The Crunch Campaign (7 page)

‘Lorraine's right,' said Dominic. ‘We need to make this authentic. We can't take the prime minister an idea just because we think it's awesome. We need an actual client.'

‘We have to go to the markets,' said Clementine, ‘maybe to Rocklea. All the fruit and vegetable people are based there.'

Katie stared at her. ‘How do you know this kind of stuff?'

‘My Uncle Gary is an avocado grower. I used to spend weekends with his family when I was little and my own family couldn't be bothered taking me wherever they were going.' Clementine's words were sad, but her voice wasn't bitter.

‘Okay,' said Katie, ‘I see a fact-finding mission to the Rocklea markets in our near future.'

‘But, Kato, it's Sunday tomorrow.' Dominic shook his head. ‘The place will be deserted.'

‘Not at night, it won't be,' said Clementine. ‘Sunday night the place is crazy, getting ready for the week. It's the best time to go.'

‘And the worst time for me.' Katie felt glum. Sneaking out would be almost impossible – her mum had started making a big deal of Sunday nights. It was their night to ‘spend time together'. Probably because she felt guilty about spending so much time with Liam Parfitt.

‘I can go,' said Lorraine ‘My mother watches “Midsomer Murders” on Sunday nights. She gets so into it she wouldn't notice if
I
was murdered.'

‘I can go too,' said Clementine. ‘My parents are going to have their portrait painted. The university wants to hang a picture of them in the Great Hall.'

‘Seriously?' Katie didn't know anyone who'd had their portrait painted. ‘How come they didn't ask you to do it?'

‘I offered, but they said the uni had commissioned a
proper painter
.'

‘Adults can be idiots, sometimes,' said Katie. ‘But that's good news for us. Dom, do you think you'd be able to get out?'

‘Probably. I'll need to think how to do it, though. Auntie Elspeth is a bit uptight about studying on a Sunday night.' He scratched his jaw. ‘But this might be a way to lure Joel out of his cave. You know how much he likes a night excursion. He won't want to miss it.'

‘Exactly!' Katie was excited. She'd work out something to tell her mum. One problem at a time.

‘So, how do we get to Rocklea?' Lorraine wondered.

‘That's what Google's for.' Katie switched on one of the Macs.

It was close to eleven when Lorraine yawned. ‘I have to go home. I'm tired.'

‘Me too.' Clementine put down her pen and flexed her hand. She'd been drawing up billboard ideas for strawberries.

‘Cool,' said Katie. ‘We can get together tomorrow. But the plan is we get the train to Sherwood at seven, then walk. It's about two and a half kays. So no stupid shoes, Lorraine. Then we suss out the strawberry action.'

‘What do you mean,
stupid shoes
?' Lorraine looked lovingly at her gumboots.

‘Just don't wear anything that'll make you fall over, give you blisters, or make you walk on tiptoe like a mutated Barbie doll. We need to get in and out as fast as we can.'

‘And we're just going to talk to the strawberry growers, right?' Dominic drummed his fingers on the bench. ‘Not make any ads?'

‘If we can get Joel to come and bring his camera, who knows what might happen?' Katie tried to sound more confident than she was. The whole Rocklea thing felt a bit random, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing. ‘At least if we go there we can talk to some growers and ask them how hard it is for them to sell their stuff. I can talk to the prime minister about that.'

‘Do you think if I give you a coat and some boots in her size, Clara Whiting might wear them on TV sometime?' said Lorraine. ‘It's cold and rainy in Canberra. It'd be great publicity for LorRAINWEAR. “As worn by the prime minister of Australia”. How cool would that be?'

‘You never know,' said Katie, not thinking about it. She was wondering how she could get Dominic to stay once Clementine and Lorraine had left. It seemed important to talk to him on his own. She wasn't sure why.

‘Well, I'll get my history assignment out of the way,' said Clementine. ‘I'll be over once that's done.'

‘I've got assignments too – and a bit of LorRAINWEAR business to deal with, then I'll be over in sensible shoes.' She headed for the door.

‘I might hang around a bit and work out some sort of strategy for our strawberry campaign – if that's okay?' said Dominic. ‘Not for long, though.'

‘No worries,' said Katie, hoping that Lorraine wouldn't read anything into the smile in her voice. ‘I'll see Clem and Lorraine off.'

She almost ran back to the tree office. Dominic was at a Mac, studying the screen.

‘So,' said Katie, fishing for something to say, ‘what are we going to do about Joel?' It was weird: she so badly wanted to chat to Dominic on his own, but now that they were together, Joel was all she could think to talk about.

‘Don't know.' He shrugged.

The silence seemed very loud and Katie was glad when a possum scuttled across the roof.

‘Katie!' Her mum's voice from the house startled them. ‘Are you out there?'

‘They're back,' Katie whispered, although it was obvious.

‘I'd better go.' Dominic got up.

‘You don't have to.' She mouthed the words. With any luck, her mum hadn't invited Liam in.

‘Are the others still with you? It's probably time they went home.'

Katie could tell her mum wanted her to come inside; there was a funny tone in her voice.

‘She wants to talk to you. I'll see you tomorrow,' said Dominic. ‘I'll nick down the side. I'm not scared of toads.'

‘Okay, see you tomorrow. Work on Joel, can you?'

‘Sure.'

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘What's up?' Katie found her mum in the kitchen, making tea. She was happy to see that Liam wasn't around. Maybe things were cooling off.

‘Nothing,' said her mother. ‘Have we got any more sugar?'

‘No, we keep forgetting to put it on the list. But there's always a couple of sachets at the bottom of your bag, remember?' Her mother took a few extra packets of sugar whenever she got a takeaway coffee.

‘Right. You'd think I'd remember.' She went to the chair where her bag always hung and rummaged around. ‘How are things with Mosquito? All going well?'

‘Yes, fine.' This was an odd conversation to be having so late. Something was up. ‘Mum, are you all right?' she asked. Suddenly, a happy thought came to her. She touched her mum's hand and spoke as kindly as she could. ‘Have you – have you and Liam broken up?'

Her mother stared at her, tears filling her eyes. ‘Oh, love, no! Just the opposite. We're talking about getting married.'

All Katie could hear was the blood coursing through her head. ‘What does that mean? You're kicking the idea of marriage around as a concept? Or are you actually engaged?'

Her mother turned the mug between her hands. ‘It means Liam asked me to marry him. But I need to know how you'd feel about it. I wouldn't do anything like this if you weren't a hundred per cent happy about it. You like Liam, don't you?' There was a desperation in her voice that made Katie want to cry. She sounded like Lorraine asking whether she liked her designs. There was no way Katie could say no.

‘He's all right. But, Mum, what about all those kids? Will they live here? Where will they sleep? Our table isn't big enough. Neither is your car.'

‘That's all stuff we can talk about. There's no rush.'

‘But this seems so quick, Mum. You've only been – going out – a few weeks. Maybe you're both still in shock about Mr Parfitt's death.'

‘Maybe it seems that way, but I don't think so. We've known each other our whole lives. I love him, Katie. I also like him a lot, which is important. He's easy to be with. He makes me happy. But I want you to be happy, too.'

Katie's chest hurt. Her mum was her favourite person in the world, but this was almost too much.

‘But all those kids, Mum. You've got your hands full with work, and the house and, well,
me
.'

‘I won't be their mother. She will see them sometimes –' Her voice trailed away. Katie knew that Liam's ex-wife hardly ever looked after her kids. ‘But Liam is very hands-on. That won't change. And he won't be your dad. He'll be my husband and we'll make a new kind of family. What do you say? Can you think about it and then we can talk some more tomorrow?'

‘No.' Katie swallowed. Her mum rarely asked her for anything. ‘It's okay. I'll get used to it. I'm getting used to it already. It'll be – good.'

Her mum got off her chair and gave her a hug. ‘Thanks, love. I know this is a shock for you. It's been a surprise to me.'

‘When will the wedding be?' Katie pulled away. She wasn't used to talking about love with her mother – she preferred to talk about practical things.

‘I don't know. We haven't even started thinking about it. I told Liam that unless you were okay with this, nothing would happen.'

‘Not soon, then?' Katie felt relief. She had too much on her plate as it was, without a wedding to worry about too.

‘We can talk about it. Maybe Christmas? That gives us a few months. It'll be a simple wedding – nothing over the top.'

Katie's eyes narrowed. Christmas! That was only a couple of months away. There was no way they'd go off each other by then.

‘It's late.' Her mum went to the sink to rinse her mug. ‘Time for bed. We can talk about it again tomorrow.'

‘No.' Katie shook her head. There'd be no point in talking about it any more. It was clear that her mother had made up her mind. ‘It's okay. You and Liam are getting married. He and the kids will move in here. It'll take a bit of getting used to, but I'll do it.'

‘All right then, love. I won't go on about it. But it would be nice if we could spend a bit more time with them all – would that be okay? Get to know them a bit?' She looked so pathetically desperate for Katie to say yes.

‘Sure, I'd like that.' Katie nodded.

‘Great. Tomorrow Liam and I were thinking of taking the kids to a
Play School
show in the city and then pizza. I know it's a little kids' show, but it would be so nice if you came. Please?'

Katie took a deep breath. ‘All right.'

‘Thank you. It starts at five.'

‘Five?
' Katie almost shouted. ‘It's a kids' show, isn't it? Aren't kids' shows normally in the mornings? At ten or something? When Lorraine takes the Stinky Twins to stuff it's always early! Kids should be getting ready for bed at five!'

‘Yes, but there were no tickets for the morning show. Liam says the kids might be a bit ratty, but they're so excited. It doesn't make any difference to you, does it?'

There was no possible excuse that Katie could come up with. Not even homework. Her mum was so desperate for her to go, she'd write a note asking for an extension. ‘No, no it'll be cool.' Katie's brain felt like it might explode. Why was nothing in her life ever simple?

It took her a long time to fall asleep, but when she did, she dreamt of her mum wearing a white dress and dancing cheek-to-cheek with Liam Parfitt. Nancy was dancing, too – with Amos Gumm. Katie herself was locked in a playpen in the corner, being crawled over by babies eating cake. They smeared it into her hair with their fat fingers.

There was a thumping on the lattice door. Katie looked at the clock beside her bed. It was just past five in the morning.

‘Hey! Open up!' Nancy's voice.

‘Use your key!' yelled Katie. Her auntie was the rudest person she knew.

‘I can't find it! Come on, Katie. Show some respect!'

‘Respect!' Katie muttered as she kicked off her covers and stormed into the hallway. ‘What would you know about that?' She unlocked the heavy wooden front door and crossed the wide veranda. Opening the lattice door, she was shocked to see Nancy's face streaked with tears. Clothes and books spilt out of green shopping bags on to the stairs. Abbott, Nancy's slobbering rottweiler, sat calmly beside her, as if he sensed her distress. A thick column of saliva dripped from his upper jaw, but his head was still.

‘What's up?' Katie wondered if Nancy could be upset about her mum's engagement. ‘Have you heard about Mum?'

‘What's wrong with your mother?' There was a hint of panic in Nancy's voice.

‘Nothing, nothing. She's fine.'

‘Is she up?' Nancy shoved Katie aside and stomped down the hallway to her sister's room. ‘I need to talk to her.'

‘No, she's asleep. She and Liam – were out last night. Nancy, I'll make you some Milo.'

But Nancy ignored her and barged in without knocking. Katie followed.

‘What's the matter?' Her mother sat up and rubbed her eyes.

Nancy plonked herself on the edge of the bed. ‘I broke up with Amos. And then I resigned. I've got no job and nowhere to live.'

‘What?' Katie didn't even know that Nancy and Amos were living together. ‘When did you move in with him?'

‘Before New York,' snapped Nancy. ‘It was none of your business. Go and make me that Milo you promised.'

Katie ignored her. She wasn't going anywhere. Did this mean Nancy would be living with them? Plus Liam and all those kids? Her world was getting bigger and falling apart at the same time.

‘What happened?' Her mum's voice was soft as she put her small hand on Nancy's fat freckled one.

‘We had a big fight about Blade Air. Amos wanted to do ads talking about how Barry Sharp is addressing safety issues, and I told him that would just reinforce their reputation as an unsafe airline. We argued on and on and I got angrier and angrier and in the end he said he's the managing director and what he says goes. So I said, “Right, I'm gone.” And I here I am.'

‘But, Nancy –' Vanessa was shaking her head. ‘I thought you were going to keep your relationship and work separate. You told me that when you moved in with him.'

Katie wondered how she'd missed all this.

‘Well, Vanessa,' Nancy took a wet, snotty sniff, ‘let me tell you that doesn't work. Work and love can't mix and you should think of that before you get too involved with Liam Parfitt.'

Katie stared at her mother, who said nothing as she tightened her hand on Nancy's.

‘I was a fool for thinking that it could work between me and Amos. I'm kicking myself for having moved out of my place. It's rented out now for the rest of the year. I'm an idiot for trusting that man – and what have I got? Nothing. Abbott and I'll be living here for a bit.'

‘How long?' Katie squeaked.

Nancy swung round. ‘As long as I bloody well like. Isn't that right, Vanessa?'

‘Katie, you know Nancy is always welcome here.'

‘But –' Katie looked at her mum's face, with its mix of worry, frustration and disappointment. Now wasn't the time to bring up Liam Parfitt, the kids, the wedding.

Katie helped Nancy carry the green bags into her grandad's old room, where Nancy always slept when she stayed. There were yellowy brown stains on the once-white walls from Nancy's cigarettes. She was an irregular visitor – but whenever she stayed it was because there was some crisis, so she smoked even more than normal.

When Katie went to the kitchen next morning, Nancy was already munching Vegemite toast and slurping tea. Abbott was guzzling a bowl of Weet-Bix and milk in the corner.

‘You know milk gives dogs diarrhoea, don't you?' she said. ‘There's a sack of Barkers downstairs. Want me to give him some of that? Much better for his guts.'

‘Oh, drop it, Katie. Don't try your advertising lines out on me.'

‘I wasn't. It's just that I'm the one who has to clean up after Abbott whenever you're here.'

Nancy ignored her, so Katie set about making herself some toast. Her mum came into the kitchen dressed in jeans and a blue shirt. ‘I'm going to Mass. Nancy, do you want to come?'

Please go, please go, Katie prayed, even though she wasn't sure she believed in God.

‘Yes, I'll come,' huffed Nancy. ‘I'll pray that lightning strikes Amos Gumm.'

‘Do you want him dead?' Katie was shocked. Nancy was crazy, but not vindictive.

‘No, but he needs to wake up to himself.' Nancy ran a hand over her matted red curls. She looked like she hadn't slept for days. ‘I'm the best thing that's ever happened to him.'

As Katie listened to the old Porsche pull out from under the house, she wondered when her mum would tell Nancy about her engagement. That would be tricky, but it had to happen. It wasn't her problem, though. Which was good – she had enough as it was. With the house deliciously quiet, Katie dressed in her grandad's old army shorts and a t-shirt and took a pad and pen onto the daybed on the front veranda. She needed to make a list of what she had to do to get her life into some kind of order.

1. Get out of
   Play School
   concert
   
2. Complete strawberry fact-finding mission to Rocklea markets
   
3. Come up with brilliant, award-winning ad for strawberries
   
4. Write presentation for meeting with prime minister
   
5. Write radio campaign for Barkers
   
6. Do concepts for Project Xmas
   
7. Ideas for LorRAINWEAR
   
8. Assignment on climate change
   
9. Break up Mum's engagement
   
10. Get Nancy and Amos Gumm back together