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Jamie snuggled under the covers, clearly reassured by her words. ‘But you can do all the important things. You’re like Mrs Incredible. I mean, not with the stretchy arms, but you can climb, and slide down ropes and stuff. That’s cool.’
Mrs Incredible. Meg swallowed down the lump in her throat. ‘Well, you think it’s cool, but some people think it’s more important to know about the right shade of nail varnish than be able to rescue someone off a mountain in a blizzard.’ She stroked his head quickly and then stood up, too agitated to sit still a moment longer. She prowled around the tiny bedroom, picking up socks and more Batman toys, trying not to remember how hard she’d found it to fit in at school. She didn’t want her child to go through the same thing. She didn’t want him to feel that same sense of isolation. ‘It’s going to be OK, Jamie. Tomorrow I’m going to talk to your teacher and ask her what on earth she was thinking, having Dad’s Day at school. It just makes kids a target for bullying. We’ll sort it out, I promise. We’ll come up with a plan.’
Jamie was silent for a moment. ‘I sort of had a plan. I thought of something.’
‘Good. That’s what I like. A plan. It’s great that you sort things out
by yourself. Tell me.’
‘I want to invite Dino.’
Meg froze. ‘To Dad’s Day?’
‘Why not? He lets me ride in his car, he’s always nice to me when we have to go the mountain rescue centre and that time at the hospital he let me wait in his office and got me a whole bunch of toys to play with. And he knows about cars and stuff. I like him. He’s nice.’
Nice? Meg thought about Dino Zinetti. Hair as dark as night, a mouth that was masculine and sexy and eyes that knew just how to look at a woman.
‘Nice isn’t the word I’d use.’
Jamie looked shocked. ‘You don’t think Dino is nice?’
‘I’m not saying he isn’t nice, honey.’
‘Nice’ seemed like such an inappropriate word to describe a man as hotly sexual as Dino, but somehow Meg managed to get her tongue round it. ‘He is—er—nice, but, well…he’s just not the right person to take to Dad’s Day.’
‘It doesn’t have to be your dad. Just a man who is important in your life.’
And she didn’t let Jamie have a man who was important in his life, did she? This was all her fault. Torn apart by guilt, Meg stood still. ‘Jamie, listen, I—’
‘You work with him every day. Will you ask him, Mum? He just has to come for an hour and chat about what he does.’
Ask Dino to come to the school? Meg felt the Batman toy bite into her palm as she squeezed it tight. ‘He wouldn’t do that.’
‘He might. You didn’t think he’d let me sit in his car, and he did. You don’t know if you don’t ask.’
‘I can’t ask, Jamie.’
Jamie’s face fell. ‘OK. I’ll just go on my own. It’ll be fine.’
Meg felt like the worst mother in the world. ‘All right, I’ll ask him.’ The words were torn from her, dragged from inside her by the raw power of maternal guilt. ‘But he might be busy.’
‘I know. He’s a consultant in Emergency Medicine and he’s a member of the mountain rescue team and he won a gold medal in the men’s downhill at the winter Olympics when he was nineteen.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘He won a gold medal. Didn’t you know?’
‘No,’ Meg said faintly. ‘I didn’t. We don’t talk about personal stuff that much.’
‘You should. He’s really cool, Mum. Did you know that when he was my age he could eat six doughnuts in under a minute?’
Meg thought of Dino’s athletic physique, a result of his active, outdoor lifestyle. ‘No, I didn’t know that either. Presumably he gave that habit up before he won the men’s downhill. Go to sleep now.’ Why on earth had she allowed herself to say she would speak to Dino? She’d rather dig a hole and bury herself in it. ‘Jamie, listen to me—’
‘I’m so glad you’re going to ask him, Mum.’ Jamie pulled the duvet up to his neck, a blissful smile on his face. ‘I was dreading school this week, but now I’m really looking forward to it. Dino’s the best. If he comes and talks to my class, Freddie will never tease me again. Do you know it’s only fifteen more sleeps until Christmas? Isn’t that great? I’ve written my letter to Santa. I did it with Grandma. We put it in the fireplace. Do you think he’ll take it tonight?’
Meg opened her mouth to tell him that there was no way she could ask Dino to Dad’s Day. ‘I’m sure Santa will take it. Is it really only fifteen more sleeps?’ Her voice was croaky and somehow she just couldn’t form the right words. ‘That is great. I guess I’d better start doing some Christmas shopping.’
Hi, Dino, what are you doing on Thursday?
