Washing under one arm, Eleanor picked up a pile of Adam’s papers from the dining room table. She cast an eye over them, then, deciding she had no idea what they were or where to put them, put them back down again. How the hell was she supposed to keep this place tidy when the mess was so important to everyone else? Maybe she should try getting her husband a reward chart. It had worked when Toby was acting like a four-year-old. Then again, Toby had actually been four.
‘I … well, I suspected.’
‘You could have just told me and saved me the trouble of forgetting to do it myself,’ Bea grumbled.
‘Where’s the fun in that? Do we have many RSVPs?’
‘I’ll have to check my spreadsheet,’ Bea replied.
‘You mean the napkins you’ve been writing the plans on?’ She felt her friend cringe.
‘You saw that then?’
‘Seriously, Bea, you spend all day organising other people’s lives and yet one party and you’re a bundle of napkins and Post-its. I sent the invites out last Monday; we should have some replies by now.’
Eleanor glanced at the clock guiltily. If she didn’t start Noah’s shape time soon, they’d get behind on lunch and the whole of the rest of the day would be out of whack.
‘I’ll get you a list, okay?’ Before Eleanor could answer, Bea asked, ‘So what have you been up to today?’
She said it like an afterthought, a token question knowing the answer would be short and sweet.
‘Oh, same old,’ Eleanor replied, hating herself for not even being bothered to make something up. ‘This morning we went food shopping and this afternoon we get to have story time and make cupcakes.’
‘Sounds like fun. Save me a cake?’
‘If you fancy risking a bout of food poisoning, there’ll be one here with your name on it.’
Bea laughed. ‘Did you think any more about what we talked about at lunch the other day?’
‘Not really.’ In truth she’d thought of little else; the idea of getting her teeth into something again had set off a spark inside her that she hadn’t felt since before Noah was born. Excitement at doing something that was just for her. But she’d mentioned it to Adam and he’d been his usual uninspiring self. ‘Don’t you have enough to think about with this place and the kids?’ he’d asked, casting a disparaging eye at the plates still stacked in the sink from their dinner. And that had been that.
‘You should, you know. It’d do you good to do something that wasn’t for everyone else for a change.’
‘I will,’ she promised. ‘I will definitely think about it.’
She hung up, taking a look around at all the things she needed to get done before Toby came home from his nan’s and she lost any chance. Plus there was story time and tummy time and every other kind of time being a Good Mother required. Just the thought of spending another six hours with no adult to talk to made her want to scream. She took Noah from his bouncer and laid him on his mat, propped up with the special tummy-time contraption that Adam still shook his head at, surrounding him with brightly coloured and suitably stimulating toys. He kicked his legs happily, and feeling like a complete shit, she flicked on the kettle again, pulled out her laptop and googled ‘starting your own business from home’ in one window, and ‘cleaners in the SY area’ in another.
10
Karen
Karen stepped up her pace, moving through the crowds with an expert fluidity. So much for the failing high street. She should be in a hurry more often; her bad luck might save some of these shops from administration.
In a moment of uncharacteristic disorganisation Karen had walked out of the house that morning without her lunch, only remembering it was still in the fridge when lunchtime had been marked by the sound of her stomach groaning in protest. Not that she’d minded having to go into town to buy something – it gave her a chance to get out of the office and check out the calf-length leather boots she’d had her eye on for weeks.
Cutting through the shopping centre was the obvious choice, and as she passed the Pandora store near the entrance, she glanced at the window instinctively, a gesture that could have been described as either vanity or self-consciousness, to check her hair.
She almost didn’t see them. Maybe had the centre been less busy, had the throng of shoppers not steered her closer