‘OK spill, what did he say?’ Harriet placed the coffees onto the table in front of Nancy and sat down opposite her, expectantly. Nancy shuffled in her seat, very aware that Jack didn’t look too comfortable at the airport. She had sent Harriet a text yesterday and said she would explain all about Pete’s visit today; she knew Harriet wouldn’t just be content with a condensed version.
‘He apologised and said that he wants to be a part of Jack’s life.’
Harriet guffawed and sipped her coffee. ‘You aren’t seriously falling for that tosh, are you?’
Nancy laughed. ‘Tosh? Did you actually say tosh? Who says that?’
‘Oh, be quiet, just tell me that you’re not falling for it?’
Nancy shrugged and sipped her coffee.
‘Nance!’ Harriet picked up her napkin and threw it at her. ‘Come on girl, sort it out.’
‘Hari, it’s not that simple. He’s Jack’s dad – I can hardly tell him to piss off, can I? What about Jack?’ She looked over to her blonde-haired boy and felt the weight of anxiety drop into the pit of her stomach. ‘It’s not his fault his dad is an idiot but if Pete is going to try and make things right, surely Jack deserves to have his dad around?’
‘Babe I get that, honestly I do, but he’s hardly shown the best intentions over the last year, has he? It wasn’t like he was dad of the year even before he walked out.’
Nancy stayed quiet, not wanting to delve into the mess that was her marriage. But it seemed Harriet had other ideas.
‘What about the time that he left you waiting at that restaurant because he decided to go to the game with his mates and not tell you? Or the time he cancelled your weekend away because tickets came up for the F1? Or the time you slaved over a romantic dinner for him on your anniversary and he rolled in from the pub at 11 p.m. with a kebab?’
‘Alright, Hari, jeez!’ Nancy sipped her coffee again. ‘What is this, let’s highlight how shit Pete has been as a husband over the last few years? Don’t you think I know all this?’ It was a sore subject and Harriet knew that. But she was also the kind of friend who was completely honest with Nancy. However, hearing her list these things raised the question in Nancy’s mind of whether had been going wrong in her marriage even before Jack’s diagnosis.
‘Look, I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to bring the mood down. I just don’t want to see you and Jack get messed around and quite frankly, you have been so much happier over the last few months since things started getting back on track, I don’t want you to spiral back down into the person you were when he was making your life a misery.’
‘My life wasn’t a misery,’ Nancy replied defensively, but then took in the no-bullshit look on Harriet’s face. ‘OK, well I was unhappy towards the end but my whole life wasn’t a misery.’
‘Mummy? Can I get a magazine?’ Isla was pulling on Harriet’s cardigan.
‘In a minute darling, let Mummy just finish her coffee.’
‘And a chocolate bar?’
‘In a minute.’
‘And a teddy bear?’
Nancy laughed. ‘You can tell Isla’s in holiday mode already.’ She turned to Jack. ‘Would you like a magazine, Jack?’
He shook his head but didn’t look up from the iPad.
‘How about a chocolate treat?’
‘It’s not after dinner time,’ he mumbled, still not looking up.
‘That’s OK, we’re going on holiday mate; you can have a treat.’ Harriet stood up and fished for her purse in her bag. Jack didn’t answer.
‘Jack?’ Nancy pressed but he just frantically shook his head. ‘OK, it’s fine. You don’t have to.’ Nancy looked to Harriet and shook her head.
‘Shall I get him something else?’
‘No, its fine. He’s brought stuff with him; he probably just doesn’t want any change in what he prepared for. But thanks.’
Harriet smiled and walked off over to the shop to purchase the products for Isla who was skipping along behind her excitedly. Tommy was still asleep in his pram, so Nancy focused her attention back onto her son who was still glued to his iPad.
‘Are you excited about the holiday, Jack?’
He shrugged.
‘There’ll be a pool.’
‘I don’t like water.’
‘I know you don’t sweetheart, but it doesn’t have to go over your head, you can just paddle in it or do some swimming.’
‘I don’t want to.’
‘OK that’s fine; you don’t have to go in if you don’t want to. There’s a beach there too – we can build some sandcastles and you can go in the sea.’
‘I don’t like sea.’
Nancy started to wonder whether she had made the right choice in agreeing to this holiday. Jack hadn’t jumped up and down and squealed excitedly when she’d told him like most seven-year-olds would at the prospect of a week away in the sun. Instead, he had asked her a million questions and not slept much all night because of the anticipation of today. She’d spent two hours just going through all the different scenarios she could think of and how she would overcome them should she need to. Jack was obviously feeling anxious today because he was more quiet than usual and had closed off with his iPad and headphones all morning. He didn’t want any photos taken – she couldn’t feed her Instagram habit today – and he wasn’t interested in engaging in any conversations with anyone.
Nancy exhaled and picked up her coffee. It was going to be a long week.