All the Little Things by Sarah Lawton (the best books to read txt) 📕

London

The hot steam from the oven fogged Carol’s glasses as she pulled out the tray with the fishfingers on. ‘Argh!’ she said, as she turned to the table. ‘I’m blind!’ As the lenses cleared she saw Vivian’s friend Lexie was giggling, and, watching her, Vivian began giggling, too.

‘Are you both really hungry?’ she asked.

‘Starving!’ said Lexie.

‘Yes, starving!’ said Vivian.

‘Can you eat three fishfingers each? Three whole fishfingers, and chippies, and peas?’

‘Yes!’

‘Yes!’ came the little voices.

Lexie was in Vivian’s class, and she’d surprised Carol a few days earlier by asking if the smiley blonde girl could come for tea one day. ‘She’s my best friend,’ Vivian had claimed.

‘Is she? How lovely!’ Carol hadn’t said as such but she was very relieved to know Vivian had a friend. She’d been more worried than she’d admitted to herself or Rachel, who didn’t seem to be worried at all, about Vivian starting school. Nursery hadn’t been the greatest hit, and she’d wondered if school would be any better.

Now, Carol enjoyed the fact Vivian was chattier than usual because of her guest. She slid the crumbed fishfingers off the tray and onto the plates and cut them into mouthfuls, adding the chips and peas. ‘Make sure you blow on it,’ she warned. ‘Who wants ketchup?’

‘Me, please!’ said Lexie. ‘Thank you.’

‘I want ketchup too, Nana,’ said Vivian.

‘Really?’ asked Carol, looking at her as she pulled the bottle from the cupboard. ‘You don’t like ketchup.’

‘Yes, I do!’ she insisted.

‘It’s my favourite,’ said Lexie. ‘I love ketchup. Mummy says I would put ketchup in my cereal if she let me.’

‘It’s my favourite, too,’ said Vivian, though Carol noticed later that she hadn’t actually eaten any of the sauce she’d insisted on squeezing onto her plate.

The girls were playing in Vivian’s room when the doorbell rang.

‘Hello! How have they been?’ Lexie’s mum was standing on the doorstep.

‘Good as gold. Come in. Have you got time for a drink? Tea? Coffee? Wine?’

‘Ooh, go on, then. I’ll have some wine, if you are. Liam is with his dad this weekend, and he’s taking him to Silverstone tomorrow. Lexie’s a bit little to be interested, so we’re having a girly weekend. He’ll have her next weekend instead.’

Carol smiled faintly at the ins and outs of split parenting. Not a choice she’d had after Rachel’s dad had died; there had only been her, having to hide her grief to support her little girl. Even now, it was her whole focus. Two years to herself while Rachel was at university and then she’d come home beaten up and pregnant, expecting Carol to pick up the pieces. ‘Well, you’ll definitely want a wine, then. They’re playing upstairs. Come through.’

Lucy sat down at the table and looked around. ‘I always love walking down this road. We’re only around the corner, on Eden. I wondered what this one would be like inside – it’s bigger than it looks from the outside, isn’t it? Ours is like that, bit of a Tardis. Have you lived here long?’

‘Thirty years now, and Blackhorse Road before that.’

‘Wow, a long time! You’re a proper East Ender. So, did Rachel grow up here?’

‘She did, before a bit of art uni in Manchester. She went to Henry Maynard School, too.’

‘How lovely! Is Vivian enjoying it? I can’t believe reception is going by so quickly.’

‘I think she is now she’s made a friend. Lexie is a credit to you, by the way – she’s a sweetheart.’

Carol took a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured it into waiting glasses.

‘Thank you. She is a love. She was still a baby when her dad left, it didn’t seem to affect her too much. Liam’s a different story unfortunately – he can remember us together and it’s difficult for him. Is Vivian’s dad still in the picture? She told Lexie she didn’t see him.’

‘No, thankfully,’ said Carol with a frown, as she sat down and passed a glass to Lucy. ‘Rachel is well out of that.’

‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I talk too much, and don’t think; that was rude of me. What is it she does? Rachel?’

‘Don’t apologise, it’s fine, honestly. She’s in advertising,’ said Carol, making air quotes with her fingers. ‘Something artistic. She got a promotion, recently, and it’s taken up a lot of her time.’

‘I don’t see her a lot at school. But she seems lovely, and it must be exciting, advertising. I’m an accountant, can’t really get much duller. But at least I can work around the kids.’ Lucy smiled and lifted her glass to drink.

‘Speaking of kids…’ said Carol, as feet thundered down the stairs.

‘Mummy!’ shouted Lexie, as she bounded into the room, throwing herself onto Lucy’s lap. ‘I missed you!’

‘Hello, darling, have you had a nice play?’

‘Yes. We had fishfingers and we played with Vivian’s phone.’

‘Vivian’s phone?’ said Carol. ‘Vivian, what phone were you playing with?’

‘It was just pretend, Nana,’ said Vivian, who was giving Lexie a look.

‘No, it wasn’t,’ said Lexie, oblivious. ‘Vivian’s got a phone. A black one, with lots of buttons.’

Vivian

‘Oh god, my head really hurts.’ I open my eyes and then shut them straight away. ‘I think my teeth have melted.’

‘Yeah, I don’t think you brushed them last night, you were so wasted!’ Molly has the temerity to laugh at me, when she was behind this.

‘Did you spike those drinks, Molly? Why?’ I put my hands over my face, fan my fingers so it’s covered and press down so it doesn’t slide off when I sit up. I’m going to assume this is my first and last hangover. I’m never letting that sneaky bitch make me a drink ever again. Snatches of last night seep into my brain: what Molly was saying about me, asking me if I was a lesbian. What is wrong with her? All any of that stuff does is cause trouble. Look at how much she’s fucked everything up.

‘Can I have a shower first?’ Molly asks, ignoring my question and stripping off her night clothes. She has no modesty whatsoever,