‘It’s like getting into Oxford wasn’t enough, you know?’ Alexandra’s voice was filled with an all-too-familiar fury. ‘It’s like, whatever I do, it won’t be enough unless it is exactly what they’d planned for me.’
Raven nodded. Even though she’d been taught not to nod at the training sessions, she’d learnt from experience that if you were really listening to someone, you couldn’t help but nod. It was a biochemical reaction or something. She’d have to check on that. She was only three years into her psychiatry degree so she still had quite a way to go before she understood all of the why and wherefores, but she was pretty comfortable when it came to this terrain. The ‘please your parents’ turf. She asked, ‘What do you think it is they want you to do?’
‘Oh, you know,’ huffed Alexandra, ‘Graduate with honours, then get a masters or a PhD and make loads of money so that they can brag to everyone about what brilliant parents they are.’
‘I know this might sound weird, but do you think it’s their way of keeping you safe?’ Raven began to doodle, a crayoned flower appearing amidst the spirals and swirls and other shapes that covered the piece of paper she probably should’ve been taking notes on, but had decided her ‘counselees’ should see. Feeling as if you were being inspected, when what you really wanted was to be heard, was annoying. So, she listened. Listened and doodled and pushed bits of felt and coloured pens around and, sometimes when she had a bit of extra money because her mum had filled her freezer with loads of homemade food, glitter. She had a weakness for glitter.
‘I dunno. I suppose if you wanted to look at things that way, you could.’
Raven tapped the table and drew Alexandra’s eyeliner-rimmed eyes up to her own. ‘They’re probably a bit freaked.’
‘What? Why?’
‘You know. They’ve been looking after you for eighteen years – like a job. And now all of a sudden – they don’t wield the power they used to. It must be freaky.’
‘Oh,’ Alexandra laughed a dry, angry laugh. ‘They’re not letting go of the reins that easily. Let me assure you.’
Raven pushed a few crayons in Alexandra’s direction. This might take a few more sessions. Who knew? Maybe they’d meet all year. The student-to-student counselling sessions were cool like that. Flexible. A lot like Raven had become after her ride when everything changed all over again.
She had moved back into her parents’ a couple of weeks after they’d got back from Northumberland and, much to her delight, so had Sue. Little, timorous, lovely Sue had put her house on the market and applied to Oxford-Brookes to retrain as a paramedic. Raven had somehow managed to convince Oxford University she really actually did want to go there, but she’d been taking some time out to ‘fine tune her academic wants and needs’ which, much to her surprise, took the form of training to become an art therapist. She was going to become a proper shrink so she could write prescriptions if necessary, but if her parents’ pharmacy was anything to go by, it was a path she would try and avoid. Why take drugs to mask what you were feeling if you didn’t have to? Yeah, facing some of life’s hurdles was painful, but … realising you could leap over them? Fucking epic.
THREE YEARS AND ONE WEEK LATER
‘Well, would you look at that,’ Sue’s father cleared his throat and began a weird nodding thing that Sue expected was keeping some tears at bay. ‘It fits like a glove. Well. A hat glove. As if it was made for you, anyway.’
‘Do you think?’ Sue couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. Little Sue Green, wearing a mortar board and gown.
‘You look ever so clever, Suey.’ Bev genuinely did look proud. She threw a look back at Katie. ‘Doesn’t she look clever, Katie. Our Suey?’
‘Mmm,’ said Katie, still a bit miffed that Sue’s graduation had fallen in the midst of the children’s half term when she had been hoping to take them sand dune surfing in Germany. Flo had recommended it apparently. For core strengthening. But Dean had overruled her and insisted they stay here.
‘Here she is!!!!’ Flo bustled up to the group, Captain George walking alongside her without so much as a limp. ‘Stu! Stu get over here.’ She leant into Sue and said conspiratorially, ‘He keeps bossing me round, telling me how to train the new puppy, so I thought I’d give him a go and let him see what it was like handling a mad thing.’
Sue thought Stuart had probably had more than enough experience with mad things, but was too happy to tease Flo about it. ‘Thanks so much for coming. I can’t believe you’re here after having just been in Australia.’
‘What? We wouldn’t have missed it for the world! Besides. What better way to knock the jet lag out of our system, eh? Bit of sunshine, an inspirational story. Hey. Do you think they’d let an oldie like me in the back of your ambo—’
Flo laughed hysterically before Sue could find a kind way to say not really, no. ‘Only joshing you, love. I’m quite busy enough with the new pup and you’ll never guess. Stu’s teaching me how to golf! We’ll most likely need you to dog-sit again if you’re free in about four weeks’ time?’
Sue laughed and smiled. She loved dog-sitting at the Wilsons. Especially in the autumn when Flo gave her free rein to fill up their freezer with all of the cakes she made alongside Bake Off.
There was a call on the tannoy for all of the graduates to make their way to the front of the outdoor seating area.
‘Sue!’ Raven ran up, her parents in tow. ‘We made it!’
Sue pulled them all into a huge hug. They’d been such a help over the past few years. She had lived with them right
