‘Well, the Port Berry grapevine beat you to it, girlie.’
Demi bit her lip. ‘Sorry, that might have been my fault. I told Robson.’
‘Who told Spencer, who told me when he came to the shop for some chocolate. Assumed I knew. You know, what with me being your mother.’ Lizzie shook her head in annoyance.
Demi went out to the dining room to take some food orders.
Alice took a calming breath, wishing her mother would do the same. ‘Mum, this is his home,’ she said quietly.
‘Not anymore.’
‘Well, I told him he can stay.’
‘Tell him you’ve changed your mind.’
Alice clenched her fists behind her back. ‘No.’
‘That boy has been nothing but trouble since he was fourteen years old. I never liked you hanging out with him. You know that.’
‘You know his story, Mum. You know why he ended up that way.’
Lizzie sat at the table, taking Alice with her. ‘Now you listen to me. Plenty have a rotten old drunk of a dad, but they don’t grow up committing crimes left, right, and centre.’
‘It wasn’t just his dad.’
‘Don’t you bring the excuse of him losing his mother to cancer when he was six, because our Benny lost his mum to the same thing when he was seven, and do you see him tearing up the town? No, you don’t. Our Benny is a good boy.’
Alice sighed. Keeping her voice low, she said, ‘It was a combination of things for Jamie, but mostly his own cancer. Mum, he was in and out of hospital from the age of eleven thanks to leukaemia. He never had a proper childhood. Hardly attended school for a good couple of years. He was messed up in many ways, then that Gregg came along with his gang, making Jamie feel like he was part of something, and that’s why it all went wrong.’
‘Oh, love, listen to yourself. You make it sound like Jamie had no mind of his own. He had a good nan, a solid enough home — once his loser of a dad kicked the bucket — and he was cured. He did what he did because he wanted to.’
‘It’s not as black and white as that, Mum. Everyone knows psychology plays a part. And anyway, that was in the past. He’s been punished, and now he’s back to rebuild his life and just find some peace and quiet.’
Lizzie pointed at the doorway. ‘And I’m sure he can do that elsewhere.’
‘He has nowhere to go.’
‘This isn’t on you, Alice.’
‘He’s been my best friend since primary school. I’ve been making his life part of mine since he got sick. The other kids stopped bothering with him after a while, but I stuck around.’
‘Fat lot of good it did him. Shame your ways didn’t rub off.’
Alice held her mother’s hand, wishing she would understand the bond she had with Jamie, even if it was a little unusual. ‘Mum, I know he’s changed. I’ve been witnessing it happen over the years.’
Lizzie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
It was now or never, and seeing how Alice was obviously helping Jamie, she figured she might as well tell the truth.
‘I’ve been writing and visiting him all these years.’
Lizzie sat back, eyes wide and mouth gaping.
Alice waited for the information to sink in.
Demi came back to plate some orders, keeping herself to herself.
The silence was unnerving, and it wasn’t long before Alice found herself saying something.
