‘Maddie!’ I cried. ‘Stop overreacting. Nobody is asking you to leave. When I thought you’d run off yesterday, I felt sick with panic. I love you so much and I want you here with me but I want you to enjoy being here. That means being part of the family and embracing this beautiful place we’re living in instead of locking yourself away in your bedroom.’
She took a few steps closer to me and I thought she was going to hug me and say she was sorry, but she strode past me, muttering that she was going to see to the guinea pigs.
I sank back down onto my chair, my stomach churning.
‘I’m sorry,’ Mam said, sitting down beside me. ‘I shouldn’t have interfered.’
‘You were right to say what you did. She might not have wanted to hear it but she needed to. As for whether it’ll have any impact…’ I shrugged and sighed heavily.
I was so grateful for Mam’s support because she was right – Iwason my knees and I needed the support.
21
First thing on Monday morning, I drove to Berwick-Upon-Tweed to collect the paints and everything else we needed for decorating. Maddie was up and having breakfast when I returned and I gave her a breezy ‘good morning’ which elicited a grunt.
‘I’ve got the colours you chose,’ I said. ‘We’ll make a start as soon as you’ve finished your breakfast.’
‘We?’
‘You, me and Nanna.’
‘I don’t need your help.’
‘Of course you do! It’ll be so much quicker with three of us.’
Maddie shook her head vigorously. ‘I don’t need it to be quick. It’s my bedroom so I’ll paint it.’
‘But you’ve never painted a room before.’
‘I painted my old bedroom.’
‘You did one wall with the roller. I did the rest, including all the cutting in.’
‘The what?’
‘The edges.’
She shoved in the last mouthful of cereal and placed her bowl and spoon in the dishwasher.
‘I’m doing it on my own.’
I didn’t have the energy to fight it. ‘Okay but you have to be really careful.’
‘As if I’m not going to be.’
‘I mean it, Maddie. You need to cover everything with dust sheets and you need to be so steady along the edges, especially round the ceiling because that doesn’t need painting but it will if you?—’
‘I’m not stupid, Mum! Why can’t you trust me to do anything?’
‘It’s not about trust – it’s about experience.’
‘How am I supposed to get experience if you won’t let me have a go?’
‘I didn’t say you can’t have a go. I said we’d do it together.’
‘Well, I’m doing it on my own.’
‘Okay. Fine.’ I had more important things to deal with today. If Maddie made a mess of it, she’d have to live with it. ‘Nanna and I will leave you to it and we’ll paint the café instead.’
