Friday
I woke up way too early the next morning, lying across the bottom of Harry and Lou’s bed, under Suky’s crocheted blanket, wearing Harry’s Harvard T-shirt and my nude heels.
Harry was nowhere to be seen, but Louise was curled up under the duvet at the other end of the bed, her smoky eye make-up now halfway down her face and her slicked-back hair standing on end.
‘Lou,’ I whispered. ‘Are you awake?’
Lou buried her face in the pillow so I thought probably not. Carefully I edged myself off the bed, pulling my shoes off, and crept out of the room. Man, oh man, my head hurt. I virtually crawled into the bathroom, where I necked glass after glass of water out of the tooth mug – then I raided the cabinet for some paracetamol, and took three with another glass of water.
Slowly, carefully – feeling a bit wounded that I’d not drunk as much as I usually would and yet I was still suffering – I wandered back along the hall and into my bedroom. Jamie wasn’t there so I assumed he’d stayed the night with his parents like he’d planned. It was still dark and the house was silent so I crawled under the duvet, hid my thumping head under the pillow and went back to sleep.
When I finally emerged, hours later, I felt much more human. My head still hurt, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been, and I was absolutely starving. From downstairs the sound of laughter and the smell of bacon drifted up, telling me it was definitely time to get up. I jumped in the shower, threw on an old sweatshirt, a pair of jeans and some thick socks, and headed down to the kitchen.
Mum, Suky, Harry and Lou were all there. Mum was frying bacon and the others were sitting at the table. They were all very pale, though Louise had washed off her splodgy make-up and tamed her hair. Harry was wearing her yoga gear and had her glossy hair scraped back in a bun.
‘Morning,’ I said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. ‘God is there tea in that pot? Can I have some?’
Harry poured me a mug and handed it over with a slightly shaky hand. I looked at her.
‘Where did you sleep last night?’ I asked. ‘And have you done yoga already?’
She gave me a weak smile.
‘I slept on the floor in our bedroom,’ she said. ‘Which is apparently where I fell when I tried to take my leggings off. And I thought about doing yoga, but this meant it was a bit painful.’
She stood up and pulled down one side of her stretchy trousers. Her normally smooth brown thigh was mottled with an enormous purple bruise.
‘Ouch,’ I said, with a giggle. ‘I must have been in the room when you fell – I woke up at the end of your bed – but I don’t remember.’
Harry shrugged.
‘Nor do I,’ she said. ‘I only worked out what had happened by the fact that I still had one leg in my trousers.’
Mum put a plate of bacon in the middle of the table, and a basket full of rolls. We all dived in.
‘It was a really good night,’ I said, munching on my roll, which was honestly one of the most delicious things I’d ever tasted. ‘Thank you all so much.’
‘It was fun,’ Louise agreed. ‘Tansy was hammered.’
‘Where is she?’ I asked, realising for the first time she wasn’t in the room. ‘Has anyone seen her this morning?’
Mum nodded, then winced and held her head.
‘She was up really early,’ she said. ‘She went for a walk – said it would clear her head. She bought the rolls actually. Then she disappeared into her room. She’s been on the phone all morning, I think. I could hear her talking.’
‘Maybe work stuff,’ Harry suggested.
‘Maybe,’ I said, hoping she was sorting out Michael’s application to adopt Parker. ‘What time is it over there? Actually what time is it here?’
‘It’s just after ten,’ Mum said.
‘So it’s just after five a.m. in Boston,’ Harry said.
‘Probably not work then,’ I said. ‘Can I have some more tea?’
We sat eating and chatting for a while then Mum and Suky dragged themselves down the hill to relieve Eva at the café. Harry, Louise and I took another pot of tea into the lounge and lay around watching rubbish daytime television and snoozing. Harry kept checking her emails and reporting back.
‘Photographer’s confirmed,’ she said.
‘Great,’ I said, barely opening my eyes. ‘He’s fabulous.’
‘And Leona’s friend Lainey says she can do our hair and make-up.’
‘Brilliant,’ I said.
‘Oh,’ Harry said.
I forced myself upright.
‘What?’
‘Florist,’ Harry said. ‘It’s not happening.’
‘Oh no,’ I said. ‘How come?’
‘No flower deliveries,’ she said. ‘You can have dried flowers.’
I shuddered.
‘Nah,’ I said. ‘Let’s do without them. You’ve done an amazing job on everything else. I can live without a bouquet.’
Just as we were thinking about getting some lunch, the front door opened and Jamie and Parker blew in like a whirlwind.
‘Esme!’ Parker shouted, clambering on top of me where I lay on the sofa with one eye on Loose Women. ‘I met Granny Barb. She showed me bones and told me about how our muscles work.’
‘Brilliant,’ I said, trying to summon up enthusiasm for the small bundle of boy that was climbing on my aching limbs. ‘That sounds lovely.’
‘Good night?’ Jamie said with a smug smile as he shoved my legs over and sat down.
‘Too good,’ I groaned. ‘So much fun. How were your parents?’
‘Also good,’ he said. ‘Mum was a big hit with Parker. She showed him the skeleton she uses for teaching.’
‘Ah,’ I said. ‘So she’s over her reluctance to be a granny then?’
Jamie made a face.
‘She tried to get him to call her Barbara at first,’ he said. ‘But Parker wasn’t having it. And I think he’s won her over now. I found them watching the Discovery Channel together this morning and discussing the life cycle of ladybirds.’
‘Fun,’ I said, chuckling.
‘Where’s my mommy?’ Parker said.
‘In your room,’ I told him. ‘Why don’t you go up and see?’
We heard him thudding his way upstairs and his excited voice telling Tansy all about his night away. Then more thudding as he bounced downstairs again, with his mum this time.
Tansy came into the lounge looking very pleased with herself.
‘Oh good,’ she said. ‘You’re all here.’
‘Is everything okay?’ I asked.
‘It’s better than okay,’ she said with a grin. ‘I’ve sorted everything out.’
‘The adoption?’ I asked.
Tansy looked blank for a moment.
‘Oh, that? No.’
‘Then what?’ Jamie asked.
‘I’ve got you a helicopter,’ she said.