“Whatever went wrong, we’ll fix it,” she babbled. “We’ll get counseling. We’ll go on a nice holiday somewhere!” She was inspired. “With the children ! They can come too! Our children! How fun would that be? Or we’ll just hang around here. Swim in the pool. The pool! I love the pool! How did we ever afford that? I guess with your new job. Do you like the job? I couldn’t believe it! You’ve got your own personal assistant. She wasn’t very nice to me, but that’s okay, I don’t mind.”

“Alice.”

He wasn’t hugging her back. The words kept tumbling out of her mouth. She could talk her way out of this.

“I’m skinny, aren’t I? I might even be too skinny. What do you think? How did I get so skinny? Did I give up chocolate? I can’t find any chocolate in the whole house. My password is ‘oregano.’ Weird. Hey, why isn’t Mrs. Bergen talking to me? Did I offend her? Elisabeth seems mad at me, too. But you still love me, don’t you? You must still love me.”

“Stop it.” He held on to her shoulders and pushed her gently away.

“Because we have three children. And I still love you.”

“No, Alice.” He shook his head sternly, as if she were a toddler about to touch an electrical socket.

“What are you two fighting about this time?” Alice and Nick turned to see Madison leaning against the door frame. She must have had a shower. She was wearing a dressing gown, her face was scrubbed, and her hair was wet, pulled back from her face.

“Oh, you look so beautiful,” said Alice involuntarily.

Madison’s face changed, became ugly with rage.

“Why do you always say such stupid, retarded things?”

“Madison!” boomed Nick. “Do not speak to your mother like that.”

“Well, she is! Anyway, I heard you say to Auntie Ella that Mum was a hard bitch, so why are you pretending to like her? I know you hate her.”

Alice caught her breath.

“I do not hate your mother,” said Nick. Alice could see tension pulling the skin around his mouth tight. He looked so old.

“You do so hate her,” said Madison.

“He does not hate Mum!” It was Tom. He punched Madison in the arm. “I hate you.”

“Tom!” snapped Nick.

“Owwww!” Madison clutched her arm, her knees collapsed beneath her, and she fell in a heap on the floor. “He hit me. You’re not meant to hit girls. That is domestic violence. That is violence against women.”

“You’re not a woman,” sneered Tom. “You’re just a stupid girl.”

Madison kicked viciously at Tom’s leg. Tom threw back his head and howled. He looked at Alice, his face bright red and filled with righteous fury. “Mum, did you see how hard she kicked me? I only punched her a little bit!”

“A little bit?” Madison pulled up the sleeve of her dressing gown. “What’s that? That is a mark! There will be a bruise! A huge bruise.”

“Goodness,” breathed Alice. She picked up her wineglass and looked around for some grown-up to take control.

“I think I should go,” said Nick.

“Are you kidding?” said Alice. “You can’t leave me with them!”

Madison and Tom now appeared to be trying to kill each other. They were wrestling like rabid cats on the floor. There was kicking, hair-pulling, and ear-piercing screams of rage. It was remarkable.

“Do they do this a lot?” asked Alice. She stuck her fingers in her ears. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so much fun going on holidays with them.”

Nick laughed, a surprised guffaw that he stopped short.

Alice said, “Did you really tell Ella I was a hard bitch?”

She paused. “Am I a hard bitch?”

Nick walked over to the children and grabbed the back of Tom’s T-shirt in one hand. He wrenched him up in the air and carried him over to the couch and dropped him. Then he turned back to Madison and said, “Go to your room.”

“Me? But he started it! He punched me first! That’s not justice! Mum?”

Madison sat upright, her back against the wall, and looked at Alice imploringly.

At that moment Olivia came running into the room, wearing only a T-shirt and underpants dotted with pictures of strawberries. “Mummy, where are my shorts? I mean the denim ones. And don’t say, ‘Have I looked in the drawer?’ because yes, I have looked, for ages and ages, and yes, actually, I did use my eyes.” She pirouetted on the spot with her arms held gracefully above her head.

“You’re very good at that,” said Alice, glad of the distraction.

“Yes, I am pretty good,” sighed Oliva, as if it were quite a responsibility. She lifted one skinny brown leg and admired her pointed toe. A thought struck her. “Mum, who is going to take me to the Family Talent Night concert at Frannie’s retirement city? You or Daddy? Which house will I be sleeping in?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” said Alice.

“We only sleep at Dad’s place on weekends.” Madison looked sharply at Alice. “Olivia’s concert is on Wednesday night, right?”

“Well, that must be right then, Madison,” said Alice.

“I’m so hungry,” sighed Tom from the couch. “When is dinner? Mum? Excuse me, please, when is dinner? I think my blood sugar has dropped.”

“Okay, Tom—”

“Why are you saying our names all the time?” interrupted Madison.

“Oh, sorry, I just—sorry.”

Madison said, “You don’t remember us, do you?”

Tom sat up straight on the couch and Olivia stopped twirling.

“She doesn’t even know who we are,” Madison told them.

Chapter 21

Alice pursed her lips together in the manner of a stern, distracted mother and tried not to let the panic show.

“Of course I know who you are,” she said to Madison. “Don’t be silly.”

“How could Mum not remember us?” Olivia put her hands on her hips and stuck her stomach out. “Madison? What does that mean?”

Madison gave her a bored, superior look. “Mum fell over and hit her head at the gym. I heard Auntie Libby telling Uncle Ben she’d lost ten years of her memory. Well, guess what? We weren’t born ten years ago!”