‘Mummy, Daddy, please don’t argue.’ A voice behind them stopped Daniel in his tracks. They turned to face Ben, who had tears streaming down his face. ‘I hate it when you argue.’
Lucinda threw Daniel a look that clearly saidNow see what you’ve done?Daniel knelt down and held his arms out, and Ben ran past his mother to throw himself against his father’s chest.
‘I’m sorry, Ben,’ Lucinda said. ‘We don’t mean to argue. It’s just that sometimes grown-ups get frustrated with each other. We’ll try not to argue in front of you again.’
Ben looked up at Daniel. ‘Has Anna really gone?’
Daniel nodded. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so.’
‘Is she coming back?’
Daniel shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Can’t you go and get her?’
Again Daniel shook his head. ‘It’s a bit more complicated than that.’
‘But I really liked her!’
‘Me too,’ Daniel said softly.
‘That’s just not fair!’ Ben pulled himself away from Daniel, looked at the two of them and then, with tears still spilling down his face, ran upstairs.
Daniel pulled himself back to his feet, glaring at Lucinda.
‘Daniel, I—’
‘I don’t want to hear it. And I think Ben needs you now.’
He began to walk towards his car, his anger spent, but then turned back to Lucinda. ‘From now on I don’t want anything to do with you apart from access to Ben. Whatever we had has been destroyed and there’s no going back. So please, don’t call me or come round on some pretext because I’m really not interested. Do you understand?’
Lucinda nodded sadly. ‘Yes, I understand.’
‘Good. I’m glad you’ve finally got the message.’
* * *
Anna woke to the sound of her phone ringing. Confused, she looked at the screen, saw it was Eva and answered it.
‘’Lo.’
‘You weren’t asleep, were you?’ Eva’s bright and breezy voice came down the phone. ‘Good God, woman! It’s the middle of the afternoon.’
‘Oh.’ Anna sighed. ‘I didn’t get much sleep last night.’
‘Too much partying, I hope. Did the exhibition go well?’
‘Um, sort of. A bit mixed really.’
‘Oh!’ Eva paused. ‘Want to talk about it?’
‘Not really. Not yet anyway.’
‘Okay. Well, when you’re ready, you know where I am.’
‘Thanks.’
‘But that wasn’t the only reason I was calling you. I’m getting my new leg tomorrow.’
