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Chapter Twenty-Nine

P hilippa woke the moment her alarm went off.

She looked across at Alex, who was stirring, and her mind flashed back to a few hours earlier, going down on the other woman and making her almost squeal so much she would have woken Dottie, if there hadn’t been two closed doors and half a house between them.

She smiled to herself. Definitely something to be smug about, she decided.

“Morning,” said Alex, her voice crackling with sleep, her eyes still closed. Philippa enjoyed the fact that they were both still naked.

“Morning,” said Philippa, moving across the bed to kiss Alex. She couldn’t resist being close to her after the night they’d just shared. She knew she would be sleep deprived at work, but she really didn’t care.

“This is the kind of alarm call a girl could get used to,” said Alex between kisses.

Philippa smiled and kissed her again. Alex groaned in pleasure as Philippa gently dragged her fingers down Alex’s front and brought them to rest exactly where Alex wanted her most. “Yes, I have decided,” said Alex, her eyes still closed.

“I think this is the best way to wake up.”

Philippa glided her fingers up and down, feeling how turned on Alex quickly got. She was slick with want, and Philippa adjusted herself so she was fully on top of her. She kissed Alex passionately and soon Alex was gasping with pleasure.

“Well that was embarrassingly quick,” said Alex. “But my excuse is that I’m still turned on from last night. Or was it this morning?”

“Mummy, why is your door locked?” Dottie’s voice came from just outside the door. Both women froze. “Your door’s never locked. Except when you’re wrapping Christmas presents. And it’s the twenty-eighth of May, so you’re definitely not doing that.”

“Sorry, darling. I did it by accident,” called out Philippa, who had never felt less erotic in her life. She looked across at Alex and hissed at her. “Get in the wardrobe!”

“What?” said Alex.

“You heard me,” said Philippa. “Coming, darling,” she called before reverting to a whisper. “Look, I’m out to her, but I’m not ready to introduce her to anyone. Can you just hide, this once? I promise I’m not trying to put you back in the closet.”

“I mean, you kind of are,” said Alex, gathering various items of clothing from the floor as she made her way to the wardrobe. There was a hint of a smile on her face. “But given I’ve had about four orgasms in the last twelve hours, I’m going to let you off.” She vanished behind a white wooden door.

Philippa had thrown on a thick furry dressing gown and made her way to the door. She took a breath before unlocking it. “Morning, Dottie. How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks. You?” said Dottie, her upturned face a picture of innocence. “Why is your hair sticking up like that?”

“Oh, um, I was doing yoga first thing,” said Philippa, putting her hand up to her head, where she was very clearly sporting what another adult would have recognised as sex hair.

“Whose phone is that?” asked Dottie, whose eagle eyes had picked out Alex’s mobile by the side of the bed.

“Oh, a friend’s,” said Philippa, flustered. “Why don’t you go downstairs and get the cereal out? I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Sure thing, Mummy,” said Dottie. “Have you remembered it’s Romans day?”

“Of course,” said Philippa, a cold fist of dread squeezing her heart. Dottie trotted away and Philippa closed the door.

A muffled voice emerged from the wardrobe. “So, have you remembered it’s Romans day?”

“It’s ok, you can come out now,” said Philippa. “And no, obviously, I’d completely forgotten. I don’t even remember being told in the first place, so it’s less forgetting and more never knowing. What the hell am I going to conjure up in the next hour?”

“Leave that to me,” said Alex, managing to make climbing out of the wardrobe look quite graceful. She’d somehow got herself dressed while Philippa was talking to Dottie. “Sorry about the phone,” she said.

Philippa waved away her apology, aware that the whole situation was somewhat teenaged. “No, it’s fine.”

The door flew open again. “Mummy, the rice crispies have run out!” exclaimed Dottie. “Oh, hello Alex. Why are you here? Did you have a sleepover?”

“Morning, Dottie, loving the shoes,” said Alex, without missing a beat. “They set your school uniform off nicely.”

“Thank you,” said Dottie.

Philippa collected herself. “Yes, Alex, my friend, had a sleepover last night. And she’s going to help us create a Roman costume for you.”

“She is?” said Dottie, entirely unphased by Alex’s presence.

“I am,” said Alex. “I have a plan.”

“You forgot, didn’t you, Mummy?” said Dottie.

“I think that technically I didn’t forget, it was more that I wasn’t told,” said Philippa, side-eyeing her daughter.

“I’m sure I told you and I think there was a letter in my bag or something,” Dottie insisted. “But anyway, what about the rice crispies?”

“Go downstairs and make do with cornflakes, I’ll be down imminently,” said Philippa, using the voice she rolled out if she didn’t want to be asked any further questions, either by her daughter or by colleagues. She was confident the letter was scrunched up at the bottom of Dottie’s schoolbag still.

“You are terrifying when you put your strict voice on,” said Alex with a grin.

“That’s the general idea,” said Philippa. “It’s the only way, sometimes! Now, I’m going to leap into the shower and emerge serene and ready for the day.”

“Any chance I can join you?” asked Alex with a wink.

“No chance, unless you want to give me yet more difficult explanations to provide for my daughter,” said Philippa with a laugh. “But I must confess to liking the idea.”

“Then we can book that in for a future date,” said Alex, who was busy organising her hair in the mirror on Philippa’s bedroom wall.

“A future date?” asked Philippa, her heart leaping. She hadn’t wanted to ask Alex what might be next, but she desperately hoped this might become something more than just one night of amazing sex.

“If that’s what you want,” said Alex. “I mean, I know it’s what I want.” She turned her head to look at Philippa.

“I do,” said Philippa, smiling back at the woman who had somehow managed to ingratiate herself into several parts of Philippa’s life.

“Then go and have your solo shower, safe in the knowledge that this is not a one-time thing,” said Alex, moving towards Philippa and kissing her. “In the meantime, I’m going to organise this child’s costume.”

“You’re my hero,” said Philippa.

“No,” said Alex, looking serious for a moment, “actually you’re mine.”

Philippa smiled and made her way towards the shower. The steaming water felt refreshing against her skin. She closed her eyes and allowed it to rinse away all the activities of the night before and that morning, safe in the knowledge that she would never forget them.

By the time Philippa got to the kitchen she was greeted by Dottie and Alex, who appeared to be eating pancakes. “Pancakes?”

“Yep,” said Alex. “The cereal situation was serious.”

“Very serious,” confirmed Dottie.

“So I made pancakes while Dottie got me a few things for her costume,” Alex was dishing up piles of fluffy American-style pancakes for each of them, Philippa silently acknowledging that they would go down a treat given all the recent energy she had expended.

“Very industrious of you both,” said Philippa, taking a sip from the coffee cup Alex proffered.

“Thank you. Now, I have a question for you – can I cut a hole in this bed sheet?” asked Alex.

“It looks like an old one of Dottie’s, so go ahead,” said Philippa, sitting down to tuck into her pancakes, which had been served with Nutella and chopped banana. She really was going to have to get on board with chocolate spread.

Philippa scrolled through her phone, preparing herself for the work day ahead, while all around her was a hive of activity – a mixture of pancake eating and costume designing.

She took a moment to absorb just how natural Alex was with Dottie, and was struck by the injustice of the distance Jess had put between Alex and Seren.

It felt so unfair and unnecessary. She reaffirmed her personal resolve to improve the situation in whatever way she could.

“Ta-dah!” said Alex, presenting Dottie, who was wearing a simple tunic Alex had styled from the old sheet. Her school tie had been repurposed into a belt round her middle, and an old red pashmina Philippa hadn’t worn in years was around Dottie’s shoulders in place of a cloak.

“Amazing,” said Philippa. “And if you get the jelly shoes we bought you for the beach last summer, they can be your Roman sandals.”

“Yesssss!” said Dottie, running up the stairs to her bedroom.

“Thank you,” said Philippa. “Really, thank you. You are so creative. I’d never have been able to work out how to make something as good as that.”

“You’re entirely welcome. Dottie’s a fabulous person. I am sure, given the chance, Seren would love to get to know her properly,” said Alex. Her face clouded for a moment.

“I can see you’re a brilliant mum,” said Philippa, her voice soft. “And we will sort it so you can see Seren more. I know we can do that.”

“Thank you,” said Alex with a small smile.