Page 49 of Good Sisters

‘Swear, Jack?’

‘Sophie, I’m not going to miss my son’s birthday and, by the way, thank you for organizing it. Pippa’s brief mother-of-the-year show after Robert’s fall hasn’t lasted long.’

It had lasted exactly one week. She’d fawned all over Robert, gleefully accused us of neglect, but then got bored of ‘mothering’ and handed him back.

‘I’ll send a text out to the WhatsApp class group this morning to get an idea of numbers, book the magician and sort out the food.’

Jack pulled me to him. ‘You’re an angel, Sophie. Thanks for being such a brilliant stepmum. I know it’s not easy.’

I nuzzled into the crook of his neck. ‘Thank you for appreciating what I do, unlike our grumpy teen.’

‘Ah, Jess is great. You’re hard on her.’

I tensed. In Jack’s eyes, Jess could do no wrong. When she shouted at me, she was just tired. When she was rude, I’d ‘obviously’ wound her up. Since the moment he’d laid eyes on her in the delivery room, Jack had been head over heels in love with his daughter. While I loved that he was so crazy about her, it bothered me that he never said no to her. I had spoiled her too when she was younger, but I’d come to realize that spoiling kids did them no favours. Life was tough and you needed resilience to get through it.

I pulled back from Jack’s embrace. ‘I know she’s great, but she was rude to me this morning and that’s not okay. By the way, she’s been chatting to someone a lot lately.’

‘Really? Who?’

‘I’m pretty sure it’s Sebastian Carter-Mills.’

Jack zipped up his suitcase. ‘Hopefully he’s not as much of a dick as his father. He’d better be nice to Jess or I’ll be having serious words with him.’

‘Relax, Rambo. I think it’s just flirting and chatting so far. Maybe it’ll fizzle out soon. He’s very tied up with the rugby, so he hardly has any time to be socializing. Julie says the triplets barely have time to breathe.’

Jack shuddered. ‘I can’t stand the thought of some hormonal fifteen-year-old all over Jess.’

I grinned. ‘You were a hormonal fifteen-year-old once.’

‘Exactly. I know what was on my mind, and it wasn’t chatting.’

‘Stop!’

Jack laughed, kissed me and left to catch his flight.

13. Julie

‘What? Is Daddy not going to be here on my special day?’ Robert’s face fell. ‘So … is it just you here? No Mummy or Daddy or Jess?’ His big brown eyes blinked.

‘Daddy is trying hard to get back in time, but his plane is delayed. Hopefully your mummy will make it in time for the cake.’

Jess crouched down. ‘Hey, of course I’ll stay. I’ll just tell the girls I’ll see them later. We’ll have great fun, okay?’

Her little brother beamed up at Jess and I saw Sophie mouthing, ‘Thank you,’ to her. Jess had just finished piling on her make-up when Sophie had the text from Jack to say he was stuck at Heathrow. Poor Robert. My heart went out to him.

The doorbell rang. Sophie held Robert’s hand and they went to open it. Kids started to flow in.

Sophie made sure Robert had a great day and Jess was wonderful and endlessly patient with the kids. Tom helped her organize Pass the Parcel, then relay races and sack races in the garden to tire them out. Sophie held off cutting the cake as long as she could, but it was clear Jack wasn’t going to make it.

‘Jack is so upset and poor Robert is going to be gutted,’ she said. ‘Pippa promised to be here.’

‘It’s not your fault, Sophie. You’ve done everything to make the day special. You are an unbelievable stepmother. But the parents will be here to pick the kids up very soon, so you have to do the cake now,’ I said.

‘Hurry up, Mum. I want to go out.’ Jess was hovering beside us.

‘Where are you off to?’ I asked.

‘Just out with some of my mates.’

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