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‘I’m also sorry for saying I didn’t get on with your mum,’ I tell him. ‘We had a heart-to-heart last night and we realised we were both being a little bit hostile.’
‘Give the stick to Dad,’ Jess insists. ‘Or Mum. We need answers.’
The only real question left on everyone’s lips is what on earth is going on with my mum and my dad.
‘Yeah, give it to me,’ Dad demands. ‘I’ll go first.’
I hand over the stick before glancing back over at Rocco.
‘Sorry,’ he mouths to me.
‘Me too,’ I reply.
‘Look, I know I’ve not been a great dad,’ he starts – we didn’t need a stick of truth for that. ‘I thought this Christmas could be a new start for us, to try and get back to being something like a family. The insurance did offer us a hotel room. I just thought it might be nice to stay here. I just want to build bridges.’
‘Bridges to our hot mum,’ Jess says under her breath.
Dad hands Mum the stick of truth.
‘Tell them, Katie,’ he says to Mum with an encouraging smile.
She smiles back at him as she takes the stick.
‘Girls, there’s no easy way to say this,’ she starts before taking a deep breath. ‘I have a boyfriend.’
‘You have a boyfriend?’ Jess squeaks back at her.
‘Bloody hell, Mum, I thought you were dying,’ I chime in. ‘A boyfriend is fine.’
‘And who is thisboy?’ Jess asks, snapping into mum mode, which is cute.
‘Well, he’s not a boy, he’s a fifty-two-year-old man,’ Mum replies. ‘His name is Dennis, he’s a dentist.’
‘Dennis the dentist,’ I say.
‘Drilling our mum,’ Jess jokes.
‘Jess!’ Mum ticks her off. She gets serious again. ‘I really like him. I love him, actually. I hadn’t known how on earth I was going to tell you about him, but your dad encouraged me to, telling me that it would be fine, that you were both wonderful young ladies.’
‘Eggs and all,’ Dad jokes. That’s actually pretty funny.
‘We’ll meet him,’ Jess says. ‘Kick his tyres. Not in a keeping it in the family way, not like Billie and our brother.’
‘I’m taking back your Christmas present,’ I tell her. I dare to laugh, though, just a bit.
‘Is that everything out in the open now?’ Gail asks. No one says anything.
‘Oh, actually, I have one more thing,’ I say, taking the spoon. ‘Jess, I had Kenny all wrong, you were right, he is a good guy.’
‘Ha! I told you so,’ she replies.
We all fall silent again.
‘So, what now?’ Jess asks.
A few more seconds of silence.
‘Cuppa tea?’ Mum eventually says. ‘Bit of Christmas pudding?’
