Page 84 of The Bad Mother's Diary

Clarissa said, ‘Oh wait. My God. It wasn’t you … … who was stood up at the village church?’

I said, ‘I wasn’t stood up. I was the one who left.’

Clarissa gave me a pitying smile. ‘Ohdear. Very sad. Especially for Daisy. That you couldn’t make a go of it …’

I felt myself nodding. Then, out of nowhere, I started crying.

Alex’s black eyes went all serious. He snapped at Clarissa, ‘Do you make a habit of upsetting people?’

Clarissa said I was obviously having ‘an emotional day’. She rummaged in her Ollie and Nic handbag and thrust a business card at Alex, saying, ‘Jonathan and I have been meaning to catch up since the Granger thing.Dogive us a call.’

Alex didn’t take the card. Instead he turned his back on Clarissa and asked me how I was getting home.

I said my car had broken down so I’d probably end up catching the bus.

Alex frowned at my stroller, laden down with water wings and soggy swimming towels.

He said, ‘You’re not taking the bus. I’ll drive you back.’

I told him that Daisy needed a car seat.

He said, ‘We can take the car seat from your broken-down car.’

And then the stupid tears came again, and I couldn’t talk anymore.

When we got to Alex’s MG, he had a bit of trouble folding up the stroller. He kept kicking at the folding mechanism like he was trying to start a motorbike. But he managed it eventually.

Then he took Daisy from me and put her in the child seat, testing all the straps to make sure they were secure.

He even blew raspberries at Daisy and made her smile.

‘You’re just like Jemima,’ he said. ‘When she was a baby. Utterly adorable.’

The car seat looked a bit weird in Alex’s sports car. If the MG could have talked, it would have said, ‘This indignity must never be spoken of’.

I ended up in the front seat.

I was such a mess that Alex had to reach over and do my seatbelt for me.

I sniffed, ‘I really don’t mind getting the bus.’

Alex said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You have a baby with you.’

I said, ‘They do let babies on buses.’

He said, ‘Still. Public transport with children …’

I said, ‘Some peoplehaveto take the bus. Not everyone can inherit a hotel chain.’

Alex said, ‘I didn’t inherit a penny. The Dalton hotel chain wasn’t left to me – I had to fight for it. I was never given any money by my family. Everything I own, I earned myself.’

I said, ‘Including this flashy car?’ Trying to make a joke, sort of.

Alex said, ‘It isn’t flashy. It’s elegant.’

I said, ‘But a vintage MG sends a message though, doesn’t it? You know – that you’ve done well in life.’

He said, ‘I don’t drive an MG to show off how much money I have. I drive it so people know I’m Alex Dalton. Not Harold Dalton. My father hates this car.’

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