Chapter 12
12
‘He said yes,’ Kate announced to Hermione that evening.
‘Who said yes?’ Hermione asked as she tried to loosen a stamping Cyrus from her skirt.
‘Joel,’ Kate said, picking Bethan up and swinging her around.
‘God! No! He said yes?! For no fee? Cyrus sweetie, could you stop doing that? Mummy will be here in a minute to pick you up. Would you like a breadstick or some raisins?’ Hermione offered the boy.
‘Chocolate,’ Cyrus whispered so quietly, it was barely audible over his loud, drumming feet.
‘No chocolate sweetie; we don’t have chocolate here, do we? You could have an apple, how about that?’ Hermione bargained.
‘Chocolate,’ Cyrus whispered again, his large, black eyes glaring at Hermione.
‘Chocolate isn’t very good for you, Cyrus; it’ll give you spots and make your teeth fall out,’ Kate offered helpfully.
Cyrus let out a high-pitched screeching noise and fell to the floor. He rolled up into a ball and began to sob.
‘There there, come on now, come and see what we’ve got in Hermione’s cupboard. How about an organic flapjack?’ Hermione offered .
Cyrus got up off the floor and sniffed, as if deciding what to do next.
‘They eat these at Hogwarts,’ Hermione said, holding the flapjack out to him.
‘Hogwarts,’ Cyrus whispered, his face turning up into a smile.
The doorbell rang not a moment too soon.
‘That will be your mummy, Cyrus. Let’s get your coat,’ Hermione said, giving the boy the treat, gathering up his things and leading the way down the hall to the door.
When Hermione came back into the room, she slumped down at the table and let out a heavy sigh.
‘That child is going to be the death of me; he’s been an absolute horror all day. Whispering darkly, like he’s something out of The Exorcist , drumming his feet on the floor, wanting things he isn’t supposed to have. He has numerous intolerances but I’m getting intolerant to him,’ Hermione said, putting her head in her hands.
‘Where are the others?’ Kate asked, referring to Hermione’s children, Heather, Sky and Brook.
‘My mother’s taken them to the big Asda. She does that every so often, rings up after school without warning, whisks them off and when they come back, they’ve been spoiled rotten, had cheap, all-day breakfasts for tea and have a whole new wardrobe of clothes each. I shouldn’t complain really, should I? Oh Bethan, at least I had you here to look after me,’ Hermione said, smiling at the little girl.
‘Joel said yes,’ Kate repeated her announcement from earlier.
‘Ah! Joel said yes. Yes, how exciting. So what’s the strategy? What plans do you have to ensure you take the title of winners of Knowing Me Knowing You 2011?’ Hermione asked her.
‘Well, I haven’t actually thought too much about that yet. I had been working on my case to argue should he say no. But I thought that we probably need to know a bit more about each other at the very least – so I’ve invited him to dinner tomorrow night,’ Kate informed.
Hermione exploded into a fit of laughter that vibrated the table and almost had Kate reaching for her ears.
‘You can’t cook!’ Hermione announced, laughing hard.
‘I can.’
‘Microwaving things doesn’t count,’ Hermione replied.
‘I don’t microwave everything,’ Kate answered, offended.
‘Well granted no, not salad. What’s on your menu for tonight then?’
‘I haven’t decided yet.’
‘Bet it comes in a little plastic tray with film to pierce.’
‘Those meals are quick, easy and nutritious.’
‘Those meals are full of hidden fats, salts and sugars.’
‘And they taste delicious when complemented with lots of white wine.’
‘Oh Bethan, what are we going to do with your mummy? What are you planning to cook Joel then? I mean, he isn’t going to want to go through all this for a piping hot on the outside, lukewarm in the middle cannelloni,’ Hermione spoke.
‘I don’t know. I have all day tomorrow to think about it.’
‘But you’ll need to go shopping to buy the ingredients – you need to decide on a recipe.’
‘Well I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t have said dinner. But I thought it would be better to be at home, not seen in public so we don’t have to do any of the pretend kissing he does and I won’t try and shake hands with him which apparently is what I do. ’
‘He kisses you – yum.’
‘Well come on, you’ve insulted my cooking abilities; what am I going to cook him for dinner? I so obviously need help.’
‘Toast,’ Bethan piped up, bouncing up and down on Kate’s knee excitedly.
Hermione let out another laugh and Kate couldn’t help but smile at her happy daughter.
‘She might have hit the nail on the head there; toast might be your safest bet. Well done, Bethan,’ Hermione responded, clapping her hands.
‘I’m not talking to you about it any more,’ Kate answered.
‘Oh come on, let me help you. Now, I’m sure I have a really simple recipe for chicken here. That wasn’t meant to sound patronising by the way but it is foolproof,’ Hermione insisted and she began to rifle through a pile of papers on her sideboard.
‘I can cook, I have recipe books, I just haven’t used them for a while, that’s all,’ Kate replied grumpily.
‘Ah, here we are: chicken in a chasseur-style sauce. All you need is chicken, mushrooms, onions, a red pepper, a small amount of wine, some flour and some stock. Here you go,’ Hermione said, passing Kate a piece of paper.
‘Thanks,’ Kate answered, glancing at the before and after photos with little interest.
‘And if you need any help during the cooking process, you can always call me,’ Hermione offered kindly.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Kate assured her with a smile.
As soon as she left Hermione’s house, Kate rushed to the supermarket to pick up the ingredients for the chicken chasseur recipe .
Bethan got distracted by the children’s magazines and started to scream every time Kate moved the trolley away from the section. Peace only reigned when Charlie and Lola was handed over to her. Screwed-up recipe in hand, Kate rushed around the shop, Bethan ripping the magazine to pieces. She picked up the ingredients as quickly as she could before it started to get too close to bed time. Then she got distracted by the wine section. Australian was a third off and there was a three for ten pounds offer on a selection of reds. Red wine wasn’t a favourite of hers but she didn’t know what Joel preferred. She should ask him; they might need to know for the contest and the more she knew about him, the better.
She grabbed three reds and three whites, ran back to the veg section for an onion and headed for the checkout. Bethan had almost succeeded in ripping the magazine into tiny pieces and was now content poking bits of paper into her mouth.
‘Beth! Don’t do that, darling; you mustn’t eat it,’ Kate ordered, trying to manhandle the paper from her hands and poking a finger in her daughter’s mouth to get rid of anything inside.
Bethan began to scream and kick her feet against the trolley in temper. She made a grab for what was left of the magazine and screamed again as Kate quickly moved it out of her reach.
‘Do you want some help with your packing?’ Kirsty, the very young-looking cashier asked.
Kate was very familiar with Kirsty because she always seemed to be on the checkout Kate chose. She had eight earrings in her left ear, bitten fingernails and was without a doubt having some sort of relationship with Wayne who worked behind the deli and always seemed to find an excuse to come over.
‘Oh no thanks, we’ll be fine. Stop it, Bethan!’ Kate ordered, looking sternly at her daughter as she put her items on the conveyor belt .
Bethan held her breath, waited until she had turned purple and then let out the scream of all screams. It was like the cry of someone who had just had their entire body deep-fried. Everyone turned to stare. Other mothers in the queue with seemingly angelic children in their trolleys waited with bated breath to see what she was going to do. OAPs with slightly more sympathy on their faces gave her a hopeful smile and two young men carrying four-packs of lager just smirked her way, looking youthful and smug.
‘That will be thirty-five forty-eight please,’ Kirsty announced as Bethan continued to scream and Kate bagged her shopping up.
Kate handed Kirsty her debit card and shook a packet of pasta up and down to calm Bethan.
‘When we get home, Bethy, we’ll get you in your pyjamas, get you some lovely warm milk and watch Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom ,’ Kate spoke softly.
‘Could you enter your pin number?’
‘And when we’ve watched Ben and Holly , Mummy will take you and Mr Crisps up to bed and we’ll read all about Tiger,’ Kate said, tickling Bethan’s tummy as the scream turned into a meek whimper.
‘Er, have you got another card? This one’s been refused,’ Kirsty piped up in the loudest voice imaginable.
She could only have said it louder if she had yelled it into a loud hailer. Or she had morphed into Lynn.
Kate looked at Kirsty. She was holding her card out to her and chewing her gum up and down, flashing her tongue stud.
‘What?’ Kate asked, not believing what she had heard.
‘Card’s been declined – insufficient funds. Have you got another method of payment or shall I get someone to put the stuff back?’ Kirsty boomed like Brian Blessed .
‘No, no, of course not – um, here,’ Kate said as she hurriedly dived into her purse and pulled out her credit card.
The humiliation! She had two hundred pounds in the bank last night; what had gone out since then? She thought she had got the timings of direct debits sorted out now. She entered the pin and held her breath, waiting for confirmation of the transaction and the sound of Kirsty’s voice clarifying that all was well.
‘That’s fine – remove your card now,’ Kirsty told her in almost a whisper.
Kate swiftly took the card out of the chip and pin machine and put it back in her purse. It felt as though everyone was looking at her. Her, the useless single mother with no money in her bank account and a kid that screams blue murder. A few months before, she would have looked and tutted and thought herself superior. Not any more.
When she got outside, it was raining. She hurriedly pushed the trolley to the car, struggled to get Bethan’s legs untangled from the seat and literally threw her daughter into her car seat before she got too wet.
Bethan grinned up at her, wet faced with a happy smile, still holding the remnants of the Charlie and Lola magazine.
Kate felt a shiver run over her. The magazine – she hadn’t paid for it.
She undid Bethan, put her over her shoulder and sprinted back into the shop as heavy rain began to soak them both. She ran up to Kirsty’s checkout, dripping water all over the conveyor belt and butting into the queue.
‘I’m so sorry, I forgot to pay for the magazine. Don’t worry, I have cash and I’ve still got the barcode,’ Kate announced and she offered Kirsty the smallest strip of paper from the front of the magazine containing the magic numbers.
‘D’you want a bag for that?’ Kirsty enquired.