Page 55 of Snow Going Back

‘Let’s get the girl a cuppa first though at least, hey, Eleanor?’ Amy said jovially.

‘Thank you,Amy,’ Kate replied pointedly.

‘Though…’ Amy winced and tipped her head sideways. ‘Wedokind of need to know.’

Eleanor held her hands outwards with a roll of her eyes, as if to say,Exactly, and Amy gave Kate an apologetic grimace. Beth shook her head at the both of them, shooting Kate a look of solidarity.

Kate pointedly took off her coat and poured herself a cup of tea from the tray before answering.

‘No, Mother.’ She picked up her teacup and saucer and sat back against the overstuffed sage-green sofa. ‘I haven’t put on any weight. And I’ve been inVermont, not Boston. As you well know.’

‘Whatever, darling. It’s all the same continent, no need to get technical. So, whatdoyou weigh?’ Eleanor asked, clicking the top of her pen and picking up a notepad.

‘I don’t know,’ Kate replied.

‘OK.’ Eleanor sighed loudly. ‘How much did you weigh before you left?’

‘No idea,’ Kate responded.

‘But youmusthave weighed yourself atsomepoint?’ Eleanor asked, getting visibly perplexed.

‘No. Not recently.’ Kate shrugged and took a sip from her cup.

Eleanor dropped her pen with a loud tut. ‘I really don’t know why you’re being sodifficult, Katherine, I’m only trying tohelp you. How can youknow if you’ve put on weight or not when you haven’tweighedyourself?’

‘Because, Mother, myjeans still fit,’ Kate replied with a childishly defiant look at Eleanor that silently added,So there.

Eleanor’s brows knotted together. ‘But Katherine, whatkindof jeans?’

Kate glanced up to the heavens. ‘Really?’ she muttered.

‘Well,darling, jeans can have a lot of stretch these days,’ Eleanor exclaimed. ‘Pamela from my community watch club – you know the one: Pamela, from the Bundt cake debacle – sheabsolutelybragsabout a pair of hers that she bought when she was a size ten and can still get into now, and she’s at least an eighteen. We’re seventeen members strong now, Katherine. Did your father tell you? Anyway, I just don’t think jeans are a very trustworthy measure.’

‘Well, these are non-stretch, so you needn’t worry,’ Kate replied.

‘Are you sure?’ Eleanor raised a doubtful eyebrow. ‘I’ve seen your jeans – none of them look particularly sturdy.’

Kate bit her lips together and stared back at her mother as her little devil poofed up on her shoulder.

Amy hastily jumped in. ‘You know what, Eleanor? I think we’ll be fine. The stretch is all in the legs really, anyway. The waistbands don’t move.’

‘Oh, OK, that’s fine then,’ Eleanor replied, her frown disappearing. ‘Katherine puts on around the middle first – always has done. OK, next on the agenda…’

Kate pulled an expression of wry defeat.

‘Actually…’ Beth checked her watch. ‘What time did you say the fitting was, Amy?’

Amy looked at her watch. ‘Ooh, yes! Let’s go!’

Eleanor’s face lit up, and she quickly gathered everything together. ‘How exciting. OK, let’s go, girls. Drink up, Katherine, chop-chop!’ She stood up and practically danced towards the exit, dragging Amy along with her.

Kate quickly drained her teacup, pulling on the coat she’d only just taken off.

Beth waited to walk with her. ‘What’s the community watch club?’ she asked as they followed Eleanor and Amy down the road.

‘It’s a bit like the neighbourhood watch, in that it’s a group of women who spy on everyone, then share everything they’ve seen, only it’s completely made up and run by mymother because she felt the neighbourhood watch rules were too restrictive,’ Kate told her. Beth shot her an incredulous frown and she laughed. ‘Yep.’ She shook her head. ‘Hurricane Eleanor will be stopped by no one.’

‘I’m sorry…What?’ Her expression shocked, Amy leaned in towards the woman at the front counter of the bridal boutique.

---