Page 63 of A Class Act

‘So,’ Jayden went on, removing plates to the kitchen sink before sitting down once again. ‘That meal, Jess, confirms what I keep saying about you and cooking. You need to turn professional.’

‘I’m not a footballer.’ Jess pulled a face but I knew she was pleased at the praise.

Jayden looked at his watch. ‘It’s going up to eight. Where’s Sorrel?’

‘Jayden, Mum had this most evenings and didn’t get anywhere.’ Jess was cross again.

‘I’m going out looking for her.’ He went to stand. ‘She’s not been home since school finished.’

‘Oh? And where will you start?’ I asked.

‘Well,’ he conceded, sitting down again and reaching for his roll-ups, ‘as soon as she gets in, I’m having words.’

‘Not in here, Jayden,’ Jess instructed, eyeing the cigarettes. ‘Lola, go and make sure your reading’s done, then start getting ready for bed.’

‘But I want to stay here and listen…’

‘Go. Now.’

‘OK,’ I said, turning to Jayden once Lola was out of earshot. ‘You know, Jayden, we never really knew how you met Mum?’

Jayden settled himself back on the kitchen chair. ‘I met your mum when she was just sixteen. Sorrel’s age, just about.’

‘Gosh, thatisyoung. How old were you?’ Jess was disapproving.

‘Almost twenty.’

‘Too old for her,’ I said, pulling a face. ‘Would you like to think of Sorrel being with some boy – some bloke – four years older?’

‘It was different then. Well, it seemed to be. Every gig I managed to get in the pubs and clubs around here, in Bradford, across in Huddersfield, your mum turned up.’

‘Really? By herself? Going into pubs and clubs by herself? At sixteen?’

Jayden nodded. ‘Sometimes with a girlfriend, but usually by herself.’

‘What were her parents thinking of? Letting her do that?’

‘She hated them.’ Jayden looked longingly at his roll-ups but they remained where they were. ‘As you know, she was adopted at birth.’

‘Yes, we know.’ Jess was impatient, looking at her watch, eyeing the pile of washing up waiting in the sink.

‘Her adopted father was a head teacher.’

‘Really? We never knewthat. I mean, we always had some idea that he was a teacher, but not actually running a school. Not actually a headteacher. Fancy that!’

‘At one of the most prestigious public schools in the area. He was incredibly strict with your mum; she was their only child, was actually a pupil at the school…’

‘Mum went topublic school?’ I stared. ‘She didn’t! When we’ve talked about where she went to school, she’s always said the local comp where she grew up near Sheffield. Blimey, no wonder she’s so articulate… I can’t believe she kept that to herself. Why did she lie about it? Why haveyounever told us, Jayden?’

‘She just didn’t want to be reminded of who her parents were, never wanted you girls to have anything to do with them. Really unpleasant bloke he was, by all accounts, and Lisa’s mum wasn’t much better. Once she ran away from them when she was seventeen, she never went back. You might not think it, but your mum is a survivor and Sorrel, well, Sorrel, out of the three of you, is the most like her.’

‘Mum is a survivor?’ Both Jess and I spoke as one. ‘Despite,’ I went on, ‘you not being there for her?’

‘She’s a survivor,’ Jayden reiterated irritably. ‘Look how she brought you two up. I hold my hands up to not being the best dad on the planet.’

Jess gave a cynical squawk of agreement. ‘You’re not kidding.’

‘But your mum gave everything she’d got to bringing you two up.’ Jayden reached for his roll-up tin once more. ‘We just need to sort Sorrel out now, before Lisa’s out of hospital.’

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