Page 54 of Second Chances at the Board Game Café

‘You can play Ticket to Ride some other time, Max. I’ll buy you a copy. But please, let me stay home tonight and keep an eye on you.’

But he was adamant. ‘Sylvia always comes on Mondays. Always.’

‘Always’ being the last few weeks, Taylor thought. But what harm could it do to leave him with Sylvia? She was a grandmother, after all, so perfectly capable of monitoring Max for any ill effects from his injury.

‘I won’t cancel Sylvia on one condition,’ she said. ‘Tell me how you fell off the climbing frame.’

This probably wasn’t good mother tactics – she was practically blackmailing him to explain about the ‘accident’ – but she knew she wouldn’t get it out of him otherwise, and if she was going to see the headteacher the following morning, she needed the facts.

‘I fell,’ Max said sullenly.

‘But how did you fall, Max? And why were you even on a climbing frame? You don’t like climbing frames.’

‘I just was.’

‘Max, please.’

‘It was a dare, that’s all.’

‘A dare?’

‘They said they’d let me play if I did it.’

Taylor bit her lip and looked away from him for a second, blinking back tears. ‘When someone dares you to do something, Max, you don’t have to do it.’

‘I know, I know.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Can I go and play with my trains now?’

‘So how did you fall off?’

‘They dared me to let go with my hands. And I wobbled. Can I go now?’

‘Yeah, sure.’

A dare, she thought as he disappeared upstairs. It wasn’t as bad as she’d feared; she was certain he’d been going to say that another child had pushed him off that climbing frame. But it was sad that he was so desperate to join in, so desperate for friends, that he’d agreed to do something he didn’t enjoy for a dare.

Despite the fact that he wanted her to go and despite assurances from Sylvia that she’d look after Max as if he were one of her own, Taylor still felt guilty as she waited for the train to Essendale that evening. Guilt seemed to be a constant companion these days; not only did she feel guilty that she was leaving Max, but she also felt guilty that she didn’t know how to stop all this crap happening to him at school. And guilty about all the time she spent sewing. Guilty too about how things had ended with Harry.

‘Hi Taylor.’

Ava appeared by her side, carrying a carrier bag so stuffed full that clothes appeared to be trying to escape from the top.

‘You’ve been busy,’ Taylor said.

‘Yeah, it’s official. I love upcycling. How’s Max?’

‘Max? He’s fine, thanks. Why?’

The conversation was interrupted then as the train pulled into the station. Taylor followed Ava into one of the carriages and sat down opposite her.

‘Why did you ask about Max?’ she said as the train began to move.

‘Ollie said he was pushed off the climbing frame today,’ Ava said.

‘Pushed?’

‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I thought you’d know.’

Taylor looked out of the window at the trees rushing by, trying to collect her thoughts. She could see her own startled reflection in the glass, her jaw open, her brow furrowed. ‘He said he fell.’