The Babysitter(18)

‘I’ll grab some cereal,’ she said, yawning widely – and receiving a reprimand from Poppy as she did for not placing her hand over her mouth.

‘Sorry.’ Melissa stifled another yawn. ‘I’m obviously more tired than I thought I was.’

‘I’m not surprised, trying to run your own business with two little ones to look after – you must be absolutely frazzled,’ Jade said, glancing at her sympathetically as she sailed by with a tray, on which was the toast, Melissa noticed, along with a tumbler of orange and a black coffee. ‘Why don’t you go and grab a shower? It might make you feel human.’

Now Melissa definitely felt like one of the living dead.

‘I’ll just pop this into Mark and then—’

‘Mark?’ Melissa gawked. ‘He’s here?’

Jade stopped, looking puzzled. ‘In the lounge. He came home to get changed. He went to get a nightcap and the next thing I knew, he’d fallen fast asleep on the sofa.’

Melissa glanced at her, confused. She felt as if she’d slept the clock around and woken up to find herself in another time zone. It was stupid – paranoid probably – but… Mark never went into the lounge for a nightcap in the middle of the night. He’d previously had a spell of drinking more than was good for him once. They both had, when life had been cruel. Since then, though, he’d have wine with his meal, but rarely a nightcap. If he was keeping the hours he was now, it meant he was working a case that needed him to be clearheaded. He would grab a cold drink from the kitchen and then come straight upstairs. If he couldn’t sleep, then he would walk – with the dog, if he could coax her out without waking Poppy.

‘He looked so exhausted I didn’t like to disturb him,’ Jade went on. ‘I didn’t like to think of him charging off again without eating anything either, so… Are you all right, Melissa? You look a bit pale.’

Melissa was now feeling very baffled. She’d taken a paracetamol last night. At least she’d thought she had. She hoped to God she hadn’t picked up the wrong packet. The sleeping tablets she’d been prescribed after losing Jacob were still in her bathroom cabinet. No, surely not. She’d checked the packet. Hadn’t she? But still, she felt definitely woozy.

‘What time did he come in?’ she asked, aware it must have been after the last feed she’d given Evie. The baby had woken unusually early, at around two thirty rather than three thirty, which is when she’d taken the paracetamol.

‘About five,’ Jade said, looking puzzled.

And she was up? Melissa was growing more confused by the second.

‘I heard someone downstairs.’ Jade answered the question she hadn’t asked. ‘I was worried about the children so I crept down.’

‘That was brave of you,’ Melissa said, in all sincerity. Jade wouldn’t have known it was Mark.

‘It could have been a bug monster!’ Poppy said, aghast.

‘In which case, I would have poked his beady bug eyes out,’ Jade assured her, looking fierce.

‘With a big sharp knife,’ Poppy said, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to look fierce too.

‘Probably not a good idea, Poppy,’ Melissa suggested, ‘unless you want to end up in prison. It’s not allowed.’

‘But what about if it was a burglar?’ Poppy asked, her eyes widened innocently.

‘Still not allowed. In any case, it wouldn’t be. Our house is very secure. Now, finish your breakfast, young lady. And then shoes on, please, or you’ll be late for school.’

‘Sorry,’ Jade said, as Poppy huffed and went back to her cereal. ‘I really should have thought that one through.’

Melissa looked up to the clock and wondered whether it would be acceptable to do the school run in her husband’s crumpled shirt and leggings. Then she caught sight of Jade, still standing with the tray, looking uncertain and somewhat dejected.

And Melissa felt like a cow. The girl had let her lie in, obviously done her best to take over the helm while she’d been sleeping, and what had she done? Come over all proprietorial, as if her space were being threatened, and promptly burst her bubble. Her friend Emily had had a babysitter for a while, while she and Adam were busy setting up their holiday chalet business, and she’d once admitted she’d felt her nose had been put out of joint, even confiding she’d been the tiniest bit jealous at first, when the babysitter appeared to look after her child better than she did.

Chastising herself, Melissa smiled. ‘It’s okay,’ she said, reaching to give Jade’s shoulders a squeeze and then relieving her of the tray. It was nice of her to think of Mark, but if anyone was going to take him breakfast, it was Melissa. Not that he could expect such service on a regular basis. ‘Poppy has a vivid imagination,’ she said. ‘She’s very good at storytelling. She must take after her mad, arty mother.’

Jade looked relieved, though her smile was a little less zingy than it had been.

‘I’ll take this in and see if I can rouse my husband from his slumber,’ Melissa said, supposing she’d have to get used to setting boundaries, but perhaps more subtly in future. ‘You could do me a huge favour, though, if you wouldn’t mind, and take Poppy to school. I’d hate to embarrass her in front of her friends.’

Jade’s smile widened at that. ‘You look fine,’ she said. ‘Great legs. But of course I wouldn’t mind taking her. Come on, Poppy. Shoes on, sweetie. You can’t possibly scrape that bowl any cleaner.’