Page 45 of The 3am Shattered Mums' Club

21

SOPHY

Mel and Aisha sat forward in their chairs in the coffee shop. It was Monday morning and the coffee shop was packed with women with infants and small children, catching up with friends after the weekend. Mel and Aisha each had a twin nuzzled in their arm as Skylar sat happily in the car seat attachment clicked into the buggy. Sophy cradled her oat milk latte, looking intermittently into Max’s pram and began telling the girls about what had gone on over the last seventy-two hours.

On the Friday night, two days before Charley’s birthday picnic, Sophy had laid the table with the better crockery and cooked Jeff’s favourite, toad-in-the-hole with Bisto gravy, just the way his mum had always made it for him. It had taken Sophy three attempts to get the batter just right, and the kitchen looked like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. She had also let a few profanities loose and then looked at Max in his little pod on the kitchen island and apologised.

Jeff had said he would be late home, which under normal circumstances would have annoyed Sophy, but it gave her the chance to bathe Max and get him down him to sleep before Jeff came home. She began reheating the toad-in-the-hole about seven, ready to eat at seven thirty, but by eight thirty, the toad-in-the-hole was shrivelled and dry, and there’d been no sign of Jeff. She had called his phone three times and each time it had gone straight to voicemail.

She’d opened the wine and poured herself a glass and sent a text through to Jeff.

Dinner is ruined. Where are you?

Sophy had been about to turn the oven off and go up for a bath when Jeff had walked through the front door.

‘Honey, I’m home!’ he called. She heard his keys drop on the unit in the hallway and his shoes being kicked off. His laptop landed with a thump on the wooden floor and then he was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, his tie loose and his hair a little messy. He came into the kitchen and bent down and kissed Sophy on the cheek.

‘Oh my god, you stink of booze?’ Sophy recoiled.

‘Just a quick drink with the team to celebrate a successful month. Not bad considering it’s only April, hey? The housing market is booming.’

Sophy looked on as Jeff made his way to the fridge and thought how interesting it was that Jeff always seemed to have something to celebrate. She watched as he started making himself a gin and tonic.

‘Did you mention something about dinner? I’m starving. I’ll wait in the lounge until it’s ready. Gimme a shout.’

Sophy stood up and followed Jeff into the lounge. She peered through the blinds and saw his car parked outside.

‘You drove home?’

Jeff had already turned the television on and was channel surfing. ‘Eh?’ He half turned to Sophy, although keeping his eyes on the TV screen.

‘Your car, Jeff? You’re drunk and your car is parked outside, that means you drove home.’

‘Ah, babes, it’s only round the corner.’

‘But you could have knocked someone over, killed someone.’

‘Have you been watching daytime TV soaps again? Stop catastrophising.’

Sophy took a deep breath. ‘Dinner. Is. Ready.’

Jeff had looked up at her. ‘Is it? That was quick.’

‘It’s been ready since seven o’clock.’ Sophy had lost all ability to add any expression to her voice.

‘Right, okay, better eat it then.’ Jeff hauled himself out of the chair, still keeping one eye on the TV as he walked slowly backwards out of the lounge and through into the kitchen.

Sophy followed him, pulled the shrivelled toad-in-the-hole out of the oven and put it in the middle of the table, then she boiled the kettle, pressed three minutes on the microwave to heat the greens in butter. When it was all ready, she brought the gravy and greens to the table. She served Jeff a large portion and watched him tuck in without any complaints. Sophy was thankful the alcohol had numbed his taste buds.

When he had finished and Sophy had eaten one sausage and some greens, she began to speak. ‘Jeff, we need to discuss the house.’ Sophy continued without waiting for Jeff to respond. ‘When I moved in here three years ago, you said you would put my name on the house deeds. It didn’t happen, and I didn’t expect it to then, but I am earning a decent wage from sponsorships now and, well, we have Max, together. He is our son. If something should happen to you, well then where does that leave me? I’m not very up to scratch with family law, so I really think it would best if you just put me on the deeds now as we discussed.’

Jeff frowned and Sophy felt a sinking feeling in her gut. She knew that look. It was a look that came before Jeff saying something that not only did she not want to hear, but would not make any sense either.

‘But I’m the main earner here, I mean my wage pays for everything. It’s not as if you have anything to worry about, is it?’ Jeff had carried on tucking into his food. ‘Great dinner, babes. My favourite. Well done.’ He’d pointed to her plate. ‘Eat up – you need your strength for the night feeds.’

Sophy took a deep breath. ‘I know I don’t have anything to worry about now, but things could change. Anything could change.’ The image of Jeff a few weeks ago, takingthatcall was always fresh in her mind. The consequences of such a conversation could be bad for her and Max, if indeed it had meant anything at all. But she knew it did. She had that deep, primal feeling that was telling her things weren’t as they once were, that Jeff was slipping away. She had to do something for Max’s sake.

‘Besides, it’s time to move forward.’ Sophy saw Jeff’s face morph into a frown. ‘We have Max now and—’

---