The past few days had passed in a whirl of Christmas shopping and planning for the annual family trip to Nords Wharf. As Christmas approached, the reality of this being the first anniversary of Frank’s death became more palpable and it felt as though everyone was on edge. Mimi had been a little shocked to discover she’d finished another premixed bottle of gin and lemonade. But then she’d figured she’d needed it and she’d filled up the bottle in the fridge again. Callie still wouldn’t talk to her and Mimi was fed up and scared. This time the ratio favoured the gin quite a bit more.

If only she’d paid closer attention when Jill went to the fridge. She should have remembered that Jill liked diet lemonade. But she was busy strapping Elliot into the double pram ready to take the twins for a walk, and by the time she looked back up, Jill was putting the glass to her mouth and next thing she was spitting her drink out into the sink.

‘What’s in this?’ she said, wiping her mouth.

Mimi straightened up. She was trying to figure out how to respond when Jill filled in the blanks for her. ‘This tastes . . . alcoholic.’

Jill looked revolted. That’s when Mimi threw her own daughter under the bus.

‘That’s Callie’s bottle of lemonade,’ she blurted out. Almost as though Mimi were a younger sibling dobbing in her big sister to Mum and Dad.

Obviously, she should have come clean, admitted it was her own. Explained that it was simply a matter of convenience. That no one else drank diet lemonade and she’d started pre-mixing so that she had the odd drink ready to go. But Jill was so horrified that the words wouldn’t come. So, instead Mimi rearranged the expression on her face. Pretended that this was coming as a surprise to her too.

‘Are . . . are you sure it’s alcohol?’ she asked.

‘Taste it,’ Jill said, thrusting the glass at her.

Mimi took a sip and tried not to let the feeling of contentment show as the gin slid down her throat. Instead she screwed up her face. ‘Oh, umm, yeah. I think you’re right.’

Jill took the glass back and had another sip. ‘This is strong,’ she said. ‘It’s not just a little nip in there. Mimi, do you think this is what’s been going on with Callie lately? The reason she’s been agitated? Down?’

Mimi hesitated. She didn’t know quite how to respond. She was grateful that Pete had taken both Callie and Tara out. They’d gone to see Darren so the girls could meet his new dog. Apparently, he was going to get the girls to help him choose a name for him.