The Mince Pie Mix-Up (18 page)

‘I’m sorry, sweetie.’ Calvin crouched down and took Charlie’s delicate hand in his. Her lip trembled but she didn’t say anything.

‘I’m afraid there’s been a bit of an incident,’ Miss Daniels said.

Calvin rose to his feet. Not another one!

‘Tabitha Frost is having a pamper party tomorrow and she’s invited all the girls in our class
except me
.’ Charlie threw herself at Calvin, wrapping her arms around his waist as she began to sob

‘Playground politics,’ Miss Daniels said with a tut. ‘I noticed there was a bit of tension between you and Mrs Frost at the PTA meeting the other day.’

‘But that’s nothing to do with Charlie.’ Calvin stroked his daughter’s hair, feeling like a complete bastard.

‘These things are rarely about the children,’ Miss Daniels said. She passed Charlie a clean handkerchief from her pocket. ‘Cheer up, poppet. It’s going to be Christmas soon. Are you coming to the Christmas fair on Sunday? Santa’s going to be there.’

Charlie nodded with a sniff. ‘Mummy’s making the cakes.’

‘Maybe you can help,’ Miss Daniels suggested. ‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’

Charlie nodded. ‘I still want to go to the pamper party and be a princess, though.’

‘We can have a pamper party of our own,’ Calvin suggested. ‘We’ll get all my make-up out and we can watch a Disney DVD.’

‘
Frozen?
’ Charlie asked, prising herself away from Calvin’s thigh.

‘Of course.’

‘And can we have cupcakes? Tabitha’s having cupcakes.’

‘It wouldn’t be a princess pamper party without cupcakes.’

‘And ice cream?’

‘We’ll see.’

‘And chocolate.’

‘Charlie,’ Calvin warned. They’d be eating the entire contents of the village sweet shop if Charlie had her way.

‘You have a nice Christmas, Charlie.’ Miss Daniels, seeing the situation was now firmly in the parents’ hands, was backing away towards the door. She had two dozen boxes of chocolates and four bottles of wine waiting for her in the classroom as Christmas gifts from the children. ‘And I’ll see you in the New Year.’

‘Bye, Miss Daniels.’ Charlie gave a wave before slipping her hand into Calvin’s, her tears forgotten now she had a party of her own to look forward to.

Judy was drained by the time she dragged her body through the front door that evening. The adrenaline of winning over Francesco Benvenuti had long ago worn off, leaving nothing but an exhausted shell behind. She wanted to slip into a hot bubble bath and forget all about project management apps until Monday morning.

‘Is that you, Judy?’

Slipping off her coat and shoes and abandoning them in the hall, Judy forced her legs to carry her into the kitchen where she found her husband.

‘No, it’s
Calvin
,’ she hissed.

Calvin grinned at her. ‘It’s okay. The kids aren’t here.’

‘Where are they?’

Calvin handed Judy a pre-prepared glass of wine. ‘They’re at Laura’s. She’s going to babysit for us. She’s having them overnight.’ Calvin was almost giddy with the freedom.

‘But why?’

‘Why?’ Calvin scoffed. ‘So that we can spend some quality time together. We need to start making more time for each other, Judy. Starting now.’ Calvin indicated the oven. ‘There’s a beef casserole in there – which I’ve made from scratch, thanks to our good pal the internet. We’re going to sit down and chat while we eat without having to worry about bickering children or homework. The food won’t be ready for another hour, so go and have a soak in the bath while you wait.’

Judy allowed herself to be guided out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. She wasn’t going to argue with a soak in the bath followed by a home-cooked meal. With her glass of wine still in hand, Judy headed to the bathroom, almost dropping the glass in shock when she realised the towel was no longer stuffed in the corner of the room. It had disappeared completely and was now hopefully sitting in the laundry basket.

Miracles
did
happen after all.

After soaking away the work week in the bath, Judy returned to the kitchen in a pair of Calvin’s loose jogging bottoms and a gorgeously roomy jumper. She was definitely investing in some loungewear once the wish had worn off.

‘This smells lovely,’ Judy said as Calvin placed a dish of steaming casserole in front of her. ‘I’m impressed.’

‘Me too.’ Calvin tasted the dish and was pleasantly surprised that it was edible. ‘Who knew I could cook?’

‘Not me. Maybe you can do this sort of thing more often.’

‘I will, I promise. Maybe I could take up cooking duties at the weekend?’

Judy nodded. ‘That would be good.’

‘And I’m going to help out more around the house and with the kids. I haven’t been fair dumping all the responsibility onto you. I know you work hard too. I have the blisters on my feet to prove it. Although …’

Judy narrowed her eyes, waiting for the usual you-don’t-work-as-hard-as-me spiel. ‘Although what?’

Calvin pulled a face. ‘Although you may not have a job to go to on Monday. I sort of had a run-in with Norman. The dirty old git pinched my arse and I flew off the handle. I may have threatened to break his fingers or something.’

‘What?’ Judy’s mouth gaped open. She’d been worried all week about losing Calvin’s job and he’d put
hers
in jeopardy. ‘What did Enid say?’

‘She made me go home early.’

Judy closed her eyes. What were they going to do without her wage? ‘Did she say anything about my job?’

Calvin shook his head. ‘I’ll make things right with Enid first thing Monday morning.’

‘You’ll have to grovel. Beg, plead, whatever it takes.’

Calvin nodded. ‘I will.’

‘And apologise to Norman.’

‘Do I have to?’ Apologising to Enid was one thing; apologising to the old geezer was another. He may not have gone about it the right way, but Calvin still felt he had been right to tell Norman to back off. Nobody deserved to be mauled while they were simply doing their job.

‘If it means you get my job back, then yes.’

‘Okay, I’ll do it.’ Calvin popped a piece of beef into his mouth, closing his eyes to savour the taste. It was tender and full of flavour and the dish hadn’t been that difficult to create. Maybe he’d try chicken next time or attempt some sort of pasta dish.

‘Aren’t you going to ask how the meeting with Francesco went?’ Judy asked.

Calvin’s eyes pinged open. His stomach tightened uncomfortably. ‘How did it go?’

Judy grinned at her husband. ‘It went fantastically. There have been some tweaks to the campaign here and there but Francesco was impressed.
Perry
was impressed.’

‘Wow.’ Calvin couldn’t disguise the wonder on his face. Perry had never been impressed with anybody as far as Calvin was aware. ‘That’s brilliant. I should have had more faith in you.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ Judy said with a shrug. ‘Sarah helped me out a lot. And speaking of Sarah …’ Now it was Judy’s turn to pull a face. ‘I think she may have developed a crush on me. Or rather you. She kissed me. You. Us, I guess.’

‘She kissed you?’ Calvin covered his mouth with his hand. Talk about awkward! ‘What did you do?’

‘I tried to let her down gently. She’s just been dumped so she was already feeling vulnerable. But she ran away and I haven’t seen her since.’

‘Oh, God. What are we going to do?’

‘Hopefully it will all blow over,’ Judy said. ‘And if not, good luck, because I won’t have to deal with it after Christmas.’ Judy giggled but stopped abruptly when she caught Calvin’s stony expression. ‘Not funny. I’m sorry. I’ll try and sort it out on Monday.’

‘Please do.’ Calvin popped another piece of beef into his mouth. Man, he was good. ‘While we’re talking bad news, I have some more.’

Judy took a fortifying sip of wine. ‘Go on.’

‘I got called into Scott’s school to talk to Mr Peebles this afternoon.’ Both Calvin and Judy pulled a face. ‘Scott’s in trouble for fighting with Jack.’

‘
Jack?
But why?’

‘He says it’s about football but I think it’s more to do with us. He thinks we’re getting divorced because we’ve been acting weird and arguing a lot. I’ve had a word with him and reassured him that we’re not splitting up.’

‘Did he believe you?’

‘I hope so,’ Calvin said. ‘But that’s not all.’

‘There’s more bad news?’ Judy was going to need some more wine.

‘I’ve sort of tangled you up in a playground rivalry with Abby Frost.’ Calvin told Judy about the pamper party and Charlie’s exclusion.

‘Poor Charlie,’ Judy said. ‘But this isn’t your fault, Calvin. Abby Frost has needed taking down a peg or two for ages.’

‘I’m afraid it’s us who have been taken down a couple of pegs. And Charlie.’

Judy sighed. ‘People like her always come out on top.’

Apart from the delivery of bad news, Judy and Calvin enjoyed their meal together and they didn’t want to interrupt the renewed sense of coupledom so soon, but Judy was due to meet the lads at the pub.

‘I could always give it a miss,’ Judy said, somewhat reluctantly. She found that she quite enjoyed an evening in the pub – even if she was in the company of a group of men who thought burping the alphabet was hilarious. It was good to get out of the house for an evening and unwind after a stressful day in the office.

‘Or I could come with you,’ Calvin suggested. Not only was Calvin enjoying the company of his wife, he was also itching to catch up with the lads. Reliving their banter second-hand through Judy just wasn’t the same.

‘Is that allowed?’ Judy had never been invited to one of Calvin’s Friday nights out with the lads and she hadn’t seen the wives or partners of the others either.

‘Allowed?’ Calvin laughed. ‘It’s a pub, Judy. Anybody is allowed.’

‘Then why haven’t I been invited before?’

Calvin pulled a sheepish face. ‘Let’s not go there, eh? Let’s start afresh and enjoy a night out together.’

Judy nodded. Onwards and upwards and all that. ‘I’ll just need to go and get changed.’ Judy pulled at the baggy jumper she’d pulled on earlier but Calvin shook his head and passed her a jacket.

‘It’s the pub, Judy. We don’t care about that sort of thing. As long as you don’t turn up in your undies, you’ll be fine.’

The White Swan was pretty full but Judy spotted Curtis straightaway. She couldn’t miss him as he was standing on a bar stool, holding a pair of blown-up condoms against his chest like a pair of breasts.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Calvin murmured as they made their way towards him but Judy gave a wave of her hand.

‘Don’t worry. I’m used to this now.’ They reached Curtis, who dropped his boobs and hopped down from the stool.

‘Hello, Judy. Long time no see.’ Curtis completely changed his demeanour, practically doffing an imaginary cap as he spoke to Calvin. ‘Let me get you drink.’

Calvin wasn’t going to say no to that. ‘Thanks. I’ll have a pint.’ Judy shot Calvin a warning look. ‘Ha ha. Just kidding. I’ll have a glass of red wine please.’ He eyed the pint Curtis bought for Judy longingly. Red wine just wasn’t the same.

‘So how are the little ones?’ Curtis asked Calvin once the drinks had been sorted. They wandered across to a recently vacated table and settled themselves down. Judy was chatting to Pierce and Richie as though they’d been friends for life and not just a week.

‘I should bring Danielle with me next week,’ Richie was saying. ‘It’d do her good to get out of the house for a bit.’

‘I bet she’ll appreciate the gesture even if she doesn’t fancy spending the night with this lot,’ Judy said, only half kidding.

‘We used to spend every weekend in the pub when we first got together,’ Richie said. ‘Friday night until Sunday evening. I’m surprised we didn’t pickle our insides. Now we’re lucky to have a night out together once a month.’

‘Judy and I were like that.’ Although once a year was more accurate. ‘But we’re going to start making more of an effort.’

Richie nodded, absorbing Judy’s words. ‘Danielle wanted to go to this classical Christmas concert thing but it’s not really my thing. I should stop being a dick and book the tickets, shouldn’t I?’ He took out his phone and began tapping away at the screen.

‘You’ve become a bit of an agony aunt around here,’ Pierce said while Richie was occupied with his phone. ‘Curtis said you’ve been giving him advice about Grace.’

‘I just listened mainly,’ Judy said. She didn’t want to tarnish Calvin’s reputation further by making out he was sensitive or anything barbaric like that.

‘What do you think I should do?’ Pierce shuffled closer to Judy and lowered his voice.

‘About what?’ Judy hoped Pierce didn’t have any intimate itches or burning sensations when he peed.

‘About women.’ Pierce’s eyes pinballed around the pub, making sure nobody was listening in. ‘I haven’t had much success lately. I’m not being big-headed or anything here but I’m not bad looking and I don’t have bad breath or still live with my mum and dad. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.’

‘You could get off Tinder for a start.’ Intrigued, Judy had taken a quick look and hadn’t been impressed with what the app had to offer. ‘You need to relax a bit. Dating isn’t an extreme sport and there’s no rush. You’ll meet the right girl in your own time.’ Judy took a sip of her pint. She’d rather have Calvin’s wine. ‘And when you do meet the right woman, take your time. Don’t ruin it by thinking only of your willy.’

‘Yes!’ Richie threw his fist into the air. ‘Tickets booked. Danielle is going to love this.’

With the children being taken care of, Judy and Calvin stayed at the pub until closing time, walking home through the village hand-in-hand. It was a bitterly cold night but being with Calvin gave Judy a cosy feeling that radiated throughout her body.

‘Tonight has been great,’ she said as they hung their coats up. ‘We should definitely do this more often. Richie is going to ask Danielle to come with him next time so I’ll have some company if she agrees. We’ll just need a babysitter.’

‘Your mum and dad will be back after Christmas,’ Calvin said. ‘They love having the kids to stay over.’

‘That’s true.’ Judy wrapped her arms around Calvin. ‘We could do this more often. Though not every week. There’s only so much of Curtis I can take.’ Judy smiled to show that she was kidding. Sort of. Calvin’s mates weren’t so bad now she’d got to know them.