Chapter 1 #2
The new Watts Up obsession (or more likely the new Warren obsession given her mother’s track record) couldn’t have come at a more inconvenient time, coinciding as it had with the busy run-up to Christmas.
So not only had Kat and her father been rushed off their feet with the influx of Christmas shoppers, they’d had the double whammy of learning and serving all the festive themed drinks, cakes and cookies some bright spark had dreamed up in the company’s corporate HQ.
Whoever they were, they had zero taste and even less subtlety.
Kat shuddered a little at the memory of the tasting session they’d endured.
It was a mandatory instruction that all staff had to taste new products as they came on line, to ‘improve engagement and provide an authentic sell-through experience for our valued customer base’.
Kat suspected ‘Yep, it’s as vile as it looks’ and ‘I’d only buy that if you are hoping Santa will bring you diabetes for Christmas’ were probably a touch too authentic for the corporate overlords, so she’d just offered a noncommittal smile on the rare occasions any of their ‘valued customer base’ had bothered to ask her opinion.
Things had quietened right down over the actual holiday fortnight.
A lot of the businesses in Halfmoon Quay had closed for the full two weeks, knowing most people would be hitting the big out-of-town retail parks for the sales.
The coffee shop had only closed for Christmas and Boxing Day, but customers had been so few and far between that her dad had taken on the bulk of the work, and Kat had popped in for a couple of hours a day to work through the list of deep-cleaning tasks while he managed the front-of-house operations.
The Watts Up/Warren thing had a couple of positive points, she supposed: one, her mum was looking great and had never been fitter, and two, Warren lived several hundred miles away so there was little chance of her mother acting on this latest infatuation.
It was more like twenty than two minutes later when her mum finally pushed open Kat’s bedroom door, her hair and body wrapped in matching towels.
Her mum’s gaze alighted on the bed and a line formed between her brows as she pushed the door wide and walked in.
‘Oh, is that what you’re wearing tonight?
I thought we’d agreed that red wasn’t your colour.
’ Jen scooped the dress up and carried it over to the full-length mirror, holding it in front of herself as she admired her reflection.
‘It is a lovely dress, though.’ She glanced over her shoulder at Kat, her smile full of sympathy as she shook her head.
‘Such a shame you inherited your father’s colouring instead of mine. ’
Though she’d already ruled the dress out, a surge of defiance made her protest her mother’s comment. ‘I thought it would be festive.’
‘I suppose so, though it’s not really Christmas any more.’ Jen Bailey smiled in what Kat was sure she believed was an encouraging manner. ‘Still, I’m sure you’ll look nice whatever you decide to wear.’
‘I really need to get in the shower, Mum, I don’t want to be late to the Penroses’.’
Her mum’s smile tightened at the corners.
‘There’s so many of them, I doubt they’ll even miss you.
And besides, you can’t go rushing off because your dad wants us to all have a drink together first. He’s bought a nice bottle of champagne to toast the new year early as you won’t be here to see it in with us. ’
Choo-choo! All aboard the guilt train! ‘We could’ve seen the new year in together at the party, Mum. It’s not like you weren’t invited.’
Her mum’s mouth twitched in a not-quite smile, not-quite grimace. ‘You know it’s not our scene.’
‘How would you know if it’s your scene or not when you’ve refused every invite they’ve extended to you?
’ Kat regretted the snapped words as soon as she’d said them.
She knew exactly why parties at the Penrose house weren’t her mother’s scene.
There’d been a time about five years ago when Jen had become an avid watcher of home makeover shows and insisted on getting the kitchen refitted as a result.
Ryan Penrose, Chloe’s dad, had taken the job, but politely refused the added bonus of a flirtation with Jen.
Not that her mother had ever admitted it; Kat only knew about it because Chloe had overheard her parents discussing it and had warned Kat.
It would’ve been even more mortifying if her friend hadn’t already been aware of Jen’s track record, but still it had been months before Kat had felt able to visit Chloe’s house.
‘Your dad and I prefer each other’s company, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is as lucky as us.’
Kat was amazed when her mum’s tongue didn’t fall out after speaking such a blatant lie.
She’d never met two people who managed to make each other as consistently miserable as her parents.
She’d tried talking to her dad about it in the past, wondering why he kept forgiving her mother after she sobbingly confessed to her latest indiscretion and promised it would never happen again.
He’d shut her down, stating only it was none of her business and she’d understand the complexities of marriage one day.
There was no chance of that because Kat was never getting married.
She looked at her mother, all bright-eyed and brimming with excitement and energy, and knew there was no point in confronting her about anything.
Her parents lived in a world of obfuscation and denial and Kat was sick to death of it.
All she needed to do was keep the peace for a bit longer and she’d be able to escape from this weird parallel universe and back to normality.
‘I’ll be as quick as I can in the shower and then I’ll come down for that drink, okay? ’
Her mum’s expression cheered up at once. ‘Lovely! I’ve got a few hot nibbles in the freezer, I’ll pop them in the oven, shall I?’
‘Lovely,’ Kat echoed with as much enthusiasm as she could fake.