Page 48 of The In-Laws

‘No, you can give it to Toby.’ Lucy quietly left the kitchen.

Damn, she had upset her daughter … again. Katie glanced at the clock. Everyone would be here in fifteen minutes and she still had so much to do. She could see Jamie and Toby through the glass doors in the TV room, laughing as they watched half-blown-up balloons whizzing around the room. Bloody hell, why had she decided to do this? She began to panic. A glass of wine would calm her nerves. She opened one of the bottles of white chilling in the fridge and quickly knocked back a glass, letting the alcohol ease her nerves.

Katie was putting the napkins out when she heard Jamie opening the front door. Frank and the twins came in.

‘There’s the birthday boy!’ Frank picked Toby up and swung him over his head. Toby squealed with delight.

‘Happy birthday,’ the twins chimed, and came straight over to Katie.

‘Where’s your mum?’ Katie asked.

‘In the car on some “crisis call”.’ Janis sighed. ‘Same old, same old.’

Joni popped a marshmallow covered with chocolate into her mouth. ‘I love kids’ party food. It’s the best.’

Katie put down her wine and ate one. ‘Yum, me too.’

‘By the way, all of our friends aresooojealous of our highlights. They all want to come to you to get theirs done. Can we give them your number?’ Janis asked.

Katie smiled. It felt nice to be praised for her work. ‘Sure.’

‘I wish Mum had a cool job that was actually useful.’ Joni sipped her Coke Zero.

‘Yeah, it’d be so cool if she was a hairdresser. We’d get free products and highlights.’

‘Instead we get books.’ Joni pretended to yawn.

Katie wondered, not for the first time, if the twins and Lucy had been born into the wrong families. Lucy would have loved Melanie as a mother and the twins would have liked her as theirs. It was as if the genes had crossed somewhere along the way. Raising the twins would be so easy – and she felt sure Melanie would say the same about raising Lucy.

‘Sorry we’re late.’ Amanda bustled into the room followed by Theo. Ross and Nancy were behind them.

‘Hold Nancy’s arm, Ross,’ Amanda said.

‘I’m perfectly fine.’ Nancy walked slowly, using one crutch to help her balance with the boot on her leg.

‘Ross!’ Amanda barked. ‘She could fall.’

‘Stop fussing.’ Nancy glared at her daughter-in-law.

‘Hi, hi, hi.’ Toby bounced up and down in front of them expectantly.

‘Uhm, hi.’ Amanda patted his head.

‘Hey, dude.’ Theo high-fived him.

‘Happy birthday, Toby.’ Ross grabbed a cocktail sausage. ‘I’m starving.’

Toby looked at his mother. She knew he was wondering where his present was.

‘Many happy returns.’ Nancy held out a large rectangular gift wrapped in brown paper and tied with blue string.

Toby thanked her and ripped it open. His little face fell.

‘Oh, wow,Aesop’s Fables, that’s so cool,’ Lucy told her little brother. ‘“The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” is my favourite.’

Aesop? Katie couldn’t figure out the letters in the title, never mind the stories.

Toby muttered, ‘Thank you.’

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