Mimi laughed. ‘You are the sweetest,’ she said. ‘But no. You’ll only get your head bitten off as well. Sorry,’ she added. ‘I shouldn’t be crying in front of you.’

‘Why not? You always say tears can be good for you.’

‘True. But this is putting me between you and your sister and that’s not fair.’

Mimi honestly hadn’t meant to burst into tears. It must have been a combination of the shock of Callie’s response and how cutting her words had been.

Callie had walked in the door from the school bus and Mimi had jangled the car keys in front of her almost immediately. ‘Fancy a lesson with your favourite mum?’ she’d asked brightly.

‘Favourite?’ Callie had scoffed. ‘Do you seriously think I’d want to have a driving lesson with you ever again? I hate that you’re my mother and I hate this family.’

Mimi had been bewildered. It was a slap to the face, as if that special moment in the car when they’d hugged had never happened. Then Callie had let out a growl of rage, thrown her school bag across the room and stomped upstairs where she’d slammed her bedroom door before turning on loud music.

Pete appeared in the doorway. ‘What’s happened?’ he asked.

‘Callie made Mum cry,’ said Tara.

Mimi wiped her eyes. ‘No, I’m being silly. Obviously she had a bad day at school and she took it out on me. I shouldn’t be taking it so personally.’

‘No way. She was really mean, Dad,’ said Tara, thumping away at Mimi’s back harder than ever. ‘I think you should tell her off.’

‘Uh . . .’ Pete looked unsure. ‘Should I go sort this out?’ he asked.

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea right now,’ said Mimi. ‘I think we should let her have some time to calm down. Maybe try later?’

Pete let out a puff of air. ‘Sure thing. I can try later.’

They heard a cry from one of the twins who’d been asleep for their afternoon nap and both Pete and Tara immediately moved towards the stairs.

‘We’ll get them for you,’ Tara said. ‘You relax.’

‘Tara,’ said Mimi, ‘is there any chance you can stay this way forever?’

She glanced sideways for a moment. ‘I can try?’

They disappeared upstairs and Mimi was left alone in the kitchen. It was only Wednesday. How was it only Wednesday? How was she supposed to make it through to Friday?

One drink, she thought to herself. Just one drink from my special lemonade bottle to cushion the senses.

*

Andrea

She knew she was doing the wrong thing, but her curiosity was too strong. Tony was in the shower and he’d uncharacteristically left his computer open. The Word document was right there on the screen.