The Happy Family by Jackie Kabler (electric book reader txt) 📕

that it’s already nine-thirty. I must have slept for longer than I thought.

‘Beth, I’m here for the kids. Eloise rang me an hour ago and said she wanted to come to ours as soon as possible. The poor kid’s still really upset, and what the hell’s this about the central heating? She said she and Finley barely slept last night because the house was like an oven. I don’t know what the hell’s going on here at the moment, but if the children can’t even get a decent night’s sleep … and what’s wrong with you, anyway? You look dreadful …’

‘Shh, please, keep your voice down,’ I beg. He’s speaking so loudly I’m sure Mum and Liv can hear him from the kitchen, and next door I’ve just heard Barbara’s front door opening and footsteps on her path. I don’t want to see her right now, not with everything else that’s going on. I grab Jacob’s arm and pull him into the hall, closing the door behind him.

‘The heating’s been playing up. I’ll get it sorted,’ I say quietly. ‘I didn’t sleep well either. That’s why I look dreadful, as you so kindly put it.’

‘Sorry.’ He has the good grace to look a little shamefaced, and I’m about to ask him more about his early phone call from Eloise when I hear footsteps on the stairs and turn to see the children making their way down, both lugging overnight bags.

‘Eloise, Finley … what, you’ve packed already?’

Eloise, shoes and red leather jacket already on, ignores me, not even glancing in my direction. Her eyes are fixed on her father.

‘Hi Dad, thanks for coming to get us,’ she says, her voice tight and prim with barely suppressed fury. I look from her to Jacob and then at Finley who’s fully dressed too, and a sudden rush of anxiety makes me feel so lightheaded I reach out and grab the bannister for support.

Please, not another row. Not with my sister here …

‘Eloise, you don’t need to go yet, do you? Your aunt is still here until this evening. I’m sure Daddy could come back and pick you up later?’

She’s still ignoring me, opening the front door and wheeling her little case out into the driveway. Finley watches her uncertainly, then looks up at me.

‘She wants to go now, Mum,’ he says. ‘She’s in a bad mood. Can we go, Daddy?’

I look at Jacob in despair but he’s nodding and reaching out a hand to take Finley’s bag from him. It’s still half-unzipped, the leg of a pair of jeans and the sleeve of a sweatshirt hanging out of it.

‘Well, have you even packed properly?’ I say frantically. ‘I mean, have you got your homework stuff, and—’

‘Eloise did it for me,’ Finley says. ‘It’s fine, Mum. Don’t fuss.’

He sounds so grown-up suddenly, so patronising, almost, and now I want to cry because he’s walking towards the door too and neither of them is looking back. Neither of them has kissed me goodbye and now Jacob’s leaving too, and giving me a strange look as he pauses in the doorway.

‘He’s right; don’t fuss,’ he says. ‘Get yourself together and get that heating looked at. I’m worried about you, Beth. And, more to the point, worried about the kids. It’s great that you’ve got your mother back, and your sister too, don’t get me wrong. But it’s starting to feel as if it’s all about them at the moment and not about the children, and that’s really starting to concern me now, you know?’

I open my mouth to speak, to defend myself, to tell him the children are fine, but he’s turning away and heading for the car, and anyway, I know the children aren’t fine, not really. They’re not, and I’m not, and I just don’t know why. I can’t understand why everything’s just so awful …

‘Everything OK, Beth?’

Mum touches me on the shoulder and I jump.

‘Yes, yes. Jacob just came for the kids early. He’s got something planned. Not sure what,’ I say quickly, but she’s frowning, peering out of the door and watching the car pulling away. The kids aren’t waving and their heads are down in the back seat.

‘But they didn’t even say goodbye to Liv,’ she says, and she sounds so hurt, so disappointed, that I almost can’t bear it. I’ve hurt my mother now too, offended my sister, and I just want to slump to my knees right here in the hallway and bawl. I don’t though. Instead, I force back the tears and tell my mother more lies, say I’m sorry and that they were just so excited about the day Jacob has planned, you know what kids are like, and I’ll get them to call Liv tonight. I’ll speak to Jacob later and get him on the case. And then we go back into the kitchen and I lie to Liv too, and tell her the same story. Bless her, she brushes it off and says she totally understands because there’ll be plenty more times we can get together, won’t there, and I smile and agree, but inside I’m angry and devastated. My children have never left this house without kissing me goodbye. Eloise has never treated me with such … with such disdain, and it’s killing me.

We sit in the kitchen for a while longer, the three of us. Somehow I manage to keep it together, manage to laugh and smile, and join in with the conversation. But then Mum and Liv decide to nip down to the local shop together so Mum can buy a newspaper, and when they come back Liv announces she’s decided to leave early. To leave now.

‘I was going to stay until this evening, but I’ve just been thinking about work tomorrow, you know? I have a really early start and if I don’t get home until late tonight I’m just going to be knackered. Do you mind? We’ll meet up again soon, I promise.’

She hugs me, and even though I don’t