“I don’t care, she still shouldn’t be on the table. And we shouldn’t have to spend hours tidying up. The place should never be allowed to get in that state to begin with. What on earth must she think of us?”
We were all very crestfallen. Normally we’d have left the washing-up till morning, but for once, without even having to be asked, me and Em got started on it straight away, while Cass cleaned up the kitchen. After that, still rather subdued, we went to bed. Em was clutching Bella; I for some reason was clutching my geometry set. I was going to have nightmares now, thinking of Caroline being stabbed in an artery.
In fact I must have fallen asleep the minute my head touched the pillow and gone on sleeping all night, cos the next thing I knew, it was morning and Em was telling me to get up.
“Dad has something he wants to discuss with us … something important. About Caroline!”
“I’ve had a word with Cass,” said Dad. “Now I need to have a word with you two.”
We both turned wonderingly to Cass in search of clues.
“It’s all right,” said Cass. “You don’t have to look so apprehensive! It’s actually something quite exciting. OK, I’m off to work; Becky’s expecting me at the shop. I’ll see you all later.”
Dad waited until Cass had gone, then very solemnly told us to sit down.
“This is important. I need your full attention.”
Something exciting, Cass had said. For one mad moment I had this fantasy that we had won the lottery and that Dad was going to ask us how we thought we should spend the money.
“OK! Right. Now! How would you feel,” said Dad, “about Caroline moving in?”
We gaped. I could feel my mouth dropping open.
“You mean, like … to live with us?”
“To live with us. Yes!”
“She wants to live here?” said Em.
“As part of the family.”
“You mean … she’s not cross with us?”
“Cross?” Dad seemed puzzled. “Why should she be cross?”
“About Bella jumping on the table?” I said.
“And nearly getting stabbed in an artery,” added Em.
“And not liking her dinner.”
“Oh, now, it wasn’t as bad as that,” said Dad. “It wasn’t that she didn’t like it, just that she’s not used to vegetarian food. We should have discussed it! I don’t think it would have hurt to bend the rules just this one time.”
Em opened her mouth to protest, but Dad rushed on. “As for the other things – well! They were just unfortunate. But no harm done, and of course she wasn’t cross! She’s not the sort of person who gets cross. If she were, she’d have been pretty cross with me reversing into her, don’t you think?”
“I guess,” said Em.
“At any rate,” said Dad, “it hasn’t put her off. It’s something we’ve been talking about for a while now. The people she’s renting her flat from want it back, so …” Dad giggled. He did! He giggled. I’d never seen him so happy and excited. “It seems like the ideal opportunity. What do you reckon?”
Em and I sat there at either end of the sofa, not sure what to say.
Em found her voice. “What does Cass think?”
“She’s fine with it,” said Dad. “But I’m more anxious to know how you feel.”
Earnestly Em said, “We just want you to be happy.”
“Yes, but I want you to be happy,” said Dad. “After all, we’re a family.”
“Will it mean you’re going to get married?” I said.
“That’s the plan! If all goes well. And I can’t see any reason …” Dad came over to sit between us on the sofa. He put an arm round each of us, pulling us close. “I can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t. We all seem to get along all right. Don’t we?”
We assured him that we did.
“Well, then!” Dad sat back, beaming. “Let’s give it a go, shall we, and see what happens?”
On Monday, at school, I told Lottie about Caroline coming to live with us. Lottie was all ears! She knew about Caroline. Me and Lottie always tell each other everything.
“So that’s it,” I said. “She’s moving in.”
Lottie’s eyes went big as dinner plates. “Living with you?”
“Cos the people that own her flat want it back. Well, and cos she and Dad think it’s a good idea.”
“Does that mean they’ll get married?”
“Prob’ly.”
Lottie said, “Cool! Then you can be a bridesmaid.”
“If all goes well,” I said.
Lottie gazed at me, head to one side, her nose sort of scrunched. It’s what she does when she’s trying to figure things out, like, Why shouldn’t things go well? She has this really tiny little blob of a nose like a lump of Play-Doh. It makes her look seriously silly!
“D’you want them to?”
“To get married?” I thought about it. Did I want them to? I did for Dad’s sake. It was just that it was a bit strange, after all this time, the thought of having a stepmum. Cos that’s what she would be! And then what about Cass? If Caroline was our stepmum, where would that leave Cass?
“Don’t you like her?” said Lottie.
“I do like her! She’s really nice. Like, she didn’t get mad when Dad reversed into her?” Or when she’d sat on my dividers. “Most people would have been absolutely furious.”
“My mum would have been,” said Lottie. “She nearly got road rage the other day just cos someone cut her up.”
“Well, this is it,” I said. “Dad needs someone that’ll put up with him. You know how hopeless he is.”
Lottie giggled. “Like that time he was going round with his glasses on top of his head, complaining he didn’t know where he’d put them? And that other time he took us to the shopping centre and forgot where he’d parked the car and we all had to walk round for ages looking for it?”
Lottie and I have been friends ever since Year Three. We were in Year Seven now. She knew Dad pretty well.
“So will you be happy,” said Lottie, “if they get married?”
I said, “Yes, cos Dad will be.”
“What about that other person?” said Lottie. “The one you used to think he’d marry.”
I said, “Polly.”
Polly was lovely! And she knew all about history, same as Dad. She was actually a bit like Dad, in some ways. Hugely clever, but not very practical. We’d had loads of fun with Polly! She’d even come with us on holiday once or twice. Cass always used to say that she and Dad were made for each other.
“What happened?” said Lottie. “Has he gone off her?”
“No!