeeeease? ’
Thea smiled. ‘I should think so.’ She didn’t stop to allow herself to worry about what else a trip to one of Bristol’s premier shopping centres might cost her. For today, Cora and her birthday were all that mattered.
‘Tristan, dear, could you just get the birthday girl’s cake out of my car for me?’ Lorelai smiled at her grandson. ‘It’s on the front passenger seat.’
‘Sure.’ Tristan strode out of the living room.
‘I hope she likes the cake,’ Lorelai whispered to Thea. ‘I was up icing it until gone midnight!’
‘Gran, you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.’
‘It was no trouble, darling. Honestly. Keeps my mind active, and goodness knows it needs to be.’ Lorelai gave Thea a warm smile. ‘You know I’d do anything for you and the children, don’t you.’
‘I know.’ Thea gave her grandmother a hug. ‘But don’t go overdoing it – we want you around for a few more years yet!’
‘I’m not going anywhere!’ Thea watched as her grandmother’s gaze shifted to Cora and Dylan, who were, for once, sitting side by side in relative harmony on the sofa.
‘Has their so-called father been in contact?’
Thea shook her head. ‘Nope. But that’s for the best. He’d only upset them if he did.’
‘Still, not even a card? I don’t know how he can just forget about them like that.’
‘I prefer it that way,’ Thea said, surprised at Lorelai’s line of thought. ‘Don’t you, after all he put us through?’
‘Well, yes, but after all this time, he might at least have sent his daughter a birthday card.’
‘And where would he send it? It’s not as if I gave him our address when we moved into this house. Some things are better left in the past, Gran.’
‘You’re right,’ Lorelai conceded. ‘I suppose I just can’t help feeling maudlin on days like this. We suffered so much loss as a family, and Ed just threw the life he had with you and the children away. I don’t understand it.’
Thea, who’d been through the reasons for the split with Ed a thousand times with Lorelai, didn’t immediately reply.
She knew that Lorelai struggled to comprehend how someone could walk out on their children for the reasons that Ed did, but now wasn’t the time or the place to try, yet again, to help her to get her head around it.
‘Well, sometimes things just don’t work out, Gran, no matter how much you might want them to. ’
Before Lorelai could reply, Tristan had returned from Lorelai’s car with a cake box. And behind him, looking extremely nervous to be intruding on such a family occasion, was Nick.