Since Josh was not able to get away from work early again on Friday, Laura went to meet the girls from school, trying not to feel too offended at the disappointed look on Amelia’s face when she saw her waiting for them in the playground rather than her husband but both girls still hugged her warmly and quickly brightened up as they got to telling her all about their day. Since next week was the last week of term before Christmas and it was not worth trying to start anything new academically until the Spring term, it sounded as if the teachers had mostly wrapped up their official topics the day before and today the girls and their class had made a start on some of the art and other creative projects that would see them through to the Christmas break, the typical seasonal time-fillers such as snowmen made from toilet rolls with stuck-on cotton wool, home-made Christmas crackers that never broke like they were supposed to and cards guaranteed to infect the recipient’s home with a plague of glitter that would still be showing up well into the Summer. Still, it sounded as if the girls had been having a good time and Laura was pleased that it sounded as if Samantha would enjoy her last week of school and, indeed, of life.

They made a stop at the supermarket on the way home and the girls helped her pick out ingredients for the home-made pizza she had decided to prepare, chosen primarily as an activity for them to fill the time before Josh got home. The girls were told they would be making a large pizza each and she allowed them both to choose five toppings in addition to the base of cheese and tomato, reminding them that some overlap was allowed if they wanted. Although she let them choose for themselves, she tried subtly to steer them towards ingredients she knew her husband enjoyed and away from those he disliked, knowing that they would both be keen for him enjoy their creations and the hurt that would result if he didn’t seem to like one or other of them.

“You two had better go and get changed out of your uniforms.” she suggested as they brought the groceries inside, shrugging Amelia’s bag off her shoulder and handing it out to her. “Just put anything that needs washing in the hamper in Sammie’s room,” she instructed the young guest, “and I’ll get it washed ready for Monday.” Amelia took the bag from her then looked at it thoughtfully for a moment.

“What time will Mr Martin be home?” she asked, trying to sound innocently nonchalant but failing spectacularly.

“In about half an hour.” Laura checked the time on her phone. “Forty minutes, maybe? Depends on the traffic.” Amelia nodded thoughtfully as if carefully processing this information.

“So we’ll still be working on the pizzas when he comes in?”

“Most likely, yes.” Laura looked quizzically at her. “Why?”

“Oh, just thinking about something!” Amelia replied breezily. Laura chuckled and shook her head as she took the grocery bags into the kitchen to unpack, noticing Amelia whispering something to Samantha who giggled and apparently agreed.

“What are you doing?” Laura asked as Samantha followed her into the kitchen and collected two aprons from the selection on the inside of one of the cupboard doors. One was the yellow and white checked one she usually wore when helping Laura in the kitchen and the other was a mostly red tartan one with sparkly metallic threads running through it that only came out around Christmas time. “I told you two to go change first. We don’t want to get flour or tomato sauce on your uniforms and those aprons only cover so much!”

“Oh, we know!” Samantha giggled. “Don’t worry, we are going to change. I just wanted to grab these first!”

“Okay!” Laura shook her head in bemusement this time, having learned long ago to pick her battles when it came to her daughter and, when she got into one of her enigmatic moods, making vague, cryptic comments about an idea she’d had, it was usually best just to wait and see what the outcome was and deal with it as needed rather than trying to either guess or press her to tell in advance what she was plotting. “Just be quick!”

“We will!” Both girls chorused sweetly as they headed up the stairs. Laura could hear a lot of shuffling about from the bedroom above as well of plenty of giggling and at least one heavy thud which, since it was not followed by a wail of pain or anger, she decided was likely an issue for another time. About five minutes after they had gone upstairs, the girls returned to the kitchen, giggling and red-faced, wearing the aprons and absolutely nothing else!

“We thought Daddy would enjoy the view when he gets home!” Samantha grinned. A statement with which Laura found she could not argue!


To be continued...