Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Three

Three

 It took Amy a few moments to recall what day it was when she awoke the following morning. And a few moments more to realise why her head was pounding so viciously. She had an odd nervy sort of feeling in her gut. She knew she’d said or done something regrettable the previous evening but just couldn’t put her finger on it. Her brains felt as though they were rattling around when she tried to think. We were talking about Ben, she remembered… and flings. Oh God, no! No, it’s definitely not that. Becky was coming round to look after the kids… And then she remembered. “Oh, bloody hell!” She leapt out of bed, fuelling the pain of her thumping head, and began fumbling round on the dressing table. “Aaah! Where is it?” She turned around and tripped over her hand bag. Untangling the strap from her ankle, she reached inside for her phone and began tapping away; the intention being to send a text to Becky, cancelling her babysitting services. She’d tell her she was too ill. She wouldn’t believe her, but right now she didn’t care.

Unfortunately, Becky was one step ahead of her. She read Becky’s text - Hi I was xpecting a text by now makin some xcuse bout bein ill or somethin but if ur not bottlin it wot time do u want me round 4 kids? x

“Bugger,” Amy mumbled to herself. And against her better judgement, she typed - c u in a couple of hrs x

“Morning,” Amy said, joining Ben and the children in the kitchen.

“Hiya, love. You’re not looking as bad as I thought you would this morning,” remarked Ben.

“Er, thanks, I think. Oh, did I see that other Tombliboo in Holly’s bed last night?”

“Aunty Helen brought him home. I left him in her house,” Holly said through a mouthful of cereal.

“Thank goodness for your sister, eh?” Ben said. “She turned up with it just before bath time. She said Holly left it round there yesterday. So we can sleep easy in our beds, now, safe in the knowledge that the three Tombliboos are re-united.”

“Yeah, that is a relief,” Amy said, mustering as much enthusiasm as her hazy head would allow.

“Did you bang your head on your bottle of wine, Mum?” James asked.

“Er, no, honey. Why would you think that?”

“Daddy said you’d probably have a sore head this morning, from the wine.” He looked at his mother with genuine concern.

”No, sweetheart,” she said, kissing the top of his head, “I was very careful not to bang my head.” She shot Ben ‘a look’. Her mind had been averted from the task in hand, but only briefly. “Er, are we still on for that bit of shopping later?” she asked, taking a piece of toast from his plate.

“Shopping?” He barely recalled her coming home last night, let alone any conversation about shopping.

“Oh, don’t worry if you’ve got other plans,” she said hopefully, “I just mentioned last night that I fancied a bit of shopping in town. Becky said she’d watch the kids for a bit. But we can do it some other time, it’s no problem.”

“No, no, I quite fancy that. What time’s she coming round, or are we dropping them to her?”

Her heart sank. “Oh, really? You fancy shopping? You never fancy shopping.”

“Well, I could do with a couple of new t.shirts,” he laughed. “Don’t knock it, just make the most of it. I shan’t be making a habit of it.”

“Yeah, that’s brilliant, thanks… it’s just… I don’t feel too great at the moment.”

“Well you wouldn’t, would you? You’ve got a hangover. But I’m sure you’ll feel much better once you’ve given my credit card a bit of a bashing.”