Page 12 of Never Too Late
‘Of course not, Mum. I’d rather you had company if you don’t want to come with us.’
‘Oh, goodness, that makes me sound terribly sad!’
‘Nooo!’ She threw her arms around me. ‘I don’t mean like that. But this is our holiday. Together.’
‘And we will be together all day,’ I said, reaching for her hand. ‘You’ll be ready for a break by this evening, you’ll be so sick of me.’
‘Never,’ she said, squeezing my hand.
‘Aww, that’s so sweet,’ Mira said, taking Vikram’s hand. ‘I hope our kids are that close with us.’
He took her hand and kissed the back of it. ‘How could they not be? We’re amazing! They’ll be lucky to have us.’
‘And obviously I will be their favourite auntie.’
‘Obviously,’ her sister confirmed before Alaria turned back to us. ‘So that’s settled. Let’s meet here for dinner at seven and then we’ll get a taxi to the club.’ It was easy to see she was a natural at her job.
‘I’ll arrange a car for you to take there and back.’
All four began to protest but Ashok held up a hand.
‘It is not a debate. This way, both Katherine and I know that you are getting there and back safely. During the middle part, you have to take care of each other, OK?’
‘OK,’ they repeated.
He’d clearly had plenty of adulting practice as an uncle to his many nieces and nephews.
‘Meet you at seven in the atrium?’ he asked, turning to me.
‘Perfect.’ I tried not to think of the slight awkwardness of having dinner with Ashok while Sash and her friends were sitting in the same restaurant but at least I wasn’t going to feel like a fifth and rather worn-out wheel on their night out.
7
Several hours later, I’d spent one of the laziest days I could remember and then been scrubbed, rubbed and steamed to within an inch of my life.
‘When was the last time you did this, Mum?’ Sasha asked as we flip-flopped back to our room, wrapped in the fluffy robes, our skin glowing.
‘Spent hours doing nothing and then been pampered? I’m not sure I’ve ever done this. It all still feels a little self-indulgent if I’m honest.’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’ Sasha asked as we stepped inside the lift.
Whatwaswrong with that?
‘I… I don’t know. I suppose I’m just not used to it. It wasn’t really a thing that people did as much when I was growing up.’ I put a hand to my freshly exfoliated face. ‘Oh, God, that makes me sound ancient.’
Sasha slid her arm through mine and pulled me close. ‘Not at all. Lots of attitudes have changed in a relatively short time.’
‘That’s true. I don’t know. It just wasn’t a thing for everyday women to go and get their nails done every week or two, etc. If people did that, you tended to think of them as being more ladies of luxury.’
‘You need to start looking after yourself more now, Mum.’
‘Oh, crikey, is it that bad?’ I stole a glance in the mirrored interior of the lift as we stepped out into the corridor.
‘No! I don’t mean it like that. I mean it’s your time now. You don’t have to worry about Dad or me any more.’
‘Darling,’ I said as I held the key card against the room door. ‘It doesn’t matter how old you are, I am always going to worry about you.’
‘OK, but the rest of it.’
