appointments, even her precious bike), she always realises it at some point. She’s spent half her life retracing her steps. But she’s never lost a chunk of memory entirely, not even when she’s been really drunk. It’s very, very weird. Almost like her brain malfunctioned last night.
She won’t mention it to Amber, or to her mother, and she probably won’t tell Lewis either. She can hear his voice right now: ‘Oh Rubes, what are you like?’ There’s no point reinforcing the stereotyped view they all have of her.
Maybe she needs to go to the doctor … Can you get early-onset Alzheimer’s in your twenties?
Just need to get organised, she tells herself as she tidies Mabel’s extensive collection of toys, hoovers the sitting room and even mops the kitchen floor. She gathers up the clean, dry washing and makes a pile of ironing – actually doing the ironing would be too out of character and would arouse suspicion, so she stops there.
For most of this time Mabel bounces happily in her chair, although she’s frightened by the sound of the vacuum cleaner. By the time Ruby’s given her a mid-morning snack and changed two nappies in quick succession following an untimely poo, it’s too late to go to the park. Besides, the sky has clouded over and it looks miserable out there.
‘Let’s do some reading instead,’ Ruby says, reaching for a baby board book called On the Farm. She sits on the carpet with Mabel in her lap and makes animal noises and silly gestures, most of which Mabel finds very entertaining. Gratifyingly, she is giggling her little head off when Amber and George walk in.
‘Aww, look at her!’ says Amber, rushing forward and scooping Mabel up in her arms. ‘I’ve so missed you. Have you had a lovely time with Auntie Ruby? Have you been a good girl?’
‘She’s been perfect,’ says Ruby, lying more for her own sake than Mabel’s. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but she didn’t seem to miss you at all. Maybe when she first woke up, but other than that …’
‘What time did she sleep until?’
‘Six o’clock.’ It’s a guess, but Ruby tries to make it sound definite.
‘Wow! She must have had a bad night.’
‘No, not really.’
‘What time did she go to bed? It must have been very late,’ says Amber suspiciously. ‘When was her last bottle? You didn’t feed her after midnight, did you? I said only water—’
George intervenes. ‘What she’s trying to say is thank you so much for looking after her and doing such a brilliant job, eh, Amber?’ He shakes his head in despair. ‘Sorry, Ruby.’
Ruby shrugs, knowing Amber too well to take offence. ‘Nothing to apologise for.’
‘I just need to know where she is in her routine, that’s all,’ Amber says. ‘It wasn’t a criticism.’
Ruby smiles. ‘It’s fine. Tell me about your night away. How was dinner? Did it live up to its Michelin star?’
‘Yes, it did actually,’ Amber says, smiling slyly at George. ‘Thanks, Rubes, it really helped to have some time away from the grind.’
‘Any time.’ Ruby stands up. ‘If you don’t mind, I’ll get going. Lewis is cooking lunch – allegedly.’
‘How is he? We haven’t seen him for ages,’ says George.
‘He’s fine.’ Ruby puts on her jacket. She could add that he seems to have an aversion to babies, but decides that wouldn’t be very tactful. ‘Busy at work.’ She casts around for her bobble hat and, finding it, pulls it over her head. ‘Right. I’m off. Just hope my bike hasn’t been nicked.’
‘Oh, can I have the door key?’ Amber asks. ‘It’s our only spare. I keep meaning to get more cut, but you know how it is …’
‘Yeah, sure.’ Ruby feels in her pockets, then looks in her bag, emptying it onto the carpet. ‘Um … not sure where I put it … In the kitchen, probably. Or maybe by the changing unit.’ She searches both places, but the key’s nowhere to be seen. ‘Sorry. I can’t remember what I did with it.’
Amber groans. ‘Oh Ruby, what’s the matter with you?’
‘When did you last use it?’ asks George.
‘Yesterday. We went to the park, then came home. Haven’t been out at all today.’
He turns to Amber, who is now irritably opening and shutting drawers, picking up objects even though it’s obvious the key couldn’t possibly be lying underneath and slamming them down again.
‘Relax, hon. It has to be in the flat, otherwise Ruby wouldn’t have been able to get back in, would she? Don’t worry, it’ll