Page 23 of The 3am Shattered Mums' Club

Daz pulled his mouth down.

Mel clocked his response in the mirror. ‘Yep, there definitely are.’

Last night had been another bad night with Skylar. Mel had tried everything: extra feeds, winding, teething powder. In the end, all she seemed to want to do was fall asleep on Mel’s chest. Mel could feel the nagging pain in her lower back, the area that was already fragile from carrying a baby inside her for all those months.

‘Mum, can I have a sleepover tonight?’ Leia was next to Daz in the doorway. Daz moved away and walked Sky to the window in the bedroom and started chatting about birdies.

‘Yes, who with?’ Mel said absently.

‘Maddy.’

‘Yep, no probs.’

‘Thanks, Mum – you’re the best.’ Leia came into the bathroom and kissed Mel’s cheek. ‘What are you doing today?’

‘Not a lot. Mainly chilling out. I have a HIIT workout I want to do later – need to get back in shape to start working again.’

‘You look great, Mum,’ Leia said, as she left the room.

‘Oh, Nanny is coming over for lunch,’ Mel said as it just came to her. Shit, she thought. She had nothing in.

Mel looked at herself in the mirror again, trying to see what an eleven-year-old girl saw as she examined her hair. No greys. She was lucky, her mum didn’t have a scrap of grey in her hair when she died at fifty-one. If she wanted to remember what her dad looked like and if there were any greys in his hair, she’d have to look at Facebook and his annoying profile picture with him sidled up to his girlfriend. There was too much water under the bridge between them. He had, over the years, tried to maintain some sort of half-hearted relationship with her and Leia, but Mel had never quite bought into it. He hadn’t been to see Skylar yet. Apparently, he’d been feeling under the weather and didn’t want to pass it on to the little ’uns. Mel found her body had tensed up thinking about Gary, as she referred to him because Dad didn’t always feel like the title he deserved. She went into the bedroom and put herself into a downward dog where she had a flashback to Doug’s yoga class and so quickly tightened her pelvic floor.

‘Woah there,’ came Daz’s voice from behind her. ‘Now there’s a sight for sore eyes!’

‘I doubt it’s your eyes that are sore this morning, babes. It was me who was up with Sky from two until four remember?’

‘I know, darlin’, but it’s you she wants. You smell so much better than I do.’ Mel felt both of Daz’s hands on her hips, he began embedding his crotch between her buttocks. She swung her head over her left shoulder.

‘Where’s Sky?’

‘With my mum.’

‘Shit, she’s here already?’ Mel pushed herself to standing, sending a perplexed Daz to one side.

‘It’s nearly twelve o’clock. She said she was sorry for being a bit early.’

‘Shit, I’ve nothing in, Daz. I have to run to the shops – you make your mum a brew. I’ll be back in ten minutes.’

Mel flew down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. It was just when she had reached the third step from the bottom that she felt her ankle go over on itself and felt a very definite crack. The pain seared through her like a knife stabbing through her leg. She cried out as she fell to her bottom. But as she sat there, pain shooting through her whole body and feeling as if she could cry like a baby, the first thing that occurred to her after the realisation that she wouldn’t be doing any burlesque gigs for some time was that she could get a cleaner now.

* * *

‘You just put your feet up there, love, and I’ll see to the lunch.’ Irene gently laid Mel’s foot, which was tucked into a special boot on top of a pillow. Bess pushed her wet nose against Mel’s hand, forcing it to her soft head for a pat. It gave Mel some comfort and reminded her why she loved dogs so much. They were the best companions when you really needed them.

‘I came as soon as Irene called,’ Mike, her father-in-law, said from the other side of her. ‘Fancy that! A fractured ankle. Could have been much worse, love.’ Mike scratched his head, then went and sat down on the sofa where Sky was in her bouncy chair. ‘Hello, little lady.’ He took Sky’s little hand as she thrust it out towards him, trying to grasp at him. ‘Are you saying hello to your grampy?’

‘Sexy boot, babes!’ Daz came over and kissed her on the forehead. ‘And there and back to A&E within three hours. That’s not too bad, is it?’

‘Yes, but I have no lunch. Irene has looked after Sky and bought and prepared lunch and is now running around after me? What kind of bloody host am I?’

‘A tired one, I imagine, with a little baby to look after,’ Irene said. ‘Now don’t you worry, dear, Mike is here now – he left golf early to come over. Nothing usually gets him away from his game.’

‘No, only my favourite daughter-in-law in peril,’ Mike said, still looking at Sky. Mel smiled despite the pain. Then she looked at Irene.

‘But what about your afternoon tea with Gail?’ Mel said.

‘Oh, don’t you worry about Gail – she’s big enough to look after herself. Besides, she always eats all the best cakes and leaves me with the egg sandwiches. I hate egg sandwiches, don’t I, Mike?’

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