Page 86 of A Summer Scandal

‘Can we go outside?’ he asked, laying his hand on her shoulder. ‘I could do with some air.’

‘Have they checked you over properly?’ Gladys fussed, feeling his brow before sitting down alongside him on a bench outside.

‘I’m fine, Mum,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry about me.’

She shook her head and huffed softly. ‘I’m your mother, Calvin. I’ve worried about you since the day you were born.’

It was the most heartfelt thing she’d said to him in a long time.

‘Why were you there tonight?’ he asked.

Gladys clasped her hands in her lap. ‘I only ever wanted the best for you, you know,’ she said. ‘Oh, I know you think I’m an interfering old prude, but I know how this world works,’ she said. ‘Is it so wrong to want to see your son settled and secure?’

He shook his head. ‘No, of course it isn’t. But you can’t live my life for me either, Mum. Iamsettled and secure, just not in the way you want or expect me to be.’

He realised that she’d dodged answering his question and didn’t push her for an answer; no doubt she’d been coming to try and throw a spanner in the works any way she could manage.

‘I just wanted to see if you’d won your award,’ she said, so quiet he almost missed it.

‘Oh Mum,’ he said, exasperated. She’d always been there at every prize-giving assembly, the loudest clap in the room, the mum with the biggest shouts of encouragement on sports day. He knew why, of course. Losing her husband had left Gladys devastated, and perhaps she’d tried too hard to be both father and mother to him as he’d grown up. It hadn’t been too bad in his younger days, but they’d clashed badly when he’d hit his teenage years. He wasn’t all that proud of some of the things he’d said and done in his youth; for all her bravado, he knew his mum had a soft streak a mile wide, even though she went to great pains to hide it from most of Swallow Beach. She was a force to be reckoned with; it must have cost her dearly to confess to wanting to come and cheer him on tonight.

‘And then I hung around hoping to watch the fireworks,’ she said, sounding like a little girl. ‘I just wish I’d noticed that bar steward come and lock the gates earlier,’ she muttered. ‘I know I had those gates chained myself earlier in the summer, but to do it with people on the other side of them like that was wicked. Lambs to the slaughter.’ She shook her head. ‘I only shut my eyes for five minutes on that bench by the monument, knew the bangers would wake me up again.’

The idea of his mum snoozing alone on a bench with her briefcase clutched in her arms, excluded from the party, keeping an eye on him from the promenade fair broke his heart.

‘You were the hero of the night,’ he said, perilously close to tears. It had been the most frightening night of his life and his mum had waded in to save him.

‘I know you all laugh at my briefcase,’ she said. ‘Never know when it’s going to come in handy.’

He laughed softly and squeezed her shoulders, not letting go. ‘I love you, Mum.’

She leaned against him, her shoulders heaving. ‘I love you too, my stupid, wilful, wonderful boy.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

‘Are you warm enough?’

Violet bumped shoulders with Cal sitting alongside her on the sea wall. It was a cooler day than of late, overcast and grey.

‘I’m fine Cal. When are you going to stop worrying about me?’

It had been two weeks since the fire, two long, exhausting weeks. Vi had spent most of the first one in hospital being attended to by a constant carousel of visitors: Cal, her parents, Cal, Keris and Barty, Cal, Lucy and Beau, Gladys even, and Cal, always Cal. The haunted look had slowly left his eyes as she’d gathered her strength back and the doctors had confirmed no lasting damage to either Vi or their baby. Della had finally returned to Swallow Beach too; her parents were staying in the Lido apartment. Violet was staying across the landing with Cal, mostly because he couldn’t settle unless she was within arm’s length.

‘Probably never,’ he said, picking her hand up and playing with her fingers.

Violet gazed out to sea, at the blackened shell of the birdcage strung out at sea, its windows shattered by the heat, cut off now the central section of the pier had fallen into the sea. It made for an eerie sight, iron struts standing tall of the water like the masts of a sinking ship, a terrifying reminder of the horror that had taken place there.

‘It’s still hard to believe it happened, isn’t it?’ she said, leaning into Cal. He put his arm around her, nodding.

‘Let’s just be relieved it wasn’t worse,’ he said. ‘No one died. Businesses can be started again, things can be rebuilt.’

‘Not that,’ Vi said, nodding towards the pier.

He shook his head. ‘No, not that.’ He paused. ‘Beau called earlier,’ he said. ‘They might come and see you later, if you feel like it.’

She nodded. Beau had quickly shot to the top of her all-time heroes’ list after what had happened on the pier, and it was clear Lucy and Charlie felt the same way.

‘I have something for you,’ Cal said, digging in his pocket. ‘Hold your hand out.’

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