‘What about you?’ Kim asked him. ‘Do you see your family at Christmas?’
‘I, er…’ Josh wasn’t sure how to answer that. He opted for ‘I’m hoping to.’
Kim looked at him curiously.
‘I had an argument with my mother,’ Josh admitted, finding her easy to talk to. ‘I decided to move out. We didn’t part on great terms. I’d hate to turn up and make everyone’s Christmas miserable.’
Kim looked astonished. ‘I can’t imagine you would ever do that,’ she said. ‘You seem really easy-going.’
Josh smiled reflectively. ‘Yeah, maybe too much,’ he said with an expansive sigh. It had been a stupid argument, looking back. His mother had accused him of taking her for granted, expecting her to run around cleaning up after him. Josh hadn’t realised he was. He’d told her to stop banging on at him, which was pretty juvenile. She had been a bit, but then she hadn’t been well, not sleeping due to the steroids she was on. ‘I should call her, I suppose,’ he added, wondering at his ability to mess up every relationship in his life.
‘You should. At least then you’d know where you stand,’ Kim said, glancing through the window and then picking up her bag. ‘We’re here. Will I see you tomorrow?’
‘You can count on it,’ Josh said, glad that they’d broken the ice. She was nice. He was slightly bemused that he’d opened up to her like that, but he felt better for it. Smiling, he reached to grab his own bag.
When he glimpsed a figure hurrying away from the school as he walked across the playground at the end of the day, Josh wondered if he might be mistaken. He wasn’t, though, he was sure of it. There couldn’t be many girls her size wearing the exact same blue jacket and fur-trimmed hat. He racked his brains but couldn’t remember mentioning which school he was doing his placement at. So what was she doing here?
Six
Cassandra
Seeing that an envelope had been pushed through her letter box, Cassie bent to scoop it up as she came through the front door. No stamp, she noted, turning it over. It hadn’t been there when she’d left at five for her doctor’s appointment. Which meant it must have been delivered while she’d been at the surgery.
Curious, she fumbled the envelope open and drew the letter out, and her heart fluttered with nervous apprehension as she glimpsed the signature at the bottom. Quickly, she read it:
Dear Mrs Colby,
Please accept my apologies for leaving so abruptly. I heard you and Mr Colby arguing and I gathered you didn’t trust me. I just wanted you to know I understand. It must have been difficult for you to believe Josh had fallen in love with someone who’s so obviously not of his social background.
Please accept my deepest condolences on your loss. Josh spoke kindly about you. He was right. You seem really nice. I wish we could have got along better for Samuel’s sake.
I thought you should know that I’ve made my decision about his future, so you won’t hear from me again.
I wish you both well.
Yours truly,
Kim
God, no.Cassie’s blood froze. She couldn’t let her do this. The girl didn’t want to go down this route, clearly. Why else would she have come to see them? Digging in her handbag, she pulled out her mobile. Kim had included her telephone number in her letter, thank God. She’d mentioned which street she lived on, but not the house number. Cassie had already made up her mind to drive over there, knock on every door until she found her. She felt like going straight there now, but she couldn’t do that without speaking to her first. Hopefully Kim would be amenable to meeting up this evening. She had to talk to her, apologise to her and convince her she had other options.
Keying in the number, she waited, fearing the call might go to voicemail. Relief flooded through her when it was answered.
‘Hello?’ Kim said warily.
‘Kim, hi. It’s Cassandra. Cassie Colby. I hope you don’t mind me calling. I got your letter and I had to talk to you.’
‘Oh. No…’ Kim said, sounding uncertain. ‘I mean, it’s fine. It’s just…’
Cassie’s heart skipped a beat. Please God she wouldn’t say she wanted nothing to do with her.
‘It’s not easy to talk,’ Kim went on, lowering her voice. ‘My dad…’
Cassie felt a rush of relief. She didn’t want to talk because he was there. A violent man. The sort of man you wouldn’t want anywhere near a baby. She remembered every word Kim had said before she’d left. ‘Could you come to me?’ she suggested. ‘Or perhaps we could meet somewhere.’
‘I can’t. I have to look after my little brother while Mum’s at work,’ Kim whispered hurriedly.
‘Could your father not look after him for a while?’ Cassie knew it was a long shot, but she desperately needed to talk to her.
