Page 58 of Special Delivery
‘I have golf every third Sunday,’ his wife reminded him. ‘You should tell Dani to come one weekend,’ she continued. ‘And we could invite Henry and Willa.’
Poppy choked on her side salad. ‘What? Why?’
‘We talked about this, darling, remember? We said it would be good to all get together.’
‘Oh, right,’ muttered Poppy. So many plans flitted in and out of her mother’s brain and yet this one had stuck? She noticed her mum and dad exchange a look and felt her hackles rise. They could be soparentalsometimes. She swallowed her mouthful of lettuce. ‘That sounds great,’ she said brightly. ‘I would love that.’
‘Excellent,’ said Chrissie. ‘Now, next thing, I think I should take Maeve for one day a week.’
‘Why? I’m doing okay, aren’t I?’ Poppy looked to her dad for support. ‘Maeve is happy; we’re making things work.’
‘No-one’s questioning your parenting, Pops,’ said her dad.
‘Just imagine a day for yourself,’ continued her mum. ‘You could do all those errands you’re always telling me about. You could get a haircut. You could go to the gym. You could do whatever you want—and the upside is, I get more quality time with beautiful Maeve.’
Poppy’s dad raised his napkin and spoke to Poppy behind it. ‘Your mother wants an accessory for coffee with the other grandmas.’
Chrissie ignored him. ‘I think Thursdays would be best, because Martha and Susie also have their grandkids on those days.’
Poppy squeezed her daughter, who was sitting on her lap. The idea of letting her mother take the caregiving reins was slightly nerve-racking, but the prospect of a whole day of freedom was shamefully tempting. She would love a few hours to herself, though she felt guilty for even thinking that. ‘Maybe we could start with the afternoons,’ she suggested cautiously.
‘Perfect,’ her mother said. ‘Thursday afternoons with Grandma. No sports viewing allowed.’
‘No problem,’ agreed her dad. ‘We’ll watchJudge Judyinstead.’
Poppy laughed, a bubble of excitement swelling inside her. She was going to havetime. She was going to havespace. She could go placeswithout the pram. Maybe she could even organise some job interviews, get her career back on track. She would be able to achieve so much!
‘That reminds me,’ said her mother cheerfully. ‘A lady at golf mentioned I could sue Martha and Peter for removing the magnolia because there’s legislation that covers tree disputes with neighbours. I could go to the Supreme Court!’
‘What?!’ spluttered Poppy. Her mind had drifted to visions of Thursday afternoon Reformer Pilates classes wearing cream leggings or something equally baby-unfriendly. ‘You literally just said you were going to have grandma babycino dates with Martha. Why would you sue her?’
‘It would be nothing personal, darling. I’m just upset that as agood neighbourand friend of more than twenty-five years, they haven’t even consulted me about their landscaping.’
‘Not true,’ interjected Paul. ‘They invited us over weeks ago to look at the plans.’
‘That was all for show, Paul,’ Chrissie retorted. ‘They’d already had them drawn up by that stage.’
‘They weren’t likely to take you to the meetings with the landscaper now, were they?’ he replied.
‘You’re missing the point. I mean, did Martha even consider my hellebores when she was making these decisions?!’
As Chrissie nattered on about the inadequacies of overpriced landscape architects, Maeve fell asleep in the crook of Poppy’s arm. Hopefully those cream leggings from Nimble would be on sale soon. They’d be perfect for her vision of baby-free Pilates chic. And she could organise a coffee with some prospective employers. Network a bit, get her CV out there. This would be so achievable when she didn’t have to leave the house with twenty kilos of baby paraphernalia.
On the table, Poppy’s phone buzzed with a message.
Still on for Block epicness tonight?
Ah yes, James. In all the excitement she’d forgotten their not-date was tonight. Maybe they could have coffees on Thursday afternoons too, now that they were kind of friends? How civilised and delightful!
Using her left hand, so as not to disturb Maeve, Poppy tapped out a quick thumbs-up emoji.
??was the response.
Poppy checked the thread and swore under her breath. She’d accidentally sent back an eggplant emoji. Oh bugger.
SORRY!she texted.
Fat fingers!
