Lily knocks impatiently on her window. I round the car and open her door, and she jumps down, having already unbuckled herself.
“There’s my wee angel!” Mum calls as she steps out of the Volvo.
Lily races towards her, and Mum drops to a crouch for a proper cuddle, covering Lily’s face with kisses while she giggles and squirms.
“Granny, that’s enough! I need to go see my room!”
Da gets out the car too and shoots me a grin. “Right, let’s get you two settled in your new place, eh?”
I fish the keys from my pocket and unlock the front door. It opens on a narrow hall with stairs leading up. The walls are magnolia—safe but bland—with beige carpet to match. Not my style, but it’s clean and reasonably well maintained. Once the salon is up and running, I’ll make this place properly ours. Paint these walls something with personality, put down flooring that can cope with Lily’s inevitable spills. For now, though, it’ll do.
Lily darts through the doorway to my right. “Oh! This is the living room.” A few moments later: “And this is the kitchen! My room must be upstairs.” She whizzes past me and thunders up the stairs.
“Careful!” I call after her.
“I’ll start unloading the cars,” Da says, already heading back outside.
“I’ll help,” Mum adds. “It’s tomorrow the removal van is coming, yes?”
“Aye, sometime in the morning,” I confirm.
Most of my furniture is in storage, ready to be delivered tomorrow. The essentials are packed in the cars, though, including Lily’s bed, which I dismantled this morning. My own bed won’t be arriving until later in the week because I ordered a new one. Couldn’t face taking the old one, not after sharing it with... well, withhim. Too many bad memories soaked into that mattress.
I head out to help and am halfway to my car when Lily’s voice bellows from upstairs: “This is going to be my room!”
Mum smiles and shakes her head. “You’d better check she’s found the right one. Just in case she’s claiming yours.”
“You’re right. I’ll be back in a minute.” I huff a small laugh and head up the stairs. I find Lily in the smaller bedroom to the left, spinning in circles, arms outstretched, hair flying.
“Yes,” I say. “Thisisyour room.” It’s as bare as the rest, but her joy fills it anyway. “We’ll make it cosy,” I promise her. “We’ll get all your furniture in, maybe put up some fairy lights?—”
“Mummy, lift me up!” She’s stopped spinning and is now bouncing in place, trying to see through the window. “I want to see outside!”
I scoop her up, her small body warm and solid in my arms.
“Wow! I can see the sea from my room. I love it!”
“It is a special view,” I agree. The extra height lets us peek over the neighbours’ rooftops, giving us a wide sweep of the harbour, more sprawling and vivid than it looked from down on the street.
“Come see my room,” I say, carrying her across the landing and to my window. “I’ve got the same view.”
“Oh!” Lily breathes, pressing her hands to the glass. “You can see the boats from here too. Can we watch them every day?”
“Of course, if you want.”
“I do.”
I let out a slow breath. She’s completely on board with this move. There’s no “I want to go home”, no “I miss Daddy.” No questions about when she’ll see Danny again. Just pure excitement about our new adventure. Maybe she understands, in that way children sometimes do, that this is better. That we both deserve better than what we had.
“Ainsley?” Mum’s voice floats up from downstairs. “That’s me taken in your kettle, and I packed some biscuits from our house. Why don’t we all have a cuppa before we start unloading properly?”
I smile to myself. That’s so Mum—suggesting a tea break before the work’s even begun. She just can’t bear the thought of anyone ever going unfed.
“Biscuits!” Lily wriggles out of my arms and bolts for the stairs.
“Lily, pleasewalkdown the stairs!” I call after her, but she’s already halfway down them, giggling away.
I follow at a more sensible pace, shaking my head. By the time I reach the kitchen, the kettle’s boiling and Mum’s laid out a few mugs and a packet of biscuits. Lily’s sitting cross-legged on the floor, happily demolishing a chocolate digestive and scattering crumbs everywhere.
