‘Nothing. I just want to be left alone.’
Bertie’s ears had turned pink, a sure sign he was lying. I pushed gently against the door, and he stepped back. The door jammed on what looked like the corner of a dresser.
‘iPad,’ I warned. Bertie sighed and pushed the dresser out of the way. I opened the door and was confronted by a sight that made me want to both laugh and shout. As I struggled to untangle my emotions, Bertie ran back to his bed and threw himself under the covers.
‘Oh God, Bertie. What have you done?’
Bertie didn’t answer, so I sat down on his bed and pulled the duvet away from his face.
‘I hate this house; I want to go back to the farm.’
‘I know, but that doesn’t excuse what you’ve done.’
‘I thought if I made my room look like Jake’s, I might like it more.’
I stood up and walked to the far wall. No wonder Bertie had been so quiet the previous evening. He’d attempted to colour the wall black, with a thick felt tip by the looks of things. He’d only managed a small section before the pen must have run out, the remainder of the white wall covered with faded scribbles.
‘Please, Mum, don’t tell Dad.’
‘Don’t tell Dad what?’ Rob stood in the doorway, a cup of coffee in his hands.
‘Um, Rob, I’ll repaint the walls.’
Rob walked into the room and over to the defaced wall. He ran his hand over the black smudges. From his face, it was impossible to tell his reaction. He turned to Bertie, making us both jump as he let out a loud laugh. Bertie looked over at me, but I just shrugged.
‘Fancy yourself as an artist, do you?’ Rob sat down beside Bertie on the bed.
‘I wanted my room to look like Jake’s.’
‘And Jake has black walls?’
Bertie nodded.
‘I’ll paint over it today,’ I said.
‘Why?’ asked Rob, turning to me.
‘I don’t think this would impress your mother.’
Rob shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. He walked over to me and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. ‘She’s got us where she wants us, Liv. But I don’t remember her making any stipulations about wall colours.’
‘Can I paint my whole room black?’ asked Bertie.
‘Don’t push your luck.’
‘No,’ said Rob, ‘Bertie’s got a point. What do you think, Liv? Should we let him do it?’
‘If we paint this entire room black, it will look like a cave.’
‘One wall?’ asked Bertie.
‘We’ll see. But I’m much more likely to agree to this if you’ve got yourself ready for school nicely.’
Bertie flung back the duvet and grabbed his school uniform from the back of a chair. He still hadn’t smiled since we left Lowen Farm, but his scowl had smoothed out slightly and this seemed like a good start.
Chapter Forty-Five
Now that we were down to one car and living on an estate with no access to public transport, the school run took even longer than usual. We had to leave the house at seven in order to make it to school for half past eight. After navigating the city centre traffic to drop Rob at his new office, I turned the car around and drove in the opposite direction towards Bertie’s school.
