Page 11 of Is She Really Going Out with Him?
When I gethome thirty minutes later, I find Lottie sitting on my sofa knitting a baby blanket, withLove Islandon in the background and Katniss stretched out on the armchair.
“You’re back early. That’s not a good sign,” Lottie says, muting the TV.
“No, and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to write an ‘aspirational’ column if it’s all this hellish.” I let out a sigh as I kick my shoes off. “Maybe I should meet your pecan man.”
“You might have missed your window with that one. Last I heard, he met some hazelnut heiress at a nut convention.”
“Wow. I just don’t know how to play this game anymore. In the seventeen years I was with Dan, all the rules have changed.” I crawl onto the sofa and flop my head into my sister’s lap. “I wish you could just meet people the old-fashioned way, in real life.”
“Yes, but that would still involve leaving the house. Eligible men aren’t just going to come and knock on your door.”
“Hi,” Jess says, sleepy-eyed, standing in the doorway dressed in black-and-white-checked pajamas, her fine blond hair ruffled into bedhead tufts.
“You’re still up?” I ask, getting up to give her a hug. At twelve, Jess has reached the age where she’s embarrassed by public displays of affection from me, so I take every opportunity to get my hugs in when we’re at home.
“It’s only nine thirty.” She pauses, then asks, “Was your date that bad?” I turn to frown at Lottie.
“She asked,” Lottie says, then tilts her head toward Jess. “Are you feeling any better about the Penny situ?”
“What’s she done now?” I ask, and Jess groans. Penny is Jess’s frenemy at school, the queen of Year Eight, arbiter of taste, and instigator of many tears.
“It’s not a big deal,” she says, then sighs as though loath to repeat it. “She said I was like the default character in a computer game. And she said it in front of the whole class, so now everyone’s calling me Default.”
“That is so mean,” I say, outraged, though also secretly impressed with the sophistication of children’s insults. When I was at school, you’d just get called “loser” or “specky git.” “Do you want me to call her mum?” I offer, then immediately sense I’ve said the wrong thing.
“No, Mum!” Jess throws her head back. “Do not call her mum.”
“She probably comes from an unhappy home,” says Lottie. “We should be feeling sorry for her.”
“MUM!” comes a wail from upstairs.
“Ethan is still awake too?”
“He was asleep,” Lottie says, her cheeks flushing pink.
“Can we have hot chocolate?” Jess asks, reaching down to stroke Katniss, who is winding a feline figure of eight around her legs. “I’ll make some with the Velvetiser.”
“Sure.”
As I leave the room, I hear Jess telling Lottie that Penny was annoyed with her because Jake Tenby sat next to her in assembly,but she doesn’t even like Jake anyway, so she doesn’t know what Penny’s problem is.Why didn’t she tell me any of this?
Upstairs, I find Ethan’s nightlight on. He’s sitting on the floor beside his bed.
“I had an accident,” he says with a sniff, pulling his head into his knees.
“It’s okay,” I say gently. At seven, Ethan is a little old to be bedwetting, but since Dan moved out, he’s had the occasional setback. “Why don’t you choose some clean pajamas, then come down for a hot chocolate. I’ll change your bedclothes.”
“I didn’t mean to do it,” he says quietly.
“Of course not. These things happen, honey,” I say, kissing his head.
“Dad gets mad when it happens at his house,” Ethan mutters.
I bite back the urge to storm out of the house, beat on Dan’s door, and yell at him. It is an urge that overtakes me more frequently than is probably healthy.
“Well, he shouldn’t,” I say, stroking Ethan’s arm. “It’s not something you can control, and it’s easily fixed.”
Downstairs, I find Lottie pulling all my plain white mugs out of the kitchen cupboard, looking for the hand-painted colorful ones at the back. Jess is scrolling through my phone.
