The following day was the last day of the summer term for Flora, Bella and Max. They woke up in the best of moods, overexcited and champing at the bit for their holiday to begin.
‘I’m so happy!’ Max sang as he bounced on his bed.
‘Come on, you need to get dressed. It’s still a school day today,’ Tasha pleaded, trying to ignore her hangover.
‘I’m too happy to go to school. I want the holidays to start now!’
Tasha couldn’t help but laugh. He looked positively angelic in his dinosaur-print pyjamas. ‘Today will be over before you know it. And you need to say goodbye to all your friends, say thank you to your teachers…’
‘I can’t wait to give Miss Newman my card! I hope she likes it.’ Max jumped off the bed and over to his desk, where he picked up a heartfelt home-made thank you card.
‘How sweet!’ Tasha hadn’t seen him make it and her heart melted at the sight of the wobbly felt-tip hearts covering the folded piece of paper. ‘I’m sure she will love it, and we’ve got her a present too that you can give her.’
Tasha had organised presents for all the children’s teachers, as she did at the end of each school year. They traipsed down the road laden with an assortment of bags, each labelled with the appropriate teacher’s name and ready for distribution.
‘I wonder who is going to look after Gomez over the holidays,’ Bella said. Gomez was the class hamster.
‘I’m sure Mrs Pumphrey will.’
‘I’m going to miss him so much!’
‘I can’t believe I’m going to be in Year Six in September,’ Flora said. ‘It’s so scary!’
‘I can’t believe I’m going to be in Year Two!’ said Max. They chattered animatedly all the way into the school building, where Tasha helped them deposit their gift bags around the various classrooms before making a quick escape as the school bell rang. As she walked home she distracted herself by planning activities to keep the children amused over the next five and a half weeks. She knew come two o’clock that afternoon she was on her own in terms of childcare. How the teachers coped with thirty-plus children at a time she would never know. To her, three seemed taxing enough.
That evening Charlie came home in time for the children’s dinner, a tradition that they kept each year to kick off the summer holidays with a bang. They always went to their local Italian, a child-friendly pizzeria up the road where the children gorged themselves on margherita pizzas and ice cream sundaes piled high with marshmallows and fudge sauce. They had a whole weekend of family fun planned out ahead of them.
On Saturday Charlie drove them all to Chessington World of Adventures. They went on a river ride, visited a haunted house, ate lunch at a burger shack, sailed through the air on a Ferris wheel, clambered through the monkey park and soared through the skies on various roller coasters. Tasha’s guilt was amplified: she couldn’t remember the last time she had seen the whole family look so happy, the sound of the children laughing and squealing was music to her ears, but all she could focus on were the ringing accusations from her conscience.
On Sunday they spent the afternoon at Water World, a giant swimming pool full of water slides, wave machines and rapids to float around on in rubber rings. They accompanied the children on an endless round of trips down the fastest slide possible: a plastic tube that twisted and turned like the roller coaster they had been on the day before. Both places were so hectic and all-consuming Tasha had little time to retreat into her thoughts, a welcome relief after the previous week. But each time she stopped, even for a moment, Tasha felt the now familiar rush of panic course through her at the thought that at any moment she could be found out. If Charlie discovered what she had done that could be it for their happy family. One word from Javier and the precious balance of trust that was the lynchpin of their happiness could be irreversibly damaged, never to be the same again. She tried to stop herself from imagining what life would be like should the unthinkable happen, but her mind kept escaping into a future that might never exist. By the end of the weekend she had made a decision. It was clear what she needed to do. She had to do everything in her power to keep her secret hidden, and that meant ensuring that Javier was not going to break his word.