‘Leave?’ Lauren honked. ‘I’m not going anywhere without my daughter!’
‘Now there’s a first,’ came a voice from behind us. Luke.
I spun around, which caused Jack’s arm to fall off my shoulder.
‘Oh, Luke…’ I whispered, but he strode straight over to Jess and took her in his arms. ‘Are you okay, sweetie?’
And then he noticed the blackened corner in the kitchen. ‘What happened here?’ he demanded, and as I opened my mouth to answer, Lauren threw herself into a tirade against us all. When she was done, Luke looked up at me in shock. He said nothing, but the expression on his face was clear: You left my daughter with your neighbour?
It was my fault, and my fault only. And I shouldn’t have trusted an electrician who had only glanced at the wiring.
After a few moments, as I stood by the kitchen sink, still wringing my hands like a useless git in contrition, Lauren took Luke aside and informed him that she was back, and had no intention of going away again.
She followed him through the front door and they paused on the threshold, as – I could tell by the slant of his body – he was becoming angrier and angrier. I had blown it big time. I had put his child’s life in jeopardy. Had there ever existed a woman as stupid as myself? Lauren was right. I had no right to be in charge of Jess.
‘Jack,’ I croaked. ‘You’d better go.’ I didn’t want him to hear any more of this.
He turned to me. ‘You must be joking. I’m not leaving you with those two.’
‘It’s okay, really. She’s just upset. I’d be the same. So go.’
He wasn’t convinced. ‘Are you sure?’
I nodded. ‘I can handle it. I’ll just explain everything to him.’
Jack took my elbows and looked straight into my eyes. ‘I’m a phone call away, Nina. If you need me, I’ll come running. Okay?’
‘’Kay,’ I sniffed. ‘Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there…’
‘I’ll always be there, Nina. Always.’
I hugged him. He felt solid and warm and strong. He felt like… home within a home.
‘Okay, then. I’ll call you tomorrow morning.’
I swiped at my eyes and attempted a smile. ‘Tomorrow morning…’
With one last look and a lingering caress of my arm, he stalked out the front door, but not without stopping to say something to Luke, who shook his head.
When Lauren finally left, not without one last venomous look my way, Luke came back in, his face ashen.
‘What? What is it?’ I asked, pulling out a chair for him.
He plonked himself down, his eyes unfocused. ‘She’s moving back to LA and wants back into our lives and if I put up a fight, she’s going to contact her lawyer.’
33
The Crying Game
After a sleepless night, the dawn seemed even grimmer as I crept downstairs to make some coffee. And to take Luke’s temperature. He had been odd with me last night, and I had waited for him, if not to come to my room as Ben was sleeping with me, but to at least send me a text where he said that he wasn’t angry with me, and that it was just all one big mess-up. But I guessed it was a little too much to ask of him.
While the kettle boiled, I called Dr Richards to ask about Callie, hoping that it hadn’t all been for naught, and that at least one good thing would come of that horrible night.
‘She’s in and out of it because of the drugs, but her vital signs are stabilising. Hopefully you can come pick her up tomorrow, by which time we expect her to be out of the woods.’
‘Oh, Lisa, thank you, thank you!’ I nearly sobbed all over again. ‘Can we come by today?’
‘Best to let her sleep, plus she’s riddled with tubes – it would only upset the kids to see her like that.’
‘Okay, I understand. See you tomorrow then. And thank you so much, Lisa.’
A moment later Luke surfaced, his expression stony, and I smiled weakly as I passed him a steaming cup of please-forgive-me coffee, which he took with a soft grunt. Now Luke had to fight Lauren to keep the child he had raised since she was a baby, and it was all my fault.
‘I just checked in on them. They’re fast asleep,’ I whispered, not because I was afraid of waking anyone, but because I could barely speak over my sense of mortification that had accompanied me all night, weighing down on my heart like a demolition ball.
‘She’s young and resilient, Luke. She’ll get over it.’
Luke put his mug down on the counter and turned to me, his face set. ‘I’ve made a decision. I’m taking Jessica back home for a bit. I’ll need my wits about me, and I’ll need to be on home turf to fight Lauren. I’ll call you when this has all blown over, okay?’
He was leaving, just like that? Not asking my opinion about any of it, just… leaving. He blamed me. Only he was too polite to come out and say it.
I nodded. ‘Of course.’ What else could I say?
‘Okay.’
I swallowed. ‘Luke, for what it’s worth, I am truly, truly sorry.’
He patted my hand. Quickly, cursorily. ‘I know. But it’s not your fault, really. I’m going to book my flights now,’ he said and padded across the open space and up the stairs again. The bit of dialogue that changed my life had lasted less than a minute.
*
Luke and Jessica’s flight was the next evening. We were all a wreck, of course, but not as much as Jessica and Chloe.
‘I don’t want to go, Dad,’ Jessica pleaded as Luke brought their luggage to
