‘No, the parents are welcome to stay too. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.’
‘Even though you’ve invited the whole class? Won’t that be a bit much?’
Aidan shrugged. ‘It’s fine. They won’t all stay anyway – they look after each other’s kids regularly, take turns doing the school run and have sleepovers and stuff like that. But Jack being new to the area and not knowing the other parents well yet, I’m sure you’d want to stay with him.’
Lou nodded. ‘I would. Thanks.’
‘Well, I reckon we’re even now, don’t you? If I let this go, can we wipe the fish soup incident from the record?’
‘That’s fair.’
‘So… truce?’ Aidan smiled, and it was like the sun coming out, the warmth of it seeping through Lou’s bones.
‘Truce.’
‘You found the invitation, then?’
‘Yeah.’ Lou dropped her gaze to her shoes. She didn’t want to admit what had happened, it was so shaming, but it wasn’t fair to Jack to lay the blame on him. ‘It was never lost, actually. Jack told me he hadn’t been invited. He was worried we couldn’t afford to buy Bo a present.’ She picked at a snag nail on her thumb. ‘Which we can, by the way,’ she added quickly, looking up at Aidan, who appeared confused.
‘It was my fault.’ She told him what had happened with the doll. ‘I didn’t realise why he wanted it, and I said we couldn’t buy anything else until next month.’ She sighed. ‘I shouldn’t have said that, but I was a bit stressed out. I’d just bought that car and paid for this.’ She waved her hand to the hall. ‘But I shouldn’t have said anything to him. He shouldn’t be worrying about money at his age.’
Aidan frowned. ‘If you need a sub on your salary…’
‘No! No, it’s fine. Thanks, though.’
‘It really wouldn’t be a problem. I’ve done it for people before.’
‘Honestly, I can stretch to a doll. Does Bo even like dolls?’
Aidan smiled. ‘She does. She loves dolls.’
‘What’s she getting for her main present?’
‘A toy kitchen.’
‘Ah!’
‘Yeah, she wants to be like me when she grows up. I can’t imagine why.’
‘She could do worse.’
Aidan smiled and Lou felt something shift between them. It felt good – warmer and looser. She was glad they were back on friendlier terms. It would have been super awkward hanging outwith Aidan all the time while their children played together, but she’d have done it for Jack’s sake. But it was much nicer if they could be friends too.
‘So, do you want to stay and watch?’ Aidan asked, as the children got sorted into teams for a game of football.
‘No, I think I’ve seen enough.’
‘Okay. I can drop you back home if you like. Or we could get a coffee?’
Lou shrugged. ‘Coffee would be good. But whatever you want to do is fine.’ She didn’t want to put him out more than she already had.
‘Okay, let’s go for a coffee then. And maybe we could go for a walk after, if you fancy it? You haven’t been to Dunquin before, have you?’
‘No.’
‘Well, now that you’re here, you might as well take a look around.’
‘That’d be great. Unless you need to get home.’
