Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
ARIELLA
‘So, don’t get angry.’ Lara climbs into bed with me on Monday morning.
‘What?’
‘I’ve been thinking.’
‘Uh-oh… ow!’
Lara pinches me. ‘You’re back to normal now, so no more passes. Honestly, you’re so rude.’ She frowns.
‘Okay, I’m sorry. What have you been thinking, Lara?’ I smile as I reach out to stroke my best friend’s arm.
‘Thank you. So, I’ve been thinking. We’re both here all day, doing nothing, and we aren’t earning any money.’
‘Continue…’
‘I’ve also been wandering around, getting the lay of the land. We are surrounded by lots of women, specifically mums.’
‘Right?’
‘And you, you’re doing all this cooking. For free. You love it and to be honest the only time I’ve seen you happier than in the kitchen is when you’re looking at El— the baby’s scan or Caleb is giving you pervy looks with his lechy eyes.’
‘I know you still call her Elsie behind my back by the way, keep going.’
‘Anyway, all these mums can’t be on top of everything all the time. Some hate laundry, some don’t want to cook, et cetera, but, because they are technically stay-at-home mothers, most of their stupid husbands think that they are live-in slaves that have to do everything. They are often reluctant to offer support because they think that going to work and playing with your colleagues for eight hours a day is the hard part.’
‘Your logic is a little flawed, but I’m getting the general gist of what you’re saying.’
‘So how about we help ourselves cheat a little. Someone who loves to fold their laundry offers that service. Or maybe someone who loves to cook makes dinner and sneaks it over there ready to go in the oven so it looks like they’ve been slaving away while they’re really catching up on that tiny basic human right, sleep.’
‘It sounds like a nice idea, Lara, you should pursue it.’
‘I did. I’m in pretty much every secret mothers’ WhatsApp group within a two-mile radius, for now. Funny what people will add you to if you go in there and cry. The support network is real.’
Oh no.
‘And we have a little company. It’s called The Housewife’s Secret. I’ll show you the website. You can exchange favours, pay for favours, and you can set up a profile to let people find you and what skills you offer. Obviously, there’s a personal interview with me before you join because it is a closed community, and no sex stuff, no matter how much you don’t want to sleep with your husband.’ Lara guffaws.
She shows me her phone. She has built a sweet little soft pink, grey and white site offering six services, with more coming soon.
‘This looks amazing, Lara!’
‘I know, I built it. Anyway, we have our first order.’
‘Already! That’s nice. What service is it for?’
‘Six people, any kind of vegetarian pasta bake, no allergies but they’ve signed the “if we kill you, you can’t sue us” waiver.’
‘Lara, tell me you’re joking.’
‘You cook for the shelter all the time. No one has died yet. You also did Dominic the ick’s party in Singapore for like a zillion people.’
‘Twenty, and look what happened there.’
‘That was different. He fancied the pants off you. There you were a COO, all over heavily curated social media, swanning around in designer gear, being all not pregnant and evasive. Here you’re a single unemployed mother whose partner is AWOL. No one is checking for you like that.’
‘Your unwavering commitment to making me feel good is astonishing, Lara.’
‘You’re welcome. So, are you going to do it?’
‘No. Lara, meeting personal standards is a massive challenge.’
‘It’s for our gobby neighbour three doors down. I’ve seen her husband. She doesn’t have standards. She was hostile at first until she found out I was a lesbian. Sweet as pie now. She may think you’re a lesbian too, by the way. If it’s amazing she’ll tell everyone. She likes being the one in the know while diving into everyone’s business. Plus, it’s a freebie.’
‘How is this thing meant to make money anyway?’
‘Subscription. Two pounds a month. But then we can sneak in staff for hire later and ramp up to celebrity chefs, designers, declutter experts and charge a mint when we have everything in place. Right now it’s a start – and, good news, I can work from anywhere in the world, so Honey and I can be anywhere.’
‘Thank you, Lara, for coming and staying with me when I know you really want to be with Honey,’ I slip in. She has been my rock.
‘You’ve thanked me loads already and I’m liking this big house, rent-free situation; but if you feel like thanking me again, let’s do this together and make the bloody veggie pasta bake.’
There is no way she is going to let me say no.
‘Only to the gobby neighbour with no standards as a freebie?’
‘Yes. For now. Let’s just feel our way through.’
Lara is right. After she carefully delivered that first bake, orders came pouring in for the same dish and, by the end of the week, I’d made twenty-two creamy three-mushroom and truffle rigatoni bakes that Lara delivered all over the borough, charging thirty pounds a pop plus delivery for each eight-person serving.
‘Babe, we made over five hundred pounds after costs, in four days! I’m thinking we should scrap the site and just do food orders!’
‘I never want to see another pasta bake again! You closed us down for orders, right?’
‘Yes, but I opened a waiting list. There are four people.’
‘I don’t want to make pasta bakes any more, Lara. If we get caught we are going to be in big trouble. There is so much training I need to do. We need to register, I need certification – this is so risky!’
‘No one is going to say anything. They’re pretending they cooked it themselves. Besides, we’ll get all that. For now, let’s operate under the radar and only to the THS members and swear them to secrecy. Shall we find something else to do if you’re sick of pasta bakes? We can push a new angle and announce a new dish every week. It has to be vegetarian though, because we can reach more people.’
‘Can I have a few days to think about it? I still need to cook for the shelter this week and Mommy has asked me to come home for Sunday lunch. You’re invited.’
I’ve been speaking to Daddy all week, but our conversations have been careful. I think this is Mommy’s attempt to mend things, and, if she is inviting Lara, it means things have been sorted.
‘Sure, I’ll come – but don’t keep our customers waiting!’ she sings as she dances up the stairs to her room.
This week may have been exhausting, but I feel proud. I look at the time. It’s too late to call Caleb, so I send him a voice note.
‘Hello, sleepy. I think I might give the food thing a shot after all. Lara is at the helm, she has been delivering prohibition-style pasta bakes. There’s every chance I might get arrested while we are operating under the radar but I’m going to get my paperwork together as soon as possible and, once I’ve done that, I think I might like to give it a shot. We love you and we miss you. Talk in the morning.’
I sit back and rub my belly.
‘Think we can do it?’ I ask my baby. ‘Yeah, I think we can,’ I tell her as I kiss the fingertip of my index finger and transfer it to my belly, before making my way up the stairs and into the shower.
When we get home on Sunday, Lara gently pushes ahead of me.
‘I’ve missed Dahlia. I want to be her when I grow up, but not just yet,’ she admits before pressing the doorbell.
Mommy opens the door with a blinding smile and lets Lara in, before wrapping me in her arms in a way that makes me tear up. It feels so good to be home. As I step into the warmth, I walk into Daddy’s arms for a hug.
‘I’m sorry, love,’ he says quietly.
‘I’m sorry I disappointed you, Daddy. I love you so much.’
‘You could never disappoint me, Ariella.’
‘Will you embrace him? Please?’
Daddy nods and pulls me in tightly.
And that’s all we need. Things are going to be fine.
It isn’t until I walk past Daddy that I see Isszy, Lara, Sophia and Em at a table full of food and drink. Lara is already wrestling with the red wine. They all stand as I walk in and come over to give me a group hug. I’m so overwhelmed, I freeze on the spot.
‘Right, young lady. Sit,’ Mummy instructs softly when the ladies have returned to their seats. I put my bum in the chair at the head of the table that Mommy points to as she stands behind the empty one next to me.
‘And that’s me gone,’ Daddy says, kissing my head, then grabbing the car keys and coat.
‘Thank you so much, everyone. I can’t?—’
‘Don’t thank us yet, baby. This is less of a party and more of an intervention. Lara says you’ve been good at taking your vitamins and attending your necessary appointments but you rarely leave the house and you’re not going to any classes. We’re not here to force you to do anything, but you need women around you while you’re going through this; so here we are. Today, you’re going to share what’s going on with you, we’re going to listen and then we’re going to help. Ask us anything. We have either been through this, are going through it right now or are excited to be where you are in the future.’
‘Eeee!’ Isszy squeals as she wiggles excitedly in her chair. ‘We’re officially trying!’ Seeing how excited Isszy is makes me instinctively stroke my bump.
‘Before you leave, you need to make a promise. No more hiding. If you’re worried, unsure, have a question, you call and you ask for help.’
I nod.
‘Ariella. What do you need to know?’ Mommy asks as she sits and pours me a sparkling juice.
‘I don’t know. I haven’t dared to look. What can I expect?’
‘The big one!’ Em laughs. I’m delighted that she’s here. I really like Em and I’ve missed her. ‘Do you have morning sickness?’
‘Not any more.’
‘What? You’re lucky!’ Sophia jumps in. Her belly is humongous. ‘And Jasper has this cologne that makes me want to vomit. We’ve thrown it out but it still lingers. Do your boobs hurt?’
‘Yes! It’s not too bad though.’
‘That’ll change!’ Mommy laughs. ‘And if you’re not peeing a lot, you’re not drinking enough!’
‘Get a pillow. One of the big long ones. They help my back,’ Sophia says as she grabs a nacho from the middle of the table.
‘This all sounds a little horrible,’ I say.
‘Wait until your first kick!’ Em says. ‘It’s magical.’
Mummy and Sophia nod enthusiastically.
‘In my case kicks. These ones are going to be rugby players.’ Sophia lovingly rubs her much larger bump. ‘Oh, and my hair, skin and nails have never looked this good!’
‘And just in case you were worried, your baby will be fine, you will cope financially and you will be a good mother,’ Mommy adds.
‘And you will develop excellent multitasking skills,’ Em pitches in. ‘But write everything down. You’re about to become a little forgetful.’
We spend the rest of the afternoon snacking, chatting, laughing and scaring Isszy. It’s dark when the intervention winds down, and I feel loved and supported – but also ready to love and support Isszy.
‘Jassie is outside,’ Sophia announces as she grabs her coat. It hurts a little but I sit where I am. She may have been lovely today, but I made her a promise.
‘Ariella, can we have a quick conversation?’ she asks softly.
‘Of course.’ I lead her outside to the cool garden.
‘I’m sorry I was so cruel to you,’ she says regretfully. ‘I’m deeply ashamed of the way I behaved.’
‘I understand, Sophia. I was around an awful lot.’
‘You were, but that wasn’t it. I knew you didn’t want Jasper, and that was what infuriated me the most, because I did,’ she admits quietly. ‘You were besotted with Caleb. Jasper was besotted with you. I was besotted with Jasper, but no one was besotted with me. I just wanted to be chosen by him and I took it out on you. I’m sorry.’
‘Jasper wasn’t besotted with me, Sophia. We’d just loved each other for a very long time and it’s crushing to walk away from that. He was truly my best friend, but that’s all he was.’
‘Is. He is your best friend, and he has been insufferably miserable without you. Do you want to go out to the car and say hello?’
‘Really?’ Tears spring to my eyes.
‘Yes.’ She nods, tearing up too.
I run through the house and out of the front door. Jasper is out of the car in the blink of an eye and we’re wrapped round each other in a matter of seconds. We just stand there, holding on to each other, over the moon to be back in each other’s lives.