‘Give it a rest, will you.’
‘You have to, you promised.’
He turned away from her.
Sarah sighed and pulled back the covers. ‘I’ll get her breakfast.’ She went over to the cot. Poppy was playing with her feet, the brightest of smiles appearing when she spotted her mum.
‘Good morning, my angel.’ She picked her up, kissing the top of her head. ‘Let’s get you sorted and then we can have breakfast before I have to leave.’ She glanced at Jessie who had gone back to sleep. She wanted to be childish and pull off the duvet. Ever since he’d started hanging round with Hudson, his new work colleague at the garage, Jessie had changed. Hudson was single and his parents were loaded, so he didn’t understand what Jessie was going through. They barely had enough money to pay for things, which was why they were living with Jessie’s mum in the double bedroom at the back of the house.
Once she and Poppy were ready to face the day, Sarah went downstairs.
Paulette, Jessie’s mum, was in the kitchen. Like Jessie, she was tall with olive skin. She was wearing pink pyjamas, almost matching the colour of her short hair. Her face showed years of smoking twenty cigarettes a day, even though she had given up a while ago.
Paulette held out her arms for Poppy and Sarah handed her over. She got on well with Paulette, thankfully. It was hard when Ethan came over too. Paulette loved having two grandchildren, but Sarah always felt wary of Ethan’s mum, Shannon. She would always ask for money from Jessie, even though she knew he had none spare. Often she’d seen her flirting with him and wondered if they were an item again. But then he’d wink at her and the doubts would go away, for that moment anyway.
‘Where’s Jessie?’ Paulette asked.
‘He’s still in bed. I have to go to work soon. I hope he gets up. He needs to look after Poppy.’
‘I can help. I love spending time with this one.’
‘I know you do and I’m really grateful, but I wish Jessie would do more, rather than leaving it to us all the time.’
‘He’s just like his dad. Daryl was a crap father too. He left everything to me until we got divorced. Did I ever tell you why?’
Sarah nodded, hoping she wouldn’t tell her again that she caught him with his trousers down, his barearse going up and down as he pushed himself into her best friend. She made a big show of checking her watch.
‘I’d better shout Jessie again.’
‘Don’t worry.’ Paulette blew raspberries on Poppy’s tummy much to her delight. ‘I’ll look after her until he surfaces.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course.’ She smiled. ‘You’re a good mother, Sarah. And you’re providing for her too. You’re doing a great job. Now, off you go, before you’re late.’
On the bus to the factory, Sarah thanked her lucky stars for Paulette. She thought back to what her own mother had said to her when she’d told her she was pregnant. She hadn’t seen her for three months now. Unless she called round with Poppy, Mum never wanted to know. She never rang to see how she was. It was the same with Louisa. Out of sight, out of mind. She was a nobody to her family, and yet she didn’t understand why.
Sarah had never felt so lonely. Most of her friends were out enjoying themselves, not lumbered with children. Okay, some of them had got pregnant early on but there were lots more that were working and their money wasn’t going on family stuff. They were buying clothes and shoes and handbags, going out in the evenings to enjoy themselves. Doing normal things that teenagers did.
Even her best friend, Hannah, had dropped off now.When Poppy was first born, Hannah had been there for her. She’d helped her with the feeds, kept her company when she was tired and Poppy wasn’t sleeping well. She’d even taken Poppy out on occasions to give her a break.
But that had stopped when the novelty wore off. When Poppy began to do more than sleep, and became more demanding. Sarah had to cancel no end of nights out and soon the invites dried up. The last she’d seen of Hannah was when she’d bumped into her in town and she’d said she was off to meet Jade for coffee. She’d asked her to come along too, but with Poppy in tow, who would want that? And it had been clear from Hannah’s face that it had been small talk rather than a proper invite.
Still, Sarah had Poppy to think about now and that was all that mattered to her. She was thinking of going back to college that autumn, perhaps to catch up on the course she’d been halfway through. There was a creche and she was hoping to drop Poppy off there when she had lectures and classes. Sarah wasn’t one for settling. She wanted to do the best for her, and Poppy, come what may.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
It hadn’t taken long before Louisa noticed what was going on with Sarah and Richard. She could see it in Sarah’s eyes, the way she glanced at him. She could spot it in his mannerisms, the way he looked at Sarah. They were sleeping together, and neither of them seemed to be bothered that she might find out.
It stung that her sister would do that to her. Yet Louisa realised she wasn’t capable of giving Richard what he needed any more. Louisa could barely look after herself, let alone Richard and Daisy. Her life was a total mess.Shewas a mess too. She was no worse than Mum, dependent on drugs rather than alcohol.
She recalled how she’d been when she first arrived at White Oaks. Living here back then was like a dream come true. She’d adored it. She’d loved Richard too for a time, but it seemed she’d become a burden to him.More often than not, she wondered if he’d had enough of her.
And if Sarahwassleeping with him, her sister certainly hadn’t seen his wild side yet. He’d obviously kept his temper under control. Not like he did with her.
She hadn’t wanted to say anything until she had more evidence. But it would break her if she had to see them laughing and joking again. And then yesterday when she’d been looking out on the garden, she was sure she had seen themtogether.
So the question had been on her mind for quite some time before she said anything to Sarah. They were in the kitchen at the time, just the two of them.
