‘OK bakers; are you ready to make some masterpieces?’
Nancy glanced nervously at Jack who was wide eyed at the amount of people inside the lavishly decorated hall. Streamers of rainbow colours adorned the ceiling alongside what seemed to be hundreds of balloons too. The tables had been rearranged from their usual nightly set up to rows of tables where children could work on their creations. It was surprising how many people had turned up because Nancy imagined a lot of children to be in bed or getting ready to go to bed. It was an activity for the older children but obviously, as it was a holiday, there were quite a few younger ones here too. In the corner of the hall there was a soft play set up for any really small children to chill in whilst the activity was taking place, but generally the younger ones had taken to running aimlessly around the room, high on pudding and sugar. The noise was probably a bit much for Jack, if Nancy was honest with herself, but she had managed to get him here which was progress, even if it was only on the guise that he would see Aiden here and he could then show him his iPad.
‘Where’s Aiden?’ he asked, tugging at her teal green tea dress which had pink flamingos and foliage on. It was Harriet’s dress – a little too out there for Nancy – but she had borrowed it to try and look dressier knowing she would see Cameron here tonight.
She glanced around the room, trying to spot either Aiden or Cameron. ‘I’m not sure yet, let’s go and grab a table over there and that way we will be able to see the doorway when they arrive. How does that sound?’ Jack shrugged and followed her silently, looking around. She could see by his expression that he was simply scanning the room, taking it all in, a mental photograph to refer back to at a later date.
They set up at one of the tables which wasn’t too close to where all the action was. Nancy wasn’t sure that Jack was even going to join in but she figured she had more hope of him doing so if he wasn’t right next to all the commotion and drama. Harriet sidled up next to her wearing the most gorgeous black mini dress, which had a bold floral print and long, winged sleeves. The neckline gave a choker effect and she looked absolutely stunning – as per usual. ‘I don’t know if Isla is going to want to do it. She’s having a strop.’
‘About what?’ Nancy glanced over to Isla who was standing about a metre away from Harriet, a serious pout going on and her arms crossed in defiance. She looked exactly like a mini Harriet. Not that Nancy would say that to her face.
‘I told her she had to make the masterpieces first and that she might not be able to eat it afterwards.’ Harriet pulled out her compact mirror and touched up her vibrant red lipstick which set off the effect of the dress.
‘Oh dear, didn’t go down too well then?’ Nancy eyed the red lipstick, wondering if she could ever pull something so daring off.
‘What do you think? The poor girl only wants to eat cake and Mummy said no. I think I would cry too, to be fair.’ She turned to face her. ‘Are you going to join in?’ Isla shook her head and stamped her feet. ‘There’s your answer,’ she said back to Nancy.
‘What about Tommy?’ Nancy looked at him standing up at the table having pulled himself up to grab at the tools laid out for the bakers. ‘He looks keen to try it.’
‘Yeah, count me and Tommy in, Isla might join in once she sees the others do it, hey?’
‘I want some cake!’ she said, stamping her foot yet again.
‘Well, I want a million pounds darling but I’m afraid we don’t always get what we want in life.’
Nancy laughed. ‘That is such a mum thing to say.’ She glanced over Harriet’s shoulder and spotted Cameron walking in with Aiden on his shoulders. The two of them were laughing and Nancy found herself smiling as she watched them. Aiden was high on Cameron’s shoulders, and his little face lit up as he giggled away at Cameron bouncing him as they walked. His laugh could be heard right across the hall even with the noise level so high and as they reached about halfway, Cameron spotted Nancy and his own face lit up. He walked over – half walking, half bouncing, cue more giggles – and as he reached them jolted Aiden forward and caught him in his arms amidst proper belly laughs.
Nancy’s heart jumped as she watched Aiden’s little body fly over Cameron’s head and land in his arms. Something they clearly did many times but was terrifying to watch. She had her hand on her chest as she said, ‘My God, that scared the life out of me!’
‘Ah he’s alright; he’s only ever fallen off twice.’ Nancy’s eyes opened wide at this revelation. ‘I’m kidding,’ he laughed. ‘It was three times.’ Nancy playfully hit him as he laughed it off. ‘So you decided to join us today, that’s great.’ He peered round Nancy at Jack who was standing holding his iPad and staring wide-eyed at Aiden.
‘Jack has something he wanted to show Aiden so he insisted we came.’ She held out her arm to try and encourage Jack forward.
‘What did you wanna show me, Jack?’ Aiden bounced forward and Jack noticeably flinched at the sudden movement towards him.
‘Remember buddy, nice and calm.’ Cameron winked at Aiden and he immediately slowed down his approach.
Nancy looked at Cameron and whispered, ‘He is so good.’
‘He tries his best,’ he replied.
Jack stood for a moment in silence, repeatedly looking from Nancy to Aiden and back. Nancy nodded and tried to silently encourage him and after a moment he said. ‘I’ve got a tablet too. This is my iPad.’
‘That’s awesome Jack, it’s like mine. What games do you have on it?’ Aiden moved to be beside Jack but Jack took a step to the side as he replied, moving to keep that little bit of distance between them. He relayed the games he had on there and then started talking about the programmes he liked to watch.
‘Isla, no!’
Nancy spun round at Harriet’s raised voice and saw Isla standing with a mouthful of cake and biscuits, a look of horror that she hadn’t been quick enough to swallow before her mum noticed.
Harriet grabbed her hand and stormed past Nancy. ‘I’m taking her to the toilet to clean up, can you watch Tommy?’ and she left before Nancy had time to answer.
Tommy tried to follow Harriet so Nancy swiped him up into her arms. ‘Hey little man, where do you think you’re going?’ He wriggled in her arms and tried to get free. ‘I’m sorry Mister; you’re not following out of here. Stay with me for a minute.’ More squirming and now screaming. Full blown tantrum scream. Nancy flinched as the high-pitched noise rang through, right into her ear and she recoiled her head.
‘Hey, listen little man, Mummy will be back soon,’ Cameron cooed but Nancy shook her head.
‘No he’s not crying for that, he wants to get down so he can crawl out of the hall door now that it is open.’ She nodded to the door that was still wide open from when Harriet stormed through it, Isla in tow.
‘WAHHHHHHH!’ Tommy continued his tantrum which seemed to have risen up a few decibels again.
Suddenly Jack was at Nancy’s side tugging at her dress. ‘Too noisy!’ he said, grimacing at Tommy’s wails.
‘I know sweetheart, I’m sorry. Tommy’s just a bit upset.’
‘I don’t like it,’ he responded.
Cameron tried to step forward towards Jack but he just recoiled, putting his hands on his ears.
‘Shall we go over there boys, where it’s not so noisy for you Jack?’ Jack shook his head, clearly distressed.
‘Do you want me to take Tommy while you sort Jack?’
Nancy tried to hand over Tommy but he just screamed louder, bucking his body and trying to free himself. By this time there were numerous stares from other people in the hall. Some supportive and clearly feeling sorry for Nancy and others with a look of disproval and judgement. Nancy refrained from shouting oh I’m sorry, has your child never had a tantrum before and instead opted to try and soothe Tommy again. ‘It’s fine,’ she called over his cries. ‘But I tell you what you could do.’ Cameron nodded. ‘In my bag over there under the table are Jack’s headphones, do you want to see if he will let you give them to him?’
Cameron immediately responded and strode over to the bag whilst Nancy continued to try and calm Tommy who was now in full pelt strop, his face a bright crimson colour and hiccupping as he tried to breathe through the screaming. ‘Shh, come on Tommy. Just a few more minutes and you can get down. What’s this? Do you want to try my sunglasses on?’
He pushed them away.
‘How about my necklace, look, you always like playing with my necklace.’
Another squirm and accelerated scream.
She looked up as she heard Jack’s shout. A distressed cry as Cameron tried to hand him the headphones. Oh God, she thought, she could see the escalation signs with him. He was getting anxious because of this noise and he was so worked up now that he wasn’t able to see anything but the angst. Cameron looked up to her waiting for guidance as to what to do. ‘Here,’ she said to him, handing him Tommy. ‘He is going to be the easier one of the two.’
Cameron looked at the sweaty, beetroot mess that Tommy was and replied, ‘Really?’ as he took him.
‘Trust me,’ she replied, feeling her own anxiety level rise up. She really didn’t want Jack to have a full-blown meltdown in here. Not in front of all these people. She felt judged enough as it was, she didn’t need that negativity too. Cameron stood with Tommy who was now screaming again at full throttle. Nancy could see Jack starting to rock in the seated position he had put himself on the floor. His face screwed up in turmoil, tears starting to fall down his cheek. She held out his headphones and touched his arm. ‘Jack, here, put these on.’ His arms flung out and knocked them away. She looked as they slid across the floor.
Deep breath. She retrieved them and tried again. ‘Jack, sweetheart, put them on. They will help. It will make it quieter for you.’ More rocking and now he was screwed up into a ball. She glanced at Aiden who was standing, wide eyed, next to her. ‘It’s OK sweetheart,’ she said. Bless him, he looked so scared but he put on a brave face.
‘I’m OK. Will he be OK?’
‘Yes, he will be fine. He’s just a bit upset.’ Aiden nodded and tried to smile.
Nancy had no idea why Tommy was screaming still – it felt like she had been listening to it for about an hour now. His wails weren’t letting up, they only seemed to get stronger and stronger. And then after a minute, there was silence. Nancy felt a glimmer of hope as she heard the cries stop. She took a breath and reached out her hand on Jack’s arm when the scream came back tenfold and right next to her ear. Turned out he was only stopping to take a breath so he could continue, the coughing and spluttering causing him to gag. Jack reacted badly to this sudden quietness and then peak of sound again and cried out himself.
Nancy whipped her head round to Cameron and snapped. ‘Can you just take him over there please? I can’t have him doing that this close to Jack!’
Cameron looked shocked at her sudden outburst at him and retreated further away. Nancy felt bad – she wasn’t coping very well with this situation at all. What had happened to all her coping techniques and where the hell was Harriet!
‘Come on sweetheart, please, just take your headphones.’ He pushed his arm out and knocked the headphones away again. ‘Jack, come on! You’re not helping yourself.’ She sat back on her heels and exhaled. She just didn’t know what to do anymore. She had thought he’d made so much progress whilst they were away and yet here they were, back at square one. And all of this in front of Cameron, too. She felt ashamed with herself that she was bothered by that fact.