‘We didn’t always get on,’ she explained. ‘He pushed me to do well at school, to aspire to a career that would offer me a future. I’d told him I wanted to study psychology at university and he hated the idea. He said I had a real flair for maths and sciences and I should be studying those. He died before we ever got to finish that argument. I did do psychology, got my degree and thought I knew which direction I was headed in. But then things got so bad at home, I couldn’t focus on the career I really wanted.’ It didn’t help that as well as losing her father, she’d lost touch with her brother, Eddie, too. But they didn’t talk about him. Not ever. ‘I got a job in a customer services department answering the phones, I made friends there, and I found myself enjoying life at long last. I met Simon, saw my escape route from Mapleberry, moved to Cheshire with him when we married, and we had Audrey. After that I wanted part-time work and my experience was in customer services. I’d fallen into the role initially but I kept working hard at it, Dad’s voice constantly in my head, and a series of promotions finally led me into management.’
‘Tell me, what would you have done if you hadn’t fallen into that job?’
Surprised by the question and more so by the fact she knew the answer straight away, she told him, ‘I always wanted to be an educational psychologist.’
‘You’ll have to help me out. What’s one of those?’
‘It’s applying psychology to help children who have special educational needs, such as autism, anxiety, dyslexia. It would mean working with children and families; I wanted to make a difference to them and make their lives easier. I wanted a career with people, not a desk job like I ended up with. I’m being really honest here,’ she frowned.
‘Never apologise for that.’ He held her gaze for a while before she looked away and he told her, ‘You know, I think you take after Veronica as well as your dad.’
She gulped because he was right. And she rarely gave it much thought.
A minibus from the Women’s Institute pulled up outside the café and it was all hands on deck, but not before Sam thanked Charlie for the talk. ‘I really appreciate it,’ she told him. ‘You’re a good listener.’
‘So I’ve been told.’ He finished the dregs of his coffee. ‘Now I’d better get home or my legs won’t be able to take me there. It was a twelve-hour shift, then the trauma of the school visit, and I need my bed.’
She tried not to think how good it would be to climb in beside Charlie, lie in his arms and be comforted by a man who she knew could take all her worries away. And as she was plunged into café mayhem with a group of women who settled in for the duration after they’d pulled four tables together, Sam realised that as well as Audrey settling in, she was finding her place in Mapleberry too. Was that even possible?
Sam felt like she was floating on a cloud – until she had a call to say the flat she was viewing at five o’clock today had already gone to someone else and that the other place she was due to view lunchtime tomorrow had been taken off the availability list when the owner decided to sell. On top of that bad news, she overheard the WI ladies talking about a planned trip to New Zealand, of all places!
Sam left the café that afternoon and on the bench outside she sat down, took out her phone, hooked the strand of hair that had blown from her ponytail behind her ear, and went into her email. As she’d listened to the woman in the café extolling the virtues of New Zealand, she’d been going over and over what she had to do. And now, she knew she had to email Simon. Enough was enough. If he was concocting a plan with her daughter to get her over there to join him in his exciting new life, she’d rather know more details sooner rather than later.
At least once she knew, Sam could do whatever it took to not lose her daughter entirely, the way her mum had done with her.
Chapter Four
Audrey
Audrey ran down the stairs to answer the door on Saturday morning, knowing it would be Layla. She’d been pestering her for days to do her make-up but with school work, Audrey hadn’t had a chance until now. Amazingly enough, the incentive of choosing to go on to make-up college if she worked hard at her GCSEs was spurring her on. She’d never worked this hard at school, but without the distractions from the nasty girls back in her previous school, as well as the novelty of a new environment, she’d got into a new routine.
She ushered Layla inside from the blustery autumn day. ‘Do you have the “you know what”?’
Layla nodded and attempted a wink although the movement was less than discreet. Luckily Gran was baking this morning so they wouldn’t be interrupted – they had something else to do other than the make-up and it was something Audrey had gradually begun to think about as her gran became all the more special in her life.
‘I thought I heard voices.’ Gran came along the hallway all smiles, dusting her hands on her apron. Not that Layla minded, she ran in for a hug anyway.
‘What are you making?’ Layla took off her shoes so she didn’t bring in the dirt from outside.
‘Bakewell tart this morning. You two go and have fun with the make-up – I’m in the middle of making pastry and I don’t want it to spoil. I’ll take a look at the kindness calendar later if you don’t mind.’
‘That was close,’ Layla giggled when Gran returned to her pastry and
