After some time, I wrap her body in a towel and lead her into the bedroom. I carefully remove the duvet and replace it with a fleecy throw from the bottom of the bed; Nessa slips on a clean pair of pyjamas, and climbs in.
‘Oh, Ness.’ Kerry has wiped away her black camouflage smudges and is wearing pink pyjamas. She climbs into bed and cocoons the curve of Nessa’s back with her body, wrapping her arm around Nessa’s waist and closing her eyes.
I reach for one of Nessa’s notepads from the desk, ignoring the pages screwed up into balls that litter the carpet, and write her a note, letting her know that I have Erica, that I will take her to school and that I will call her later.
Erica is still awake when I return to the lounge, even though the rest of her body looks like it should be beneath a duvet. She looks up and smiles at me.
‘I’m glad you’re here.’ Her voice is caught in a yawn.
‘I have an idea. How would you like to come for a sleepover?’ I glance at the clock on the wall. It’s just after half-two.
‘Yes please! I’ve never been invited to a sleepover before but—’
‘I’ve asked Mummy, she said it’s OK,’ I reassure her.
‘It’s not that . . . will Oscar still be cross with me?’
‘Not once he sees those biscuits, now let’s grab your uniform, shall we?’
By the time I pull up outside my house, gentle snores are coming from the back seat. I turn off the ignition.
‘Can you help her, Jen?’ Kerry is still wearing her pyjamas and is sitting in the passenger seat.
I’ll try my best.
‘Nobody is perfect.’ Kerry quotes the closing line from Some Like it Hot, her voice fading like the credits on the screen.
Chapter Twenty
Jennifer
Ed is wearing a suit and is standing in the doorway of the kitchen, his expression folded like origami. His skin, originally relaxed and smooth, has creased into confusion, lines forming around his forehead and wrinkling into a frown; his eyes dart from Erica to me and back to her. The tumble dryer tosses Erica’s clothes while she sits with freshly showered hair next to Oscar, who is blowing bubbles into his Coco Pops with a straw; Hailey is trying not to laugh. One of Oscar’s giant chocolate milk bubbles has just popped all over his face, leaving them all dissolving into laughter.
‘Good morning, Daddy,’ Hailey announces, her mouth full of cereal and her spoon gesturing at Erica. ‘Erica has stayed at our house because her mummy is poorly.’
‘Right. Um, Jen?’ Ed cocks his head towards the hallway. ‘Can I speak to you please?’
I finish putting chocolate spread onto the final piece of toast, pile it on top of the rest of the slices and slide the plate onto the table. Eager hands grab at them before I’ve barely moved away and into the hall.
‘What’s going on?’ A look of panic crosses Ed’s face and I can tell he’s trying to keep his emotions in check. ‘Please tell me you didn’t kidnap Nessa’s daughter.’
I burst out laughing. Ed takes a step backwards and watches me with trepidation. My laughter catches in my throat as I realise he is actually serious.
‘What?’ I ask him. ‘Do you really think—’
The words hang in the air. His expression folds again, and lands somewhere between embarrassment and apology. ‘I . . . no but—’
‘You thought I’d kidnapped a child, Ed?’
‘No, not really.’
‘Not really?’
‘No. Anyway—’ He scratches the back of his head. ‘What happened? And how is it she is in our kitchen playing sword fights with a spoon? Look, Jen, there is chocolate milk getting splattered all over the place.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’ I wave my hand dismissively.
Ed takes a step back, his hand thrown melodramatically against his chest. ‘It doesn’t matter?’ he repeats, aghast.
‘It’s just chocolate milk.’
‘Mmmmhmmm? Just chocolate milk?’ He leans against the wall and crosses his arms: eyebrows raised, head to one side. ‘Since when has “just chocolate milk” being splattered around our kitchen been “just”?’
I shake my head and pull a ‘what the hell are you going on about’ face. ‘Nessa was drunk, Ed. Like, REALLY drunk. I couldn’t leave Erica there.’
He pulls himself back up straight. ‘And you know this how?’
‘I found the key hidden under a gnome in the garden next door and let myself in.’ Ed’s eyebrows shoot up as he whispers urgently, ‘You can’t just go around messing with other people’s gnomes and letting yourself into houses, Jen!’
‘Shush!’ I poke my head around the kitchen doorway to see Oscar and Erica drinking the rest of their cereal from the edges of their bowls while Hailey watches them with a look of disgust on her face. ‘Everything OK?’ I ask, smiling at Hailey’s nodding head before returning to mine and Ed’s heated debate.
‘We didn’t just let ourselves in, we—’
‘We?’
‘Uh-oh. He’s on to you.’ Kerry takes a bite of toast and crunches closely to Ed’s ear.
‘I. I didn’t just let myself in, Erica rang me and told me where the spare key was.’
‘In the middle of the night?’
‘Yes.’
‘On your own?’
‘Yes.’
‘When you had no idea who could be hanging around outside Nessa’s house? An angry man could have found my incredibly attractive wife messing with his gnomes!’
‘You think I’m incredibly attractive?’
‘Of course I think you’re incredibly attractive, but you’re missing the point.’
Kerry rolls her eyes, then grins at me as she makes her way into the kitchen.
‘I love it when you say things like that to me.’
‘Focus, Jen! Where is Nessa now? Shouldn’t she be picking her up and taking her to school?’
‘I said I’d take Erica and look . . .’ We both peer around the doorframe and then go back to our original positions. ‘Look at how well Oscar is getting on with her now. It’s good for him.’
‘Are you forgetting the mark she left on his arm?’
‘No, but . . .’ I think of the gin bottle but push the image to one side, screwing the top back on and popping it away in a kitchen cupboard. ‘She was just so . . . alone. What else could I do?’
He kisses the top of my head. ‘You should have woken me up. You promised, Jen,’ he says quietly into my hair.
‘I know, but I left you a note and I took the spray you gave me when I went to London with Kerry. I couldn’t just leave her on her own, Erica had a nightmare and Ness was sleeping it off.’
‘Then Nessa should have got up and made herself a bloody coffee!’ Ed’s voice rises.
‘Shush! Look, I’m fine, and she’s clean and fed and Oscar is happy and—’
‘Jen?’ He steps back and puts his hands on my shoulders, his face concerned and serious. ‘Don’t you think you’ve got enough on your plate at the moment without . . .’ He sighs. ‘This?’