2.

The drive from the Caravan Park house to Leah's had been one filled with a silence, so tense it made the roads seem longer. Every so often Flynn would take a glance through his rear view mirror at his daughter, who sat, as quiet as an angel in the back seat. Then he'd glance at Sally, staring out of her window, watching the world go past. Flynn willed for one of them, any of them, to speak. Just to break the tension. He'd almost spoke himself, but the overwhelming fear of saying something to make matters worse seemed to make his throat close off before the words had chance to escape his lips.

It had been the first time in their marriage that Flynn had wanted not to be alone with Sally. As they'd pulled up outside Leah's, Flynn, as always, gotten out of the car and walked to the passengers side to open Sally's door for her. Only today she'd done it herself before he got there. He was about to say something to her about it, but stopped himself at the last minute, knowing that if he dared argue his case right now, matters would be made ten times worse.

Composing himself, he opened the back door and unbuckled the seat belt that fastened his daughter into her car seat, and lifted her from the car, ensuring he had firm grip of her hand before she had the chance to run free and into, quite possibly, the middle of the road.

He watched as Sally unloaded the presents from the car, tucking two gift wrapped boxes under each arm and carrying the large gift back in her hands. 'Let me take that' he said, reaching his hand to take the gift bag from Sally. But she pulled it back before he had the chance to get a firm grip. 'That's OK, I got it.' she said

Flynn rolled his eyes. 'OK, How long is this going to go on for?'

'What?'

'The silent treatment. I've said I'm sorry, I really don't know what else I can-'

'Let's just... get inside. There's a chill in the air, don't want Pippa catching a cold'

Flynn was about to object, when he thought of his daughter. The last thing he wanted was her being ill, particularly on her birthday. With a half smile, he locked the car and followed Sally into Leah's.

-

'This all looks so beautiful, Leah. Thank you for organising all this' Sally smiled, hugging her best friend. Leah smiled. 'It was our pleasure, Wasn't it Dan?' Leah turned to her husband, who smiled in return. 'Absolutely'

Sally placed the gift bag next to the sofa, safe from the mass of children that were running excitedly around the room. She looked at the palm of her hands, emblazed with red marks from where the handle of the gift bags had ebbed into her skin. She cast a glance around, to be sure nobody was watching her and therefore risking Flynn finding out that she had taken the gift bags just to spite him.

'You OK Sal?' Leah asked, now standing beside her. Sally clenched her fists and put them by her side, not letting on her pain. She gave Leah a weak smile. 'Yeh... Yeh I'm fine.'

Leah smiled. 'Oh - Before I forget - Madge Wilkins called and asked me to tell you to wish Pippa happy birthday. She said she tried calling your house before, but there was no answer. I figured you'd have been getting ready for the party'

Sally thought back, during another brief row with Flynn before, the phone had rang over them, but neither of them had bothered answering it. Both too stubborn to back down to the others demands. 'Yeh... we were' she replied to Leah.

'Here you go Ladies' Colleen announced, swooping between Sally and Leah and passing each of them a glass of champagne. 'Figured you could both do with a drink... Doesn't the place look lovely... Madge Wilkins will be filled with envy when I tell her how beautiful it looks. I told her it would but she-'

'Thank you, Colleen' Leah interrupted, silencing Colleen before she had the chance to break into yet another bitching session about Madge Wilkins. Sally raised her eyebrows to Leah as Colleen turned away and began walking back into the kitchen, fixing her hat along the way.

Sally glanced at Flynn who was now laughing with Dan and Tony in the corner. He seemed to have forgotten their argument and was now having a wonderful time.

With a frustrated sigh, Sally took a large mouthful of the champagne, almost emptying the glass completely of its contents. Somehow, she had a feeling this was going to be a long night...