Page 54 of Special Delivery
Poppy stood at the foot of their bed and flopped face first onto the mattress. She wanted to scream into the pillow. Less than ten seconds later, she heard the television flick on. Patrick didn’t speak to her for the rest of the night.
Now, as the paddocks whipped by in a haze of greenish brown, Poppy realised it didn’t matter if she had 5G service or not. Patrick was never going to call.
CHAPTER 24
With her quilted jacket and muumuu-style dress with the cartoon-sized buttons, the elderly woman before her looked so innocent. Her face bore wrinkles of long-past stories. Her eyes twinkled with the joy of a life lived in digital detox. She was a vision of ageing gracefully. She was also a sneaky rat.
‘Good morning,Mary.’ Poppy lowered herself onto the wicker chair next to Maeve, who sat in the pram trying to ingest her whole fist.
‘Morning, love,’ replied Mary, clamping her lips shut in poorly concealed glee. How had Poppy not realised that smile was genetic? Her neighbour turned to the teapot and began pouring. The teacups tinkled on their saucers:tee-hee-hee!Maeve gurgled happily. The amusement in Mary’s eyes was contagious. Poppy clenched her cheeks to suppress a reluctant smile. She’d been aiming to convey Extreme Indignance, but Mary was cracking her like an egg.
‘How was Burrendong?’ Mary asked.
‘Why don’t you askJames?’
‘Already have.’
‘Mary!’
Mary smiled kindly. ‘I know, love, but I really did think you deserved a holiday, and I knew you wouldn’t go if you knew James was going to be there. He told me as much.’
In the pram, Maeve bobbed her head between them, intrigued. Her ears always pricked at the mention of James—probably because she thought he was the dog.
Poppy raised an eyebrow. ‘How did that even come up?’
‘Oh, you know, we got talking after I lent him my pack of conversation starters.’
‘They’re yours?!’
‘Of course. Did you like them? They’re from the Innovations catalogue, last November. Anyhow, when James mentioned you might need a break, I suggested inviting you to the cabin and he agreed …’
He agreed?!
‘… but he said you wouldn’t go if he was there because of some dilly-dally about tomato paste, so then we just resolved to, er, I think his words were “play a straight bat, Granny”.’
‘Is that cricket speak for deflecting the truth?’
‘I have no idea. I was too distracted by the granny jibe. I’m much too young for that nonsense.’
Poppy snorted, a bubble of laughter swelling in her chest. The idea of James scheming with his grandmother was outright ridiculous. She leaned over and grabbed a jam drop. ‘I thought you said us single girls need to stick together.’
‘Oh, we do, but families have to stick together too. So really, this was a convenient merging of the Venn diagram.’
Poppy bit her lip, torn between laughter and exasperation. There was a shrewd mastermind underneath that old-lady facade.
‘Lucky for you I’m very forgiving,’ said Poppy, popping the biscuit in her mouth as Maeve made a clapping motion at nothing in particular.
‘And lucky for you,’ said Mary, smiling, ‘I’ve been asked to get your phone number.’
Crumbs shot out from Poppy’s mouth. ‘Wh-what?!’ she choked, thumping her chest.
‘Kate wants your number so she can organise a girls’ dinner.’
‘Oh.’Ohhhh!Thank god no-one else saw that awkwardly presumptuous reaction. She definitely wasn’t handing out her number to anyone unless they could offer medical advice, handyman services and/or extremely platonic friendship. Poppy cleared her throat of the jam drop blockage. ‘Oh, okay, yes, definitely. I can give you my number. It would be great to catch up with Kate.’
‘Lovely,’ said Mary, producing a pen and paper from the breast pocket of her jacket with a flourish. ‘And I’ll keep your number on the fridge in case there’s an emergency and my family need to contact you.’ She flashed Poppy a smile. ‘I’m getting so old, you see.’
Poppy narrowed her eyes and took the pen. As she scrawled her number across the pale pink notepad, Mary’s eyes shining with a barely suppressed smirk, Poppy had the distinct impression she was walking straight into a trap.
