Page 96 of Christmas Wishes at Pudding Hall
‘That sounds pretty great to me,’ he said. ‘Just so you know, they were the ones who filmed the soufflé incident so you will have to deal with that also.’
Avian closed her eyes for a long while. ‘I really need to get myself together,’ she said finally. ‘I work so hard to make people think I’m invincible, that I know everything, am in control of it all but I’m not. It’s hard trying to do it all.’
He nodded. ‘I know it is. I’m not any better than you, losing myself in work, avoiding being a parent, avoiding my past and the feelings I struggle with daily.’
She stepped forward towards him and when he held out his arms she leaned into him.
She felt so frail and tiny.
‘And, Avian, eat something and stop pushing food rules onto everyone else, especially our kids. You can’t produce a cooking show and hate food. I only say this because I worry about you. You used to love food; now it seems like a punishment.’
She cried a little into his chest.
‘I know. I need some help. Thank you. You were always right about this stuff. I miss these reality checks.’
She pulled away and wiped her eyes. ‘And you need to deal with your family. Look for your siblings, go to therapy, do the work. We both need to do the work to be better parents.’
He nodded. She was right. They were both right.
Avian walked to the door and held the door handle and then looked at Marc.
‘Can you ask Christa who she would recommend as a new judge?’ she asked.
‘Of course,’ he said and Avian left the room.
Marc sighed with relief. He didn’t like hurting anyone but he also knew Simon couldn’t be around his children, or Avian for that matter.
He thought about calling Christa but saw it wasn’t even six yet so he climbed back into bed and thought about everything he had to do to convince her and prepare for her return.
But first he picked up his phone and called Adam.
‘Sorry to wake you so early but expect some calls from Gordon Ramsey, Nigella Lawson and Marco Pierre Whites’ people today about a red herring story inThe Hollywood Reporter. Just deny it and say it is a false rumour and then send the reporter a new Tesla will you? In the black, with extra cup holders.’
He pulled the covers up and gave a sigh of relief. Now he could finally look forward to Christmas.
34
Peggy and Petey finished counting the cash and adding up the bank payments and then Peggy circled the number and pushed the notepad to Christa and showed her the final tally.
‘Wow,’ she said, looking at Petey in amazement.
‘It were them Christmas fudges that everyone liked. We haven’t got a single bag left,’ he said to Peggy.
‘You did very well,’ Peggy said to him and patted his hand.
‘We all did,’ said Petey and Christa noticed he held on to Peggy’s hand.
She wasn’t sure when the tune changed for Petey but for the past two days Peggy had been over when she wasn’t at work, and this morning Peggy was already in the house, stating that it was easier to leave for the market from Petey’s place.
Christa didn’t comment but she was sure to send a text message to Marc informing him of the news.
They’d loved gossiping about Peggy and Petey and their burgeoning romance, which seemed to have gone from zero to one hundred overnight. Part of Christa was jealous about Petey and Peggy’s intimacy but she knew not to rush things with Marc, and certainly not with the boys at the house.
She didn’t want to disturb Marc while he was wrapping things up with Avian. All she knew was that Simon had been banished from Pudding Hall and she hadn’t heard from him, thank God.
Besides, she was she was enjoying the space from Marc while she worked things out for herself.
She had worked at the soup van for two nights and had asked Zane how she could get more experience. He had said she just needed to volunteer and that they could talk about it after New Year’s.
