‘CRISPS!’
Phoebe was already tearing open the packet. ‘Go away – they’re for me!’
‘No, they’re to SHARE,’ said Pippa, trying to look above it but desperately putting out her hands to scoop up the largest crisps.
‘But I ASKED FIRST!’
‘Ugh, these are PLAIN,’ Jack announced, sputtering crumbs everywhere.
Sofia sat bolt upright, eyes wide.
‘But it’s nearly supper time!’ she said. ‘You can’t have crisps, guys!’
They stared at her over the opened packet, mouths full of crumbs.
‘But our AUNT is here.’
‘What even is supper?’ said Carmen. ‘Do you mean “tea”?’
Sofia frowned as the door opened and in entered one of the shiniest people Carmen had ever seen.
Skylar – as Carmen deduced this must be – had long blonde hair, very good skin, a yoga-fit body and bright blue eyes. She walked in and stared at the burst suitcase lying on the floor and the children squabbling over the crisps as if she wasn’t sure she’d come into the right house.
Sofia looked a little tense.
‘Oh, hi, Skylar!’ she said overbrightly. ‘This is my sister, Carmen.’
Skylar did something that Carmen found astonishing: she held up a finger to tell Sofia – the great lawyer – to be quiet for a second.
‘Hello, children?’
She had the kind of intonation went up at the end.
Immediately they stopped squabbling over the crisps. Pippa stepped away.
‘Namaste, Skylar,’ she said quickly.
‘Namaste,’ mumbled the others, both reluctant to release their grip on the packet.
Skylar let out a beaming smile and turned to face Carmen.
‘Hello!’
‘Uh yeah, hi.’
She really was so pretty, it was hypnotising.
‘It’s just if we’re going to be working together? Sofia doesn’t normally let the children snack? On junk food? Just before we eat? It’s really, really bad for them?’
‘Um, we’re not going to be working together?’ said Carmen, realising as she did so that somehow she’d let her voice go up at the end of the phrase.
Sofia groaned and busied herself over the teapot.
‘I mean, are we?’ said Carmen, turning her face towards her sister.
‘I thought … a couple of nights a week Skylar has university classes … maybe you could … I mean, you don’t have to of course, but maybe you could … cook and do bedtime?’
The children looked at Carmen as if they were as doubtful about this as she was.
