‘Well … er … they only cost a pound …’
‘I’ve ordered some from John Lewis,’ says Dad with an air of finality.
‘John Lewis!’ Mum’s voice shrills even higher. ‘We can afford John Lewis now, can we? I see, it’s one rule for you, Graham, and another for me. Well, as long as I know where I stand …’
‘Jane, don’t be ridiculous. You know as well as I do that a pair of socks isn’t going to ruin us …’
Surreptitiously I take Minnie by the hand and lead her out of the kitchen.
Mum and Dad are so scratchy at the moment, Mum in particular. Luckily, I gave Minnie supper at Pizza Express on the way home, so she just needs to have her bath and some milk. Then, when she’s in bed I can log on to my secret email account and see if there are any replies yet …
‘Becky.’ Luke’s voice makes me jump like a scalded cat. There he is, coming down the stairs. What’s he doing home this early? Does he know about Elinor? What does he suspect?
Stop it. Stay calm, Becky. He doesn’t suspect anything. He had a meeting with a client in Brighton, that’s all.
‘Oh, hi there!’ I say brightly. ‘Minnie and I were just … out.’
‘That would make sense.’ Luke gives me a quizzical glance. ‘How’s my girl?’ He reaches the bottom of the stairs and swings Minnie up into his arms.
‘Lady,’ says Minnie seriously.
‘Lady?’ Luke tickles her chin. ‘Which lady, poppet?’
‘Lady.’ Her eyes are huge and reverent. ‘Puzz-le.’
Aargh! Since when did Minnie know how to say ‘puzzle’? Why does she have to expand her vocabulary now? What other words will she suddenly come out with? ‘Elinor’? ‘Ritz Hotel’? ‘Guess what, Daddy, I went to see my other grandmother today’?
‘Puzz-le.’ She suddenly plucks the puzzle pieces out of her pocket and presents them to Luke. ‘Lady.’
‘How funny!’ I laugh quickly. ‘We were looking at puzzles in a toy shop and there was one of the Mona Lisa. That must be why she’s saying “puzzle” and “lady”.’
‘Tea,’ adds Minnie.
‘And we had tea,’ I chime in desperately. ‘Just us. Just the two of us.’
Don’t say ‘Grand-muff’, for God’s sake don’t say ‘Grand-muff’ …
‘Sounds good.’ Luke drops Minnie to the floor. ‘By the way, I just had a phone message from Michael’s assistant.’
‘Michael!’ I say absently. ‘That’s great. How is he?’
Michael is one of our oldest friends and lives in the States. He was Luke’s business partner for ages, but now he’s more or less retired.
‘I don’t know. It was a bit strange.’ Luke takes out a Post-it and gives it a puzzled glance. ‘It was a bad line, but I think the assistant said something about 7 April? About not being able to make a party?’
Party?
Party?
The world seems to freeze. I’m pinioned, staring at Luke in horror. My heart seems to be thumping loudly inside my head.
What was Michael’s assistant doing phoning? She was supposed to email. It’s supposed to be a secret. Did I not write that big enough? Did I not make it clear?
‘Has he invited us to something?’ Luke looks perplexed. ‘I don’t remember getting an invitation.’
‘Me neither,’ I manage, after what seems like six hours. ‘Sounds like the message got garbled.’
‘We couldn’t make it out to the States anyway.’ Luke is frowning at the message. ‘It’s just not feasible. And I think I’ve got something on that day. A training conference or something.’
‘Right.’ I’m nodding frantically. ‘Right. Well, why don’t I get back to Michael about it?’ I take the Post-it from Luke, trying very hard not to snatch it. ‘Just leave it to me. I want to ask after his daughter, anyway. She sometimes comes to The Look, when she’s in town.’
‘Of course she does. Where else would she go?’ Luke gives me a disarming smile, but I can’t return it.
‘So … would you mind giving Minnie her bath?’ I try to speak calmly. ‘I’ve just got a quick call I need to make.’
‘Sure.’ Luke heads for the stairs. ‘C’mon, Min, bath time.’
I wait until they’ve reached the landing, then leg it outside to the drive, speed-dialling Bonnie’s number.
‘Disaster! Catastrophe!’ I barely even wait for her to say hello. ‘One of the guests’ assistants rang up about the party! She left a message with Luke! I mean, I managed to save the situation … but what if I hadn’t?’