Veronica and Layla talked about the other items on the calendar including how next week Layla was going to make chocolate chip cookies and take them to the school crossing lady. ‘We always thank her for stopping the traffic but I want to say an extra thank you,’ Layla declared. ‘I wonder who will have crossed off the most over summer,’ she went on as Audrey sat next to them to eat the beans on toast she’d made for her lunch.
‘I think you’ll be up there at the top of the class,’ Veronica smiled. She looked closely and recited from one of the days, ‘Do a sibling’s chores’. Looking at Layla she suggested, ‘You’ll have to think outside the square for that one.’
‘You could do my chore if you like,’ Audrey put in without even looking up from the piece of toast she was scraping through bean juice. When she did look up at Veronica, she told her, ‘I’m not saying it to be lazy, I’m helping her fill in the calendar. And I did help with the litter collecting, kind of.’
‘What are your chores?’ Layla wanted to know.
‘Gran doesn’t make me do too much; she keeps the house clean anyway and probably thinks I’d never do it as well, but I do have to take the bins out on bin day… although they are heavy some days so maybe not that.’ She thought again. ‘I’m supposed to cook dinner a couple of times a week, although I’m not a very good cook.’
‘The shepherd’s pie you made was perfectly fine,’ said Veronica.
‘The potato on top had lumps,’ Audrey confided in Layla. ‘And I’d made it so thin the juice from the mince seeped through and kind of ruined the effect. It was a pile of slop by the time we got it to the table.’
‘I can help with dinner, and I’m good at mashing potatoes.’ Layla looked between them. ‘Daddy lets me do it all the time.’
‘See, good idea of mine wasn’t it?’ Audrey looked to Veronica. ‘And it means Layla gets to tick off the item on the calendar. I can be your surrogate sibling,’ she told the little girl.
‘I’d like that.’
‘Well, that’s settled.’ Veronica managed to hide her pleasure that these two were getting on after weeks of Audrey moaning about the piano playing. ‘How does tonight sound? You could make my one-pot chicken. And you should of course eat with us and invite your dad. Unless he already has something planned.’ She was getting carried away now and wondered whether it was Audrey or Layla’s presence in the house that had made her grasp at any opportunity to socialise. Perhaps it was a bit of both.
‘He’s planned a Chinese takeaway. He’s been working and said he wouldn’t get a chance to shop.’
‘Then that’s settled. We’ll all eat together.’ She got a look from Audrey, who seemed to think she’d gone doolally. But it was Layla’s company, her and Audrey not butting heads, the infusion of youth, not to mention the kindness calendar, which all had Veronica’s spirits soaring. And these days she was learning to go with it, enjoy the moments as they happened. She had a flutter of panic that she wouldn’t cope with guests, but Charlie had a way of diffusing any tension and she felt sure he’d bring his A game tonight. At least she hoped he would. Or there’d be more fireworks than she saw sparks in the distance every November the fifth.
‘Audrey will be your kitchen assistant,’ Veronica told Layla with a look in Audrey’s direction, ‘on hand to help with anything you need.’
After a pause Audrey agreed, ‘As long as I’m not the only cook, I’m happy.’
Veronica clapped her hands together. ‘You’ll be able to cross another item off that calendar. Oh Layla, you’re doing really well with this, do you have September’s yet?’
‘Mrs Haines is going to give us that one on the first day of school.’
Audrey, one hand using her fork to scoop beans into her mouth, looked closely at the calendar. Veronica watched the two of them discuss what it was like at Layla’s school, which children had done things properly, those who weren’t managing so well, like the boy in her class who’d washed his dad’s car but managed to collect a pebble in the sponge and left an enormous scratch on the boot.
‘I can’t wait to see what’s on next month’s calendar,’ Veronica told Audrey, reeling her into their plans, making her a part of it too. ‘I’m already involved by helping Layla learn the piano.’
‘We have to be kind to ourselves,’ Layla elaborated, ‘and one item was to learn a musical instrument. I chose piano.’
‘I didn’t hear you today – I thought you’d be straight on it after a week’s holiday.’
‘Veronica said we needed to give your mum and you a break.’
‘I don’t mind, kid, go for it while Mum’s out.’
Veronica couldn’t have been more shocked. In fact if she hadn’t been sitting down she may well have slumped into her chair. ‘She’s right, make the most of it, Layla. You go and warm up and I’ll join you.’ She knew so little about her daughter that she had no idea whether Layla’s piano-bashing – they couldn’t call it playing just yet – would irritate her. Veronica worried that it might bring back memories of when she used to play herself. That was something else Herman put a stop to, as he did with anything out of the ordinary or that he couldn’t see a straightforward use for. Academia came first and it was as though anything else was considered a waste of time.
‘Does a piano really need warming up?’ Audrey wanted to know as she rinsed her plate beneath the tap and they were left in no doubt that Layla had already found the instrument.
Veronica raised her voice above the noise. ‘The piano might not, but you should make sure your fingers are warm, and your wrists. You need to build up
