Patti ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook. ‘Might be best to write it out again.’
‘Thanks.’ Sandra wrote out a new list and ticked off ‘get a tattoo’. Then they both handed their lists to Kit who took a snap of them.
‘Perfect! Now watch carefully.’ Kit uploaded both the photo of the lists and the one showing their tattoos. Then she added a caption saying ‘That’s one ticked off both lists.’ She grinned, ‘You’ll soon be influencers.’
Next, Kit showed them how to create a story and a reel then gave them a quick tutorial on how to find people to follow andhow to accept followers. ‘I’ve followed your account. Give your Instagram account name to your family, Sandra, then they can follow you and you can follow them back. Be careful though both of you, you get some weirdos messaging you. I’ll turn off message requests from people you don’t follow and disable message notifications, then you should be okay.’
‘Thanks, love,’ Patti told her. ‘We’d better watch you, so we know how to do it.’
Kit showed them how to go into settings, and the options they could choose. ‘There you are. I bet you soon have loads of followers.’
They both thanked her and Sandra picked up her list and put it back in her phone case which she slipped into her bag. ‘It was lovely to meet you, Kit, but I’d better be going now.’ Then she realised she was still wearing Patti’s beret, sunglasses and feather boa. ‘Oh goodness, I almost went home with these on!’ She took them off and went to put them back in the box.
‘Take the beret, if you want. It looks great with your purple coat,’ Patti told her. ‘And you did say that you’d like to start wearing a hat.’
‘Really? Thank you.’ She put the beret back on. ‘That’s another one off the list!’ She turned to Kit. ‘Thank you, Kit. It’s been a pleasure to meet you. See you tomorrow, Patti.’
10
Kit looked a bit relieved when Sandra left and Patti had an inkling that she had dropped by because she wanted to talk to her about something.
‘Thanks for showing us what to do, darling. Do you fancy a cup of chai and a chocolate cookie? Freshly baked this afternoon,’ Patti added. Chai tea was Kit’s favourite and she’d never known her granddaughter to refuse a chocolate cookie. Or any cake for that matter. Kit was a high-wire of energy and dashed around so much that Patti was sure she could eat a dozen cakes a day and still be stick-thin. Amanda worried about her not eating enough and drinking too much, although Patti tried to reassure her that Kit was perfectly healthy and preferred chai tea to alcohol. In fact, from what she’d seen of Kit and her young student friends, they were a lot more sensible and clean living than Amanda and her friends had ever been. They were more aware nowadays of health, etc., and they couldn’t let rip without it being all over social media. Goodness, the state Amanda had come home in sometimes, and the scrapes she’d got into. Actually, maybe that’s why she worried so much!
‘Please.’ Kit rested her chin on her upturned hands. ‘I still can’t get over my gran being an influencer.’ She reached for a cookie from the plate Patti had put down on the table, her sleeve riding up to reveal some musical notes on the inside of her wrist. Kit had a few other tattoos, an intricate dragon on her right upper arm, an orchid on her left shoulder, it was her birth flower, and some stars on her ankle.
‘How is the tattoo by the way? Is it healing okay?’
‘It’s fine.’ Patti rolled up her sleeve and showed her. ‘It’s a bit red and raised but that will go soon, won’t it?’
‘Yeah, keep putting the cream on it though.’
‘I will.’ She’d heeded this advice religiously. She frowned as she noticed that Kit’s nails were bitten down to the quick. Something she always did when she was troubled. That must be why she had bought the packs of false nails. ‘Now, how are things with you?’
Kit’s dark-lined eyes met Patti’s and she chewed her bottom lip. ‘Seb wants me to move in with him.’
Patti sat back and studied her granddaughter’s face. Kit had been going out with Seb for a few months now. He was a little older than her and seemed a nice enough lad, but she got the impression that he was a bit of a drifter. Not the sort to settle down. Not yet, anyway.
‘And you don’t want to?’
‘I like living with Carly but Seb’s flatmate, Noah, is leaving to live with his girlfriend and he can’t afford the rent by himself.’
‘That’s not a good enough reason for you to move in with him, Kit. Let him get himself another lodger.’
‘He said he doesn’t want to. He wants to live with me.’
‘Kit, darling, this is a big step. And if it’s not really what you want to do you shouldn’t do it. While you’re living with Carly youcan relax, have downtime, a night off from Seb now and again. If you’re living together, you won’t be able to do that.’
Kit’s blue eyes met hers. ‘Seb said if I loved him, I’d want us to live together.’
Patti felt a surge of anger flood through her but she kept her tone light. ‘And if he loved you, he’d want you to be happy and do what’s right for you.’ She reached out and squeezed her granddaughter’s hand. ‘Why not take a bit of time to have fun before you shackle yourself to a lad?’
Kit nodded slowly. ‘That’s what I want to do but…’
‘Seb’s living arrangements aren’t your responsibility. He can get himself another guy to share with.’
‘The thing is,’ Kit twisted a loose strand of her blue hair around her finger, ‘he said he has to get someone quickly so it might be another girl.’
Now the fury sparked out of Patti. ‘Then let him! How dare he try to emotionally blackmail you! You’re worth more than that.’
