Poppy was dressed as Merida – her favourite Disney princess – complete with a wig full of tumbling red curls. The colour wasn’t too far off Juliet’s and she found it amusing that for once the two of them looked as though they were related.
‘Mrs Marshall? Thanks for coming to help today.’ Brenda Mason, Poppy’s Kindergarten teacher, shot Juliet a harassed smile. ‘We’re just waiting on two more parents then we’ll get onto the bus. Bathroom break first though!’
Juliet bit down a grin. Miss Mason had been a Kindergarten teacher for more than twenty years. Everything in her classroom was ruled by bathroom breaks.
She drifted over to where the other helpers were waiting. Like Poppy, their children had been at the expensive private school since preschool, graduating first to Pre-K, and then on to Kindergarten. They’d known her back when she’d been Mrs Marshall, trophy wife and mother, before her world had fallen apart. Since she’d separated from Thomas the invitations for coffee or supervised play dates had dried up. If she hadn’t been so busy trying to set up her business, it probably would have bothered her more.
‘Hi Susan. Hi Emily.’ She shot them a smile and they nodded back at her. ‘Who else are we waiting for?’
‘Marsha, of course,’ Susan said, rolling her eyes. ‘Oh, and Charlie Sutherland’s dad. You know, the good-looking one.’
‘He’s smoking hot,’ Emily agreed. ‘That blond hair makes him look like a young Robert Redford, well before he got all wrinkly, anyway. And he’s such a good dad, too. Poor guy is all on his own, I don’t know how he does it.’
‘Oh, he’s amazing. Have you seen how good he is with Charlie? We asked him over for a play date this weekend, try to give his poor dad a break. God knows, it’s impossible to be a parent twenty-four-seven. I was saying to Rich, I’ve no idea how I’d cope if I didn’t have him coming home every evening. I’m so lucky I’ll never have to be a single mom.’
Juliet felt all the muscles surrounding her chest tighten. She should be used to talk like this. It wasn’t so long ago that she was one of them, married with money and help and everything else she could ask for. Not that she’d ever been as smug as Susan was.
But still, she’d taken it for granted. Until everything changed.
‘I’m so sorry, Juliet, how are things going for you?’ Susan finally asked. ‘It can’t be easy, living on your own. But at least you have Thomas’s money. That’s something, right?’ Her laugh was tinkling. ‘Plus every other weekend you’re child-free. I dream of that sometimes. There’s nothing worse than getting woken up on a Saturday morning. You must love sleeping in.’
‘I don’t sleep in. I have to work at the weekends,’ Juliet pointed out. ‘I can’t remember the last time I stayed in bed past six.’
‘How’s the little shop going?’ Susan asked. ‘I keep meaning to drop in. I think it’s wonderful that you’ve got somewhere like that to keep you busy, now you’re not a career wife.’
Juliet was trying – and failing – to keep the frown from her face. A career wife – was that what she’d been? She’d thought she was just a wife, plain and simple. Not always a perfect wife, no matter how hard she’d tried, and she had tried really hard. Career wife made it sound as if she’d failed to meet standards she’d never known even existed.
‘Come by any time,’ she said. Her throat felt scratchy. ‘I’ll show you around.’
‘Sure. I’m sure it won’t take long anyway will it? It’s only a tiny little shop … ’ Susan trailed off, staring over Juliet’s shoulder, a dreamy expression softening her face. ‘Oh my, he really is something.’
Juliet didn’t have to turn around to know exactly who Susan was talking about, the tingles shooting down her spine did the job for her. The blood rushed to her face, warming her cheeks, sped up by the rapid beats of her heart.
She almost didn’t want to look at him. Didn’t want him to see how flustered she became whenever he was around. Since she’d left those flowers on his doorstep a couple of weeks ago, she’d only seen glimpses of him as she was leaving for work.
Maybe it was better that way.
‘Mr Sutherland, thank you so much for coming. And look at you, Charlie, what are you dressed up as? Is that a Mexican costume?’ Miss Mason asked.
‘I’m a Peruvian,’ Charlie corrected. ‘It’s from Cuzco.’
‘Of course you are, dear. What lovely colours they are, too.’ Miss Mason took a deep breath before shouting for attention. ‘Okay, children, please get in line. We’re going to take you to the bathroom five at a time, and then you’ll get on the bus. Make sure you have your bagged lunches and raincoats please.’
All the kids rushed to be at the front, shouting and laughing as they pushed each other out of the way. Juliet watched as Miss Mason and her classroom helper tried to get them to form a line, listening patiently as the children complained it was ‘no fair’ that they weren’t at the front.
‘Hey.’ Ryan’s voice was so close to her ear she could feel the warmth of his breath as he spoke. It sent another shiver down her spine.
Ignoring her own stupid reactions, she forced a smile onto her face. ‘Hello, Mr Sutherland.’
‘I’ll take a simple Ryan, if it’s all the same to you, London. Or if you really want to annoy me you can call me “Ry”.’
‘That annoys you? Why?’
He didn’t get a chance to answer before Susan slid smoothly between the two of them.
‘Oh, hi, Ryan, it’s so good to see you again. Franklin is so looking forward to Charlie coming to stay at the weekend. He’s such a lovely boy, a real credit to you.’ Susan turned
her back on Juliet, giving Ryan no choice but to look at her. ‘Maybe you can join us for lunch on Sunday? If the weather stays like this we’ll probably light up the barbecue. My sister will be visiting and I know she’d love to meet you.’