the inside of her forearm, kiss her on the top of her head. Or she’d fall asleep with Taffie by her side on the sofa, wake wearily at 3 a.m. and crawl into a cold bed.
50
‘Mum? How are you?’ Ed was staring at her from the iPad, which she’d propped up behind some books on the kitchen table.
‘Yeah, great,’ she fibbed. ‘The café’s keeping me busy, I’m really loving it.’ That bit was true. Tell him about the painting, said a little voice. Don’t tell him you’re sad. They were calling from the Philippines.
She told him about the pottery, selling a few pieces, the man coming from the newspaper. Small bits of news like that were easier to discuss than the chasm that had opened up in her heart that she was trying to paper over.
‘That’s great, Mum.’ He seemed to be smiling a lot.
‘Anyway how are you, darling; how’s Adity? How’s it all going?’
‘Yeah, great, we’re in Bulabog Beach, Boracay – it’s awesome! Anyway, that’s why we’re calling.’
The screen went a bit fuzzy and then Adity appeared at the front of the screen. ‘Hi, Maddie!’ She was wearing a white T-shirt and her hair was scraped back with a red hairband. She waved at Maddie. She looked young, fragile, beautiful. Ed had moved behind her, but then he lifted up her hand and shoved it in front of the camera. Suddenly Maddie was looking at a shiny gold ring with a tiny diamond in the middle.
‘So, Mum, yeah, er, we’re engaged!’
And there it was. Her life had just been catapulted into an entirely new direction. One minute, he was bound for
university, graduation, a job somewhere and saving for a deposit on a flat; now engaged to a beautiful Indonesian girl. Would he stay in Asia? She plastered a smile onto her face.
‘Oh, Ed! What a shoc— um, surprise. Congratulations! What next?’ She wanted to talk to him about young love, about how things changed, about not being seduced by an intoxicatingly beautiful girl and what would the future hold, but she thought it best to say nothing at the moment.
‘Well, Adity’s now applying to uni in the UK, aren’t you?’ He turned to look at Adity and smiled at her as the screen flickered for a while.
Maddie exhaled. ‘Right.’
‘Well, she’s transferring her course from Jakarta, so we will go to uni together, then get married.’
‘Great idea.’ Maddie beamed. And then she lost them; the screen went fuzzy.
Would love be enough? Should Maddie intervene and tell Ed that maybe he was making a mistake?
Then a little voice inside her head said, Oh and you got it all right, did you? She swept some crumbs off the table and put her chin in her hands.
Who could she call? His dad or his real dad? Both of them were a no-go zone as far as she was concerned. She would never pick up the phone to Tim for advice on Ed, and how could she pick up the phone to Greg about Ed? He’d probably never talk to her again. But she had to talk to him, tell him. She glanced out at the bay. The water was dark and broody today with a murky, aubergine sky swirling above it.
‘Mum? You still there?’ The screen flickered.
‘Yes! Ed.’ She leant into view.
‘The thing is, we’re coming back to the UK, and Adity wants a party but, Mum, we want to do it properly—’
‘Have it here! At Maris Cottage! I insist!’ It was out of her mouth before she could think twice.
It was one way of getting Ed to come back for a bit. He needed to get things ready for uni – he’d been away for seven months now. She shook her head. First things first, she would plan the best party for them, get to know Adity better and help Ed on his way to his new life.
She was desperate to see Greg – she would happily skip over a pit of snarling alligators to get to him. Could she get Greg to the party? Try to build a bridge? Or would Ed just smash it down? He’d be furious if she invited him, and yet Greg was his father. She could have them both in the one place. It could be amazing. She twisted a loose strand of hair around her forefinger. She wanted the party to be one to remember. And, despite all the sadness she felt, there was a tiny flicker of hope, too.