Free Last Christmas by Julia Williams

She’d practically had to prise them away from watching Dave. Magda, who had reluctantly agreed she was fit enough to cope with childcare duties once more, was out with the boyfriend—the bust-up as usual only lasting as long as it took to send a reconciliatory text message. Noel was out at yet another leaving do. From what he was saying about work, which wasn’t much, there seemed to be an awful lot of redundancies at the moment. Reading between the lines, Catherine could tell he was worried. She wished he’d talk to her about it, but he seemed unwilling to, and she didn’t like to push it.
    Sometimes it felt as if a vast chasm was growing betweenthem. Cat worried that Noel didn’t seem to be as pleased with her success as she might have hoped. She even thought he might resent it slightly. But then he’d come home, muck about with the kids, give her a hand with the tea and it was as if there was no division at all. Maybe it was like that for everyone when they had kids, but sometimes (and she felt guilty for even thinking it) Cat longed for the days before they’d had children, when they only had themselves to please. Life had seemed so much simpler then.
    Nowadays she was so exhausted coping with the various needs of the children, the demands of Magda, and the difficulties of her job, she had very little left to give Noel. He deserved better from her, she knew that. But it was so hard to give of yourself, when you had nothing left to give.
    How she wished her life was as easy and straightforward as the Happy Homemaker’s. She wouldn’t be reduced to trying to write a cookery book late at night, when the children were in bed. Oh no. The sodding Happy Homemaker would have been up at six to do the housework or prepare that day’s dinner. She’d have sorted out reliable childcare so she wouldn’t spend her days fretting about arrangements she wasn’t sure would be met. She’d be able to effortlessly organise her work life so it didn’t impinge on her home life, and no doubt she’d always be up for dynamic sex in exciting new positions with her husband at any time of the day or night.
    There were times when Catherine really hated her creation, and increasingly she was becoming drawn to the idea that she should actually kill the Happy Homemaker off. The only thing stopping her was the financial reward that her alter ego brought them. If Noel’s job was in jeopardy, Cat couldn’t really do her in. Even if, as Cat sometimes suspected from the bitchy comments that occasionally got left on her blog by people who clearly didn’t get the joke, thousands of womenup and down the country would rejoice to know the true state of affairs chez the Happy Homemaker…
    Marianne settled down in the corner of the Hopesay Arms feeling completely idiotic. How come she hadn’t picked up that Gabriel was Pippa’s cousin? She’d been so embarrassed about what had happened on New Year’s Eve she hadn’t told anyone about it. She rather liked the fact that Gabriel hadn’t told anyone either. Well, she would like it once she got over the embarrassment. In the meantime, she was squeezed at the end of a large table, feeling out of place and awkward, listening to Vera talking to Mr Edwards in a pink and enthusiastic manner. It was so crashingly obvious that Mr Edwards had the hots for her as well. Marianne had never seen a couple so well suited and yet so shy of each other. She felt almost voyeuristic. But she’d rather be cramped down here than sitting anywhere near Gabriel, whose mere presence made her feel like a prat.
    ‘You are so not going to hide in the corner.’ Pippa came marching over and dragged Marianne up to their end of the table. Marianne was about to protest but, realising that Vera and Mr Edwards were oblivious to her departure, decided there was no point.
    ‘I can’t talk to Gabriel,’ protested Marianne. ‘I was sick all over his feet.’
    ‘I wondered what had happened to you on New Year’s Eve,’ said