They'd met in a pub a year ago and had been infernally rude to each other. To be fair, their own children were having a loud argument and pissing the rest of the customers off. Serena had based her opinion of the new boyfriend on that first meeting. Cameron Dunn was not a good match for her daughter.
Bernie had surmised that Elinor Campbell was bad news and had moved in to protect her cub. Serena was annoyed that this other mother was muscling in and had heated words with her before dragging her daughter away. Bernie could hear her berate Elinor and felt a grim satisfaction that she'd been right, even though it hadn't been her place to object. At least the other mother could see what a brat her own daughter was. Cam sulked all the way home and any attempt to try and understand what this new girlfriend was to him, got frozen out. Bernie didn't know what to do.
'You're not seeing him again if you're going to make a spectacle of yourself.'
'I'll see him again if I want to. It's got nothing to do with you.' Elinor turned up the volume on the radio and ignored her. Serena cursed her indulgent ex-husband for the result sitting before her. She'd tried so hard to discipline her and it had worked up until a point. Sometimes Elinor would surprise her by being sensible but for the most part, her father's side came out strong. As usual, she wondered how she'd ever thought that a child of two such similar people; arrogant, confident and headstrong, had a chance of being balanced and peaceful. If they'd stayed together, maybe it could have been different. But then it would have been up to Edward to change so they could work together harmoniously and that was never going to happen. She slammed her bag down on the table and went to make dinner. She could pretend she was mashing Edward into the potatoes.