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‘Oh, come on, he’s not that bad!’
‘Not that bad isn’t much of a defence, is it? Is that what you want for me, to be stuck with someone who’s “not that bad” if it means I’d have stayed living closer to home?’
Danni’s cheek’s blazed in a fiery heat. ‘That’s not what I meant!’
Tasha rather thought it was, but, ever the peacemaker of the family, she held up her hands. ‘Let’s not fall out over something that isn’t going to change. Besides, this is your special day. Come on, let’s go and celebrate.’
Setting down the glass, Danni curled her arms around Tasha’s waist and hugged her close. ‘I just want you to be happy, that’s all,’ she said, softly.
‘I am,’ Tasha assured her. The only thing that could make her happier was if her family were more accepting of her choices.
5
With the last of the guests shooed out of the front door and the majority of the clearing up done, Tasha left her parents to load the final round of dirty plates and glasses into the dishwasher and escaped to her bedroom. Though the walls had been repainted to cover the grease marks left by years of Blu-Tacked posters, it remained pretty much the same as the day she’d moved out. The bed had been made up with one of her favourite quilt covers, cream with thin satin ribbons of pink, blue and green decorating the top. Tasha knew it was her mother’s way of trying to make her feel at home, but as she traced her hands over the faded ribbons they felt like yet another thing trying to bind her to the past.
It’s only for tonight. Tomorrow she would be back in the familiar surrounds of her flat. She changed into a favourite pair of pyjama bottoms covered in disco-dancing bears and a soft cotton vest before taking her wash kit into the guest bathroom to wash the make-up from her face and clean her teeth. She was unable to hold in the sigh of relief as she released her hair from the tight pins that had held it in place all day. Returning to her room, she climbed onto the bed, pillows propped behind her, and began to brush out her hair.
A soft knock was followed almost immediately by the door opening to reveal Tasha’s mother holding a mug, her father right behind her carrying two, one of which he set on the bedside table after they entered the room. ‘I like to see your hair down,’ her mum said with a smile as she perched on the end of the bed. ‘It suits you much better, longer.’
Tasha’s fingers tightened around the handle of the brush, but she schooled her features into neutral and finished her task. She’d chopped it off in her first year at university for no other reason than she’d fancied a change of look and had never heard the end of it when she’d returned home for the weekend. ‘It all went well today, I thought,’ she said, changing the subject before Victoria could offer any more of the many opinions she held on Tasha’s appearance.
‘Without a hitch,’ her dad said, raising his mug as though in toast. ‘And Danni and Stuart enjoyed themselves, which is the main thing.’
‘I thought the flowers were a little disappointing. I should’ve gone with my first instinct and hired a professional florist. The church ladies are very enthusiastic and their dedication can’t be faulted?—’
‘Then don’t,’ Tasha cut across whatever criticism her mum was about to deliver.
‘Don’t what?’ Victoria said, cutting a sharp look at her.
It would be easier to keep her mouth shut, would even be the sensible thing to do, but Tasha was tired after the long day and really not in the mood to listen while her mother dissected everything, because the flowers would be only the start of it. ‘Don’t find fault. The flowers were lovely; everything was lovely. You did Danni proud today, Mum.’
Victoria pouted for a moment before she nodded. ‘That’s all that matters at the end of the day, that my girls are happy.’
Her parents exchanged a look and Tasha found her knuckles tightening around her brush once more. This time it was her father who took the lead. ‘I know it’s late and you’ve got an early start tomorrow but there’s something your mother and I wanted to have a chat with you about.’
Well, that didn’t sound ominous at all. Setting down the brush, Tasha reached for her tea and took a sip. ‘Okay.’
‘You know we helped Danni and Stuart out when they found a house in the village.’
Though the pair had squirrelled away every spare penny, deposits were so much larger these days and Tasha had been grateful their parents had been in a position to help them out. Her refusal to allow them to do the same for her hadn’t only been about maintaining her independence, she simply hadn’t needed the money. Tasha had got an amazing rental deal through her boss, Simon Willoughby, as it was part of a new development his company had invested in. The business mostly focused on the leisure industry – health centres and spas, country house hotels and the like – but Simon was always looking for ways to expand, and Tasha had headed up the project working with Atkinsons, the developers, to incorporate a fitness and beauty centre within the block, so taking one of the flats meant she had access to the on-site perks as part of her rental agreement. Tasha sat on the management committee for the block so was the first to know if there were any problems and could keep the residents happy. With the project declared a success, Tasha was already on the hunt for potential new locations in a number of other towns and cities in the South-West.
‘I’m really happy with where I am for the moment,’ Tasha said, hoping this wasn’t going to be another attempt by her parents to lure her closer to home. ‘And I’m putting plenty away in my savings account for if and when I do decide to buy somewhere.’
Her mother reached out and patted her foot. ‘You always were the sensible one.’ She glanced over at her husband and they exchanged another one of those looks Tasha had come to dread. ‘We’d still like to give you the money, because we wouldn’t ever want you to think we favoured your sister over you.’
‘I don’t think that,’ Tasha protested immediately. Even if deep down she suspected they probably did, she knew they honestly believed they loved and treated their daughters the same.
‘That’s good.’ Pat, pat, pat. Victoria sucked in a deep breath. ‘Anyway, we were thinking that perhaps you might like to put the money towards freezing your eggs.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘You’re not getting any younger, darling, and while your father and I respect your choice to put your career first, we would just hate you to have any regrets.’
Tasha couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mother’s mouth and turned to her father. ‘Are you hearing what I’m hearing?’
Adrian shifted awkwardly against the chest of drawers. ‘Think of it as an insurance policy. A woman’s fertility begins to decline.’
She didn’t turn thirty until next year! Normally when her mother latched onto a particularly hare-brained scheme, Tasha could rely on her father to rein in the worst of her impulses, but somehow he was actually on board with this nightmare. ‘When exactly did you sit around discussing my fertility, declining or otherwise?’
