Page 120 of The Reboot
‘Just a small piece? I made it this morning, specially when I knew you were coming.’
‘It’s really good,’ Roly said to her. ‘You should try some. Mum’s cakes are amazing.’
‘I said no,’ Pippa hissed under her breath to him, while his mum pretended not to hear. ‘No means no.’
‘Well, I knowyou’llhave some,’ Loretta said to Roly. ‘It’s his favourite,’ she told Pippa.
‘Thanks, Mum.’ Roly held out his plate.
Pippa gave him an outraged glare. ‘Roly,’ she whispered to him.
He pretended not to notice her annoyance as he bit into the thick wedge of buttery, lemony sponge and sighed. It was divine.
‘You’re sure you won’t have a slice?’ Loretta asked Pippa. ‘Just a little one?’
‘You don’t know what you’re missing,’ Roly said.
She ignored him. ‘No thank you, Loretta. I don’t eat cake.’
Roly tried to swallow down his anger, but he could feel his mum’s disappointment. She’d done something nice, gone to the trouble of making a cake for them, and Pippa was throwing it back in her face.
‘How’ve you been, Pippa? It’s been a long time.’
‘I’m great, thanks, Loretta. I’m launching a new collection next month, so I’m mad busy.’
‘That’s nice.’
They made stilted small talk for a while, and Roly had a second slice of cake more as a show of support for his mum than because he wanted one. It also didn’t hurt that it pissed Pippa off.
‘Will I see you on Sunday?’ his mum asked him as they got up to go.
‘At Nan’s? Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d be there. Isn’t Mike coming for the weekend?’
A shadow passed across his mother’s face, but she quickly replaced it with a smile. ‘Oh no, he can’t make it after all. He’s having a dreadful time. He can’t get his bank account sorted out without his passport. But the officials who have it won’t give it back until he gives them money. So it’s a vicious circle.’
Roly thought his nan was right to be cynical. Mike did seem to have implausibly bad luck. He remembered what Ella had told him about romance scammers, and got a bad feeling. He wanted to ask his mum if she’d sent Mike any money, but he didn’t want to embarrass her, especially in front of Pippa.
‘Well, I’ll see you at Nan’s on Sunday, then.’ He kissed her goodbye and left feeling worried and uneasy.
‘Why couldn’t you have just eaten the cake?’ he hissed at Pippa once they were outside. ‘It wouldn’t have killed you. She was just trying to be kind.’
‘Kind! The kind thing would be to respect my boundaries, and not keep on at me about it. I said no. Once should have been enough.’
‘The kind thing foryouto do would be to eat the fucking cake! For god’s sake! It wouldn’t kill you to loosen up, just for once.’
‘Are you accusing me of being uptight?’
‘Never!’ He rolled his eyes. ‘You’re the most laid-back person I know.’
‘Maybe it wouldn’t kill me just the once, but if you give in every time, it might. I mean, look at you! It’s no wonder you’re in the shape you’re in.’
‘The shape I’m in!’
‘You’re a grown man. You should be able to say no to your mother at your age. It’s pathetic!’
‘You think it’s pathetic to consider other people’s feelings?’
‘No, it’s pathetic that you can’t stand up for yourself – set your own boundaries and stick to them. There’s such a thing as killing with kindness, you know.’
