17. Katie
Jamie moaned as Katie slapped his bare bum under the covers. ‘Come on, babe, rise and shine. We have a seven-year-old’s party to organize.’
‘Come back to bed for a bit.’ Jamie pulled her arm.
‘No, you’re not getting sex until you’ve earned it. You have thirty balloons to blow up, bunting to hang and a million other things to do.’
‘Toby already had a birthday party – we just had twenty kids thumping about the house last week.’
‘That was his class party. This is his family birthday party. Come on, Jamie, get up. I had no parties after my mum died and I always promised myself that when I had kids they’d have multiple parties for every birthday. So, up you get.’
Jamie put the pillow over his head. ‘I see my family all the time in work. I really don’t need to see them on a Sunday too!’
Katie pulled the pillow back. ‘Believe me, there are a few members of your family that I could do without seeing, but this is about Toby and he loves a fuss. Besides, I haven’t seen Amanda in a while. I feel bad about not making more of an effort with her.’
Katie had good intentions. She had meant to call her sister-in-law to meet for coffee, but every time she went to pick up the phone she chickened out.
Amanda was hard-going and Katie had chosen the easier option of not calling.
But she felt guilty and selfish, so this party was the perfect excuse to see everyone and tick the time-with-family box.
Jamie was blowing up balloons with Toby, who had been trying to blow up the same one for the past fifteen minutes. Lucy was helping Katie ice the fairy cakes they had baked the night before.
‘These are so cool, Mum,’ Lucy said, admiring them.
Wow, praise from Lucy! It was rare and very welcome.
‘You are grumpy and forgetful at times but you always do the best birthday parties.’
Ouch, and thanks.
‘Thanks, pet. My mum gave great parties, too, but then she died and I didn’t have any because your poor old granddad was a bit hopeless. That’s why I like to make them really special for you guys.’
‘I can’t wait for mine. Granny said she’s going to buy me the whole series of Harry Potter when I turn ten.’
Katie marvelled at Lucy’s excitement over books. At seven years old, the year her mum died, her parents had given her a purple sparkly bike with silver tassels on the handlebars. It was the coolest thing ever. If someone had given her a book, she’d have been inconsolable.
‘Have you read Charlotte’s Web , Mum?’
‘No. You know me, I don’t like reading much.’
‘Why, Mum? It makes you clever and curious.’
Katie bit her lip. If she had to hear that bloody line one more time, she’d scream. Nancy was always banging on about it. But she had to tread carefully with Lucy: she didn’t want her daughter ever to find out that her mother was stupid with words.
‘Everyone likes different things, Lucy. If we all liked the same things, life would be very boring.’
Lucy frowned. ‘If everyone liked reading, life would be super-interesting because we could talk about books and swap them and always be learning new things. I just think you haven’t found the right book yet to make you excited about reading. I’ll talk to Granny and find you a good one.’
Jesus, would she ever let it go?
‘No!’ Katie snapped. ‘Do not talk to Nancy about my reading. Ever. Just leave it, Lucy.’
Lucy’s shoulders slumped. ‘Fine. No need to be so narky, I was just trying to help.’
Katie felt awful for snapping, but the last thing she needed was Nancy forcing books on her, then demanding to know what she thought of them and why she hadn’t read them.
‘Hey, why don’t you lick the spoon? We’re finished here,’ Katie said.
‘No, you can give it to Toby.’ Lucy quietly left the kitchen.
Damn, she had upset her daughter … again.
Katie glanced at the clock. Everyone would be here in fifteen minutes and she still had so much to do.
She could see Jamie and Toby through the glass doors in the TV room, laughing as they watched half-blown-up balloons whizzing around the room.
Bloody hell, why had she decided to do this?
She began to panic. A glass of wine would calm her nerves.
She opened one of the bottles of white chilling in the fridge and quickly knocked back a glass, letting the alcohol ease her nerves.
Katie was putting the napkins out when she heard Jamie opening the front door. Frank and the twins came in.
‘There’s the birthday boy!’ Frank picked Toby up and swung him over his head. Toby squealed with delight.
‘Happy birthday,’ the twins chimed, and came straight over to Katie.
‘Where’s your mum?’ Katie asked.
‘In the car on some “crisis call”.’ Janis sighed. ‘Same old, same old.’
Joni popped a marshmallow covered with chocolate into her mouth. ‘I love kids’ party food. It’s the best.’
Katie put down her wine and ate one. ‘Yum, me too.’
‘By the way, all of our friends are sooo jealous of our highlights. They all want to come to you to get theirs done. Can we give them your number?’ Janis asked.
Katie smiled. It felt nice to be praised for her work. ‘Sure.’
‘I wish Mum had a cool job that was actually useful.’ Joni sipped her Coke Zero.
‘Yeah, it’d be so cool if she was a hairdresser. We’d get free products and highlights.’
‘Instead we get books.’ Joni pretended to yawn.
Katie wondered, not for the first time, if the twins and Lucy had been born into the wrong families.
Lucy would have loved Melanie as a mother and the twins would have liked her as theirs.
It was as if the genes had crossed somewhere along the way.
Raising the twins would be so easy – and she felt sure Melanie would say the same about raising Lucy.
‘Sorry we’re late.’ Amanda bustled into the room followed by Theo. Ross and Nancy were behind them.
‘Hold Nancy’s arm, Ross,’ Amanda said.
‘I’m perfectly fine.’ Nancy walked slowly, using one crutch to help her balance with the boot on her leg.
‘Ross!’ Amanda barked. ‘She could fall.’
‘Stop fussing.’ Nancy glared at her daughter-in-law.
‘Hi, hi, hi.’ Toby bounced up and down in front of them expectantly.
‘Uhm, hi.’ Amanda patted his head.
‘Hey, dude.’ Theo high-fived him.
‘Happy birthday, Toby.’ Ross grabbed a cocktail sausage. ‘I’m starving.’
Toby looked at his mother. She knew he was wondering where his present was.
‘Many happy returns.’ Nancy held out a large rectangular gift wrapped in brown paper and tied with blue string.
Toby thanked her and ripped it open. His little face fell.
‘Oh, wow, Aesop’s Fables , that’s so cool,’ Lucy told her little brother. ‘“The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” is my favourite.’
Aesop? Katie couldn’t figure out the letters in the title, never mind the stories.
Toby muttered, ‘Thank you.’
Amanda’s face flushed. ‘Oh, my goodness, Toby, we left your gift at home, I’m so sorry.’
‘You could go and get it,’ Toby suggested hopefully.
‘Well … uhm … it would be rude to leave. Here.’ She rummaged in her handbag and handed her nephew a twenty-euro note. ‘I’ll drop the gift around tomorrow, or maybe the next day.’
Toby’s eyes shone. ‘Wow, thanks.’ Turning to Jamie and Katie, he exclaimed, ‘I’m rich. I can buy zillions of sweets with this.’
Katie was annoyed. Amanda had clearly forgotten to buy Toby a present. How could you forget to buy something for a seven-year-old’s birthday? Amanda didn’t work; she didn’t seem to have any friends; Theo was in school all day. What did Amanda do with her time?
Still, her son was delighted with the thoughtless gift of cash, so what the hell?
Katie offered everyone a drink. Nancy said it was too early; Ross said he was driving; Frank said he was doing a detox and Amanda said she was happy with water.
‘Right, just you and me, then, Jamie.’ Katie poured them each a generous glass of wine.
‘I’ll have one.’ Melanie came through the kitchen door and plonked herself on a stool at the counter. ‘I’ve just arranged a meeting with Petrus van der Beek to, potentially, sign with us.’ She beamed.
‘Could you speak English, please?’ Janis asked.
‘Wow!’ Jamie said.
‘That’s amazing, darling.’ Frank put his arm around her.
‘Congratulations, this is a big coup.’ Nancy nodded at her daughter-in-law.
‘If you get him to sign, it would be good news for the agency,’ Ross said.
Katie handed Melanie a drink and said, ‘Right, I’m in the dark here. Who is Petrol van der Plonk?’
The twins giggled.
‘He’s a Booker Prize-winning author, a big deal in the literary world,’ Jamie told his wife.
‘Oooh, go, Melanie!’ Katie clinked glasses with her sister-in-law.
‘I’d like to be an agent when I grow up,’ Lucy announced.
‘It’s a great job,’ Melanie said, smiling at her.
‘You will be, because you’re going to run the Fitzroy Agency one day,’ Nancy told her granddaughter.
‘I think that’s a role you have to earn and prove yourself capable of doing.’ Ross was clearly not happy about Nancy’s little announcement.
‘If you do become an agent, don’t have kids cos you’ll never see them.’ Janis stuck the knife into her mother’s back.
‘I want to be a hairdresser and give people glow-ups,’ Joni said.
‘You can be anything you like,’ Frank said.
‘Well, not anything,’ Melanie said, frowning.
‘There are so many opportunities out there. Take your time deciding what you want to do with your life,’ Frank told the kids.
‘Like you, Frank?’ Ross asked.
The prick.
Ignoring his older brother, Frank said, ‘You need to find something you feel passionate about. Passion is the essence of who we are. You have to find it and unwrap it.’
Ross snorted.
‘And work extremely hard at it,’ Nancy said.
‘But not as hard as Mum does,’ Janis added.
‘No one works as hard as she does,’ Joni said. ‘Our friend Wendy’s mum is a lawyer who puts actual criminals in prison and she never misses any school events.’
Ouch. Kids really knew how to kick you where it hurt.
Melanie didn’t seem bothered, though. She was smiling and staring into space, clearly on a supreme high from her phone call.
This author must be a big deal – even Nancy had been very impressed.
Katie wondered what it felt like to have Nancy’s admiration.
Katie would never know, that was for sure, and she doubted Amanda would either, but Melanie did.
Nancy respected Melanie and held her in high regard.
When Katie had met Jamie, she’d hoped his mum would fill the gaping hole that her own mother had left behind.
Katie imagined being close to her boyfriend’s mother – hanging out, gossiping over cups of coffee, going for cocktails and chats, having a shoulder to cry on and a sounding-board for life.
Boy, was she mistaken! She’d nearly got frostbite from Nancy the first time she’d met her, and over the years her mother-in-law hadn’t thawed.
The only thing that kept a connection between them was Lucy.
If it wasn’t for Lucy, Katie would happily never see the woman.
Jamie worked with Nancy, so he saw her enough.
It was Nancy’s bond with Lucy that was the link.
Their closeness and similarity bothered Katie, but it made her proud too.
To think that she, Katie the hairdresser, had produced the favourite grandchild, the smart, clever, bookish one.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Nancy!
‘I’m starving.’ Theo looked up from his phone.
‘Me too.’ Jamie clapped his nephew on the back. ‘Let’s eat.’
Katie went to open another bottle of wine, but Jamie stopped her.
‘No one is really drinking, and tomorrow’s Monday. We don’t need more wine, babe. Besides, I think we drank enough last night for a week. I can’t believe you’re not more hung-over. I’m struggling here.’
Katie wanted more wine, just a glass or two. The day seemed to be going on for ever. She went to the fridge and poured herself some Coke Zero. Then she went to the freezer to get some ice and to add a discreet splash of vodka. Just a little crutch to get her through.