Jane Renshaw - Watch Over Me

She would think about it later.

When this damn party was over.

Neil, when he’d eventually deigned to start speaking to Flora again, had said they had to put everything with the Johnsons aside for one afternoon and give Beckie a fun birthday. For the sake of peace, Flora had pretended to agree, but she’d no intention of letting down her guard. The fact that Neil was in denial meant she had to be doubly vigilant. And it didn’t help that all the other mums of the kids that were here had bailed. She kept scanning the top of the wall, the trees, the bushes, expecting any moment to see one of the Johnson thugs. She kept wishing the kids would be quiet and not draw so much attention to themselves.

Should she even have let them out in the garden?

But it was a glorious, boiling hot July day. What possible reason could she give for not letting them play outside? As long as she was super-vigilant and never took her eyes off Beckie… At least Beckie was easy to spot. She was adorable in a hideous rainbow top and bright green leggings, jumping up and down and shouting. And now, in that dizzying way kids had at this age, she suddenly broke off what she was doing and raced across the grass towards Flora – and carried on past to the patio doors.

‘Caroline!’ She flung her arms round Caroline’s waist. ‘I thought you might have forgotten!’

‘Forget the social event of the year?’ Caroline had got into the party spirit in a short 1970s-style dress with swirly orange and brown and white flowers on it that showed off her slim tanned legs, and she’d gone the whole hog with green eye shadow and pale pink lips.

She looked sensational.

‘Is that my present?’

‘Maybe.’ Caroline grinned at Flora. ‘Sorry I’m late – bit of a work crisis.’

Flora hugged her. ‘Thanks so much for coming. But if you’ve got stresses at work –’

‘Hey, thank you . A whole afternoon with the Beckster? What could be better de-stress than that?’

And she grinned at Beckie, and Beckie grinned at her.

‘Here you go then, sweetheart. Hope you like them.’

Beckie ripped into the paper. ‘Ooh, Gazelles!’ She pulled out the box and set it on the table. Her eyes wide, she slowly opened the lid.

Inside was a pair of pink trainers.

‘Oh my God, they’re the ones ! They’re the ones I really wanted !’

‘Yep, somehow I kind of gathered that.’

‘Thank you,’ said Flora. ‘You shouldn’t have, though.’

‘Because they’re too expensive and I’ll grow out of them in like ten seconds.’ Beckie’s face had fallen comically. ‘It’s a waste of money.’

‘Hey, you think I care about wasting money on unnecessary clothing? I mean, hello?’ And Caroline did a graceful twirl.

Beckie giggled. ‘Your dress is like really weird.’

‘Thank you,’ Caroline smiled.

‘Beckie!’ Neil appeared from the family room with a large bottle of Appletiser, condensation already forming on the outside, and a glass with ice in it. It was a strictly alcohol-free party.

‘In a good way,’ Beckie said quickly.

‘Say thank you to Caroline for the lovely present,’ said Flora.

‘Yes, thank you thank you thank you!’

‘It’s my pleasure.’

‘Can I put them on?’ She looked from Neil to Flora.

‘Of course you can,’ said Neil at the same time as Flora said, ‘No, you’ll get them dirty playing in the garden.’

‘Mum’s right,’ Neil said at once. ‘You can wear them tomorrow for your last day of school.’

‘Okay.’ Beckie put them carefully back in the box. ‘I suppose I would probably mess them up playing with those skanky kids.’

‘Beckie!’

‘They are. I mean, look at them. They totally smell. And the little one dropped a turd. Me and Mia and Edith got sticks and dug a hole and buried it, but – gross. You have to admit?’

‘Oh.’ Flora peered down the garden. ‘Little – what’s his name? The one in the blue shorts?’

Beckie shrugged. ‘It’s Kanga or Konga or something like equally random. And there’s snot coming out of his nose the whole time . Mia reckons he should be called Bogie Turd Boy.’

‘Now, he’s only little. I’d better see if he needs cleaned up.’

‘He so does. And all of them. But they won’t. I said to Miranda she should get that little Turd Boy cleaned up but she said he was fine, and he so isn’t.’

Neil handed Caroline her drink.

‘Oh, lifesaver. Thanks.’ She looked at Beckie. ‘Tell you what… You’ve got a garden hose, yeah?’

Five minutes later all the kids were squealing in terror as Caroline chased them with the hose, turning it on and off unpredictably. The game seemed to be a complicated combination of tag, capture the flag and some sort of elimination element. Little Turd Boy was soon eliminated, much to his annoyance, and while Beckie took over the hose, Caroline swept him up and carried him inside to get ‘dried off’ with the promise of a biscuit to follow.

They re-emerged, hand in hand, the child wearing a pair of Beckie’s pants and munching happily on a chocolate digestive.

‘I’ve washed these out,’ said Caroline, handing Flora his little shorts and pants. ‘They’ll dry in the sun in about thirty seconds.’

‘Oh, thank you!’

Turd Boy crammed in the last of the biscuit and ran to join the others in ganging up on Neil, who was, inevitably, soaked from head to foot. Even Edith seemed to have lost her inhibitions, giggling manically and shouting, ‘He’s getting away!’ when Neil made a break for it.

‘Haven’t had this much fun in ages,’ grinned Caroline, stretching out on a lounger and closing her eyes against the sun.

‘You’re a natural with them.’

‘Being with kids is kind of like reliving your own childhood, isn’t it, and letting them share it? Only you’re allowed to pick and choose the best bits for them.’

Flora looked down at her. ‘Beckie loves you,’ she found herself saying.

Caroline opened her eyes; raised her eyebrows. ‘Aw. I love her too. You lot moving here is the best thing that’s happened to me for – well, ages.’

‘Do you want kids yourself?’

She shrugged. ‘Sure, but it’s the old cliché – never met the right guy to settle down with. Not that I’m looking that hard, to be honest. Kind of been focused on my career. But being with Beckie, well, it’s making me re-evaluate that, you know?’

‘Would you be Beckie’s guardian?’

Caroline sat up. ‘Eh?’

‘I know you’ve got your career, and you probably wouldn’t want to… I mean, playing with her for an afternoon is one thing, but having her full time – And all the stuff with the Johnsons, it’s not fair to ask you…’ Humiliatingly, tears were choking her. ‘Sorry, I should never have even… Sorry.’ She turned away.

‘Hey, hey, Flora.’ Caroline’s arms were round her. ‘Shh. God, I’d love to, but you don’t want to give me that kind of responsibility! You hardly even know me.’

‘I do know you.’ Flora sniffed, pulled away, smiled shakily. ‘I feel like I’ve known you forever. Please, Caroline? Please? ’

‘Okay, yes, of course, if you’re sure… That’s… God, Flora, I feel so honoured. Of course.’

‘Thank you. Oh Caroline, thank you.’

Caroline pulled her back into the hug. ‘Flora, I – oh-oh!’

Flora whipped round. ‘What?’

But she could see what. Beckie, Mia and Edith had slipped their leggings (or in Edith’s case, badly fitting jeans) and pants down at the back and were wiggling their bare bums in a row, screaming with laughter. Then Beckie turned and stuck out her tongue.

Flora looked up.

Ailish, her arms full of laundry, was standing at the first-floor landing window next door, mouth open.