that.’ Could I see a smidgen of misplaced respect in
her eyes? Oh dear.
‘Although it was more out of revenge than the wish to amuse myself,’ I
admitted quickly. Liar!
‘Revenge is wasted energy, darling… no, far better to adopt an attitude
of “what’s good for the goose…” don’t you think?’
And that’s exactly what I did. Now, I’m not going to tell you Stacey was
a bad influence, you should know me well enough by now to know I need very
little encouragement to go off the rails, but I will admit she provided the
perfect foil for me to indulge in what the “gander” had been up to for years.
I had some catching up to do, I’d lost count of the women Eddie had amused himself
with and I set about balancing the scales with relish.
It proved quite an easy pastime. Men are such saps when they think they
are in with a chance of a bit of leg over. Not that I slept with all of them,
no, but I found it quite amusing at times to see how many meals they would
stump up before demanding payment. The looks on their faces when they finally
realised they’d been had, was comical. OK, I know it wasn’t nice, but most of
these men were married – I was doing my bit in providing their comeuppance.
Having got to know the neighbours over the summer it was far easier to
find babysitters in the form of various daughters, desperate to rid themselves
of their mother’s clutches for an hour or two. If Eddie wondered at my sudden
desire for a social life, he said nothing. Stacey’s husband was a barrister
and I suspected he tempered his tight lipped, well-concealed annoyance at my
frequent abandonment, with his desire to be “well in” with the Bond family. Having
a barrister amongst his friends could only increase his standing. Sad, isn’t
it?
The odd night out was one thing, but when Stacey suggested a weekend
away, that was another matter altogether.
‘What about Toby and Sam?’ Eddie had asked, when I first mentioned it.
‘You’ll be here, won’t you?’
‘Not on Friday night or Saturday morning, I have a meeting in Bristol, I
was thinking of staying over.’
He was such a liar, meeting my arse.
‘Eddie, in all the years we’ve been together, I’ve only gone away once on
my own. I’m sorry, you’ll have to cancel or make arrangements for your mother
to have them.’
‘Cancelling is not an option; this is an important client…’
I just bet she is, crossed my mind.
‘And I’m not sure my mother will have them, she was saying the other day
that you never bother going there unless you want her to babysit.’
‘I haven’t asked her to babysit for months!’
‘Well if you want her to have them, then you’ll have to square it with
her yourself.’ Eddie’s tone made it very clear that was his last word on the
subject.
On the Friday, having picked Toby up from nursery school, I braved my
mother-in-law. After a somewhat stilted phone call, she had agreed to have the
boys. Both children leapt from the car and scooted into the house. Their
overnight bags in hand, I followed at a slower pace. The smell of freshly baked
muffins wafted from the kitchen.
‘Look, Mummy, Grandma made us buns,’ Toby said, through a mouth full of
muffin.
‘That was nice of her,’ I said, making an effort to smile at the old
witch. It fell on stony ground.
‘Why do you never make us buns?’ he asked, a crumpled little frown
appearing on his brow.
‘Oh, I’m sure Mummy’s far too busy, Toby. Come now, sit up at the table
with Sam, there’s still a couple of hours before tea, so you can have one
more.’
After a strained ten minutes, I left Jean clucking over the children. I
was a little miffed that neither boy seemed overly concerned at my imminent
departure. Both were quite happily looking forward to staying overnight at
Grandma’s. I should be grateful, I reminded myself, I might have had to deal
with the guilt of leaving two sobbing children.
her eyes? Oh dear.
‘Although it was more out of revenge than the wish to amuse myself,’ I
admitted quickly. Liar!
‘Revenge is wasted energy, darling… no, far better to adopt an attitude
of “what’s good for the goose…” don’t you think?’
And that’s exactly what I did. Now, I’m not going to tell you Stacey was
a bad influence, you should know me well enough by now to know I need very
little encouragement to go off the rails, but I will admit she provided the
perfect foil for me to indulge in what the “gander” had been up to for years.
I had some catching up to do, I’d lost count of the women Eddie had amused himself
with and I set about balancing the scales with relish.
It proved quite an easy pastime. Men are such saps when they think they
are in with a chance of a bit of leg over. Not that I slept with all of them,
no, but I found it quite amusing at times to see how many meals they would
stump up before demanding payment. The looks on their faces when they finally
realised they’d been had, was comical. OK, I know it wasn’t nice, but most of
these men were married – I was doing my bit in providing their comeuppance.
Having got to know the neighbours over the summer it was far easier to
find babysitters in the form of various daughters, desperate to rid themselves
of their mother’s clutches for an hour or two. If Eddie wondered at my sudden
desire for a social life, he said nothing. Stacey’s husband was a barrister
and I suspected he tempered his tight lipped, well-concealed annoyance at my
frequent abandonment, with his desire to be “well in” with the Bond family. Having
a barrister amongst his friends could only increase his standing. Sad, isn’t
it?
The odd night out was one thing, but when Stacey suggested a weekend
away, that was another matter altogether.
‘What about Toby and Sam?’ Eddie had asked, when I first mentioned it.
‘You’ll be here, won’t you?’
‘Not on Friday night or Saturday morning, I have a meeting in Bristol, I
was thinking of staying over.’
He was such a liar, meeting my arse.
‘Eddie, in all the years we’ve been together, I’ve only gone away once on
my own. I’m sorry, you’ll have to cancel or make arrangements for your mother
to have them.’
‘Cancelling is not an option; this is an important client…’
I just bet she is, crossed my mind.
‘And I’m not sure my mother will have them, she was saying the other day
that you never bother going there unless you want her to babysit.’
‘I haven’t asked her to babysit for months!’
‘Well if you want her to have them, then you’ll have to square it with
her yourself.’ Eddie’s tone made it very clear that was his last word on the
subject.
On the Friday, having picked Toby up from nursery school, I braved my
mother-in-law. After a somewhat stilted phone call, she had agreed to have the
boys. Both children leapt from the car and scooted into the house. Their
overnight bags in hand, I followed at a slower pace. The smell of freshly baked
muffins wafted from the kitchen.
‘Look, Mummy, Grandma made us buns,’ Toby said, through a mouth full of
muffin.
‘That was nice of her,’ I said, making an effort to smile at the old
witch. It fell on stony ground.
‘Why do you never make us buns?’ he asked, a crumpled little frown
appearing on his brow.
‘Oh, I’m sure Mummy’s far too busy, Toby. Come now, sit up at the table
with Sam, there’s still a couple of hours before tea, so you can have one
more.’
After a strained ten minutes, I left Jean clucking over the children. I
was a little miffed that neither boy seemed overly concerned at my imminent
departure. Both were quite happily looking forward to staying overnight at
Grandma’s. I should be grateful, I reminded myself, I might have had to deal
with the guilt of leaving two sobbing children.
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