‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t get his hands on my royalties, for one thing. Luckily I’ve opened a separate account for that, but as we’re still married, I don’t know what he’ll do.’
‘Christ almighty, Nina. If you need anything. Anything at all…’
I smiled weakly. ‘Thanks, Em. I’m looking for another job. I don’t know that they’d choose me instead of a twenty-year-old, but I have to try everything.’
‘Which reminds me,’ she said, pulling out a brochure from her bag. ‘I thought this might interest you.’
I frowned. ‘Poldark Tours? I rather think this is your cup of tea.’
‘They’re hiring.’
‘Oh?’ If I could work for them in the mornings after dropping off the kids, maybe I could be home in time for them when they got in, and then continue prepping my arancini in the evenings.
‘Yeah. They’re looking for a tour guide fluent in Italian. Apparently Italians have cottoned on to the show. Something about tall, dark and handsome rings familiar with them, I guess. Anyway, the job sounds like it was made for you.’
‘Indeed it does. I’ll have a read. Thank you.’
‘But you need to have seen the series and know it inside out.’
Which I hadn’t, except for a few excerpts Chanel had shown me on her phone. Mother and daughter were both obsessed.
‘Who’s got time for TV?’ I groaned.
She looked at me, her eyes misting over. My Emma. ‘I hate him for everything he’s done to you,’ she whispered. ‘I wish he fell down the Trevose Head hole, and that the gulls picked every scrap of flesh off his bones.’
And that was two of us.
‘Jesus. I think we need some wine,’ she said. ‘Drown our sorrows and all that.’
‘Too early. How about a nice cuppa instead? I’ve just bought some really good brownies from Old Nellie’s. Here,’ I said, opening the lid off the cake tin and switching the kettle on. ‘Eat up.’
At those words, Callie and Minnie scrambled from their sleeping position to a begging one, their eyes following every bite Emma took.
Emma ran a hand through her angelic blonde curls and sighed. ‘Chanel’s driving me nuts with her obsession with fashion.’
‘I thought you were happy that she takes after you.’
‘I was. But she copies everything I say and do. I want her to have her own personality. She looks like a mini-me.’
I laughed. ‘She’ll grow out of it. If anything, at least you two get along. Chloe counters every single thing I say. To her, you are the cool mum.’
‘How about we swap, then? Just until they’re adults?’
‘Oh, I’d gladly take Chanel – and Chloe worships the ground you walk on.’
‘This game is just too hard, Nina. I’m getting old. Look at me.’
‘Nonsense. You’re gorgeous,’ I said. She was. Fashionable, trendy with a face that wouldn’t look out of place in a magazine.
‘Once upon a time, maybe, but have you seen the wrinkles under my eyes? I’m absolutely knackered. This life is killing me.’
And she only had one kid and a good, stable job.
‘How the hell do you manage?’ she asked and I snorted as the kettle boiled and I made our brews.
‘As you see, I don’t. Here.’
She took a sip of her tea. ‘Thanks. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to get back together with Adam, just so he could deal with some of the parenting. But then I remind myself of what he put me through.’
I nodded. ‘I know, Em.’
‘And when I look around me,’ she said, reaching for a brownie, ‘I see that the pickings are slim. Mhhmmm, these are good!’
‘I’ve put some more for you in a Tupperware.’
Emma was on the prowl, but I had neither the time nor the will, because the minute I took my foot off the pedal and got distracted, it was the moment the kids needed me most. I simply couldn’t do it. And besides, I had lost my, let’s call it, uhm, mojo. And it was fine. But Emma? She had a life, and in a way, I lived vicariously through her, and the restaurants she took her clients to, along with the castles and country houses and amazing venues she worked at on a regular basis. She was always glamorous and her make-up flawless. She was the person I had always wanted to be.
‘In any case, you shouldn’t have any problems at all,’ she said. ‘You’re so gorgeous you don’t even need make-up, with your long black hair, pink pout and perky boobs. Mine need hiking up with a crane in the morning.’
I laughed. ‘Nonsense. You are beautiful, Emma.’
‘I used to be. When was the last time you saw me without make-up?’
‘I can’t recall.’
‘Exactly. And you won’t either, not even at school events. Especially at Northwood school events, where all the single daddies are lurking.’
‘Ugh,’ I said instinctively. ‘Single daddies…’
‘It’s a shame there aren’t any handsome ones around at the moment. Better wait for the next round.’
‘The next round?’ I echoed.
‘Of divorces. Chanel brings home the full account of whose parents are splitting up, whose mum is getting married again to whose dad. By the way, Paul and Belinda Carruthers are having problems.’
‘Shame. They seemed happy.’
‘Exactly – seemed. Divorce is on the up, so next term… I’m banking on the wealthy Northwood fathers. Someone’s got to be viable, sooner or later, and when they are, I’ll be there – either as a wedding planner or a candidate. You should, too, Nina.’
I had always wondered how she hadn’t yet bagged herself a man, what with all her connections. ‘Nah,’ I said. ‘Divorced dads are too bitter. Almost as bitter as me. But seriously, Em, I thought you were holding out for the perfect man, someone like your Ross Poldark.’
She pointed her brownie at me. ‘No one is like Ross Poldark.’
I grinned. ‘You and your ideal men.’
She slapped her forehead. ‘Shit, I forgot I have some calls to make before my suppliers close for the day. Gotta go. Thanks for these, luv,
