Guess Who's Coming to Christmas Dinner (6 page)

Chapter
Nine

In a way Sophie was glad that Susi was there. She helped dispel the awkwardness of the whole situation, she ran around pouring Archie a drink, chattering to Bella and making a fuss of Max, who had retreated to a cushion in the corner of the living room.

“Isn’t
this fun?” Susi said to Bella as she darted around the flat, showing off the decorations in the living room to Bella.

“Did
you and mummy do it all for me?” she asked, staring at the scarlet tinsel and the Santa.

“Yes,
darling, of course we did!” Sophie said quickly, forestalling Susi’s answer. “And for the party that we’re having here tomorrow night…”

“Party?”
Archie said, looking up from his scotch that Susi had poured him. “Just what I need....”

“Ignore
daddy, he’s being a right old sour puss, isn’t he,” Susi said, narrowing her eyes at Archie and flicking her hair with the back of her hand. Sophie glanced at Archie to see how he would take this teasing from Susi. He sat, slumped in the corner of the sofa, sipping his drink, looking blankly at the two women sitting opposite him. Bella was still chattering away and trying to coax Max off his cushion onto the centre of the room, where she was playing with some tinsel.

“Are
you hungry Bella?” Sophie asked, her eyes following Bella’s every movement. She drank in her presence like a cold glass of water after a hot afternoons gardening. Bella’s dark curly hair and joyful smile filled her heart till she felt it might burst. Her navy woollen tights were bagging at the knees and her pale brown corduroy pinafore dress had a food stain on the front. “Oh yes. Starving. We didn’t have breakfast, did we daddy? Daddy said that we had to leave and he didn’t know where the bread was so we got a chocolate bar and then we were going to stop on the motorway but it was all closed and then the snow came more and more and then Max made a noise and we didn’t stop even when I saw a cafe that was open…”

Sophie
stood up quickly.

“How
about your favourite then? Pesto pasta?”

“With
the poo poo cheese??” Bella asked, running to the kitchen

“Yes,
darling, with parmesan,” Sophie said, following her daughter out of the room, trying not to throw accusing glances at Archie, who seemed oblivious to this exchange. Sophie clattered around the kitchen, boiling water for pasta, and settling Bella down to ‘helping’ grate the cheese.

“Max
is lovely isn’t he mummy, can we keep him? Can we? He didn’t mean to be sick... I think he’s hungry too...Daddy didn’t feed him, we didn’t have tea or anything yesterday and then I got some chocolates from the cupboard and they were horrible, they had all stuff inside them and daddy got very cross and said that they weren’t for naughty girls but I’m not naughty, am I Mummy? Mummy? Are you crying?” Bella said, stopping her chatter and looking at Sophie with round eyes.

“No,
darling, of course I’m not! How could I be? I’m so happy to have you home.” Sophie swooped down on her daughter, covering the back of her neck with kisses.

Sophie
tipped the pasta into the boiling water and started to get the blue and white plates down from the dresser, adding Bella’s favourite, a much loved Beatrix Potter plate complete with Peter Rabbit chasing around the rim. The steam in the kitchen emphasised just how warm it was in there, and Sophie went to the hallway to turn down the thermostat. Susi would just have to put a jumper on like the rest of us, she thought. She glanced into the living room on her way back to the kitchen and saw that Archie was still slumped in the sofa with his head in his hands. Susi was sitting beside him with an arm thrown over his shoulders and seemed to be talking quietly to him. Sophie hesitated in the doorway, and then said, as brightly as she could, “Everyone ready for some pasta?”

Susi
looked up quickly and said “Oh no, no carbs for me please, maybe some salad and something?”

“Archie?
Some pasta?” Sophie said, willing her husband to at least look at her.

Archie
took his hands away from his face. He shook his head. “No, no thanks. I don’t think I could eat anything really...is it OK if I have a bath?”

Sophie
nodded, and left the room, hearing Susi as she left begging Archie to eat something. Yes, thought Sophie, try and coax Archie to eat something as if he’s a child...and the child that he does have he left hungry! Why was Susi being so bloody nice to Archie? She sighed, and decided to dish some pasta out to Archie anyway. If he really didn’t want it he could leave it. Sophie quickly opened a tin of tuna and threw together a scratch salad for Susi, and then gave put half of the tin of fish on a saucer for Max.

They
all perched around the re-arranged furniture eating from plates balanced on their laps, much to Bella’s delight as this was a thing that Sophie never encouraged. Bella was happily eating everything off her plate with gusto and managing to chatter away at the same time. Susi was pushing the food around her plate whilst answering Bella, and Archie took a few bites and then pushed his plate away. He stood up and left the room without saying anything, heading off towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Sophie gathered the plates together and took them into the kitchen. Susi followed her and perched on the kitchen table, watching Sophie clear away. Susi picked up an apple from the fruit bowl and examined it.

“So,
what do you think?”

Sophie
knew that she meant about the state that Archie was in, but she suddenly felt so tired that she didn’t want to talk about it; also she didn’t know how she felt about his presence in the flat. It felt strained and awkward. She was also too proud to ask him his intentions. Had Bertha left him for good? Was he expecting to take up with Sophie and Bella exactly the same as before he’d left them for her? Susi was toying with the apple, moving it from hand to hand.

“Come
on, Sophie, how d’you feel about it? You want my advice? If I were you, I’d jump at the chance to get back with him while you can. If you don’t...well, you never know, someone else might.” Susi took a large bite of the apple with her perfect strong teeth. Sophie had never noticed Susi’s teeth before. But there they were, chomping down on the apple, bite after bite. She tore her eyes away from the apple being devoured and started to wash up.

“OK,
OK, I get it; you don’t want to talk about it...” Susi laughed, and came to put her arm round Sophie’s stiff shoulders, as she was standing at the sink. “But, Sophie, I think you should think about the sleeping arrangements. I honestly don’t think I can get home if I tried! Look outside, it’s snowing again!”

Sophie
and Susi stood by the kitchen window and stared out at the dark night that was pressing against the window. The lights from the kitchen that shone outside highlighted the snowflakes that fell softly. Oh, poor little creatures, Sophie thought, thinking of the fox and the tiny birds that must be so cold.

“Brandy
weather!” Susi said, shivering dramatically. “Has the heating gone off? It’s bloody cold in here.” Sophie glanced at the toned bare arms of her friend, and offered to lend her a cardigan.

“No,
you’re alright, I’ve got a jumper...I’ll get it from my bag...but Sophie – where shall I put my bag. Obviously, I don’t mind kipping on the sofa, what do you think? Or um, well, I could sleep in Bella’s room, or–” Bella walked into the kitchen, staggering under the weight of Max who she cradled in her arms like a very grumpy looking stuffed toy.

“I
want Max in my room!” Bella said, gazing up at Sophie with clear excited eyes.

“We’ll
see,” said Sophie weakly, knowing that Bella was quite capable of keeping the pleading up for hours. Max decided that he had enough and gracefully jumped from Bella’s arms, weaving round and around Sophie’s ankles.

“That
means he wants to go out,” said Bella importantly, “To you know, do his–”

“Yes,
I know what you mean,” Sophie said hastily. She was doubtful about letting Max outside though, he’d never been here before, and with the snow... she decided to create a litter box for him and got Bella to help by tearing up copies of old newspapers that she’d put out for recycling, but had never got round to.

Susi
had dragged a pink tight fitting short sleeved jumper over her vest, and was stroking Max with Bella on the kitchen floor. As soon as Archie was finished in the bathroom, Sophie would give Bella a bath and then decide where the hell everyone was going to sleep. There were more permutations than the lottery, and I don’t do that either, she thought. She took a quick look at her phone, half dreading and half hoping that there was a text from Laurie. But there was nothing.

There’s
nothing worse than no messages, thought Sophie, unless it was a message saying that the other night had been a dreadful mistake and that Laurie was packing for LA and wishing her and Bella a Happy Christmas. Even that would be something, she thought, staring out at the cold snowy night.

Chapter
Ten

In the end, Susi gave Bella her bath, and Archie came to sit in the kitchen whilst Sophie shoved all of Bella’s clothes in the washing machine and generally tidied up the kitchen. They could both hear giggling and splashing coming from the bathroom, which Sophie was pleased about, but she also knew that she would have yet another room to clean before she went to sleep that night. It would never occur to Susi to wash the bath, or pick up the wet towels. She glanced at Archie, who was nursing a scotch and staring blankly around the kitchen. His eyes glided unseeing over the picture, stuck up on the fridge with peeling tape that Bella had done of herself and Sophie picking flowers and had printed with a wildly wobbly child’s crayon – Me and Mummy xxxxx

Archie
cleared his throat and said, “She’s gone, Sophie.... gone for good. I don’t think I can bear it...” He put his head in his hands and started to sob. Sophie wound a strand of hair through her fingers, and stared at Archie’s shaking shoulders. She straightened her back, and said, not unkindly, “I know how you feel Archie.”

There
was a silence in the kitchen, only interrupted by the clicking of the boiler turning the sub tropical heating firmly off, and the squeals coming from the bathroom. Sophie cast her mind back to those dark days when Archie had left home. Days where it felt that her world was at an end. But she had Bella to look after, and that had helped, and then the pain had diminished into something manageable. Her hope that Archie would return had finally come true, but what a state he had returned in. This wasn’t the man that Sophie had married. The old Archie would never have sat crying like this. Sophie turned abruptly away from him and filled the kettle with cold water.

“Tea?”
she asked, without looking at him, busying herself at the counter top, setting out mugs.

“She
left with everything... she’s not coming back Sophie...what will I do?” Archie sobbed.

The
flicker of annoyance that had started in the pit of Sophie’s stomach grew and grew into a tight ball of anger. How dare he complain and cry about his girlfriend to her of all people? What other nearly ex wife would sit and listen to his whinging and crying when their perfectly gorgeous daughter needed attention and love? Sophie slammed the kettle down rather harder than she intended, slopping water out of the spout. The sudden noise made Archie look up.

“No
tea for me...got any more scotch?” he said waving his empty glass at her.

“No.
None. And you’ve had more than enough. Have some tea and then I suggest that you go and read a bedtime story to your daughter. You know, the one you didn’t feed yesterday or today, the one you left outside by herself in the snow, the one that you…”

She
bit her lip as Bella came scampering into the kitchen with a bath towel wrapped around her, leaving tiny wet footprints across the wooden floor of the kitchen. Sophie scooped her up in her arms, and patted her dry.

“Mummy,
mummy, Susi said I could use her best body shampoo it’s made of strawberries! Strawberries in shampoo! Do I smell of strawberries mummy? Do I?” Bella threw her arms around Sophie and snuggled up to her. Sophie could feel her daughter’s smooth skin and hugged her tightly.

“Yes,
darling, you smell like a summer pudding! Now, let’s get you in your jim-jams and then say your goodnights; it’s way past your bedtime.” Sophie said smiling at her.

There
were the usual protests, but Sophie could see that Bella was tired, and didn’t put up too much of a fight. Though there were the usual time delaying tactics. This time lengthened by a discussion that Sophie wasn’t sure she could win about where Max would sleep.

“The
thing about cats, Bella, is that they pretty much choose where they want to sleep, you can’t really make them sleep where you want them to,” Sophie said, standing with Bella in her panda pyjamas at the kitchen door, holding her hand.

“Like
daddy?” Bella asked, looking up at Sophie with innocent eyes, twirling a strand of hair round and round her fingers. Sophie could hear a suppressed snort of laughter coming from Susi, and she turned to glare at her before answering her daughter.

“Um,
sort of, yes...now come on, kisses all round and hop into bed!” Sophie dragged a reluctant Sophie to her room, and firmly closed the bedroom door. She could hear Susi giggling in the kitchen and hoped that at least Archie had the grace to blush, but doubted it. All he cared about was the loss of Bertha, and nothing else seemed to matter to him at all. Sophie pulled a knitted multicoloured blanket on top of Bella’s duvet. The blanket had been knitted by Aunt Dot, and was a treasured possession of Bella’s. Sophie imagined her Aunt knitting with arthritic hands, a glass of sherry by her side whilst she shouted at those ‘damn fool politicians on the television’, she must call her and find out how she was, she thought to herself.

After
kissing Bella on the forehead, chin, and both cheeks and assuring her that yes, she would leave the door ajar, and that yes, the snow would be there tomorrow, and that yes, if Max wanted to he could sleep on the foot of her bed, Sophie managed to slip out of the room.

She
hesitated at the door of the kitchen, and then abruptly turned back down the hallway and headed to her own bedroom. The stripped bed forcibly reminded her of Laurie. It seemed so long ago, but was in fact only hours. She slumped on the side of the bed, and picked up her phone. Nothing. No texts or missed calls. She stared at the phone on her hands, and realised that she was behaving like a moon struck teenager when she was in fact nothing of the sort. Quite the opposite in fact. She sighed and scrolled down to the number for Aunt Dot. As she waited for it to connect she started to remake the bed, tucking the phone under her chin. There was an ominous silence the other end of the line, but that could just be down to the extreme weather, thought Sophie, glancing out of the window. It was so cold in the bedroom that Sophie shivered, even as she was pushing the unwieldy duvet into the cover.

The
bed made, Sophie hunted around for a cardigan to throw on. Eventually she pulled on a shaggy dark green affair that she kept for walking Bella to Nursery when it was chilly outside. Well, it was bloody chilly inside, she reasoned, shrugging her arms into the sleeves. She started to tidy up her shoes, and hang her nightclothes up on the hook behind the door. As she was reaching up to the brass hook to hang her dressing gown on, the very one that she had so happily made coffee in for Laurie, the door abruptly swung open towards her, nearly knocking her in the face.

Archie
stood there swinging his bag in his hands. He looked a little unsteady on his feet. The result no doubt of far too much scotch and not enough food, Sophie thought sourly.

“Careful
Archie, that nearly caught me,” Sophie said, standing in front of him. He went to manoeuvre past her, but she held her ground, rather to her secret delight.

“Yeah,
sorry ‘bout that... I just want to...” He swung his bag towards the bed, and went to move past her again. Sophie remained exactly where she was.

“No,
I don’t think so Archie. I really don’t.” Archie stared in surprise at her.

“But,
but...s’what you wanted isn’t it? I’m home, aren’t I?” he looked down at Sophie, swaying slightly from one foot to another.

“Not
like this!” Sophie burst out, keeping her voice low, aware that Bella was just next door, even if she felt like shouting, “Not like this at all! Just because your girlfriend’s left you! Do you honestly think you can just swan back in here as if nothing has happened? Do you?”

“Oh
for chrissake Sophe, not now, just wanna lie down...” Archie stumbled towards her, dropping his bag on the floor. Sophie picked his bag up and grabbed his arm, guiding him out of the room. “No, Archie, I don’t want you in here,” she said firmly, realising as the words left her mouth that she really meant it. For the first time since Archie had been here she now knew how she felt. It could never go back to how it was, never.

She
pulled him through to the living room where Susi was curled on the floor, leaning on the coffee table painting her nails. The room was filled with the pear drop scent of nail varnish, and Susi looked up in surprise as Archie stumbled across the room and landed heavily on the sofa. “Steady tiger! You OK?” Susi said, glancing at Sophie.

“Archie
will be sleeping in here tonight; I’m just going to get some blankets. Susi, I really don’t think I want you disturbing Bella, so you can bunk down with me, or you can take the other sofa, it’s up to you.”

Susi’s
mouth opened in shock at the tone in Sophie’s voice. She glanced again at her friends face and closed her mouth, carefully twisting the top back on her nail varnish. She stood up, holding her hands splayed away from her.

“I’ll
give you a hand, hang on. Let me just wait for my nails to dry...”

“No
need,” Sophie said, turning swiftly on her heels. She managed to resist banging the door behind her, and went to forage in the airing cupboard for blankets. She could hear Susi talking to Archie in a giggly tone that made her seethe. If this was a joke to Susi, perhaps she’d like to look after Archie? Oh god. Maybe that was it? Maybe she really did want to look after Archie?

Sophie
stood at the airing cupboard, with a rather ratty pale blue blanket in her arms, breathing in the slightly musty smell of it. There was a nagging doubt in her mind that she had been trying to quash for some time, but was now rising to the surface like yeast added to flour and water. Susi and Archie? She thought back to all the times at University, to her wedding, to various parties and gatherings over the years. They were all old friends, and Archie didn’t seem to even like Susi that much...and yet... Susi flirted with everyone, not just Archie...no. Impossible. She shoved the thought back into the recesses of her mind and headed towards the living room trailing blankets and pillows.

As
she pushed the door open with her foot, she found herself walking with stiff legs, like a dog whose hackles were up. Susi was shivering rather theatrically and jumped up at the sight of the blankets. Sophie dumped a blanket on one sofa, and then turned towards Archie who had kicked his shoes off and was lying on the sofa, snoring. She threw a blanket over him, and as she was leaving the room, said, “Susi, d’you mind being in here tonight? I need my bed to myself, sorry...see you in the morning.”

She
gently closed the living room door and walked to the bedroom with a smile.