Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty

Red Rose glanced at her lover who was using a cake spatula to divide the pizza from the corner of her eye.The stiff smile and rigid posture, judging from her experience, are the classic state of Pippa when she does something against her will.Red Rose tried to keep a smile on her face. "This is yours, Darren." Red Rose passed the plate across the table. "You'll be delighted! Pepperoni, chili beef and jalapeños." "Thank you ma'am..." Red Rose smiled at Pippa. "You can call me Cass, if you add the title of miss, thank you very much." The little boy smiled at the red rose, and his cheeks became flushed.

"Jack, you'd better not eat that spicy one," Pippa warned her son. Red Rose puts her hand on Pippa's arm, disturbed by Jack's embarrassing situation. "Jack has had this before. Hasn't he, Jack?" She frowned. "At Pizza Hut, remember?" "Pizza Hut delivery, to be precise." Jack grinned at his new friend as he took a sliced ​​pizza out of the box before his mother handed over the cake slices. "Yes, I can." Pippa wiped her hands with an antibacterial wipe for the third time, then hesitantly chose a margarita slice, which she awkwardly popped into her mouth with two forks.

"So, Darren, where do you live?" Red Rose sighed.It started again.Never be on the south bank of the river. "Not far from here. Streatham." What nonsense. Pippa raised her eyebrows, looked at the red rose meaningfully, and gave herself a point in her heart. "Live with your mother and father?" "Just my mom and her boyfriend." Pippa smiled knowingly. "What does your mother do, Darren?" Darren stopped chewing and looked at Pippa blankly. "do what?" "I mean, is she doing some meaningful work?" Red Rose kicked Pippa under the table.

"Of course. She has two jobs. One in the office and one cleaning." "Oh." Pippa looked Darren up and down. "So that way she can afford the designer clothes." "What, these?" Darren laughed and spat out the half-eaten pizza. "It's all fake. My cousin brought it back from Thailand and found it in the wholesale market." Red Rose coughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Pippa. "Jack told us you only recently moved to London?" "Last month." Darren took a swig of Pepsi and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Moved from Milton Keynes."

"Milton Keynes?" Pippa looked at Red Rose and Jack disapprovingly. "Large mall," Red Rose chimed in, but it was too late to stop Pippa's next question. "Do you have siblings, Darren?" Red Rose touched Pippa's arm.Pippa was still watching Darren. "Yes, three brothers and three sisters." Pippa gasped and wiped her mouth with a tissue. "Seven of you? All living with your mother and her boyfriend?" Darren nodded vigorously, his mouth too full to speak. Red Rose lavishly topped Pippa up with booze and Diet Coke. "Drink this, Pip. Looks like you'll need these."

Pippa ignored it.Continue to Darren, "What about your father?" Darren shrugged.Voiced through a mouthful of pizza, "What is he?" Pippa toyed with the Diet Coke, watching it carefully, as if it were a good drink. "I mean, didn't he take responsibility when you were growing up?" "No. He didn't know where he went a long time ago." Jack covered his mouth and snickered, and Pippa shuddered. "Darren, in my house, I hope you don't talk like that." "I'm sorry, ma'am," Darren said, grinning at Jack. "So, your father left his wife and seven children and left you to fend for yourself?"

"No," Darren said indignantly. "Neither he nor mum are married or related. And they only have one kid. We have different fathers. Except for a pair of twins." "Of course." Pippa looked at the red rose meaningfully with the eyes of the winner. "Aren't you a sister named Chardonnay?" Darren smiled. "Do you know her?" Red Rose kicked Pippa from under the table. "How about some more pizza?" Then there was an awkward silence again. "You didn't talk much today, Jack," Red Rose tried to break the situation.

"How is school life?" Jack shrugged nonchalantly and took a bite of the pizza. "School life is over today." "Okay, say something. As long as it's not a game." Jack paused for a moment to consider, then said, "Cass is a cop, Darth," Jack said, a hint of pride in his voice.Red Rose's pizza box almost dropped, and a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. Darren stopped chewing and glanced at Red Rose. "A note?" "It's the inspector." There was undoubted pride in his tone.Red Rose smiled. "Also, Mom's a lawyer," Jack continued.

"In criminal court." "So what does your dad do? Prison officer?" Darren thought his joke was funny. "A doctor," Jack added sullenly, "but he doesn't live here anymore." "But that doesn't mean he's not a good father to Jack," Pippa told Darren. "In fact, at Easter he's taking us all up to the Lake District." Darren shrugged. "We don't have traditional British festivals. Mum says they're shit. We usually go to the Canary Islands. Mum says you get good fish and chips and get tanned by the time you get home " Darren slowly turned his gaze back to Red Rose and said to Jack.

"It's so interesting to have an aunt who is a note." Jack hesitated, and Rose watched as his pride in himself faded away. "She's not my aunt. She's...the..." An awkward silence ensued, as Darren watched in bewilderment. "Why don't you take the leftover pizza to the room, kids, and play with X-Box or something?" Red Rose suggested. "Absolutely not!" Pippa nearly choked on a Diet Coke. "I'm not allowed to bring food upstairs." Red Rose whispered the two boys away. "Just make sure that what you take down is an empty box." She stared firmly at Pippa so that she would have no room to object.

Jack smiled. "Thanks Cass! Come on, Darth." Red Rose waited until the boys had left the room before turning her head to her lover. "Pip, you really should learn to be calm." "One doesn't need to be cold, Cass. Cold is what one does with food, in the fridge. Same goes for white wine." Red Rose touched her forehead helplessly. "I can't bear it. Damn it, can't you let go of your figure for a day?" "I noticed that little Darren looked a little disturbed when Jack mentioned you were a cop? I bet his father had a case. As for her mother's boyfriend...you can investigate them both." "Pippa! Seriously!" There was a slight smile on Pippa's mouth; Red Rose couldn't help kissing her.She leaned on her lover, licking his lover's teeth with the tip of her tongue. "Well, four cheeses. My favorite." "Well, Inspector, shall we go upstairs and you can show me your baton?" "Okay, as long as you don't mind that there are two boys still next door? And you don't make any noise." "Me? You are..." "Besides, Ella and Ruby will be back any minute." Pippa clicked loudly. "Her name is Ruby, Cass, not Rubys. Please." Red Rose slumped back to the chair, defeated. "Calm down, woman, for God's sake." "It's February, Cass. If you're feeling too warm, turn off the air conditioner."