His wife didn’t tell him how much she wanted to get back to her job and a familiar routine.
Or how much she missed the friends she’d left behind there.
27
MARY
All of a sudden, it was the Monday before Friday’s dress rehearsal, and I still had eight outfits to either finish off, adjust to fit, or, to my agitation, start from scratch.
Back when I’d volunteered for this enormous project, I hadn’t quite accounted for how little time there was with a baby who wanted feeding, and keeping clean, and needed cuddles and smiles.
I’d never done this without Shay and Kieran to help with the trickier bits. I had brilliant ideas, but neither the time nor the skill to make them happen. Some parts just needed an extra pair of hands. Thankfully, these days, I was being offered several.
When I let Sofia know I couldn’t make coffee morning, she somehow read between the innocuous lines of my message.
Mary
Sorry, not going to make it today. I need to work on the costumes. Hope that’s ok x
Sofia
No it’s not ok. Where are you on a scale of calmly working to a perfectly achievable schedule, that happens to allow no time to hang with your friends, and rampaging panic attacks because no way on earth will you be ready on time? And how can we help?
Mary
I’m somewhere between Officially Freaking Out and beating myself up for volunteering for something I should have known I couldn’t handle. Had a brief moment of weakness and looked online for fancy-dress shops. I don’t know how you can help – don’t shun me when the NLCCCCC is a giant wardrobe malfunction?
Sofia
Right. We’re on our way.
Within the hour, I had four women, too many small children and two more sewing machines set up in my dining room. They’d brought cake, of course, as well as a tub from Rosie’s freezer that she thought might be sausage casserole. Most importantly, they brought stories, jokes, unrelenting positivity and some much-needed perspective.
‘I can promise you, Mary, you could throw together costumes that are ten times worse than the Princess Santa outfit you made me, and they’d still be the best we’ve ever had. We’ve barely made it past tea-towel and dressing-gown shepherds. One year, we had an angel wearing a white bin-bag, because they spilt Coke on their original robe at the last minute,’ Rina reassured me as she glued tiny stars onto Star Santa’s dress.
‘Besides, while these costumes will blow people away, if the last few aren’t that special, everyone will be far too distracted with the utter bonkersness of the script to notice,’ Rosie added, adjusting the buttons on Shrek Santa’s waistcoat.
‘Don’t forget the props,’ Li said, eyes widening as she ironed the creases out of some stubborn velvet, assuring us that she’d be more help if she didn’t sew. ‘Cheris and Carolyn have asked to borrow our ride-on lawnmower.’
‘They’ve convinced Moses to let them hire a snow machine,’ Sofia said, shaking her head as she cut out a pattern for Joseph’s tunic.
I couldn’t help smiling. ‘While on the one hand I wish it were another month away, at the same time I can’t wait to see it. For many different reasons.’
Whether the concert turned out spectacularly, or turned into a spectacle, it would be a night to remember.
By the time they’d all left, just after two, the progress we’d made more than made up for the time spent clearing up the trail of destruction created by four small children left largely to their own devices for hours.
The women were all too busy to offer much time for the rest of the week, but they promised to drop in when they could, and at the very least bring more cake.
I looked at the pile of fabric, weighed it up against the finished costumes hanging up along the living-room curtain rail, listened to Bob starting to whimper and called the man I most wanted to see, who the very thought of also happened to put me in such a tizzy, my finger trembled as I pulled up his number.
‘Hi.’ Beckett sounded slightly breathless – relieved? – when he answered. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes. And no.’
I went on to stammer out the situation, and unsurprisingly he listened, took notes and made me feel reassured as no one else could have done.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said once we’d come up with an action plan.
