‘Listen, I’m sorry about earlier. I was out of order and I shouldn’t have said what I did.’ Harriet waved off Nancy’s comment. ‘I didn’t mean it, you know, I just hate seeing you so worked to the bone – I don’t want you to burn out, that’s all.’
‘It’s fine, I shouldn’t have shouted at you. Just a bit stressed that’s all.’ The response was clipped, it clearly wasn’t OK.
Nancy speared a potato onto her fork ignoring the finality in Harriet’s voice. She couldn’t have things strained between them whilst they were away. ‘But that’s what I mean; you’ve been stressed for the last four years – when do you give yourself a break?’
‘A company doesn’t get off its feet if the owners want to take a break every five minutes. You get out what you put in.’ Harriet didn’t take her eyes off her plate, making herself look far too busy with cutting up her food. It was obvious she was doing it as a distraction.
‘Yes, true, but when the owner is sending emails from her hospital bed after having just had a baby, there’s got to be a line drawn, surely?’ Nancy remembered the day she visited Harriet after she’d had Tommy and was shocked to see her have a complete work desk set up in the hospital. Laptop out, phone next to it and a coffee on the side as Tommy slept in the cot next to her. The nurses must’ve thought she was crazy, Nancy sure had. ‘You were like a woman possessed; tapping away on emails with one hand, your phone going between your ear and your shoulder and I’m pretty sure you had a conference call at one point over the course of that day too. I mean, that’s just crazy. You have to learn when to stop and breathe.’
‘Are we really going to do this at dinner or can we enjoy it? I’m not working right now, am I? Yet you seem set on talking about work!’
Nancy was taken back by her abruptness. ‘I’m not having a go—’
‘Could’ve fooled me.’ Hari snapped back.
‘Hey! I’m just saying this because I care. Why don’t you take a step back for a second? You have employees working on stuff, you said yourself that things are quieter at the moment before your next big contract comes in – I don’t understand why you have to be going at 100 miles per hour every second of every day. It makes me tired just watching you.’ Nancy laughed to try and lighten the mood.
‘Can we just change the subject please?’
Nancy shrugged and continued eating her dinner. She certainly hadn’t planned to come away on holiday and row. It was supposed to be fun. Harriet was overreacting but there was no point in trying to talk about work with her whilst she was still in a mood. It was definitely something that Nancy was not going to give up on though. Harriet kept saying how Nancy had had a tough year and needed a break – the truth could be said about her too. She was just too bloody stubborn to admit it. But this was a conversation for another time, maybe after a few cocktails. ‘So what’s the plan for tomorrow?’
‘Waterpark!’ Isla shouted and banged on the table.
Tommy saw his sister do it and started repeatedly banging on the table in response. Isla giggled and joined in, chanting waterpark, waterpark, waterpark.
Jack clutched at his ears – Nancy had managed to pry his iPad and headphones away from him so he would eat something.
‘OK, OK, that’s enough you two. Look, you’re upsetting Jack.’ Harriet pointed to Jack and Isla looked over.
‘Sorry Jack,’ Isla said, and looked guiltily at Nancy.
‘It’s OK, sweetheart, he’s fine.’ Nancy hated it when other children’s fun was cut short because it upset Jack. He didn’t like loud noises, new people, being touched … the list of triggers was only growing, and she was becoming more and more aware of how difficult life was for him.
‘I’m up for the waterpark if you are Nancy?’
Nancy looked at Jack. He was never going to like it, but why should the others suffer because he didn’t want to go? Maybe he would try it – although she didn’t hold out much hope. ‘Jack?’ she said, placing a hand on his forearm gently so he knew she was talking to him. He looked at her with his big blue eyes. ‘Shall we go to the waterpark tomorrow? It will have slides and a swimming pool and it will be lots of fun.’
Already he was shaking his head.
‘Come on, just give it a try?’
‘I don’t like water.’
‘You don’t have to go in – just dangle your feet like you did earlier today in the swimming pool?’
‘When the boy came to talk to me.’ It was a statement rather than a question and Nancy felt a small bolt of elation as she realised he had probably taken more notice of Aiden when he came over earlier than he let on.
‘That’s right. That little boy was called Aiden. He wanted to be your friend.’
‘I don’t like friends.’
‘Of course you do – everyone likes to have friends.’
‘Not me.’ He picked up a piece of plain pasta and put it into his mouth.
‘Why not?’ Nancy pressed. She always tried to push conversations with him when he was in a talkative mood. She had no idea why he was so chatty tonight but she kept going, afraid that if she stopped, he would too.
He shrugged.
‘Because it’s OK to speak to new people. That’s how we make friends.’
‘But I don’t know who they are.’
‘That’s how we make friends, we get to know them. We can ask questions about what they like, and they ask us questions and—’
‘I don’t like questions.’
Nancy suppressed a groan. She hated it when he disliked everything she said, but she was adamant about keeping her happy face on – if he saw she was frustrated then he would just close off and she needed him to keep opening up or he would never make any progress.
‘But Mummy and I ask you questions and you answer us,’ Harriet said, decanting some more of her dinner onto Tommy’s plate.
‘But I know you.’
‘So you only like questions from people you know – not people you don’t know?’ Nancy asked, and Jack nodded. ‘I see.’ It was a small revelation for Nancy, but it felt like she’d got to know her son that little bit more just now and a spark of happiness sizzled through her body. He may be being difficult about the waterpark, but he was trying his best and that was all she could ask for. She would have to come up with a different idea. ‘If you guys want to go to the waterpark, Jack and I could do something else.’
‘We’re supposed to be doing stuff together though – we don’t have to go,’ Harriet suggested reassuringly. Isla was not impressed by this and began wailing at her mum. ‘Alright, alright, let’s see what time it opens and maybe we can go for a little while. What’s it called?’ Nancy shrugged. ‘Do we even know if there is a waterpark around here?’ Harriet frowned.
‘Yeah, that Cameron said he was going to one.’
‘Oh he did, did he?’ Harriet swooned. ‘Well, maybe we should find him and ask.
‘Trickles Waterpark.’ Jack said, not looking up from his iPad.
‘What’s that darling?’ Nancy asked.
‘That’s what it’s called – Trickles Waterpark. It is approximately 63000 square feet and has a zero entry pool, lazy river, lap pool, diving well, slide tower and tipping bucket play structure.’
Nancy stared at him, her mouth gaping.
‘It takes 1.2 million gallons to fill initially with a daily top off of 3871 gallons giving it a consumption ratio of 0.32 per cent.’ He looked up at Nancy. ‘How cool does that sound?’ His little face was beaming, he was in his element. Statistics, information and structures – he loved it.
‘Wow, Jack, you’re like a fountain of information about the waterpark.’ Harriet laughed and poured some wine.
‘Mum, it says here that the water park is open approximately 100 days per season with an average attendance of 1650 per day – that’s a lot of people.’
‘It is a lot of people,’ she agreed, unsure of how to play this conversation.
‘But actually, if it is 63,000 square metres, it might not be very crowded. People might not bump into me.’ He was talking to himself more than anyone else. He then gasped. ‘Mum, look.’ He showed her the tablet and it was a picture of the waterpark as a whole. It looked incredible. Splashes of vibrant colours snaked over the screen as the slides and water chutes intertwined. Some high, some low. Rainbow tunnels, various shaped pools, log flume and a beach scene. It looked like a child’s dream. She looked at Jack.
‘Wow, sweetie, isn’t it great?’ she tested.
‘Mum, look at the shape that one makes. It’s got right angles and obtuse. That one there looks about 110 degrees.’ He looked up. ‘I want to go.’
‘Really?’ She almost gasped the word.
‘Yeah, but I don’t want to go in the water, I just want to see the shapes.’
‘That’s fine sweetheart.’ Nancy looked to Harriet and raised her eyebrows as Jack resumed his research. She was starting to realise that with Jack, it was all about how you approached things.