Page 52 of The In-Laws

Melanie felt sorry for her niece. Lucy adored Nancy and she was clearly upset about the argument. It was one thing to fall out with Nancy, quite another for Katie to burn bridges with her daughter.

Katie sighed. ‘She’s … I just … I’ve had enough of her snapping at me, Lucy. It’s been going on for a long time.’

‘I think you’re the snappy one.’ Lucy ran out after her grandmother.

Theo put his phone into his pocket, and said, ‘I think you described her perfectly.’

‘Theo!’ Amanda spun around. ‘Your grandmother is very good to us. Don’t be mean about her.’

Frank went over to Katie and put an arm around her. ‘I think everyone needs to cool off. Don’t forget that the best relationships are the ones that can survive arguments.’

Although Frank drove Melanie nuts a lot of the time, he was a good man. She could see how grateful Katie was to have his support.

Lucy came back into the room and stood, red-faced, in front of her mother. ‘Granny is furious and so is Uncle Ross. He said you’re a bad example to me.’

‘Whoa, stop right there.’ Jamie held his hand up. ‘Rosshad no right to say that. You have a great mother. He is bang out of order.’

‘Leave it,’ Katie said, trying to take Jamie’s hand, but he shook her off.

‘ROSS!’ he roared, as he charged out of the room.

They all looked at one another. Then Melanie jumped up and ran outside. The others followed her.

Ross was standing at the door of the car. Nancy was sitting in the passenger seat.

‘Whatever happened in there, you have no right to criticize my wife in front of our daughter.’

Ross sneered at him. ‘So it’s okay for your wife to insult our mother? You just stood by while Katie cursed at our mother. You need to grow a pair of balls, Jamie. Your wife is a basket case.’

‘Fuck you.’ Jamie pushed Ross.

Ross pushed back.

They began to tussle aggressively.

Nancy shouted, ‘STOP!’

Frank jumped in and pulled Jamie away from Ross. ‘Come on, the kids are watching, cop yourselves on.’

‘Stop fighting, Dad.’ Lucy began to cry again.

‘It’s okay, sweetie. They’re just a bit cross,’ Frank said.

‘It’s all your fault, Mum,’ Lucy wailed, as Katie’s face fell.

‘This is the maddest kids’ party I’ve ever been at,’ Joni said.

Melanie shot her a warning look.

‘Let’s all calm down,’ Frank said. ‘Ross, drive Mum home. Everyone needs to take a beat before anyone says anything else they’ll regret.’

‘I so wish I’d got a video of that,’ Janis said.

‘Me too,’ Theo agreed. ‘It was intense.’

‘Not now,’ Melanie said quietly, to both of them.

Frank stood in front of Jamie. ‘Come on, we’re a family. Let’s sleep on it and chat in the morning.’

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