‘We get that, and we know you’d have mentioned everyone by name in your acceptance speech. But just this once, couldn’t you have gracefully accepted?—?’
‘It doesn’t mean anything to me!’
‘Kim, I swear to God one of these days I’m gonna…’
‘Bryant, there are very few people whose opinion matter to me, and not one of them is involved in deciding those awards.’
‘Oh,’ he said, turning into the street where Ashley had lived.
‘Yeah. Now enough is enough. And you’re sure gonna regret taking your lunch break already; you’re going to get mighty hungry later on.’
‘Hang on, that wasn’t even fifteen minutes,’ he protested, but she was no longer listening.
Yesterday, the house they were parking outside had been unremarkable. But it would never again know the joy of normality and routine. A structure of bricks and mortar that had been lived in without a second thought now held broken hearts that would never be the same again. It was no longer just another house on the street, remaining unnoticed by passers-by. It would be pointed at and talked about.
She knocked on the door and waited.
Planty had texted her to say that the husband had flatly refused a family liaison officer, so she expected him to be the one to answer the door.
When the door opened, though, Kim had to look down. The girl at the door stood around three and a half feet tall and wore a Disney nightgown. The second thing she noticed was that she was missing her left arm from the elbow down.
The third thing she saw, and by far the most heartbreaking, was the smile on the little girl’s face that disappeared when she realised who it was – or, more poignantly, who it wasn’t.
‘Hey, is your daddy…?’
‘Ava, I told you not to open the door,’ someone said, his voice growing louder as he came along the hallway.
A man appeared and placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. ‘She was convinced Mummy had come home,’ he said, shaking his head.
Kim nodded her understanding. She wasn’t sure what he’d told her, but at that age the finality of death was a tough concept to grasp.
‘Go get dressed, sweetheart,’ he said, rubbing Ava’s head.
She craned her neck backwards to look up at him. ‘Can I be a princess?’
‘You can be whatever you like.’
She smiled. ‘I’ll be Snow White, Mummy’s favourite,’ she said, heading up the stairs.
The man watched her go with tears in his eyes.
Her mother would never see her dressed as a princess again.
He coughed and held out his hand. ‘Daniel Reynolds. Sorry, that sounds formal when you already know who I am. It’s just Dan,’ he finished, heading back along the hallway.
They followed him to the kitchen at the rear of the house.
Kim wasn’t surprised to see the scene frozen in time.
Two places were laid at the table. Beside the sink was a tin of cocoa. On the hob was a pot still containing the milk he’d obviously been preparing while waiting for his wife to return.
She didn’t judge him for the mess.
He followed her gaze. ‘It was such a good day. Lazy breakfast, morning at the zoo. Then a film before Ash went off to netball.’
And him at home making a hot drink for her return.
It was as though the universe had given them one perfect day before changing their lives forever.
