The shrill noise of the school bell cut off whatever she’d been about to say, and Clara flinched before her shoulders sagged inrelief.
“I have to go,” she muttered then turned quickly on her heel and literally sprinted out of the room.
Now, rightly or wrongly, with the way I looked, my bank account being the way it was and my reputation, it was incredibly rare for a woman to run in the other direction. I tilted my head to the side as I watched Clara disappear through the classroom door. And for the first time in my life, I had to resist the urge to chase after a woman.
“Oz,you know how you’re not keen to read to me at home?”
Ozzie stiffened in his position perched on a stool at the kitchen island. His hand, holding a cookie which was halfway to his mouth, froze.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, lowering the cookie and frowning down at his plate.
“Well, why do you think that is, buddy?” I asked gently. This was the first time we’d actually discussed this calmly without it being some sort of battle. Normally, I approached Oz with a book, told him we had to do his school reading, and he lost his shit. He’d shout at me that reading was stupid. It broke my heart, and I just didn’t know how to handle it properly.
“Dunno,” he mumbled, pushing the cookies around on his plate now, having seemingly lost his appetite. I climbed onto the stool next to him and scrubbed my hand down my face, searching for the right words. Why the hell was this so hard when all day at work I managed complicated legal cases with complete verbal ease?
“Was it somethingIsaid to you, Oz?” I asked, my heart in my throat. I knew I could be impatient and I had a bit of atemper, but I tried really hard to rein that in with my son. I had thought I’d done a pretty good job up until now. Ozzie only really ever saw me angry about his mum, and even then I made an effort to mask my frustration with her.
I couldn’t remember upsetting him when we were reading; just one day, he came home and point-blank refused. Greta, his nanny, told me he wouldn’t read with her either. It was weird. It pained me to admit it, but I had to agree with Clara – something was off here.
“Nope. Can I have a sleepover with?—?”
“Oz, let’s stick with this for the moment, right? I need to get to the bottom of it. You’ve got to read at home as well, mate. If I’m doing something wrong, then?—”
“I’m not stupid, okay?”
I blinked in confusion. “Ozzie, I never said you were stupid. That’s the last thing you are. What’s going on?”
“S’nothing,” he muttered, jumping off the chair. I stood to block his path before he could bolt.
“Please, talk to me, Ozzie,” I pleaded. “I can’t help sort it if I don’t know what’s bothering you.” I crouched down so that I was eye level with him and put my hands on his small shoulders. “We’re a team, right? You and me: we’re the best team. LikeThe Octonauts, right?”
He rolled his eyes. “Daddy, I’m not a baby.The Octonautsare lame.”
I smiled. Ozzie still watchedThe Octonautsall the time, but whatever. “Okay, likeThe Avengers.” I softened my voice. “You’ve got to tell your team members what’s going on, right?”
He blinked down at his feet, and then, to my shock, I saw a tear tracking down his cheek.
“Hey,” I said gently, pulling him in for a hug. His little arms wrapped around my neck as his body shook with lowsobs. I felt like my heart was breaking. “What’s all this now?”
“I-I-I…” His breath was hitching too much between sobs to get his words out. I lifted him up in my arms and strode across to the sofa, sitting us down and then stroking his hair back so I could see his little red face.
“Take a few slow breaths, Oz,” I said softly. “You can tell me in your own time, okay?”
He looked up at me with his tear-filled eyes. “The thing is, Daddy, I know I actuallyamstupid. I know it.” There was a long pause, and I forced myself to wait for him to speak again. “I been told it.”
Pure rage shot through me at that, but I tamped it down, making my voice even when I asked, “Ozzie, who told you that?”
Chapter 5
Stick to the plan
Clara
I closed my eyes,trying to keep my breathing steady.
“Zach, I’m not sure it’s the best idea for me to come round there again, love,” I said into the phone. My brother sniffled on the other end, a telltale sign that he was crying, not that he’d ever admit that to me. “It, um… it didn’t go very well last time. And Dad’s been on edge since Freddie was arrested. I think he might?—”
“Please, Clara,” he begged quietly, and my chest felt like it was going to cave in on itself. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, but I’ve got my mocks next week, and all my revision guides are totally fucked.”
