Operation Eiffel Tower by Elen Caldecott

and dad.
    Love,
    Paul

Chapter 25
    Jack logged out of his email. Hearts and minds. Was it true that Mum and Dad were too busy being angry to feel anything else? He thought it might be.
    He stood up. He had been at his desk too long. The house was quiet. He wandered out of his room, vaguely looking for Lauren or Billy. Or maybe even Mum.
    He found Lauren out in the garden. She was sunbathing. She was wearing her swimming costume and lying back on a sunlounger. Billy was curled up on the grass, fast asleep. The air felt hot and heavy as a duvet. Jack thought it must be nice to just curl up in it and sleep, without a care in the world.
    ‘Where’s Mum?’ Jack asked.
    ‘Cleaning the bathroom.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I don’t know. Go and get me an ice lolly, would you?’
    ‘OK.’
    Inside, at the freezer, Jack suddenly wondered whether Mum would like one too.
    Jack went to find her. He pushed open the bathroom door. Mum was leaning into the bath, scrubbing at the sides. The smell of the cleaning stuff made Jack cough. Mum looked up, then sat back on her heels. She wiped a strand of hair out of her eyes with the back of her arm. She looked hot and cross.
    ‘Hi, Mum,’ Jack said.
    ‘What, Jack? I’m busy.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Why what?’ Mum said.
    ‘Why are you busy? We’re out in the garden. You could come and play. We’re going to have ice lollies.’ Jack wasn’t sure what he meant. It just seemed wrong that Mum should be inside on a nice day when she could be out with them.
    ‘I haven’t got time to play. I need to get the house straight. It needs to be nice for when . . .’ Mum stopped, her voice sounded shaky. She took a breath. ‘It needs to be nice for when Ruby gets home.’
    ‘Ruby doesn’t notice the cleaning,’ Jack said.
    ‘Well, I notice. And I want it to be nice for her.’
    ‘When is she coming home?’ Jack asked.
    Mum looked away, then reached back into the bath to carry on scrubbing. ‘Soon,’ she said. ‘Soon.’
    Back in the garden, Jack handed Lauren an ice lolly. She bit off the plastic wrapping and crunched into the lolly.
    ‘Come to the beach,’ Jack said.
    Lauren sighed and shuffled lower on the sunlounger. ‘I’m busy.’
    ‘No, you’re not. You’re just lying there going red.’
    Lauren sat up quickly and held out her arms. They were the soft brown of caramel. ‘No, I’m not!’ she said.
    ‘Yes, you are,’ Jack grinned. ‘Like a lobster. Like a pillar box. Like a London bus. Ruby red!’
    He stopped. Ruby’s name seemed to hang in the air between them.
    Lauren sighed. ‘OK.’ She stood up. ‘Let’s go to the front.’
    ‘What about Billy?’ Jack looked down. Billy was still fast asleep in the shade.
    Lauren scooped Billy up. He murmured, but didn’t wake. ‘He’s having an afternoon nap. I’ll put him in Mum’s bed. I’ll be right down.’
    Jack followed her through the house. He waited at the bottom of the stairs while Lauren tucked Billy in then scrambled into her jeans and T-shirt. Lauren shouted goodbye to Mum then came down.
    Outside, Jack took long strides towards the beach. It felt good to be doing something normal. It felt as if too much of their life was spent waiting and watching.
    He broke into a trot.
    ‘Hey, wait for me!’ Lauren yelled behind him.
    But he didn’t slow down. As he ran, his face broke into a smile. He raced past the tourists with their sun hats and ice creams; he ignored the slow-loping horses and the swooping seagulls. In a moment, he was at the adventure golf.
    ‘It’s the Champ!’ William gave him a wave. ‘Four under today? What do you reckon?’
    Jack grinned. ‘Five.’
    ‘We need to think about the autumn repairs soon. The Statue of Liberty has lost one of the spikes off her crown. Some hooligan smashed a ball straight at her. I know he was only a toddler, but that’s no excuse for a bad shot.’ William disappeared into the wooden shed at the side of the course. He reappeared quickly with Jack’s favourite