Page 65 of Love at First Sight

‘No!’ India squeals. ‘Really?! God, those two. It’s the epitome of a love-hate relationship. And that makes me even angrier she’s put the kibosh on you and Cal. You need to go over there before picking up Henry and tell her about Stray Kids. Then she’ll have a minute to mull it over before you’re back with him. Plus, if she just got laid, you might find her more amenable to what you have to say.’

‘I feel like she’s still mad at me …’ I start, but India shuts me down.

‘Mad at you for nothing, might I remind you! Now come on. Take back your power, don’t let Cal or Ali or some stupid Health and Safety form stop you from fulfilling your destiny as the best goddamn outdoor-events-for-kids leader Stoke Newington has ever seen! Go!’

And with that, I power-walk back to Ali’s house,rehearsing what I’m going to say over and over again in my head.

I knock at the front door as a way to announce myself, but still use my key to get in. I never feel weird about going into the house when it’s Henry-related, but when it’s not there’s a strange chasm between what I normally do and what is polite. Plus, if what happened earlier is anything to go by, I should probably always knock. As I walk through the hallway, Ali yells from the living room, ‘In here!’

She’s curled up on the love seat with a script and her laptop, in little shorts and a baggy sweatshirt like she’s been styled for a Nancy Meyers movie. She even has a steaming cup of herbal tea beside her.

‘Thanks for letting me come over before I get Henry,’ I say, and she gestures to the sofa opposite.

‘Sure,’ she says. ‘What can I do for you?’

You wouldn’t think that an hour and a half ago I’d seen her half naked with her ex-husband. Neither of us addresses it, neither of us pauses to let the other knowyes, that happened, and no, we don’t need to talk about it. We just glide over it like a pair of professional skaters.

‘I wanted to update you on the status of Stray Kids,’ I say, and she furrows her brow.

‘Stray Kids?’ she says. ‘What’s that?’

Sometimes Ali plays dumb as a power move. She’ll act like she doesn’t know what this important-to-you thing is and makes you explain it to her again, so that you realise you shouldn’t have bothered her with it without herhaving to say it. I know from experience that the very worst way to handle that is to remind her that shedoesknow what you’re on about. You have to play along, pander to her, so it’s clear you understand she runs the show.

‘Stray Kids,’ I say, trying not to sound in the least bit annoyed, ‘is my outdoor learning programme. I got funding for it from the council. It’s where kids can come to a big open park and play without adult intervention, as a way to encourage life skills like resilience, trust in their own decision-making, that sort of thing.’

‘Oh,’ says Ali sternly. ‘I thought you decided not to pursue that.’

I tilt my head, like I’m considering her point. ‘Hmmm,’ I say. ‘I know we talked about how it might affect my looking after Henry, but that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. The project is going ahead, in my own time, outside of what I do for you. We’re due to open …’ I trail off, because with the Health and Safety assessment issues, that’s in the air now. ‘Soon,’ I settle on. ‘But as a courtesy, I wanted to sit down and reassure you, and just keep you in the picture.’

Ali shakes her head. ‘I think you’ve misunderstood,’ she says. ‘It wasn’t a suggestion. You can’t do it. Henry has to be your sole focus.’

She smiles, like of course I understand that the matter is now settled.

‘It’s all gone a bit far for turning back now,’ I say. ‘Adverts are going out across social media and end-of-term school bulletins next week, and we’ve just had anoffer to pay for an advert on the back wall of the pub – you know the one they rent out to local artists? We’re advertising there, too.’

‘I’m sorry,’ says Ali, not sounding sorry at all. ‘But my answer is no.’

‘But …’ I say, wanting to put my foot down and explain that I’m not asking for anything, I’m telling her.

Her phone rings, and she looks down to see who it is. ‘My agent,’ she says, reaching for it. ‘Thanks for stopping by, Jessie.’

Before I can say anything, she’s answered the call with a cloying, cooing ‘Alfred, darling, how are you?’ and tottered off to the garden to continue her Nancy Meyers movie cosplay. I am stunned at how obtuse she’s capable of being, how utterly single-minded. I might work for Ali, but she doesn’t run the actual world. This isn’t fair. She can’t treat me like this!

Picking up Henry is, as always, a balm. He’s sticky from sunscreen and an afternoon spent mostly outside, one of several friends who came to play in Rex’s back garden.

‘And so then because I got first go on the trampoline, Evie got first go when we did beanbag balance racing, which I didn’t even care about because I needed the toilet then so didn’t play.’ He’s talking at a million miles an hour. I’m doing my best to concentrate, like he deserves. I’m doing what I can to push Ali out of my mind. ‘And then, after that, Rex’s nanny said we could build a fort with all the sheets in the shed so I was on the bad-guys team withPhillip,’ he babbles, interrupting himself to say, ‘Oooooh, ice lollies! Can we get an ice lolly? For a treat? Just for a treat?’

‘Let’s get one at the park opposite the house,’ I say. ‘We can play for a bit, if you want.’ I’m in no rush to see Ali so soon again this afternoon.

‘Yes!’ Henry says, pulling at the air in a victory fist-pump. ‘Thanks, Jessie! You’re the best nanny ever!’

He gives me a squeeze and I could melt.

‘Rex pushed me over today,’ he says, like he’s just remembered. I ask him if he’s okay as the bus pulls up, and confident Henry hops aboard, leaving me to tap my phone as I follow. ‘I’m fine,’ he tells me. ‘Rex didn’t mean to. He cried, actually, because it didn’t feel good to him to do it. He was having big feelings.’

‘Hmmm,’ I say. ‘It sounds like it.’

At the park Henry sees a few local kids who he knows from swimming lessons, and so happily runs off to play, forgetting about his pressing need for an ice lolly.

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