o you think maybe we should tell Nick about the puppy part of it?’ Molly asked later on while we were having a drink in the kitchen as a break from our brainstorming. Brainstorming is thirsty-making work.

‘I don’t know,’ I said. I wasn’t sure whether Nick would be against the idea or not.

‘Maybe it will be more of a surprise if we do not tell him any of the details of the party at all,’ Molly said. ‘Now I come to think of it, your mum should be Kept in the Dark too, in case she Spills the Beans.’

‘What nonsense are you going on about?’ I asked. ‘We cannot have the party in the dark, and as for giving people beans to eat—’

‘I meant that your mum might by mistake tell April about the surprise if we give her too many details,’ Molly explained.

‘Ah,’ I said. ‘I suppose that’s right. They are always talking together on the phone about everything. But what about Nick? If we don’t tell him about the pooch part of the party then how will he know about bringing Custard?’ I said.

‘Hmm,’ said Molly. ‘That’s a good point. Also, poor Honey will not get any presents if people do not know that it is her birthday too.’

‘Honey does not need presents – there will be lots of pooches to play with and lots of doggy treats, and that is all that Honey wants,’ I said. Honestly, considering Molly was now a dog-owner-type person, she could be quite weird about what a dog’s Essential Needs in Life could be.

‘Do you know, I’ve had an astoundly excellent idea about Custard,’ I continued. It was truly amazing how many moments I seemed to be having these days. ‘I can invite him as a kind of DECOY, in other words, if Nick and April come round here with Custard, that will make everything seem totally normal as if they are just coming round for tea like they always do! April will not suspect a thing.’

Molly nodded and pulled her mouth down in an I-am-impressed sort of expression.

Mum came into the kitchen. ‘How’s the party-planning going?’ she asked, as she turned to put the kettle on.

‘We-ell,’ I said, in a long-drawn-out and ponder-ish tone. And then I told her our thoughts about the Decoy.

‘Mmm,’ said Mum. ‘I’m not sure about that. We don’t really want Custard and Honey here if we’re going to have a houseful of guests, do we?’

‘Oh yes, yes we do!’ I said, rather over-hastily.

‘Summer is absolutely right,’ Molly said. I gave her a grateful look. ‘It will mean that April will not suspect a thing, as she and Nick always come round with Custard. They never leave him at home when they usually come, do they?’

‘No-o,’ said Mum in a faltering fashion. She was looking a bit anxious, which made her forehead even more wrinkly than it was supposed to be for a woman of her age.

‘So we have decided that we will ambush Nick at work,’ Molly went on, ‘to tell him about the party. I’m sure he won’t mind that, will he? Maybe we should take Honey or Titch with us so that the other people in the vet’s think that we have a proper appointment,’ she suggested. Then she paused and added anxiously, ‘Unless you think he might make us pay for bringing the dogs?’

I glanced at Mum to see if she had any useful suggestions to add to the conversation. She didn’t. She was actually biting in her lips as if she was trying not to laugh, for some reason.

‘Ahem!’ she said squeakily. ‘I don’t think you need to take the dogs. And Nick wouldn’t charge us anyway.’

‘OH!’ said Molly, in a sort of offended manner. ‘So you get special family treatment, do you? I don’t think that is very fair for all the other patients.’

Mum gave a sort of snorty laugh and then suggested that if we saw Nick we could ask him to help with the guest list. Then she told us to excuse her, because she had to go and do something she’d just forgotten she had to do.

I decided to draw the conversation back to the party as we were getting Off The Point. ‘Listen,’ I said in a calm and collected-ish tone of speaking. ‘Let’s go to his vet place straight away after school tomorrow when we have broken up for the holidays. There is no way April will be there as her office job does not finish until at least half past five.’

Molly was still glaring at me but I made my face all sweet and innocent-ish and just said, ‘Oh, sorry, is tomorrow not a convenient day for you? Never mind, I am not bothered if I have to go on my own to ask him.’

‘Oh no, you mustn’t go on your own,’ Molly said, immediately sounding worried and concerned. ‘I am sure that I can make it and it doesn’t matter if you don’t want me to bring Titch. It might make him over-excited and rather Impossible to Deal with, anyway.’

So that is what we did the next afternoon. It was the kind of day that Mum describes as in a smiley, beamy voice as if she is about to break into song like people do in musicals. The birds were singing and the sun was shining and the clouds were white and poofy (which are my favourite kind of clouds as they are all different shapes and you can have fun staring up at them and trying to find pictures in them. Once I found a pig and another time I saw the whole entire map of the British Isles and another time there was a dog’s head that I am absolutely convinced and certain was the same shape as Honey’s head).

I don’t know if it was the weather or if it was the fact that we had just finished school for the term (hurrah and double hurrah!) or if it was that we were fizzing with excitement about the secret party, but Molly and I were actually skipping down the road to the vet’s.

‘Do you think Nick will be as ----- about the secret party idea as we are?’ I chirruped to Molly.

‘I don’t know,’ said Molly, pausing mid-skip as she thought about this, which meant that I crashed into her as I lost my balance when I turned to see why she had stopped and sort of toppled sideways. ‘Ow!’ Molly said angrily.

‘“Ow”, yourself!’ I said, rubbing my own arm. ‘Why have you stopped?’

Molly said grumpily, ‘Cos your question stopped me completely literally in my mid-tracks. It has made me wonder something.’

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘And what is that?’

Molly took a deep breath and then said, ‘Well, what if Nick has already thought up a super-romantic and ultra-dreamy date for April’s first birthday as his wife?’

‘Urgh!’ I said. I didn’t mean to say that. It just slipped out.

Molly rolled her eyes and said, ‘Honestly, Summer. You are allowed to be romantic when you are married, you know. Just because you have got married does not mean you have to stop doing romantic things together. In fact, the Agony Uncle in the magazine my mum reads called Good Housewife says that you should be romantic when you are married, even if you have been married for about fifty years like my parents have, because if you stop being romantic, then that is when The Love Dies.’

It was my turn to roll my eyes mega-hugely now. ‘Let’s just stop talking about it, can we? It is after all MY sister that I am now imagining being romantic, and it is not an image that I like to have to hold on to in my head, thank you very much. If Nick has made such a plan, he shall simply have to RESCHEDULE it for another occasion, in other words, not on April’s birthday.’

Molly laughed and said, ‘OK. Race you to the end of the road!’

So that was the end of the conversation about Romantic Things, thank the high heavens above.