Her One Mistake(5)

“Oh, Evie,” I sighed. “We’ll go behind the tree.” I waved my hand toward the side of the field.

Evie’s eyes lit up.

“But do it subtly. Try not to draw attention to us,” I said as I pulled her over to the tree. “Then we can go and get cotton candy,” I called behind me. “And we can find the bouncy castles too, would everyone like that?” I asked, but if they answered, I didn’t hear them above the noise of the crowd.

? ? ?

DESPITE THE START of a niggling headache, I ordered a coffee from the cotton candy stall. It felt inappropriate to get a glass of Pimm’s when I had four children to watch, and coffee was almost the next best thing. I looked around and waved at friends I spotted in the distance. Audrey tottered across the field, wearing ridiculous high-heeled sandals. Her hair was piled high on her head, a shawl draped over her shoulders, and a long satin skirt swished behind her as she walked. Audrey was completely not dressed for either the weather or a school fair, but she didn’t care. She waved back at me, grinning and gesturing at all the children huddled beside me with a look of mock horror. I shrugged as if I couldn’t care less that I was on my own with so many children to look after.

I saw Karen and smiled to myself as she stood outside the beer tent waving her arms dramatically to get her husband’s attention as he tried to ignore her.

“So the bouncy castles next?” I asked, when each of the kids was happily picking at the sticky pink sugar. We began walking toward the farthest side of the field, where I could make out the tip of an inflatable slide. “Look how big that one is.”

“I want to go on that one instead.” Molly’s eyes widened as she pointed to a huge inflatable that stretched back to the very edge of the field. It was bright green with inflatable palm trees swaying on the top and the words “Jungle Run” running down the side. Molly ran over to look inside its mesh windows, and for once Jack was close at her heels.

“It’s awesome,” she cried. “Come and have a look, Alice.” Alice ambled over obligingly and peered through the window. My heart went out to Alice as it often did, seemingly happy to go along with whatever the others decided, but sometimes I wished she would speak up. I rarely knew if she was happy or simply didn’t have the confidence to say otherwise.

“Can we go on, Mum?” Jack asked.

“Yes, of course you can.” It was the kind of thing I would have loved as a child, and would have reveled in dragging my sister through.

Alice pulled back and looked up at me.

“You don’t have to go on it if you don’t want to,” I said.

“Of course you want to, don’t you, Alice?” Molly piped up.

“Molly, she can make up her own mind.” I pulled out my purse to count out change. “Would you rather stay with me?” I said to Alice.

“I’m not going,” Evie interrupted. “I’m going on the slide.”

“Would you like to go on the slide with Evie?”

“No, I’ll go with Molly,” she said quietly, and I realized those were the first words she’d said to me all day.

“Right, well, stick together all of you. And Jack, watch out for the girls,” I called behind him, though I doubted he’d heard me. He was already halfway down the side of the Jungle Run.

I passed the money to a mum I didn’t recognize and when I looked back, they were already out of sight around the back.

“Come on, Mummy.” Evie tugged at my dress again.

“Five minutes, Evie,” I said. “They’ve got five minutes on this and then we’ll go on the slide.” I needed to sit down in the shade. My head was starting to thump and the coffee wasn’t making it any better. “Let’s go and watch that magic show being set up, and then I promise you can go on it.”

? ? ?

EVIE WAS ABSORBED in watching the magician, which meant she was momentarily silent. I pulled my phone out of my bag as a matter of habit and checked my messages, reading a text from my neighbor about the party that night, asking everyone to come around the back so we didn’t disturb the baby.

I looked at my email and pressed a link that took me to Facebook, reading some inane quiz and then scrolling through posts, getting caught up in everyone else’s lives.

I glanced over and saw the children tumbling down the slide at the end of the Jungle Run and then running around the back again before I or anyone else had the chance to tell them their time was up. I commented on a picture of a friend’s holiday and updated my status that I was enjoying the hot weather at the school fair.

When I eventually got up and told Evie she could go on the slide, we went back to the Jungle Run, laughing as Jack hurled himself over the edge at the end and fell onto his back at the bottom.

“That was awesome,” he cried, picking himself up and coming to stand next to me.

I threw an arm over his shoulder and pulled him in for a hug, and for once I didn’t feel him tense. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Where are the girls?”

Jack shrugged.

“Oh, Jack. I told you to look out for them.”

“They should have kept up with me,” he said smugly.

We watched Molly throw herself over the top and plummet down. “Ha! I beat you by a mile.” Jack laughed.

“That’s because you pushed me at the start. Mummy, Jack hurt my arm.”