The girl at the checkout in the supermarket was very nice, but no matter how much Alice begged her, she wouldn’t let us buy a bottle of champagne.
‘Sorry, girls,’ she said. ‘I didn’t come down in the last shower of rain, so don’t even try to pretend that you’re eighteen.’
Alice and I spoke together.
‘It’s for my dad.’
The girl laughed.
‘Here’s a little bit of advice girls – next time, at least try to get your stories straight.’
Alice protested.
‘But it is for my dad and her aunt. It’s for both of them. They’re…well… what I mean is…’
The girl took the champagne from the conveyer belt, and stood it on a shelf behind her.
‘Whatever. I don’t care if it’s for your granny and her pet elephant, just tell them if they want it, they’ll have to come here and get it for themselves. OK?’
Even Alice didn’t dare to argue any more, so we just paid for the rest of the shopping and left the supermarket.
We got back to my place and stashed all the food in the fridge. Then Alice took me next door to her house. She wouldn’t tell me why, of course, so I just followed her and waited to see what would happen.
Alice rooted around in all the kitchen cupboards for ages, and at last she pulled out a bottle of champagne.
‘Ha!’ she said. ‘I knew that was in there somewhere.’
‘Are you going to just take it?’ I asked.
She nodded.
‘Sure. We can’t buy any, and I think a romantic date needs champagne, don’t you?’
I sighed. I’m only twelve, what am I meant to know about romantic dates?
I tried again.
‘Surely your dad will notice the champagne is missing from his cupboard?’
She shook her head.
‘Nah. It’s been there for years. Actually I think Dad gave it to Mum for her birthday a couple of years ago.’
‘Great,’ I said. ‘On your dad’s hot date he’s going to be drinking his wife’s bottle of champagne. Very romantic, I’m sure.’
Alice put down the bottle and glared at me.
‘You’re right. It’s not really all that romantic, but this is an emergency.’
‘OK. OK,’ I said. ‘As long as you’re sure your dad won’t recognise it.’
Alice laughed.
‘Don’t worry. Dad knows zero about champagne. He’ll have no idea, I promise. Now, you go and distract Linda, and I’ll hide this. Where would you think would be a good place?’
I laughed.
‘How about in the fridge, under the huge bag of organic spinach? Linda definitely won’t look there.’
* * *
Later, when the champagne was safely hidden away, Linda took Alice, Rosie and me into town. She bought us all hot chocolate with extra marshmallows, and Rosie was so happy she couldn’t talk for about ten minutes. She just sat there sipping her drink and smiling like crazy.
Then we went into Threads and Linda let us each pick out a t-shirt. We pretended to say ‘no thanks’ at first, but luckily Linda insisted.
‘I got a pay-rise last week,’ she said. ‘And I have to spend it on something.’
I sighed. I love my mum, but I wished she could be a bit more like her sister.
* * *
When we got home, I wanted to start getting the dinner ready. Alice wouldn’t let me though.
‘Jamie’s staying with Mum tonight,’ she said. ‘And I promised Dad I’d walk him over to her place.’
Hmmm. How convenient, I thought.
We collected Jamie from his dad’s house and took him around the corner to Veronica’s apartment. She asked us in, and I had no choice but to follow Alice inside.
Alice didn’t waste any time. Before I’d even sat down, she said,
‘Guess what, Mum? Dad has a date tonight.’
In films, when that kind of thing happens, the mum puts her head in her hands and sobs dramatically, saying stuff like – ‘How could he do this to me?’ and ‘But doesn’t he understand? I love him – I’ll always love him.’
It looked like Veronica doesn’t watch the right films though. She actually laughed.
‘Your dad? A date? I don’t think so, Alice.’
Alice got cross.
‘Why wouldn’t he have a date? He’s a very good-looking man. My teacher even said so.’
I made a face at her. Our teacher had said a lot of stuff about Peter, but I’d never heard her say that he was good-looking.
Veronica didn’t seem to wonder why Miss O’Herlihy would be saying anything at all about Peter.
‘Well, maybe your dad is good-looking – in his own way,’ she said. ‘But a date? He’s not really the type, is he?’
Alice stamped her foot.
‘Well, maybe you don’t know him very well. He has a date. It’s with Megan’s aunt. They’re having a romantic dinner tonight. He’s really looking forward to it. In fact, he talked about nothing else all morning.’
‘Well, good luck to him,’ she said. ‘I hope he has a very nice time. Now, would any of you like something to drink?’
Alice answered for me.
‘No. We’re fine. We have to go and… well, we just have to go. See you tomorrow.’
When we were outside, I wasn’t sure what I felt. It didn’t sound like Veronica was very jealous, and if she wasn’t jealous, the whole plan was a waste of time before it even started.
Maybe I could stop this before it went any further. I tried to sound casual.
‘Your mum didn’t seem very jealous, did she?’
Alice shrugged.
‘Well, she wouldn’t would she? She can’t let on. She has to act cool in front of us. Inside I bet she’s really upset. She’ll think about Dad’s hot date all night, and tomorrow, when she hears what a success it was, she’ll go crazy – I know it. She’ll—’
I interrupted her.
‘But what if tonight’s date isn’t a success, what then?’
Alice marched on ahead.
‘We don’t have to worry about that. Tonight will be a success. I’ve decided. Now let’s get going. We’ve got a lot to do.’