Sofia didn’t quite understand the significance of this last piece of information but wisely kept her mouth closed.

“I thought maybe a cool, rich boyfriend . . . would make me feel I was going places. Instead of stuck. In my sister’s basement. In a temp job.”

Sofia bristled a bit. Then she made a terrible mistake. She was trying to explain why Blair would have been a bad match for Carmen, and then her plan was to follow that up with how brilliantly she’d done in the shop, and how it looked like they’d be able to put the business on the market in the new year and provide a nice retirement for Mr. McCredie, and how that was amazing and she’d have loads for her CV now.

Unfortunately, she never got that far.

“Oh, let Skylar have that stupid Blair,” she began. “She’s much more . . .”

She regretted it instantly.

“Much more what?” said Carmen furiously, standing up. “Pretty? Better than me?”

“No! That’s not what I meant at all. Just that stupid blond look, you know.”

“You just meant she’s better-looking than me?”

“Oh, Carmen! How can I get out of this conversation?”

“By saying the truth: you never believed for a second that someone good-looking and famous could possibly like me in a million years.” Carmen was so upset. “You just assumed I would try and take him off Skylar, never that she would try and take him off me, even though that was totally what she did.”

Sofia squeezed her eyes shut.

“I don’t like her,” went on Carmen. “She’s mean.”

“She’s not mean! She’s very . . . useful. She’s good for me. She’s good for the children. Gives them good ways of living their lives.”

“Instead of what I do, you mean?”

Sofia lost her rag, which she did very rarely. “That’s not what I said! God, Carmen. You insist on taking every single phrase out of my mouth and wringing it for the worst possible angle. You’re like judge, jury, and executioner of me. And Mum. It’s like we can never say a single word that isn’t secretly dissing Carmen because that’s literally all we have on our minds, every hour of the day and night. Carmen, Carmen, Carmen. Everyone be careful. Don’t upset Carmen, because she doesn’t have a job! Don’t upset Carmen, because she doesn’t have a boyfriend! I swear Mum didn’t want me to have another baby because you don’t have one yet.”

“She would never say that.”

“She basically implied it.”

“Well, how come? How come you get everything?” said Carmen, stung.