Page 10 of The Lies
“Me too,” Blake adds, but she doesn’t seem as excited to tell him about it as she does me. Blake sits himself down at the table while Aunt Addy pours him a beer and Sinead tells me about every single element of her roast dinner.
“I made an apple crumble at school last week. I told Mrs Taylor that I’d made one before and that it was easy and I wanted to modify the recipe she’d given us to one I used to make with my mum, but she wouldn’t let me. It was nice enough but it wasn’t amazing. This one, though, will be awesome. The filling is apple and blackcurrant with cinnamon, and the topping is made with brown sugar so it goes a little caramely, and I’ve put coconut in it as well. You can have it with custard, ice cream, or cream—or all three if you want, right Nan?”
“That’s right, sweetheart,” Aunt Addy adds with a smile.
“I can’t wait, it sounds delicious.”
Aunt Addy helps Sinead plate everything up before putting full plates down in front of Blake and me a while later.
“Good job, Lil’ bit,” Blake mumbles around a mouthful of roast dinner. Sinead beams at his praise.
Both Aunt Addy and I mutter our agreement as we all polish off our dinner.
We chat away about everything and nothing, and when I look up, I feel like I’m actually part of a real family for the first time in my life. Things were good when it was just Mum and me, but I always felt she was looking for more, and I was right, because when Michael came into the picture, he was her main focus. I never made a big deal out of the fact I was kinda pushed to one side, but I totally was. Then, when I became part of the Chapman-Webb family, I realised that what I had growing up wasn’t all that bad because everything about that family was fake. My mum may not have been perfect but at least I knew she was telling the truth when she told me she loved me.
“Can I show her now?” Sinead asks Blake, dragging me from my thoughts.
“Yes,” he answers, sounding frustrated. I can only presume whatever it is she’s about to show me has been going on a while.
Sinead jumps from her chair and runs into the living room. She’s soon back with a sketchbook in her hands. She stands next to me and places the book down on the table. I move my plate to the side to give her room.
“So when Dad said about you having a bakery, I started collecting stuff. You said you liked our house and I designed all that soooo…” she says in a rush before opening the book.
“Oh my God, Sinead, it’s gorgeous,” I gasp, staring down at a double page full of images. It’s a moodboard for what my bakery could look like, and it’s incredible. Everything is natural earth tones with an accent of emerald green. My eyes flick over everything on the page and I reach out to run my fingers over the textured wallpaper and fabric.
“Aunt Addy said your favourite colour’s green and that you loved her apron, so I used that for inspiration. I thought it needed to look classy so I went with natural, like your logo. Everything is wood or old looking metal. Look at the cake stand there—that’s my favourite. I saved all the websites where I found it all just in case you needed them.”
“This is incredible,” I whisper, staring down at it as Sinead’s design comes to life in my head. This could really work. “Is this really happening?” I question, and when I look up, Aunt Addy and Blake are staring back at me with smiles on their faces.
“It is, sweetheart. See, I told you that you couldn’t leave, and everything would be okay.”
“You knew about this?”
“Of course.”
“I’ve got nowhere near enough money to make this happen. I can sell everything I have in London, all the stuff in the flat, my designer clothes…but that’s going to take time.”
“I have money, sweetheart. And don’t even think about arguing,” she warns when I open my mouth to do just that. “Consider it a business loan. I know you’ll make a huge success of this so I have no doubt you will pay me back.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, too emotional to speak properly.
“Right, Lil’ bit, we need to get going. You’ve got school in the morning and no doubt you have homework.”
“I do,” Sinead admits, earning her the evil eye from Blake. “Can Addison come too?”
“Uh—” Blake starts.
“Not tonight. Your dad’s right, it’s a school night and I’m sure he has stuff he needs to do too.” Blake’s face drops but I stand firm because this is a big change for all of us—especially Sinead. We all need time to adjust and to figure out what works for us.
“Okay, come on then, short stuff.”
Blake grabs Sinead’s bags and they both head towards the front door after thanking Aunt Addy.
“I’ll meet you in the van,” Blake says to Sinead, who runs off towards the passenger side before he turns to me. “Are you sure you won’t come?”
“It’s the right thing to do, Blake. She needs routine, I’m not going to come swooping in and change your lives after one day. We need to take this one step at a time, for her more than us.”
“Look at you being all maternal and caring,” he says teasingly, but his words unsettle me. My thoughts must be clear as day on my face. “Hey, don’t look so worried about it. I’m glad you’re putting her first. It’s how it should be.”
