If any of the children had noticed that Katy was more agitated than normal, they didn't mention it. They were too caught up in their own lives, wanting to talk about nothing more than their first days at school when she picked them up on Tuesday afternoon.
Katy had worked from home that day, wary about running into anyone. She had avoided her father and her grandmother, pretending to be too busy to stop for a chat when she bumped into Jack on her way back from dropping the children at school. He had called after her, but she'd kept her head down and sped up until she'd closed the flat door behind her.
She also left leaving for Whitney's hen night to the last possible minute, smiling weakly as she passed Glenda in the living room. Her grandmother made a comment about her outfit, telling her that she'd expected her to be a bit more dressed up, but Katy just ignored her and promised she wouldn't be home too late.
As if walking on eggshells, she headed quickly towards the R&R. She felt as though each time she turned a corner, or walked past an alleyway or gap in the walls, they would be standing there. Katy was terrified that she'd bump into the women who had plagued her thoughts for the last couple of days.
"Katy!"
Apparently she was later than she thought. The rest of the women were already gathered and, by the looks of it, some of them were already several drinks in. Despite knowing that Tina was working at the pub, Katy looked around for her hopefully. Pushing a glass into her hand, Whitney beamed at her best friend.
"Thanks so much for doing this." The younger woman gushed, pulling her into a hug.
"Don't mention it."
"You should have come to Chantelle's earlier."
Katy smiled weakly. "I had the kids until Gran came over."
"Well I'm glad you're here anyway." She grabbed her hand and dragged her over to where the rest of the hens were. "We're playing a game, come on!" Beaming around, she pushed the blonde into the middle of the group. "Katy's here!"
There was a cheer, although Katy assumed it was partly because they'd already had quite a lot to drink and partly because she'd provided the free ones. Sonia beamed at her, telling her she was glad to see her letting her hair down for once, while Linda beamed at her fondly. Tiffany and Lola immediately sidled up to their cousin, muttering about the old people high-jacking the event.
"OK… drink if you've ever… kissed your boss!" Chantelle said, looking around at the group.
When Rainie took a look gulp, everyone looked at her. "Pimp counts as a boss, right?"
Katy spotted an odd look passing between Whitney and Linda, but didn't mention it. Neither of them commented either, so she was glad she'd let it lie. Putting two and two together, Katy deduced that clearly something had happened between Whitney and Mick while she'd been away.
"Alcohol is so wasted on you people."
"Actually," Linda nodded determinedly, "I will get that free drink. Come on, Karen, you can help me. Come on."
"What?"
Linda took no notice of her confusion, dragging her away in the direction of the bar. Furrowing her eyebrows at Whitney, who simply shrugged, smiled weakly and looked away, Katy wondered if there was something more that she should know about. Sighing, she nodded as Lola suggested they get shots. She signalled to Poppy to pour drinks for the party, before noticing that Whitney seemed to have disappeared.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Hmmm?"
"You've really got boring since you came back, K." Lola teased. "Come on, loosen up a bit."
"I'm just not in the mood, Lo. Sorry." She shook her head, thanking the barmaid and knocking her shot back quickly.
"Why? Has something happened?"
"No." Running a hand through her hair, Katy shrugged. "I'm tired, that's all."
Rolling her eyes, Lola handed her another shot, before pulling her back over to the others.
"Here!" Chantelle handed Katy a straw. She beamed as the blonde looked at it in slight distain at the almost fluorescent green plastic penis that was attached to it.
"Oh? Is that really necessary?" Sonia asked, apparently sharing her cousin's opinion on it.
"I've been asking myself that for many a year." Karen joked.
"So's Sonia." Mo threw in quickly.
As the others started to laugh raucously at her words, Linda held up her hand. "OK, OK… I've got one. Drink if you ever wore eatable underwear."
"D'you mean edible?" Tiffany asked.
Sonia frowned at her niece. "What would you know about that?"
"Alright, alright!" Linda rolled her eyes. "Knickers what you can eat. Drink if you ever… go!"
Katy kept her drink still, watching with a raised eyebrow as several of the others drank.
"Right, I've got one!" Whitney exclaimed. "I've got one. Drink if you've ever got it on with Ian Beale."
"Bottoms up, girls!" Rainie said, drinking yet again.
"'Ere, I hope that's diet or she'll have no teeth left in the morning." Karen quipped, causing everyone to laugh again.
The mood turned on its head as Rainie started spluttering. For a moment Katy thought she was about to be sick, sighing and trying to catch one of the bar staff's eyes, until Sonia realised that the other woman was choking. As the others panicked and her cousin performed the Heimlich manoeuvre, Katy motioned for Poppy to pass her a glass of water.
She almost spilt the water as the plastic penis flew out of Rainie's mouth, across the room and smacked Mo straight in the face. For the first time in days Katy actually laughed. The familiar ache that came from laughing that hard was a welcome release for the young woman, who had to cling onto Lola to stop herself falling over.
"I'm so sorry, Mo!"
"Are you alright?"
Lola swatted rapidly at Katy's arm as she tried to stop laughing for long enough to speak. "I've got one! Drink if you've ever seen a pensioner hit by a plastic willy!"
"This is my song!" Linda announced as they fell about laughing hysterically.
She grabbed Whitney by the hand and dragged her over to a space on the floor where they could dance. Still giggling, Katy handed Rainie the glass of water, before telling Poppy to give her another lemonade on the house. The older woman smiled gratefully as Katy was pulled away by Lola and Tiffany to join in the dancing.
"Boss? Have you got two minutes?" Deena winced as she approached the blonde, pulling her attention away from the hens.
Katy apologised, ignoring the complaints from the others as she headed away to see what needed dealing with. "What's wrong?"
"There's a woman waiting for you in the office. Apparently it's important."
"Who is it?"
"No idea… some stroppy blonde."
Immediately the young woman was on edge. She knew who'd be in her office before she opened the door. Katy had the irrational urge to turn around and refuse to deal with the situation, but Deena was already curious enough and she couldn't exactly just leave things as they were. Inhaling sharply, she shot the barmaid a tense smile, before pushing open the door and stepping inside.
"What can I do for you?"
Ronnie smiled proudly at her. "I really do love what you've done with this place."
"Why are you here?"
"Katy…"
"Look, I need to get back out there. It's Whit's hen night and she's already pissed off enough that I wasn't here last week."
"Who's she marrying?"
"No one you know."
"I'm trying here." Ronnie sighed sadly. "Can't you just give me–?"
Her daughter gritted her teeth. "I'm not giving you anything until everyone out there knows that I'm not crazy. How can you expect me to even start thinking about trying to put things back on track, until people stop thinking I've completely lost my mind if I mention having spoken to you."
"We haven't seen the kids yet." The older woman said softly. "Please… let us at least explain things to them before everyone else knows."
"Have I stopped you?" Katy snapped. "In the last couple of days have you even attempted to come and see the kids? Have you even attempted to come and see me?"
"We weren't sure we'd be welcome." Ronnie admitted.
"This is way past whether you're welcome or not." Katy told her angrily, shaking her head. "You messed with our lives, our heads. You're still doing it! Dad wanted to send me to a shrink. He thought I was psychotic. He was this close to dragging me into hospital and trying to get me help." She laughed mirthlessly. "But there's nothing wrong with my head, apart from what you've done to it."
"I was wrong, OK?" Her mother shouted. "Is that what you want to hear? I was wrong. I messed up."
"Yes!" Katy almost screamed back. "Yes, that is exactly what I wanted to hear! You came back two and a half years after fucking bailing on us and then you pretty much blamed me. You said it was my fault that I didn't know what you were planning. My fault because I was devastated because I thought my mother and my aunt had just fucking died." Turning, she made to storm out of her office, before changing her mind and whirling round again, jabbing a finger in Ronnie's direction. "Don't you fucking dare come back here and start making out you're the injured party because I'm not fucking dancing on the rooftops to see you. What me and them kids have been through since you left… you have no fucking clue!"
"I don't know–"
"No, that's right, you don't! And you know what? You haven't even asked. You haven't once asked me about your son, let alone your granddaughters." She scoffed angrily. "What? Have you built yourself a nice new life in Ibiza? Got a new family? Don't want to bother with the old one anymore?"
There was a loud cracking sound and it took Katy a moment or two to realise that her mother had slapped her. She knew she probably deserved it, but as she raised her hand to rub her tender cheek, she narrowed her eyes at the older blonde. Ronnie looked horrified at what she'd done, stepping forward with her hand outstretched towards her daughter. Katy flinched away from her, narrowing her eyes.
"What do you even want from me, Ronnie?" She asked, her voice now much quieter and less emotional. "If you want the money back, Dad's got it."
"Money? What? No!" She shook her head vehemently. "Of course I don't want the– Katy, please. I want to make this right. I've missed you – and the kids – so, so much. I love you, sweetie. I just want the chance to make it up to you."
"Well I'm not sure I'm ready to give it to you." Katy told her honestly.
A long silence followed her words. Ronnie blinked several times, realising that her daughter was deadly serious and it wasn't going to be as easy to get round the younger blonde as she had anticipated. Katy held her ground, folding her arms across her chest and staring blankly at her.
"Can I at least come and see the kids, tomorrow?" Ronnie requested softly after the tension got too much for her to deal with.
"They'll be at school. Were you aware that Matthew and the twins started at Walford Primary today?"
Her mother flinched at the coldness in her tone. "Of course, I… After school, then?"
"They're having the afternoon off for Whitney's wedding."
"Katy, please."
Staring at her and seeing the hurt in her eyes, Katy relented slightly. "Fine. Come to the house at half twelve. Number 43."
"Thank you. I promise you I'll make it up to you. All of you."
"You better."
She opened the door and stood aside to let Ronnie pass. Her mother sighed, gazing at her sadly for a moment, before walking out into the hubbub outside. Katy shut the door firmly behind her, leaning against it heavily and letting her eyes slip shut. A couple of treacherous tears spilled down her cheeks, but she rubbed them away angrily, before pulling herself together.
When she returned to the party, there was no sign of Whitney anywhere. The only answers she received when she asked where the other woman was were shrugs. Tiffany said something about Callum appearing and the pair of them leaving together. Katy shrugged and accepted the drink Lola held out to her, deciding to make the most of the evening, before everything came out.