1st November. Around twelve noon.
Cheryl.
"There you go, get that down you" I stick a plate bearing an oversized bacon butty on the table in front of a nauseous looking Ozzie, "best hangover cure known to man that"
"Thanks" she states quietly sipping at the glass of water I'd previously given her, "mum's really mad isn't she?"
I sit down at the side of her, slurping from me cuppa,
"I'm not gonna lie pet, she's p!ssed off but she's your mam she'll come round"
It was quite a stunt that Ozzie pulled the previous evening yet I can't help but feel sorry for the girl. Kimberley had gone well and truly mental at her this morning leaving Ozzie in tears and me very uncomfortable. I know she was just letting out all the tension she'd kept in from the previous evening but, truth be told, I've never seen Kimberley as genuinely emotional as that before. The sight was a shock to us. Since her earlier outburst she's disappeared back into the bedroom and I wouldn't be surprised if she was shedding a few tears of her own.
Sometimes I wish she'd let us closer, let us into her confidence but she's far too stubborn for that...hmm...perhaps the magical powers of a bacon butty will help again?
"Room service"
I knock at the door, sticking me head round to find Kimberley sat on the edge of the bed staring at the floor. As I suspected there's a crumpled tissue in her hands.
"Thought you might like something to eat" I state, walking in and bringing the plate from behind me back, "voila, un butty bacon pour madamemoiselle!"
She manages a smile,
"Yep your French is truly awful too"
I grin,
"Mebbes but me bacon butties are delish, try"
"Mmm..." she agrees, happily tucking in, "they are"
We spend the next ten minutes in content silence, me hand resting on her knee as she demolishes the butty hungrily.
"Have I ever told you how much I adore you?" she asks once she's finished, sticking the plate to one side and linking her fingers with mine.
"No" I smile, "but I'm always happy to hear it"
I pause before continuing tentatively,
"You know that Ozzie's really sorry about what she did"
She nods,
"I know. You think I was too harsh with her? That I'm a crap parent?"
"No pet" I raise an eyebrow, "I mean I'm no-one to go around dispensing parenting advice am I?! I do think that she needed to know how serious her actions were though and to take responsibility for them. Mebbes she'll learn something from this"
"Or she might just do what I did at her age and start kicking off even worse" Kimberley broods.
I give her hand a squeeze,
"Come on the circumstances are different, like you said she's never done anything this daft before. She might try to act cool but she thinks the world of you and it's obvious that she's devastated you're mad with her"
"Yeah" Kimberley nods again, "I need to do something to draw a line under it and move on"
"You could take her to lunch with Nadine" I suggest, "I'm gonna be busy at the gym for the rest of the day, Walt's been a diamond helping us out in his holidays but I can't keep taking advantage of him"
