‘Actually, Alice, since you’re home I need you to look after Charles.’
‘Pardon?’ I’d been so busy trying to calculate how much I had saved up for my freedom fund, I’d missed her total change in tack. She’d even wiped away the sneer. I replayed her last words and scrambled to pick up the loose thread. ‘I mean, how long are you away for?’
‘Only until tomorrow,’ she said, waving her hand in the air and then examining her nails. ‘I’m sure even you can manage that.’
Don’t bite.
‘When tomorrow? I have…’ I almost blurted out the word ‘work’ but checked myself at the last second. ‘Plans.’
‘Then I suggest you change them,’ she said, dropping the pretence of asking nicely and hitting me full-on with her best glare.
Two could play at that game, and I’d learned direct from the master thanks to years of first-hand experience. ‘Why should I?’ I planted my feet and squared up to her, matching her glare for glare, but then gentle fingers stroked my cheek.
Charlie’s soft touch reminded me of his presence and here I was drawing battle lines with his mum, potentially forcing him to choose sides. I couldn’t lose him too so I dropped my gaze to the floor and handed Mum the victory. I could see her relief but then her eyes turned sharp again as her scheming mind got to work. Within seconds, her scowl transformed into something else I couldn’t quite read, but whatever it was made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
‘You’d like to spend the day with Aunty Alice, wouldn’t you, Charles?’ she asked, adopting her ‘best friend’ tone even as she deceived him with the whole ‘Aunty’ bullshit.
Charlie nodded so hard his entire body bounced up and down in my arms and I had to adjust my grip or risk dropping him.
‘Daddy’s been invited to step in as guest of honour at the annual gala in London tonight,’ continued Mum in her sickly-sweet sing-song voice as she pretended to be talking to Charlie. ‘Daddy is very excited, and it will do wonders for his career too, so he couldn’t possibly turn down such a prestigious invitation, could he, Charles?’
Charlie obediently shook his head. Like the poor kid had a clue what ‘prestigious’ meant.
‘No, that’s right,’ Mum said. ‘It would be terribly rude of Daddy not to go, wouldn’t it Charles?
Charlie nodded on cue, clearly loving the attention and blissfully unaware that he was being used as a pawn in her passive-aggressive game. ‘Yes, Mummy.’
Mum rewarded him with a smile, and not the fake one she occasionally blessed me with either: this one made her look even younger than her thirty-five years so that we really did look more like sisters than mother and daughter, adding further credence to her lie. The regular Botox injections helped too, though they did nothing for me except help blank my emotions.
It was no wonder people genuinely believed her when she introduced me as her wayward younger sister and acted like she was some kind of saint. I’d once considered telling everyone the truth but it would have come down to her word against mine. Nobody would have believed me. I’d just be the nasty little girl trying to stir up trouble for her wonderful big sister out of spite or jealousy.
‘Fine,’ I huffed. It wouldn’t be too bad if I only had to swap my lunch shift with one of the other girls and still get in for the evening shift. ‘What time will you to be back?’
‘Oh I’ve no idea,’ she said smugly, throwing in a laugh too. ‘Perhaps you ought to clear your diary for the entire day.’
‘What? It’s not that simple. I can’t just—’
‘Are you going to let Charles down now, too?’
Too?
Wow, she was really working me over today. It wasn’t worth wasting my breath to argue with her when she was in this mood. She’d only throw every past misdemeanour at me, holding onto them tighter in a pathetic attempt to maintain some control over me. Like that had ever worked.
‘No, I said I’d do it.’ The irony was that I’d have agreed right away if she’d asked me nicely instead of manipulating me. I could think of far worse things than hanging out with Charlie for a couple of days, even though it meant calling in some major favours at work. Time spent with Charlie gave me a much-needed break from keeping up the mean girl act; a holiday of sorts where I wouldn’t have to keep my defences on red alert the whole time.
‘I should hope so too.’ Mum avoided meeting my eye and dipped her head to brush an imaginary speck of dust from her dress but her hairline lifted to betray her smirk. A thank you would have been nicer. ‘It’s the least you can do really, considering everything Derek has done for you?’
Ah yes. Derek, the almighty brother-in-law who was just as in the dark as Charlie about my heritage. I’d always wondered if he would have treated me differently or perhaps not let me get away with quite as much these past few years had he known he was my step-father? Alas, I’d never know. It was one of life’s unanswered conundrums that would most likely haunt me forever.
‘So what time are you leaving?’ I asked, trying not to sound too desperate to get away from her to regroup. Why did every conversation with her have to leave me feeling even more worthless than I’d started out?
‘Derek has sent a car for me.’ Mum flipped her wrist over to check her ridiculously expensive watch. ‘It should be here in ten minutes.’
‘Ten minutes?’ My arms tightened involuntarily around Charlie. If I got any more tense I was in danger of snapping my collar bone. ‘What would you have done with Charlie if I hadn’t come home in time?’
‘Oh I do wish you wouldn’t call him that, Alice. His name is Charles,’ she said, completely avoiding the question. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and finish packing. Charles, you be a good boy for Aunty Alice, won’t you?’
Aunty Alice, my arse.
‘Yes, Mummy.’
‘Good boy. Of course you will.’ She leaned in to plant a kiss on the top of his head then wandered back the way she’d come without saying another word to me. No instructions, no goodbye, nothing. The woman was unbelievable.
‘It’s just you and me then, Charlie Bear?’ I said, adding false cheer to my slightly raised voice, but if Mum heard me using the pet name then she didn’t rise to the bait. ‘What shall we do first?’
‘A picnic,’ he yelled, reaching for my face until we were nose to nose. ‘Please, please, please!’
I managed a laugh. ‘OK, you’re on—’
‘Hooray!’
‘But do you remember me saying I needed to get changed?’
‘Yes.’ His bony little shoulders slumped, along with his bottom lip.
‘Why don’t you grab your colouring book and some crayons and bring them up to my room?’
That perked him up. ‘Your room?’
‘Yeah, sure.’
‘Can I—’ He stopped speaking and darted a glance to the door, then leaned in close to my ear, lowering his voice to a whisper. ‘Can I look at your pictures instead?’
‘OK, Charlie,’ I whispered back. ‘But it has to stay our secret.’
‘Yay.’ He grinned and threw his arms around my neck again, squeezing me so tight I could barely draw breath but I didn’t mind.
I