‘What did you tell her?’
‘I said why not all three and I’m more than a bit worried I’ve set the world on a very dark path.’
Swirling my drink in its glass, I watched the ice cubes clink against one another and fought the urge to impart my non-existent wisdom. It was time to let Cerys talk.
‘I suppose I should be grateful she’s got ambition, life isn’t going to be easy for her,’ she said, absently twisting her wedding ring around her finger. I noticed she wasn’t wearing her Adlington family heirloom engagement ring but again, said nothing.
‘At least not until she becomes Her Royal Highness, Prime Minister Artemis Windsor,’ I replied. ‘Do you think we’ll all get to move into Buckingham Palace or should I start looking at the other available royal residences?’
Cerys’s eyes softened just a little and she started to smile. ‘She’s not that different to me, I suppose, very focused, knows what she wants to do. I was the same when I was her age.’
‘You wanted to be a billionaire dictator when you were nine?’
‘Yes,’ she replied, looking at me with surprise. ‘You didn’t?’
‘When I was nine I wanted to be an author or a professional wrestler. Can’t believe neither career worked out.’
‘There’s still time,’ she said. ‘Never give up on a dream.’
‘Can’t see me leaping off the top rope at this point but you never know,’ I replied sadly. ‘Did you really know you wanted to be a lawyer when you were that little?’
A big, genuine smile stretched all the way across her face.
‘Without a doubt. When Mum was pregnant with you she was really poorly, morning, noon and night sickness for the whole nine months, so I used to go to work with Dad over the summer holidays.’ She rested one elbow on the table, propping up her head, a dreamy look on her face as though she was recounting a love story, not the tale of a child being made to hang out in a local solicitors five days a week for six whole weeks in the summer. ‘He put an extra desk in his office and I’d sit there watching while he went through his cases and I thought he must be the most important man in the whole world. All these people coming to him for help and asking him to fix their problems. You’re going to laugh but I thought he was a hero, like he was Batman or something.’
She was right, I did laugh.
‘A five-foot-seven Batman from Ilkley? Can’t believe they haven’t made a movie about him yet.’
‘Maybe that’s your book,’ she replied with a grin before picking up her gin. ‘Anyway, that’s when I knew I wanted to work in law too. He always found the solution to a problem and I wanted to feel that way about the world.What about you? When did you know you wanted to be queen of the world at Abbott & Howe?’
‘I don’t think there was a specific “A-ha” moment,’ I admitted, searching my subconscious for an epiphany of any kind as Cerys snuffled a laugh into her glass. ‘I just sort of did it.’
‘You just sort of did it? What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Silver Bells’ tinkled into life over the speakers and I shrugged, keeping my shoulders halfway up to my ears.
‘I don’t know. Dad was a solicitor and you were a solicitor and I was good at all the right subjects.’ I tapped the stem of my glass, keeping time with Bing Crosby. ‘I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher like Mum, nothing else was really calling out to me and everyone kept saying I should do a law degree, so I did.’
‘Typical,’ Cerys laughed softly. ‘I should have known.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I asked, my defences prickling.
‘Do you have any idea how hard I have to work to keep my head above water while you coast along?’ she asked, pulling the elastic band off her wrist and retying her hair into a ponytail so high, it pulled her entire face up with it. ‘I slogged my guts out at school but what did it matter? Who cared about my exam results? Nobody. I was expected to do well while Mum and Dad dealt with you and Manny. I worked my arse off to get into Oxford and you’re telling me you got better grades than me, a better degree than me and a better job than I did by accident? I don’t know what would be worse, if you were lying or telling the truth.’
‘That’s not what I meant at all,’ I said, trying to dig myself out of whatever hole I seemed to have fallen into.‘I only meant there wasn’t any grand plan for me. Half the reason I did a law degree was to impress you.’
Now that really did make her laugh.
‘Come off it, Gwen. As soon as Manny moved in, none of you would have noticed if I’d run off to join the circus.’
‘That’s not true at all,’ I said. ‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘It was exactly like that,’ she replied. ‘And now all I hear from Dad is how amazing it is that you got a job at a Magic Circle firm, nothing I do can compete.’
I tried to keep my mouth shut, I really did, but I just couldn’t help myself.
‘As if my job could even come close to competing with you and your perfect kids,’ I snapped back. ‘They’ve written me off as a sad old spinster at thirty-two.’