Page 138 of Good Sisters

‘Don’t let her get under your skin so much. Try to block her out. The end is in sight,’ Sophie said.

‘It’s a pain when I have to go over all the work I give herbecause she’s so useless and unreliable. It makes my job even harder.’

‘I’m good with PowerPoint. I could help you,’ Jess offered.

‘You’re so sweet, but I’ll figure it out. Thanks, though. Any word from Pippa? Her rehab ends this weekend, right?’ I wanted to change the subject. Thinking about Zoë raised my blood pressure.

Sophie nodded. ‘Yes. Jack says she seems to be sober on the phone and determined to get her life back on track. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I hope so, for Robert’s sake. He misses her.’

‘I hope so for your sake. It’s not easy for you either,’ I noted.

‘He’s a sweet kid and Jess has been amazing with him, but it does mean I have to do a lot of juggling.’

‘I think stepkids are a blessing. Honestly, I love Christelle so much. She just slotted into our family so easily that I couldn’t imagine anything different.’

Sophie bristled. ‘It’s different for me, Julie. Christelle was an adult when you met her, a well-adjusted, self-sufficient, independent young woman. She was amazing with the triplets and Tom. She enhanced your life. Robert is a little boy who is really upset about not seeing his mum and, judging by what we saw that day in the apartment, I’d say Pippa’s neglected him. He acts up a fair bit, which is understandable, but he needs a lot of mothering and minding. It’s a completely different situation from yours, and if Pippa doesn’t stay sober, I could end up raising him full-time. I love him, but it’s not always easy.’

‘I’ll help you more, Mum, I promise,’ Jess said.

‘You’re a huge help already, sweetheart.’

Sophie was right. Her situation was vastly different from Julie’s. Robert was a lovely kid, but he was very young andneedy. You could see he was affected by having an absent mother.

Julie backed down immediately. She clearly did not want another argument with Sophie. ‘You’re right, it’s not the same. I think Robert is very lucky to have you. I hope Jack appreciates it.’

‘Dad thinks Mum’s amazing with Robert. He’s always saying so to her.’ Jess jumped in to defend her dad.

‘Good, because she is,’ I said.

We heard a baby roaring.

‘Gavin’s here.’ Julie giggled.

Gavin came into the kitchen with a howling Lemon, her little face all scrunched up. ‘I need to feed her.’ Gavin reached down for his hemp bag, which looked like something you fed horses from, and pulled out an odd-looking bottle.

‘What’s that?’ I asked.

‘It’s a biodegradable baby bottle from this new company.’

‘Is it made of cardboard?’ Sophie looked shocked.

‘Some kind of cardboard, yeah. Remember my friend Forest?’

We all burst out laughing.

‘Who’s Forest?’ Jess asked.

‘Forest, a.k.a. Brendan Smith, was Gavin’s friend from our baby brother’s brief stint as an eco-warrior. Gavin brought Forest home for dinner one time and he smelt so bad Mum got the air freshener out and sprayed all around his chair.’

We cracked up at the memory of Forest drowned in lavender-scented Glade.

‘His smell lives on in our noses.’ Julie chuckled.

‘I mean, surely eco-warriors are allowed to use soap?’ I added.

Gavin began to pour milk from a carton into the cardboardy bottle.

‘Ha-ha. Anyway, Forest has started this company that makes really sustainable, biodegradable, climate-friendly stuff.’

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