Page 47 of Good Sisters

‘Sorry, Harry, it’s just not happening. I don’t want my Jess near that family.’

‘To be honest, Sophie, the boys on the squad are on such a tight schedule, he won’t have much time to see her. They’re going all-in for the cup this year.’ Harry tried to reassure me.

‘Good.’

‘And what about you, Louise?’ Harry asked, offering her a biscuit. ‘Is Clara still asking about her dad?’

Louise nodded. ‘She will not let it go. I don’t know what to do. If there was a way to track him down, I’d do it for her sake.’

‘I have to say the day Christelle contacted me was a shock. A huge shock. I didn’t know she existed. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me.’

‘Excuse me!’

Harry rubbed Julie’s back. ‘The sixth best thing, after Julie and the boys.’

She smiled at him.

‘Anyway, the point is that she’s enriched my life and all our lives beyond measure. I wish for your sake and Clara’s that you could find him. I think it would be a good thing.’

‘But then again, he might be a deadbeat,’ I said. ‘Christelle happens to be fantastic, but Clara’s dad might not be.’

‘That’s possible,’ Harry acknowledged, ‘but if he turned out to be a great guy, it would be lovely for Clara to know him.’

Louise put down her coffee. ‘I tend to agree, but I have no way of finding him and she has a loving family, so she’ll be fine.’

‘Of course she will.’ Julie smiled at Louise.

I reached for my jacket. ‘I’ve got to fly. I have a pile of things to get for Robert’s sixth birthday party.’

‘You are a saint,’ Julie said.

‘Where’s his mother?’ Louise asked.

‘Oh, you know Pippa, busy, busy, busy …’

‘Doing what?’ Louise frowned.

‘That’s the million-dollar question. According to Quentin, she’s shagging some married multi-millionaire.’

‘Oh dear. That won’t end well,’ Harry said.

‘Would you like some help on the day?’ Julie said. ‘Tom and I could come over.’

‘That would be great, thanks.’ It would be fantastic to have the back-up. I was not looking forward to a houseful of sugar-crazed six-year-olds.

‘I’d offer to bring Clara, but she hates parties,’ Louise said.

I patted Louise’s shoulder. ‘No worries – and thanks again for the cool bag.’

When I got home, I could hear Jess giggling on the phone. It was a high giggle, a flirty giggle. I knew that giggle well: I’d used it myself a lot as a teenager. She’d been using it a lot in the last few weeks and was spending hours on her phone. Whoever was at the other end, and I was pretty sure it was bloody Sebastian, she liked them a lot.

I knocked gently on her door.

‘We have to leave now or you’ll be late for your hockey match,’ I said, peeking in.

She waved me away and said to the screen, ‘It’s just my naggy mum. Oh, my God, she’s always on my back. Like, seriously, she’s such a pain.’

I knew all teenage girls went through phases of finding their mothers annoying, but it still stung. After her brief obsession with Pippa, Jess had come back to me and we’d been so close. But then she’d turned thirteen and for the last two years I had become a nag, a pain, the worst mum in the world, a psycho mum and, my personal favourite, a bore.What would you know? You’re so boring. I bet you never even went out when you were my age.

---