The Stepmothers’ Support Group. Sam Baker

      ‘Not really, but it’s not unusual. It depends on both our work, his childcare arrangements—he has an au pair, but he tries to be home as much as possible to cover homework—that kind of thing.

      ‘We talk about it all the time,’ Eve continued. ‘How to spend more time together, I mean. But Ian wants to take it slowly—for the sake of the kids. It’s a difficult balancing act. I’m trying to understand, but it’s not easy.

      ‘So much of our relationship has been like this,’ she continued. ‘Cups of coffee, quick drinks on his way home, dinner and the odd evening at my place. We’ve managed a night away a couple of times, but overnighters are rare…Understandably enough,’ she added, for fear of sounding bitter. ‘They’re going to their grandparents’ in a couple of weeks, so he’ll stay with me then.’

      She felt like a teenager, aware her face lit up at the mere thought of a whole twenty-four hours together.

      Said out loud it sounded paltry, embarrassing. A grown woman excited by a Saturday night sleepover. ‘It’s the kids,’ she repeated. ‘He wants to ease them in gently.’

      It was a well-worn line. One she trotted out every time anyone asked after her love life.

      ‘You can hardly blame him,’ Clare put in, plonking three full mugs on the table in front of them. ‘They’ve lost their mum, after all. The last thing they need is to feel they’ve lost their dad too.’

      Eve and Lily had been so engrossed they hadn’t noticed Clare was gone until she’d returned with the second round of coffees.

      Lily nodded thoughtfully. ‘So, he’s a proper dad,’ she said. ‘Unlike Liam.’ She smiled indulgently. ‘He’s an every third weekender. And then only when he remembers.’

      ‘Liam forgets?’

      ‘Oh yeah,’ Clare said. ‘He’d forget his head if it wasn’t screwed on.’

      ‘My turn,’ Eve said, reaching for her purse.

      ‘OK,’ said Lily. ‘But I’ll get the next round.’

      Clare raised her eyebrows.

      ‘If there is one, obviously,’ Lily added hastily.

      ‘It wasn’t that much,’ Clare said, looking at the ten pound note Eve was holding out to her. When Eve rolled her eyes, Clare took it anyway. It would pay her Tube fare home.

      ‘Back to Liam,’ she said. ‘And his convenient bouts of amnesia.’

      ‘Don’t start,’ said Lily, but her tone was light and the smile reached her eyes as she pulled a picture from her wallet. It showed a slightly thickset man, with dark curly hair and crinkly brown eyes. He was good-looking, if you liked the type, and he knew it.

      ‘Looks like Jimmy Nesbitt with longer hair,’ Eve said.

      ‘God, don’t tell him that,’ said Lily. ‘He’s vain enough as he is.’

      ‘I’m not sure Eve meant that as a compliment.’

      Lily caught Eve’s eye and both women grinned. ‘Thing is,’ she said, ‘I know Clare doesn’t appreciate his finer qualities…’

      She ignored her sister choking pointedly on her coffee.

      ‘But I love him. I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s funny and clever and…’

      ‘The sex is great,’ said Clare.

      ‘Clare!’

      ‘You’re telling me it isn’t?’

      ‘OK, the sex is great,’ Lily grinned. ‘You’re just jealous.

      ‘Seriously, though,’ she returned her attention to Eve. ‘If you’d told me a year ago I’d be taking on a guy twelve years older than me with a three-year-old kid I’d have told you to dream on, so I guess that makes it a bit more than great sex.’

      Lily smiled again. ‘But, yes, he forgets, a lot…’

      ‘And you can’t do that with a kid,’ Clare completed for her.

      ‘Never make a promise you can’t keep.’ Eve put in. She had heard it from Ian, about a zillion times. Never fight a battle you can’t win. Let the small stuff go. Concentrate on the things that matter.

      ‘Well,’ Lily said. ‘Let’s just say, reliability isn’t Liam’s strongest point. Not even where Rosie’s concerned.’

      ‘Understatement,’ Clare snorted. ‘Tell her about the FA Cup quarter-final.’

      ‘Not his finest moment. Rosie comes every third weekend. Liam picks her up Saturday, takes her back Sunday. He fixes his shifts around it. We both do, if we can.’

      ‘Which paper’s he on?’

      Lily named a tabloid.

      ‘Anyway, that’s how our free Saturdays are spent, babysitting.’ She glanced at her sister, and Eve was impressed to see Clare remain silent.

      All of Clare’s were spent babysitting.

      ‘So, he got a call late Friday night saying they needed him to cover the quarter-final. To be fair, he did try to get out of it. I heard him. But his editor wasn’t having it. And, ultimately, work’s work. The paper comes first, everything else is second. That’s what he’s like. What he’s always been like.’

      Now that Eve understood.

      Taking a gulp of coffee, Lily said, ‘He couldn’t face calling Siobhan—his ex—at midnight. I didn’t blame him. It’s not exactly amicable at the best of times and this was going to cause a huge row.’

      Clare nodded. She’d obviously heard it before.

      ‘When he left next morning, I just assumed he’d call her on his way to work. I was on the verge of phoning the Comedy Club to see if they needed any shifts covering, when his doorbell rings. So I picked up the videophone assuming it’s the post or something. There’s Siobhan, with Rosie, Angelina Ballerina rucksack and all.’

      ‘God!’ said Eve, horrified. ‘What did you do?’

      ‘What could I do?’ Lily shrugged. ‘I let her in. Siobhan was furious. Man, did she give me a piece of her mind. It’s funny how she’s changed the goalposts to suit her. She refused to let me anywhere near Rosie in the beginning. But then Liam told her that if she wanted every third weekend off, Rosie would be spending it with us or she’d be making other arrangements. So she backed off.’

      ‘New boyfriend,’ Clare said. ‘Wants some time for herself.’

      For a split-second Eve’s eyes met Lily’s.

      ‘So there I was—and there Liam wasn’t,’ Lily continued. ‘I was at least as furious with Liam as Siobhan was. Being lumbered with his kid without anyone even having the decency to ask, but there was no way I was going to let Siobhan see that.’

      ‘What about Rosie?’ Eve asked. ‘Did her mum take her away again?’

      ‘Fat chance!’ Lily was emphatic. ‘She dumped her on the settee, turned on CBeebies and shut the flat door so she could spit venom in the privacy of a communal stairwell. She said I could tell Liam she expected him to deliver Rosie back at the usual time and she’d be having words with him. Then she buggered off. Can’t say I blame her. But talk about kicking the cat.’

      Eve was blown away by the young woman’s calmness. She wasn’t sure she would know how to cope with this now, let alone when she’d been Lily’s age.

      Maybe she could learn something after all…

       FOUR

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