‘Sam, I can’t come up there and help. You know that.’ Her meek reply sounded weak even to her own ears. Her daughter was in crisis and as usual, she couldn’t save the day. By the sound of it, Audrey, the granddaughter she’d not been allowed to get to know apart from a quick hello on their brief visits, had got into trouble and been excluded from school, and according to Sam, that was the tip of the iceberg.
‘I don’t expect you to come here,’ said Sam as though it were obvious. Silence hovered between them until Sam spoke up again. ‘I need you to do something for me.’
Veronica almost spoke but any words dried up before she could say them.
‘I don’t ask for much…’ Sam went on.
She never asked for anything. And Veronica had never been able to help her before. Sam had never once asked her to babysit Audrey or even to step in when one of them was unwell, which must have happened somewhere down the line. Even when Sam got divorced from Simon, she hadn’t reached out to Veronica. The divorce had been revealed on a rare visit by Sam and Audrey when they came to Mapleberry for Auntie Dotty’s funeral, a farewell Veronica had no intention of participating in herself. But it was different for Sam. She’d got close to Auntie Dotty over the years. Dotty, Herman’s sister, had always looked down at Veronica, never approved of her brother’s new wife, and when Veronica showed weakness and could no longer hide her problems, Dotty always had one of those told-you-she-was-crazy looks on her face whenever she stopped by. She’d stepped in to help with Sam though and taken her to after-school clubs, out to the shops so she could buy something before she went out with her friends. Veronica had never been able to begrudge their relationship.
‘Mum, are you there?’ Sam was getting impatient now, adopting the same frustrated tone she often used with Veronica when she couldn’t be the mother she wanted her to be.
Veronica, leaning against the kitchen bench, cleared her throat. ‘I’m here.’
Sam’s voice juddered again, irritation replaced by worry. ‘I don’t know what to do with Audrey. I’m worried, about me, about her… If I don’t make a change, I’m scared I’ll lose her for good.’
Veronica held her breath, hoping her daughter had a plan, that she wouldn’t make the same mistakes as she had and drive a permanent wedge between herself and her daughter. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I want to send her to you,’ said Sam all of a sudden.
Veronica heard a big exhale down the phone. She knew how hard those words would’ve been for Sam to say, to admit she needed help from the one person she never thought she’d ever have to ask.
‘Mum, say something…’
Unsure of the reaction she’d get, she braved speaking up. ‘Surely you can’t think sending her here would be better than having her with you.’ They never spoke about it but Sam’s childhood hadn’t been a happy one and Veronica had played the starring role. ‘I barely know Audrey.’
‘Then maybe it’s about time you got to know her.’ Sam’s anger must have been brewing beneath the surface of all the other emotions she was feeling and now it was unleashed in a voice that said, you owe me, you can’t let me down again. ‘I’m begging you, Mum, I don’t know which way to turn.’ She garbled on about all the turmoil over the years since Simon had left. Veronica had never much liked him but now wasn’t the time to share her opinions.
By the time Veronica had finished on the phone with Sam, Layla’s inquisitiveness had seen her abandon the piano and come into the kitchen to find Veronica looking out of the kitchen window, wringing her hands in the tea towel she’d left lying on the draining board.
‘Can we keep this a secret from my daddy?’
Veronica turned and smiled, trying to get back to the girl who was here right now. ‘Keep what a secret?’
‘The piano playing. I want to come here and learn and then surprise him.’
‘I’m not sure I like keeping secrets, but I think on this occasion I can make an exception. Any special reason you want to surprise him?’
‘I just think it will make him happy. Like Mummy did when she played.’
When Bea knocked on the door, Layla winked at her and put a finger to her lips. Veronica repeated the action and sent Layla on her way.
In the quiet of her house and her own space, Veronica wondered how she was going to cope with having her teenage granddaughter come to stay with her. If she messed it up in any way, she’d fail Sam yet again and push her even further away.
But if she got it right, maybe – just maybe – she could put their fragile relationship back together again.
Chapter Four
Audrey
Audrey stomped down the stairs to ask her mother where the bigger suitcase was hiding. She still needed to pack before being sent to her gran’s in the middle of nowhere, like an evacuee being sent away for safety. Ridiculous. Sid was one of the few friends she had, and just because he knew how to have a laugh and joke, her mum thought they needed to be separated by more than one hundred and fifty miles. She’d at least had the decency to let Audrey send him a text message to tell him she was leaving.
Sid was a friend, nothing more. In fact, Sid was gay, the whole school knew. But her mum didn’t, so Audrey wasn’t going to be the one to enlighten her. Where was the fun in that?
‘Where were you anyway?’ Audrey called when Sam finally came back
