‘And I’m flying out to Amsterdam tonight. What are you planning to do with Josh and Ella, cart them up to London with you?’
He was being deliberately unhelpful, Maxine decided, because he didn’t want her to win the part, get famous and leave him with the task of finding a new nanny. How selfish could a man be?
‘Serena’s here,’ she reminded him. ‘She isn’t doing anything tomorrow. Why can’t she look after the kids?’
‘I’m not a kid,’ declared Josh, wandering into the kitchen and looking cross. ‘I’m nine years old and a half. Maxine, we’re still hungry. Could you make some more peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches?’
‘You aren’t a kid,’ Maxine retaliated briskly. ‘You’re nine years old and a half, and I’m busy arguing with your father. Make your own horrible sandwiches.’
‘What are you arguing about?’
‘I want to audition for a TV commercial.’ Maxine looked sorrowful. ‘And your father won’t let me take the time off to do it.’
‘How long does it take?’
She sighed. ‘Only a few hours.’
Josh’s eyes lit up with excitement. Turning to Guy he said, ‘Oh Dad, say yes! If Maxine’s on television I can tell all my friends at school. They’ll be dead jealous ... please say she can go to the audition!’
Maxine crossed her fingers behind her back, assumed a saintly expression and silently vowed never to tease Josh about Tanya Trevelyan again.
Guy, looking suspicious, addressed Josh. ‘Is this a setup? Did she tell you to come in here and say that?’
‘No.’ Bewildered, Josh said, ‘What’s a set-up?’
‘OK.’ Returning his attention to Maxine he said wearily, ‘But only if Serena agrees. And you’ll have to ask her yourself.’
Maxine could have kissed him. Instead, more prudently, she said, ‘Thank you thank you thank you,’ flashed him a dazzling smile, and made a dash for the kitchen door before he could change his mind. ‘I’ll go and speak to her right away ...’
Josh caught up with her at the top of the stairs.
‘My angel,’ cried Maxine, picking him up and showering kisses on his blond head.
‘Yeeuk!’ said Josh. Put me down. Kissing’s for cissies.’
‘You were brilliant.’
‘I know I was.’ He wiped his hair, then grinned. ‘You aren’t the only one around here who can act, you know. Come on Maxine, hand over the ten pounds.’
It wasn’t that Serena actively disliked children, she had simply never found much use for them. An adored only child of parents who had themselves been only children, she had wanted for nothing and enjoyed their undivided attention to the full. Extended networks of brothers and sisters and cousins, as far as the young Serena could make out, only meant having to share your toys and wear hand-me-downs. And if there were four children in one family, she deduced, each child could only receive a quarter of the love. She couldn’t understand for the life of her why any parents should ever want more than one.
Those had been Serena’s thoughts throughout her own childhood. People change, however, and by the time she reached her early twenties she had revised her opinions. The prospect of having to endure pregnancy in order to produce a baby had become more and more off-putting.
Not only would it mean putting her career on hold for almost a year, but there was no sure-fire guarantee that you wouldn’t turn into a blimp and lose your figure for good. Besides, there was no rule that said you had to bear offspring anyway. She could go one better than having one child, she concluded happily. She needn’t have any at all.
And, as time passed, Serena looked around at her friends and saw that she had made absolutely the right decision. Children were expensive, time-consuming and inconvenient. As for their table manners ... well, they could be positively grotesque.
But then along had come Guy, a coveted catch by any standards, and Serena, who up until now had made a point of steering well clear of men-with-children, realized that he was simply too good an opportunity to pass up. Josh and Ella were something of a drawback but at least there was no neurotic ex-wife lurking in the background. And Guy employed a full-time nanny, which Serena decided was another bonus. She wouldn’t actually be expected to look after them herself.
‘Serena, Josh has got his toast jammed in the toaster and there’s all smoke coming out of it.’
Serena, who had been reading Harpers & Queen with her fingertips carefully splayed, suppressed a sigh of irritation. As children went, Ella and Josh weren’t bad – and their table manners, at least, were faultless – but they certainly knew how to pick their moments.
‘Tell him to switch the toaster off,’ she said. ‘I can’t do anything now. My nails are wet.’
Ella gazed enviously at Serena’s glistening nails, the exact colour of pink bubble-gum.
‘Could you paint my nails for me?’
‘Your father wouldn’t like that.’
‘Daddy isn’t here. He’s in Holland.’
‘I think you’re too young for nail polish.’ Serena’s attention was drifting back to Galliano’s autumn collection. Darling John, one of her favourite designers, had such an eye for colour and line. Those velvet jackets were divine .. .
‘When your fingers are dry, will you do my hair in plaits then? With ribbons threaded through them?’
Serena raised her gaze from the glossy pages. Ella was shifting from foot to foot in front of her, looking hopeful.
‘What?’
