Ruby was his wife – I’d gotten to the point of making a list of Puffin Bay families with my deputy head to get some idea of who was who and what the local politics were like. I knew Ruby was also Thane’s sister, and Thane was with Fleur, who’d mainly grown up in Puffin Bay, and they had twin daughters who were at the school in the nursery department.
“Your kids too.”
He nodded, looking even more exhausted. “Which means they’re related to Gulliver and he’s certified insane so they’ve got no chance. You think you’ll be here for a while then? In the town?”
“I think so. It’s a sea change, but I like it. I’m not homesick or fighting the urge to run to the nearest city. After that training session, I’m not planning on running anywhere.”
He laughed, the Puffin Inn sign in the distance a siren’s call. “Yeah, I can identify that. First round’s on you, I believe.”
I grumbled something but this actually felt right. It was starting to feel like it could be home.
I met Romy at the gate again on Wednesday morning. She had hold of each girl’s hand and she looked like she’d had more sleep than the night before.
“You really don’t need to wait for us every day, you know.”
Her smile told me that she was happy I was there though.
“All part of the service.” I watched as Heidi tried to pull away from her mother. “They can walk in with Miss McGregor.” Their teacher was outside already, probably trying to grab five minutes of sunshine. “There’s a surprise for them in the classroom.”
“Okay.” Romy crouched down letting go of Heidi’s hand to straighten Mia’s hair. “I’ll be here after lunch so we can see Liv again and her friend, okay?”
Mia nodded. Romy gave her a kiss on her head and Mia flung her arms around her. If I was a betting man, and I wasn’t, I’d put money on Mia not leaving Romy. I hoped she didn’t have to leave Romy. The chances of her being able to go back to Cara were slim; the social worker and her supervisor had started proceedings for a Section thirty-one, a full care order, and the social worker had said at the strategy meeting they were hoping that Mia could stay with Romy and Heidi, as that was in her best interests.
“Okay, Heidi,” Romy said, capturing her daughter’s hand. Heidi was watching her teacher, clearly wanting to go and investigate the surprise in her classroom. “Be good. Try not to come home covered in paint.” She gave her a kiss and stood up, the two girls running over to Miss McGregor, only Mia looking back to see if Romy was still there.
“She’ll come home covered in paint.” Romy focused on me, looking a little apprehensive like she’d done yesterday.
I got why, there was a lot going on, a lot of change and a fuckton of worry. “She probably will. She attracts it like a magnet. Her class wasn't even painting yesterday but I noticed she was slightly purple in places.” There was something I needed to tell Romy. “How’s the new security system?”
“Complicated and scary. I feel better with it in though I’m still hoping that Cara’s just gone for a break somewhere.” She tightened the ponytail her hair was in. “Although I’ll never understand how she could just leave Mia. There’ve been countless times I wanted to leave Heidi somewhere, maybe to be brought up by wolves, but I would never do it.” She sighed and looked forlorn.
“Do you ever get downtime?”
“I’m a parent. What’s downtime? She stays with her gran, which is when I usually clean the house or catch up on work and then fall asleep before nine o’clock. I have this fantasy about staying in a fancy hotel with six billion thread count sheets and room service, but I’ve never booked it.”
“Can you get thread count that high?”
She laughed at me. “Bless you. No. I was exaggerating. Has Mia been okay in school?”
I’d seen her briefly yesterday afternoon when she’d come to pick the girls up but not to speak to, as I was dealing with a parent whose son was thinking it funny to use his classroom as a free running space.
“Quiet, but I don’t think that’s much different from what her teacher’s said. I need to tell you something and I don’t want you to think I’m being a stalker or anything.” I suddenly felt uncomfortable.
I had a feeling Romy had a crush on me, mainly because of what her friend Liv had said on Monday night. I was flattered because she was hardly unattractive, clearly intelligent and had her shit together, even if she thought she didn’t.
“Go on. This is making me nervous.”
I tried to smile and hoped I didn’t look like a cannibal. “I’m housesitting for your neighbour Beryl while they’re on their cruise.”
“Oh. Okay. Roe was flapping about that house being empty. But what’s up with the schoolhouse?”
I went through the list of issues.
“I won’t get in your way though, but equally, I’m around if something’s making you nervous or you want something checked out.” I pushed my hands in my pockets, realising I wanted her to need something checked out.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ll make sure the girls don’t drive you mad shouting for Mr Caddick all the time.” She gave a rueful smile. “I’ll try to make sure. I don’t think the social worker would be happy if I started gagging Heidi.”
“Heidi’s a good kid. She’s bright as anything.” Her vocab was exceptional for a child of her age, but that might be a curse for Romy rather than a blessing.
