The Truth About You (14 page)

Tierney shrugged. ‘You’re totally sad, do you know that? Now turn the telly over before I whack you.’

‘No. It’s not your telly, it belongs to everyone. If you want to watch Songz then go back to your room.’

‘Mum, I swear, I’m going to do some serious damage if he doesn’t give me that remote.’

‘Where’s Skye?’ Lainey asked, starting to butter a pile of toast.

Tierney flicked back her hair. ‘She’s . . . still getting ready. Now will you please tell him . . .’

‘Oh,
shut up
, Tierney,’ Lainey snapped. ‘If your father was here you wouldn’t be watching the TV at breakfast anyway.’

‘Only because he always has to have the news on. I just want to finish watching this
one
video, OK? Is that really too much to ask?’

‘Zav was there first, now sit down and eat your breakfast or go back upstairs. I don’t care which, just stop shouting and upsetting everyone’s day before it’s even begun.’

‘It’s not me, it’s him,’ Tierney seethed, elbowing Zav as she sat down at the table. ‘If he’d do as he was told . . .’ She broke off as a pan suddenly crashed on to the floor.

‘If you’d damned well do as
you
were told and
shut up
,’ Lainey raged, ‘we could have a bit of peace around here.’

‘Oh my God,’ Tierney murmured, ‘she’s losing it.’

Clasping her hands to her head, Lainey cried, ‘Yes, I’m losing it, and do you know why? It’s
you.
You’re so damned rude all the time, and you wait till I tell your father about the way you behaved with Nadia on Saturday, totally ignoring her and refusing to keep her company. Then you had the gall to tell me, thank God after she’d gone, that she’s boring. How dare you say that about someone who’s known you all your life and has only ever been kind to you? What’s the matter with you, Tierney? You’re turning into someone I don’t know, and frankly I can’t say I like you very much.’

‘Well I don’t fucking like you either,’ Tierney shot back. ‘You’re always getting on my case about stuff and . . .’

‘Hey, it’s the happy Hollingsworths,’ Max shouted over her as he came through the door. ‘Can anyone join in?’

‘I wouldn’t bother if I were you,’ Tierney snorted, ‘she’s in a vile mood.’

‘Tierney, one more word out of you,’ Lainey warned, ‘and you’re grounded for a week.’

Tierney looked about to protest before thinking better of it.

‘Where’s the alpha male?’ Max asked, grabbing a slice of toast. ‘Don’t tell me, in the gym.’

‘Why are you dressed like that?’ Lainey demanded.

Max glanced down at his smart pale grey suit and clean white shirt. ‘I’m going to work,’ he told her.

She blinked.

‘Christie’s dad gave me a job,’ he explained. ‘It’s only while his regular receptionist is off, but it’ll get Dad off my back, and give me some spending money for Italy. When are we going, by the way?’

Since she’d reserved the flights in a fit of fury, or defiance, while she’d been waiting for Tom yesterday, Lainey was about to answer when Tierney said, ‘I hope you haven’t forgotten that I’m not coming.’

Lainey saw red again. ‘I’ll tell you what,’ she raged, ‘why don’t I go on my own?’ and slamming down a tea towel she stormed off into the hall, almost colliding with Skye as she came down the stairs.

‘Wow, what’s wrong with your mum?’ Skye asked quietly as she entered a silent kitchen.

Tierney glanced at Max. ‘Must be her time of the month,’ she suggested. ‘Or she’s had a row with Dad.’

‘Where is he?’ Max asked again. ‘I thought he was coming back yesterday.’

Tierney shrugged. ‘Haven’t seen him.’

‘Hey, look at you in that suit,’ Skye said teasingly as she shimmied up to Max. His eyebrows rose and a grin crooked one side of his mouth as she whispered in his ear.

‘Do you have to do that here?’ Tierney snapped. ‘Some of us are trying to eat our breakfasts.’

‘I’ve finished mine,’ Zav declared, pushing his bowl away. ‘I’m going to find Mum.’

After he’d gone Skye peered playfully at Tierney. ‘So, have you heard anything this morning?’ she asked.

Colour instantly suffused Tierney’s cheeks as her eyes shot to Max. ‘What do you mean?’ she demanded, trying to kick Skye under the table.

‘You know what I mean.’ Skye flicked back her hair.

Apparently catching on, Max broke into a grin as he said, ‘So what’s his name, T?’

‘None of your business,’ Tierney snapped, but in spite of herself she was starting to smile. She
loved
talking about him, even if she couldn’t say much to Max, and since she’d woken up to a text saying
Good Morning Beautiful
all she really wanted to think about was him. Definitely not her mother, who was in a seriously foul mood and actually really needed to get over herself.

But still . . . Maybe she should follow Zav and go and make sure she was all right.

She was about to get up when Lainey came back into the kitchen. Though her face was still strained, her tone was much gentler as she said, ‘I’m sorry I lost my temper. It’s no way to send you off to an exam, so can we be friends again?’

Going to her, Tierney gave her a loving hug.

Lainey looked at Max. ‘What time do you have to be at work?’ she asked.

Glancing at his watch, Max said, ‘I guess I ought to be going. Any chance of borrowing some cash for petrol? I’m pretty low and . . .’

‘How much do you need?’

Startled by the quick response, he found himself eating air.

‘Twenty? Fifty?’

His eyes widened. ‘Fifty would be good. I’ll pay you back,’ he assured her.

Taking the notes from her purse, Lainey handed them over and turned to busy herself at the sink. ‘We need to leave here in ten minutes,’ she told Tierney and Skye.

They shot out of the kitchen, needing to finish their make-up before they left. Max tucked the cash into his inside pocket and was gone.

Taking a deep breath, Lainey allowed the quiet to settle around her, trying to use it as a calming force. She had to get a better grip, somehow separate what was happening between her and Tom – whatever that was – from what she needed to be and do for the children.

Thank God Vicky Morrison had texted just now to remind her she was doing the school run. She’d completely forgotten.

Where was Zav? She’d told him to go and clean his teeth.

Her eyes closed as a wave of dread swept out of nowhere. She might have no idea who Julia was, but what she did know was that she loved Tom more than anything and no way was she going to give him up.

Ring,
she muttered desperately.
Get yourself to a place where there’s a decent reception and call me. What on earth can be so difficult about that?

By the time Lainey drove back into the village, after dropping off the children and detouring to meet Stacy for a coffee, it was almost eleven o’clock and still no word from Tom. It was unsettling her badly now, but somehow she had to put it out of her mind or she was going to drive herself crazy.

Surely to God he wasn’t really going to leave them.

Maybe he already had.

Stop doing this to yourself, just stop.

She couldn’t imagine her life without Tom, didn’t even want to, so she must clear her head and focus on getting her father and Sherman to the vet by one o’clock. Taking the dog for a check-up was always difficult, mainly because she knew the day was drawing close when the vet would say that his time had come. She didn’t even want to think about how her dad was going to manage without his precious friend – or how empty the house would seem. As quiet and obedient as Sherman was, his wonderful presence amongst them was so filled with love and loyalty that it would be as though something vital had gone from their midst when he went.

As tears welled in her eyes, she tried to fight them back. Tom would come home today, and Sherman was going to be fine. She just had to stop being pathetic and get on with her life.

Ironically, she was due to spend the afternoon masquerading as Tom on Facebook and Twitter, responding to the dozens, perhaps hundreds of messages that had piled up over the weekend. What was she supposed to say when they hadn’t had their usual Monday morning briefing over breakfast? This was when he generally gave her one or two tantalising details of plot for his readers to scoop up and discuss amongst themselves in their chat rooms. The feedback often proved highly entertaining for Lainey, and she’d share it with Tom over dinner.

It wouldn’t be happening today – apart from anything else he hadn’t written anything for over a week, or not that she knew of anyway.

Emerging from Bannerleigh’s narrow cobbled high street to start skirting the village green, she frowned curiously to see a group of people straggling on to the road. Slowing the car, she was about to ask one of her neighbours what was happening when she glimpsed her father and Sherman at the heart of proceedings. Turning into the pub car park, she jumped out of the estate and felt her heart swelling with love and sadness as she heard her father reciting lines from what sounded like Shelley’s ‘Arethusa’. Why that poem on this day she doubted even he knew – he simply selected a work at random from the part of his memory that still stored his favourites and put his heart and soul into speaking them aloud.

As she joined the back of the group she sensed that he was only now beginning to register his audience, and the attention was daunting him. He began to stumble over the words, but seemed determined to press on as though afraid of letting them down. Moving forward, Lainey gently added her voice to his to help him to the end. ‘
Like spirits that lie In the azure sky When they love but live no more,’
they chorused together.

Taking his arm, she smiled and bowed as the onlookers applauded and he blinked in confusion.

‘It’s all right,’ she whispered, ‘we can go home now.’

He nodded and grasped her hand as she eased him past people he’d known for years, but didn’t recognise now.

‘I was keeping an eye out,’ Anita Box, the pub’s landlady, assured her as they got to the car park.

‘Thanks,’ Lainey smiled, knowing Anita would have put a stop to anyone mocking him. At least he had all his clothes on today; a couple of weeks ago Anita had brought him back in her car because he’d ventured out wearing only pants and an overcoat.

After settling him in the front passenger seat of the estate, and accepting the help of a young barman to lift Sherman into the back compartment, she drove on out of the village and a couple of minutes later they were stopping in front of the cattle grid to empty the mailbox. As usual there was a good handful of letters, and a couple of packages for Tom. The fact that she usually opened his mail gave her a moment’s relief from the tension, since he’d surely never have allowed that if he had something to hide. A beat later the tightness of worry was back. Only a fool would take heart from such a hollow source of comfort, when there were so many other methods of communication these days.

‘At sunrise they leap From their cradles steep In the cave of the shelving hill,’
Peter murmured as they carried on along the drive.

Lainey smiled over at him. ‘
At noontide they flow Through the woods below And the meadows of asphodel,’
she recited.

Peter took a breath that turned into a wavering sigh.

‘Would you like to come to the vet with us?’ Lainey asked him.

He nodded absently and continued to gaze out of the window.

Deciding she’d better take him in case he wandered down to the village without Sherman to keep him safe, she drove around the back of the house, and seeing Tom’s car her heart gave a painful lurch.

Not sure whether she was more relieved or anxious, she came to a stop and unbuckled her father’s seat belt. After making sure he was safely out and steady on his feet, she went to help Sherman.

‘Here, let me,’ Tom said, coming out of the house.

Unable to look at him, she replied, ‘I can manage, thanks.’

He stood back, but as she struggled to heft Sherman’s weight he stepped in again and took him.

‘There you go,’ he said softly, putting the dog on the ground.

Lainey took hold of her father’s arm, and as she led him inside she could sense Tom’s awkwardness. Was he feeling like an outsider in his own home, as though he didn’t belong here any more?

Please God, don’t let that be true.

She didn’t know how to handle this. What was she supposed to say? More than anything she wanted to feel his arms around her, hear his words of reassurance, but considering what he’d put her through these past two days she knew that wasn’t going to happen.

‘He needs a shave,’ Tom commented as he joined them inside. ‘Would you like me to take him up?’

Somehow keeping her voice steady, she said, ‘It’s OK, I can do it.’ If she was going to have to manage without him she might as well start now. The dread of it buckled her inside. How could he behave as though everything was normal when it was anything but?

‘We need to talk,’ he said quietly.

‘Yes, we do,’ she agreed, still unable to meet his eyes. ‘But I’m afraid everything can’t happen to your schedule. Dad needs a shower and then I’m due to take him and Sherman to the vet.’

Tom nodded slowly, and made the mistake of glancing at his watch.

‘I’m sorry, do you have to be somewhere?’ she snapped.

For a moment he seemed to be on the verge of replying, but in the end he simply went to answer the phone.

Without waiting to find out who it was, Lainey steered her father along the hall, and by the time she’d finished sprucing him and brought him back downstairs Tom had dealt with several more calls, something he rarely did on what was supposed to be a writing day. Their schedule stated that today – in fact, the whole of this week – was set aside for writing. He wasn’t even in his study, he was still hovering about the kitchen seeming not to know what to do with himself.

‘Lainey . . .’ he began.

‘Max has a job,’ she declared, cutting him off.

He took a breath.

‘He’s standing in for the receptionist at Terry Flint’s kitchen showroom.’

‘Well, I guess it’s better than nothing, and at least it’ll earn him some money for Italy.’