‘No, Jess. No, it’s not. I let you down.’
I appreciate his words more than he’ll ever know. ‘Thank you.’
He sighs. ‘I can’t change the past, even if I wish I could.’
I almost laugh out loud. Isn’t thatexactlywhat I’m trying to do, hopefully, so I can change my future?
‘I love you, Dad,’ I say and lean forward to give him a kiss, just as my phone buzzes on the table in front of me. He rubs my arm as I pick it up.
‘Oh, my God, Jess! I totally lost track of the time! I’m so sorry I’m later than I said I’d be.’
‘No worries,’ I say through gritted teeth, then realize that, if I want things to change, I probably shouldn’t mirror what Luke does and brush it all under the carpet. ‘I’m at Dad and Lola’s. Do you want me to send you the address or do you remember where it is?’
There’s a sheepish silence on the other end of the line. ‘Actually, could I pick Edie up from yours in about an hour or so? Nicole has a present for me, but she left it at her Airbnb. I was going to go back there with her and her husband is going to give me a lift back to yours. The apartment is only about five minutes away from you, and I don’t want to put him out by making him drive all the way to West Wickham.’
I blink. Oh, so she doesn’t want to puthimout. Lovely. I’m tempted to throw my phone across the garden, but would hardly be setting a good example to my niece, now, would it? ‘Fine. Whatever,’ I say to Cassie then hang up before I say something I’m going to regret. ‘Edie!’ I call across the lawn. ‘It’s time to go!’
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
JESS
It’s three o’clock before Luke walks back through our front door, and still there’s no sign of his sister. That’s half the day gone!
‘Ow!’ he yells from somewhere in the hallway. A few seconds later, he appears in the doorway to the kitchen holding up a small plastic figure, which he brandishes at his niece, who is colouring at our kitchen table. Well, I say ‘at’ the kitchen table, but it’s more like ‘on’ the kitchen table, as most of her efforts with the crayons are shooting right off the edge of the paper. ‘Your work, I presume?’
Edie just giggles.
‘Oops, sorry! Thought I’d found all the bits strewn around the ground floor.’ I take it from him and give him a kiss on the lips.
He looks around. ‘Where’s Cassie?’
My smile fades. ‘She said two hours when she left Edie here this morning, but it’s been one delay after another and now it’s been just over four.’
He shrugs one shoulder. ‘Cassie never was great with time-keeping.’
He might be prepared to let this drop, but I’m not. For mysake, and for his. Keeping an eye on Edie, I walk over to the kitchen area on the other side of the room, and motion for him to follow. ‘She didn’t even ask, Luke,’ I say in a low voice. ‘She just rocked up with Edie in tow, dumped her down and buggered off.’
He frowns. ‘I’m sure I heard her ask, didn’t I?’
‘No, she just assumed. On our anniversary, too!’
‘She probably forgot.’
I know he’s not doing this on purpose, but I can feel my hackles rising. Old Jess would have reacted to this, but new, time-travelling Jess manages to keep a lid on her irritation. ‘But if she’d asked,’ I say, making sure my tone isn’t getting strident, ‘she would have known. I didn’t even get a chance to tell her we weren’t available.’
He leans across and flicks the switch on the kettle. ‘You’re right. She did kind of dump it on us.’
‘And not only that, you knew you were about to head out of the house – I didn’t, because we hadn’t had a chance to have that conversation yet. So not only did Cassie foist babysitting duty on us as a couple, you then left me to it on my own.’
He comes over and puts his arms around me. ‘Oh, God, I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Jess. I just didn’t think … ’
I squeeze him back. ‘That’s because you’re running around like a headless chicken most days, with hardly any time to do anything but react to stuff as it happens. You could do with slowing down a bit.’
‘I know,’ he says, sighing, but we’re prevented from discussing it any further by a ring on the doorbell.
Cassie breezes in as if she hasn’t been AWOL for most of the day. She’s even an extra half an hour late from the time shegave me last time I spoke to her. She kisses Luke on the cheek but then bypasses me entirely when she spots Edie and goes to scoop her up, resulting in lots of kisses and giggles on both sides.
When she’s finished, she pops Edie down and turns to Luke and me, smiling. ‘So, sorry! You know what it’s like when you finally get a day to yourself and get a chance to chat to grown-ups and feel like a human being again.’
