As soon as the door opened, Katie smelt the burning and swore under her breath as she pushed past them all to get to the kitchen.
‘Hot,’ Baby Thomas pointed out helpfully as she pulled the burnt pork joint out of the oven.
‘Auntie Katie, you said a bad word,’ Jack said, looking seriously impressed as he rushed into the kitchen, his eyes as wide as saucers.
A light, musical laugh came from behind him, and Katie looked up to see Sam and Lydia striding into the kitchen, her hand still firmly clasped around his arm. ‘I’m not sure what’s de rigueur in terms of home-help nowadays, but it seems a bit of a poor show to attempt to give all the children hypothermiawhilstburning the mealand thencorrupting their young minds with foul language.’
Right, yes, of course, she thinks I’m an employee, Katie thought, and on reflection she couldn’t really blame Lydia: after all, Katie wasn’t exactly dressed for a dinner party, what with her jeans, trainers and huge puffa coat which Rob often commented made her look like a cross between the Michelin Man and a sleeping bag on legs. Put that with the fact that her chocolate brown hair was piled on top of her head in a messy knot, and her mascara was no doubt a thing of the past after the run-in with the snot and snow, and she could understand why Lydia would not even consider that Katie could have a place at a dinner party glamorous enough to attract the likes of Sam.
Katie would have loved to have offered her a cool smile and explain in an equally posh voice that she was in fact Sarah’s best friend and thus ranked higher in the pecking order than Lydia in many ways. But she knew that her undoubtedly beet-red face and her thick Welsh accent would ruin any attempt at putting this woman in her place. Confrontation was not one of Katie’s strong points. But she did decide to at least defend herself against the hypothermia charge. Didn’t this bitch ever make a snow-angel as a child? Was she actually spawned as the well-groomed, condescending piece of perfection in front of Katie now?
‘The boys were wearing their waterproofs,’ she said defensively, as Jack and Finlay came barrelling into the kitchen in just their pyjamas, blonde hair sticking up in all directions after the confinement of their hats. Katie sat Baby Thomas up on the counter in front of her so that she could untangle his podgy, wriggly little body from the confines of its snowsuit. ‘It was just a joke.’ She shrugged. ‘Kind of like a crop circle but in the snow. You see, Benji – that’s their other son – is into aliens and I thought maybe I could make him think for a second that they had landed in the front garden … and … well …’ Katie trailed off, feeling like an idiot.
‘You were trying toscarea child?’ Lydia’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows were now in her hairline.
‘To be fair, he probably had it coming,’ Sam put in as he raked his hands over his face and, as always, avoided eye contact with Katie. She was surprised that he would defend her, but to be honest there was little argument that Benji did indeed have it coming; anyone who had spent any significant time with him would know that.
‘I really did,’ Benji said as he sauntered into the kitchen wearing his Angry Birds pyjamas. He put the iPad up on the counter. ‘But you know you’ll have to do better than that, don’t you, Auntie Katie?’ He smirked at her and jumped up onto the counter next to Baby Thomas. ‘I mean,aliens? I was born six and three quarter years ago, not yesterday.’
Katie narrowed my eyes at him. ‘I’ll get you back, you little punk.’
‘Not bloody likely,’ he said, sticking his finger into the icing of the cake Frankie had dropped off earlier and shoving it into his mouth.
‘I have my ways to torture the likes of you,’ she told him ominously before lunging in and grabbing him so she could blow raspberries into his neck.
‘Get off! Get off me!’ he shrieked, and when Baby Thomas started giggling Katie transferred the raspberry-blowing to his tummy.
‘Katie,’ Sarah said as she breezed into the kitchen, totally unfazed by the chaos in front of her. ‘Everything under control as usual I see.’
Katie made an eek face at Benji, who just continued to smirk at her. She then swept Baby Thomas off the counter and back onto her hip before facing Sarah. ‘Sare, I –’
‘Oh Sam!’ Sarah exclaimed, cutting Katie off. ‘You made it. I’m so gl …’ She stopped abruptly as she caught sight of who was holding onto his arm. Sarah frowned and looked between Sam and Lydia for a moment, an expression of exasperation and, bizarrely, even disappointment passing across her face. Katie had no idea what was going on although it was obvious that Sarah had not expected him to bring a date.
‘Sarah, this is Lydia,’ Sam said, his feet planted wide apart and his eyes stony, almost as if he was challenging her to say something. For the first time since Katie had seen them together, he voluntarily touched Lydia, laying his hand over hers on his arm. Sarah looked for a moment like she was going to rip both their heads off. But years of practice dealing with her children had given her infinite patience, and after a few beats she managed to plaster a fake smile onto her face.
‘Lydia, hi. Of course I know who you are. Great work onHollyoaksby the way,’ she said, extending her hand.
Thatwaswhere Katie recognized her from: she was an actress – if you could callHollyoaksacting – and she was continually in the gossip magazines. Katie thought she could remember seeing a recent picture of her with a really famous Hollywood actor. What was she doing in South Wales? ‘Always a pleasure to meet one of Sam’s girls.’
Lydia frowned at the obvious put-down, but took Sarah’s hand with a fake smile of her own.
‘I’ve actually stopped the soaps now,’ she told Sarah whilst they shook hands. ‘I’ve moved into film, you might have seen –’
‘Katie, why don’t you go and get changed?’ Sarah asked, cutting Lydia off mid-sentence and taking a slowly drooping Baby Thomas off Katie’s hip before transferring him to her own, with his little legs splayed wide to accommodate her bump. Katie eyed the pork joint guiltily and Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll order curry.’
As Katie turned into the corridor she heard Lydia’s voice saying, ‘I’m so sorry but I mistook her for the help; I didn’t realize she was related.’
‘Oh no, she’s not really their auntie,’ said Sarah. ‘She’s –’
‘Goodness, I’m so glad,’ interrupted Lydia. ‘I must say I was surprised. I mean, the way she’s dressed … and that accent … makes much more sense that she’s an employee and not a –’
‘She’s my best friend,’ Sarah cut Lydia off, her voice vibrating with anger.
Katie stifled a giggle as she trotted off down the corridor. There was no point being offended, and she was sure Lydia would pay for that comment by the end of the night.
Chapter 2
Give up on me already
