Page 42 of Good Sisters

‘You too.’ She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

‘Will I see you at the next game?’

‘Definitely.’

Victoria pulled Sebastian away as he looked back over his shoulder.

‘Don’t go there, he’s a jerk,’ Liam said to Jess.

‘Tosser,’ Luke agreed.

‘Wanker,’ Leo said.

Judging by the way Jess was looking at Sebastian, it was clear she was not listening to a single word her cousins were saying.

11. Louise

I pressed play, grabbed the shampoo bottle, and as quickly as possible washed Clara’s hair. I had exactly two minutes and twenty-one seconds before the song ended.

Clara hummed along with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. Just as the song ended, I rinsed the last suds from her hair.

‘Towel, Mummy,’ Clara shouted.

I grabbed a warm, fluffy towel and wrapped my daughter in it, drying all the water from her body, then quickly tied up her hair in a soft towel on her head.

The whole bath, hair-washing and drying had to happen before the song ended. I had tried to get Clara to agree to a longer song – I had pushed for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – but it had to be Dolly Parton’s ‘Love Is Like A Butterfly’, which Mum had introduced her to when she was a baby.

I handed Clara her soft dressing-gown with no seams, then sat down to catch my breath. Clara hugged the dressing-gown to her.

I was hanging up the wet towels when she said, ‘It was Hannah’s birthday today.’

‘Oh, that’s nice. Did she bring in a cake? Did you all sing “Happy Birthday”?’

Clara fiddled with the belt on her dressing-gown. ‘She brought in a cake, but it wasn’t nice at all. It was disgusting. I said I didn’t like it.’

Oh, no.

‘And Hannah got really angry and said I was mean to sayher cake tasted horrible, but it did. It was a carrot cake and there were bits of carrot sticking out of it. Yuk.’

‘Clara, we’ve talked about this. It’s not nice to say negative things about other people’s clothes or body shape or food or anything about them.’

‘Iknow, Mummy, I didn’t say anything, but she asked me. She said, “Why are you making a weird face? Do you not like my cake? I think it’s the best cake ever,” and I said, “No, I don’t, it’s horrible,” because it was horrible.’

‘I understand, sweetheart, but nobody wants to hear that their birthday cake is horrible.’

‘Well, why did she ask me? If you don’t want to know the truth, don’t ask.’

She had a point. The weird face was probably enough information for Hannah to go on. Still, Clara had to learn how to manage people and situations.

‘Anyway, she said I’m not invited to her party. She said she only invited me because her mummy said she had to invite everyone in the class, even the people she doesn’t like. But because I said her cake is horrible, I’m disinvited.’

Little bitch.

‘Why don’t I ring her mum and explain that you were just being honest?’

Clara looked up at me. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. Her mummy made the cake.’

Oh, for goodness’ sake, why didn’t the woman buy a bloody shop cake that all the kids liked and make all of our lives easier? What kind of a clown makes a poxy carrot cake for a ten-year-old’s birthday anyway?

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