She blinked at me, cheeks turning pink. ‘Great. Well, I’m Kiko. And this is Hannah.’ She patted her baby’s back. ‘I’ll see you in a minute.’
She hurried off, leaving me a precious few moments to take some calming breaths. I thought about the Hoard, waiting for me, and felt the beginnings of a smile.
* * *
Kiko’s house was a modern detached squeezed into a patch of land between two cottages. Inside, I perched on the pristine sofa and scanned the wall of family photographs while Kiko fetched our drinks. We chatted about how I’d started working for Ellen, and a bit about her children, while Hannah played on a mat on the floor. Kiko seemed nice, if a little tense. She asked about my plans for the rest of the week.
I glossed over the fact that my current plan started and ended with ‘survive’.
‘Only, I go to a book club once a month, and it’s meeting this Friday. Ellen founded it, and sort of made me deputy leader now she’s at university.’
‘How does it work?’
‘Um, we chat for a bit, then discuss the book we’ve just read, oh, and there’s drinks and nibbles. At least, that’s the theory.’
‘Oh? What really happens?’
She began to bounce Hannah up and down on her knee. ‘Um, no, thatiswhat happens. Mostly. It’s just, well. Sometimes the discussion gets a bit… lively.’
I wondered what she meant by lively. The question must have shown on my face, because Kiko hastily added, ‘But mostly it’s great. The club are lovely. Most of them. Most of the time. I’m just a bit nervous in case Ellen won’t be there, and I’m in charge. The fights aren’t that bad.’
‘Fights?’
‘No!’ She pulled a slightly manic smile. ‘Not real fights. Hardly ever real fights. It’s just this one woman, Lucille, she can get a bit overheated. And then, well, Ashley gets upset if Lucille makes a comment about Hillary West, with her being a local author and everything.’
‘Hillary West is a local author?’ Ooh, now I loved her even more. Being able to dive into her latest book had been helping keep me sane. The way she wrote about life, and love, and all the crappy things that happened, but somehow left you full of hope… I wanted my life to be a Hillary West story.
‘Yes.’ Kiko stopped bouncing and looked at me. ‘Ashley is her biggest fan. She keeps inviting her to the book club, but never gets a reply.’
‘Sounds… interesting.’
‘It beats Yellow Mickey’s bingo in the village hall.’
I see.’ I saw that I probably should never go to this book club…
‘You’ll come, then?’
‘Um. I guess so.’ I shouldn’t be one to judge a brawling woman, after all.
‘Great! We meet in The Common Café. Do you know it?’
‘I work there on Saturdays.’
‘Oh! You’re Sarah’s new friend! I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection. Well, you’ll be fine, then. She said you’re a strong woman who won’t take any—’ she paused here to cover Hannah’s ears, which was slightly pointless as she only mouthed the next word ‘—crap,excuse my language.’ She beamed, and I couldn’t help smiling back. I liked how this new Jenny was shaping up. I could back up my friend Kiko and deal with a few rowdy women at a book club.
* * *
Dawson and Maddie greeted me in the playground that afternoon with resignation. The triplets were too busy fighting invisible alien koalas to take much notice of who’d picked them up. I shooed them home and set about clearing up the mess from the morning, wincing at the thuds and crashes above my head. After one ceiling-shaking thump, I went to investigate.
The bedroom door wouldn’t open. I gave it a shove, and a rattle, and called through the wooden barrier. ‘Boys? Let me in, please.’
Silence. I gave a good loud knock on the door.
‘Why won’t the door open? What made that massive bang?’
I heard a quick scuffling noise, followed by more silence.
‘I can hear you in there. Open the door.’
