Chapter 15

Fifteen

A ll good things come to an end.

I survived a film about robots followed by dinner at Pizza Palace, and I wasn't even mad when Eis bought Alfie a worm farm while I was at the cinema. The two of them spent Sunday morning setting it up in an empty stable at Twilight's End, everyone just sort of accepting that we'd be spending more time there. Then Harry realised Eis had a gym with a cage and punchbags, and Eis gave him a private boxing lesson. Me? I just watched. Watched and smiled.

Things started to fall apart on Monday.

I knew as soon as Harry walked in the front door that he'd had another bad day. His frown made my heart sink into my boots.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"I know that's not true."

"Can we have a Halloween party?"

"A party? Here?"

"It's creepy, innit?"

"It is, but it's also messy and not very safe at the moment. Eis has taken up half of the floorboards."

"Can't he put them back again?"

"Well, I don't know…" I'd barely seen Eis today. He'd been here installing a new shower pump, and I'd had a full appointment book at the salon. Which was great because now I could afford groceries, but I also had no idea how far he'd got with the repairs. As soon as Alfie arrived home from school, complete with three worms in his pencil case, the two of them had taken off for Twilight's End to put the frantically wriggling creatures in their new home while I started making dinner. "Maybe we could just go trick-or-treating?"

"Trick-or-treating is for kids, and it's sooo lame. Kyle Alderman's having a Halloween party."

"Great. Can't you go to that one?"

"No, because I didn't get invited."

Ah.

This was why Harry wanted a party, wasn't it?

"How many others didn't get invited?"

"Like, ten people?"

"In the class?"

"In the year."

And there were four classes in the year, over a hundred kids. What kind of parent let their son do that? I mean, to invite just a handful of kids was fine, but to invite nearly the whole year and leave a few out? That sucked.

How feasible would it be to hold a party for the ten or so who'd made it onto the pariah list? Drinks and snacks, beanbags and a movie? I desperately wanted Harry to be happy.

"Let me talk to Eis about the pipes, okay?"

"Really?"

"We might be able to do something small."

* * *

Predictably, my idea of "something small" and Eisen's idea of "something small" were poles apart. This was the man who called Twilight's End a "cottage," so why was I surprised?

"Might be tricky to get all the pipes done by then," he said when he brought Alfie back. "I'm still pretty slow at it. Not sure the roof'll be finished either. But it's not a problem—Harry can have his party at my place."

I pictured a dozen eleven-year-olds running around his immaculate mansion in Halloween garb. Yikes.

"Uh, no. They'd wreck the joint."

"We can put a marquee on the front lawn."

"Oh, sure, just put a marquee on the lawn. Eis, I don't have the money for a marquee. Or the time to ring around and hire one, or the energy to decorate it."

"Bex is back. She can do all that."

"Doesn't she have other stuff to do? I'm sure organising a party for a group of schoolchildren isn't a part of her job description."

"Her job description is broad, and no, she doesn't have much to do this month because, in case you haven't noticed, I've been preoccupied with more important things than work. She's mostly shooting the shit with Edie's PA and bugging me to get a haircut."

"A haircut. You realise I'm a hairdresser, yes?"

"So it's a deal, then? You can cut my hair, and Bex can organise Harry's party. Except he can't just invite the ten kids who got left out. He should invite all of them. Plus his friends from Bristol. And Alfie should invite his class too."

"That's a hundred and fifty people."

"Bex will hire security. Chaperones, whatever."

"We'll also need costumes."

Eis glanced behind him. The boys were nowhere in sight, and he gave me a swift, dirty kiss right there in the hallway.

"We will. And yours is going to be a dress."