Carmen winced. Phoebe was still staring at her. It was not a cheery look.
‘Did you bring us anything?’ said Phoebe finally.
It hadn’t occurred to Carmen. She mentally filed through the contents of her bag and remembered a packet of Kettle Chips she’d been planning on sharing with Sofia over a bottle of wine that of course Sofia couldn’t drink. Oh lord.
‘PHOEBE,’ said Pippa. ‘That’s rude. That’s rude, isn’t it, Mummy?’
Sofia waved her hand in a faintly disparaging manner.
‘It is rude though.’
‘Shut up!’ said Phoebe.
Carmen felt the uncomfortable sensation of both sympathising with and faintly disliking quite a small child.
‘Um,’ she said, and opened her big bag which, filled with clothes just thrown in when she’d woken up late for her train, practically exploded all over the kitchen, by far the messiest thing in the house.
‘Wow,’ said Pippa.
Carmen retrieved the Kettle Chips with effort.
‘Here you are,’ she said, hurling them in the children’s general direction. ‘Share those?’
As if summoned by a whistle only he could hear, Jack came hurtling back into the kitchen at full steam.
‘CRISPS!’
Phoebe was already tearing open the packet. ‘Go away – they’re for me!’
‘No, they’re to SHARE,’ said Pippa, trying to look above it but desperately putting out her hands to scoop up the largest crisps.
‘But I ASKED FIRST!’
‘Ugh, these are PLAIN,’ Jack announced, sputtering crumbs everywhere.
Sofia sat bolt upright, eyes wide.
‘But it’s nearly supper time!’ she said. ‘You can’t have crisps, guys!’
They stared at her over the opened packet, mouths full of crumbs.
‘But our AUNT is here.’
‘What even is supper?’ said Carmen. ‘Do you mean “tea”？’
Sofia frowned as the door opened and in entered one of the shiniest people Carmen had ever seen.
Skylar – as Carmen deduced this must be – had long blonde hair, very good skin, a yoga-fit body and bright blue eyes. She walked in and stared at the burst suitcase lying on the floor and the children squabbling over the crisps as if she wasn’t sure she’d come into the right house.
Sofia looked a little tense.
‘Oh, hi, Skylar!’ she said overbrightly. ‘This is my sister, Carmen.’
Skylar did something that Carmen found astonishing: she held up a finger to tell Sofia – the great lawyer – to be quiet for a second.
‘Hello, children?’
She had the kind of intonation went up at the end.
Immediately they stopped squabbling over the crisps. Pippa stepped away.
‘Namaste, Skylar,’ she said quickly.
‘Namaste,’ mumbled the others, both reluctant to release their grip on the packet.
Skylar let out a beaming smile and turned to face Carmen.
‘Hello!’
‘Uh yeah, hi.’
She really was so pretty, it was hypnotising.
‘It’s just if we’re going to be working together? Sofia doesn’t normally let the children snack? On junk food? Just before we eat? It’s really, really bad for them?’