What on earth? Her stomach knotting, Sarah took a step in her direction.
‘It’s not okay,’ Laura repeated. ‘Askherwhy it’s not. Ask herwhy!’ she sobbed, and then, her frantic gaze pivoting around the garden, she turned on her heel and ran.
‘What the …?’ Dragging a hand through his hair, Steve glanced at their stunned guests and then started after her.
‘Steve, wait.’ Sarah took hold of Ollie’s hand. He was plainly as bewildered as his father was, but … ‘I’ll go,’ she said, bending to pick him up. If anything could calm Laura down, she was sure it was his presence.
Steve turned back. ‘But what about …?’ He nodded towards Ollie.
‘He’ll be fine,’ Sarah assured him, giving him a look as she walked past him, hopefully communicating that maybe he should convince Sherry to think about taking her leave. ‘I’ll call you if I need you.’
She found Laura in Ollie’s bedroom, looking small and lonely sitting on the edge of his bed. She was knotting and unknotting her fingers, Sarah noticed, obviously extremely distressed.
‘I thought you might like to help me clean this little man up,’ she suggested, trying very hard not to notice the new wallpaper, which was identical to Ollie’s wallpaper at home. ‘I think he liked your chocolate volcano.’ She offered Laura a smile as she glanced up, looking disorientated, as if she didn’t quite know where she was. ‘He might possibly have liked it a little too much though, hey, Ollie?’
Ollie looked worriedly from her to Laura, then, ‘It’s yummy,’ he said, and patted his tummy.
A faraway look in her eyes, Laura took a second, and then, finally, focused on Ollie. ‘Oh my God,’ she gasped. ‘He’s in an awful mess.’
Ollie glanced uncertainly up at Sarah again, and then completely surprised her. ‘Don’t worry, Laura,’ he said, placing his small hand gently on her arm. ‘I can have a bath.’
Her eyes a kaleidoscope of emotion, confusion, deep sorrow, pain that was palpable, Laura gazed at him for a moment. Then she laughed, a strangled laugh that turned into a sob, and reached out to hug him. ‘You’re a good boy,’ she murmured, breathing him in. ‘A good, beautiful little boy.’
She pressed him closer, her gaze drifting up to Sarah. ‘Ollie can’t go there. It’s too dangerous,’ she whispered. ‘Tell Steve he mustn’t go.’
Thirty-Six
‘Can you swim, Laura?’ Ollie asked, around the wet wipe Sarah was scrubbing his face with.
‘A little bit.’ Laura glanced at him in the bathroom mirror as she dabbed at her eyes. ‘I’m not very good, though. We’ll have to learn together one day, won’t we? But maybe in a small pool.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Ollie nodded, and yawned. He was obviously ready for his afternoon nap, even with all the excitement. ‘With special superhero water wings,’ he said.
She smiled. ‘That’s right. To keep us safe.’
‘That’s better.’ Sarah looked him over, satisfied that he was as clean as he could be. ‘I knew you had a face under there somewhere. Shall we go back and see how Daddy’s doing?’ She glanced questioningly at Laura.
Laura nodded. Her face was still drained of colour, but she looked more in control than she had a short while ago. ‘Sorry I lost it.’ She smiled self-consciously as Sarah took hold of Ollie’s hand to lead him to the landing. ‘I just couldn’t bear the thought of spending a whole day with her.’
Sarah wasn’t surprised. She was concerned, though, very. Laura hadn’t been just reluctant to accept Sherry’s invitation; she’d seemed terrified. And why had her mother exacerbated the situation instead of simply taking no for an answer? The whole episode had been bizarre. Laura was a grown woman, for goodness’ sake. Yes, she had some stress-related issues, quite clearly, but nothing she wasn’t managing. Yet Sherry insisted on bossing her around, treating her like a child. It was almost as if the woman had some kind of hold over her that Laura was trying to break free of.
‘Can I still have some birthday cake, Mummy?’ Ollie asked hopefully as, allowing Laura to go ahead of them, they made their way down the stairs.
‘Of course you can.’ Laura smiled back at him. ‘But maybe later, since your tummy is full of chocolate volcano.’
Ollie thought about it. ‘Okay.’ He shrugged. ‘Can Lucas have some too?’
‘I think Lucas has some, munchkin,’ Sarah said, nodding towards the hall, where Lucas stood with his parents, a birthday gift bag in his hand.
The little boy gave a wave as his parents ushered him towards the front door. ‘Bye, Ollie.’
Ollie waved back. ‘Bye, Lucas,’ he said, looking a little dejected now. ‘Can he come and play again, Laura?’ he asked, looking up at her.
‘Of course he can,’ Laura assured him, smiling bravely despite the obvious awkward atmosphere.
‘Any time,’ Lucas’s father said, giving Laura a sympathetic glance.
‘Yes, why not?’ his wife said sharply, looking daggers at him and then heading off without even acknowledging Laura.
