‘See you soon,’ Caitlin called as he left the bakery.
Around fifteen minutes later, a text arrived from Archie.
We’re all ready for the birthday girl! Archie x
She smiled at his use of a kiss and wondered if he was panicking over it now he had hit send. Sure enough, another text arrived seconds later.
Whoops! Don’t go telling Lyle I’m sending kisses to his woman! A
This time a smiley face accompanied the message and Caitlin giggled to herself and shook her head. True Archie Sutherland style: act now, overthink later.
‘Come on, Gracie darling, time to go!’ she called up the stairs.
Moments later, Grace appeared in her navy-blue dress complete with sparkles. ‘Does this look okay, Mum? It’s not too babyish, is it?’
Caitlin gasped and her eyes welled with tears. ‘You look absolutely stunning, sweetheart. Now come on, let’s go and partaaay!’ She did a silly dance on the spot.
Grace rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, maybe don’t say, or do,thatin front of people though, eh?’
Caitlin feigned hurt. ‘Are you trying to say I’m not down with the kids?’ Her rapper stance was the straw that broke the camel’s back, apparently.
Grace burst out laughing. ‘I’m nottrying to sayit, Mum. I’m being direct! And definitely don’t do that either!’
‘So, no backwards baseball cap then?’
‘Nope.’
‘I could get some—’
‘Nope.’ Grace giggled.
‘Well, how about—’
‘Absolutely not. Now come on, Mum, we’re going to be late!’ She tugged at her mum’s hand and Caitlin locked the door of the bakery.
Moments later, when Caitlin pushed through the doors to the village hall and Grace stepped inside, she gasped and brought her hands up to her face.
‘Mum! It’s amazing!’
The blinds were closed and there were fairy lights strewn across the ceiling. There was a table stacked with gifts and a buffet laid out and covered to one side of the room. The balloons were no ordinary inflated latex, these balloons were filled with LED lights and were secured to the tables with star-shaped weights. Even the tablecloths were navy-blue and dotted with glitter. There were silver stars hanging from the ceiling in between the fairy lights and Archie had set up coloured searchlights on the stage that shone, twisted, and turned in time with the music that was playing over the speakers. When Archie had said he would sort things, this wasn’t at all what Caitlin had expected. He must have spent a fortune.
Archie was perched on the stage, his laptop set up and ready. ‘Afternoon, everyone! School’s out!’ A cheer rang out around the room. ‘Now let’s get the summer started by welcoming our birthday girl!’ he announced into his microphone, and everyone turned to face Grace and Caitlin.
Applause rang out around the room, followed by a very loud rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’.
It was magical and all down to Caitlin’s wonderful friends; especially Archie, who had gone all out to make the event a special one. She would owe him a lifetime of free cake after this, but she didn’t mind at all, seeing the joy and wonder on her daughter’s face.
Grace was immediately swamped by a crowd of her friends, including Evin, but Cora was nowhere to be seen yet.Maybe Lyle likes to leave things to the last minute, Caitlin pondered.
Once the party was in full swing, Caitlin stood with Morag and Jules as Ruby explained the rules of the dance-off. Caitlin watched in awe as Ruby taught a few moves to the enthralled group of kids.
‘She is going to make such a fantastic dance teacher,’ Morag said.
‘Isn’t she just,’ Jules agreed.
‘I wish I could move like that without putting my back out.’ Caitlin giggled.
‘Same!’ the other two women said in unison.
