‘We do – I couldn’t ask for a better boss and even though Jilly and I go way back, Clare and I seem to have really hit it off.’
‘I’m pleased for you.’
Veronica sat and finished her tea as Sam went upstairs. And when Audrey finally barrelled through the door after doing homework at her friend Vicky’s, she put the kettle on again and this time Veronica enjoyed the company of her granddaughter, who seemed to be blossoming right before their very eyes. And, it seemed, so was her mum.
Charlie had stopped by the house a lot before Sam came to Mapleberry, but he was round even more often these days. They were all in the hallway as he and Layla waved goodbye, Charlie talking about the café and how he’d like his regular table by the window at eleven o’clock today if Sam could possibly arrange it.
Veronica grinned as she filled the little watering can to feed the remaining houseplants in the lounge. Layla had done a few of them already after they’d finished their secret piano lesson and before her dad came over nice and early to walk her to school. Nice and early to see Sam more like, and Veronica loved to see the pair of them getting close. He and Sam were alike in more ways than one, solo parenting, both doing right by their children and putting their own happiness second at best. And Charlie was a far better man that Simon had ever been. Not that Simon was a bad man: he was easy on the eye, friendly enough, held down a good job, and provided for wife and daughter. Until he’d left them to run off with someone else.
When Veronica found Sam in the kitchen, her daughter had a smile that could’ve taken the place of the sunshine outside if it had bothered to put in an appearance today. It was one of those grim autumn mornings where the only leaves on the pavement would be damp, the wind blew sideways and any beauty of autumn colours from the vantage point in her house tended to get overlooked by miserable black clouds passing overhead.
‘I’m off to work now,’ Sam told her, scooping up her keys and phone.
‘Enjoy your day,’ Veronica said, wishing she could be a fly on the wall to see how Charlie and Sam got on at their pre-arranged rendezvous. Maybe she shouldn’t call it that, but there was always hope.
Sam grinned. ‘I keep forgetting you’ve changed your hair and then I catch sight of you and it takes me by surprise.’
‘You’re not the only one,’ said Veronica.
‘I’m pleased you did it.’
‘And I’m pleased that you’re pleased. And I emailed you Tanya’s contact details.’
‘Thanks, I’m desperate for an appointment – I’ll book her in now before I go to work and hopefully get a spot before the end of the week.’
Veronica mopped up the water around the base of her spider plant on the mantelpiece and then emptied out the remains of the watering can in the kitchen. She started to flip through her recipe book to see what to cook tonight. Audrey was supposed to be helping her so it couldn’t be anything that took too much time. For once Audrey was knuckling down. This new school had clearly been a bit of a magic ingredient, that and the discussions that had seen Sam suggesting that if she did well with her GCSEs then a college course of her choice would be a lot more likely.
When she looked up as Sam came back into the room, she knew something was wrong.
‘Bloody Simon,’ Sam cursed.
Veronica’s heart sank. ‘He’s got the visa, hasn’t he? He’s taking her away from us.’ Somewhere in the mess of all of this, Audrey had become a shared entity, a part of both their lives, and Veronica would be heartbroken if she left.
Sam looked as though her mind was racing at a million miles an hour and couldn’t quite let anything else into her head right now. ‘What? No, no he’s not.’
‘Then what’s the matter?’
‘He hasn’t put any of the wheels in motion.’
‘Well, that’s good isn’t it? You don’t want her to go – perhaps between them they’ve decided it’s not the best decision.’
‘No, it’s not that. Audrey is still looking into it, still pestering him to help her do it.’ She swore again, very unladylike but this was no time for manners. ‘He wrote back to me and said he loves Audrey, but he doesn’t want her to go and live with him. He says he’s started a new life, he’s married to someone else now and they have two kids. He says this won’t work.’
‘The selfish—’
‘What am I going to do? I’ve moved heaven and earth to make sure Audrey never hated him for leaving us, never knew he’d been unfaithful, that his selfishness broke up our marriage and he never looked back. I wanted her to have a relationship with him; I didn’t want to poison her mind against him. And now, now I have to tell her that her own father doesn’t want her enough. This will totally crush her.’
‘Why did he make her believe he did want her to join him over there? I don’t understand.’
‘Because that’s what he does!’ Sam’s voice rose, taking Veronica by surprise. ‘He’s always the one to come out on top, I’m always the bad guy, he’s been stalling all this time and now I have to tell her!’
Veronica’s throat went dry. It was like history repeating itself because what Sam didn’t realise was that the way she’d described Simon – how he was the father who could do no wrong, the man her daughter worshipped – was a stark reminder of Veronica’s own marriage. Sam had worshipped Herman till the day he died in just the same way – but Sam had never been able to see it.
Veronica watched Sam snatch up her phone and her bag ready to bundle out the door to work before she
