Page 129 of Our Secrets and Lies

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Darren looked out of the kitchen window. Ollie was at the end of the garden digging furiously. ‘What in the name of Jesus is he doing now?’

Sarah dipped a chocolate biscuit into her tea. ‘Making a bomb shelter.’

Darren spun around. ‘Tell me you’re joking.’

‘Nope. He came home from school and went straight to Billy’s shed to borrow the spade. He’s worried there’s going to be a terroristattack in Dublin and he wants to build a bomb shelter so we’ll all be safe. Billy tried to stop him, but even he couldn’t get through to him.’

‘I told you he wasn’t right in the head.’ Shannon grabbed a biscuit from the packet and sat down opposite her mother.

‘He’ll be a long time digging a shelter that’ll fit all of us,’ Darren said.

‘At least it’ll keep him occupied for a few days and heisn’t bothering anyone,’ Sarah replied.

‘He’s bothering me, digging up my garden,’ Darren said.

‘It’ll be feck-all use. Sure those mad terrorists come at you with knives and all sorts now – a rabbit hole isn’t going to protect you.’ Shannon reached for another biscuit.

‘Leave him. He’s happy and isn’t a danger to himself or anyone else,’ Sarah said.

‘For the moment.’ Shannon snorted.

Sarahput her mug of tea down. ‘How is Kelly?’ she asked.

‘Shocking,’ Shannon said. ‘She’s a mess.’

‘Ah, God love her. Hopefully it’ll settle down soon.’

Shannon glared at her mother. ‘Settle down? Her mother and brother are barely speaking to her. The only one who’s nice to her in that house now is Billy. Lucy keeps saying, “I’m so disappointed,” and Dylan just completely ignores her. She’s in bits.’

‘I know, love, but it’s only been a few days and what she did was wrong.’ Sarah held up her hand. ‘Before you jump down my throat, I know she did it because she was worried about Dylan and saw how upset her mum was, but she still did something very wrong and took her time owning up. It wasn’t easy on Lucy having Dylan hate her for something she hadn’t done. And poor Taylor had a tough time, too.So while Kelly’s intentions were good, what she did caused an awful lot of hurt. They’ll come round, but it’ll take a bit of time.’

Shannon put down her half-eaten biscuit. ‘She’s really upset, Mum, like, really upset. Not only are her own family hating her but everyone in school does too. They all know it was her who sent the photo because that Melissa cow told them all. She’s got nowhere tohide. Everyone hates her. She’s on twenty-four-hour watch – it’s like Guantánamo Bay in that house. And they took her phone so she can’t even talk to Sean.’

‘Poor Kelly. Lucy and Dylan don’t hate her, they’re just cross. I’ll talk to Lucy again and try to smooth things over.’

Sarah had already tried talking to Lucy. But her best friend was as upset as she’d ever seen her. She couldn’t believeKelly would do something so stupid, then not own up to it straight away. She kept saying, ‘How could she let me take the blame and have Dylan move out and almost get expelled?’

Sarah had pointed out that Kelly was only seventeen, had been trying to help them all and was just scared, but Lucy was too angry to see Kelly’s side. Or that her own obsession with St Jude’s had created a perfect stormin Kelly’s head that made her think this was a good solution.

‘She almost ruined everything,’ Lucy had told Sarah. ‘Dylan would have been expelled in shame and he’d have blamed me for ever. She left it until the very last second to own up. I just can’t believe she’d behave like that. I’m so disappointed in her.’

Sarah knew Lucy would come around eventually – she loved her daughter. But in themeantime, Sarah felt for Kelly. The poor girl was already having a rotten time in school and now her home life was awful too. It was a lot of stress for a young girl. She’d told Shannon to check in with her every day. ‘You can ask Kelly to tea tomorrow and she can stay the night if she likes,’ Sarah said now.

Shannon rolled her eyes. ‘Like Lucy’s going to let her out of her sight. She’s groundeduntil the summer. Her life is hell, Mum, literally hell. Sean called to her house yesterday because he’d heard and wanted to check she was okay. Lucy answered the door and went absolutely mental. She told him she’d have him arrested if he darkened her door again.’

‘Oh, no.’

‘Oh, yes. And Kelly heard the whole thing from her bedroom and now she’s worried Sean’ll go off with someone else, whichhe probably will because you can’t go out with someone you never see or speak to or even text. She’s like a prisoner in there.’

‘If he likes her, he’ll wait for her,’ Sarah said.

‘He’s a hot teenage boy, Mum. He’s hardly going to wait until she’s allowed out in the summer!’ Shannon said.

‘Fair point,’ Darren said.

‘Come on now, Shannon, Lucy just said that in anger. Kelly will be out againsoon, and I bet she gets her phone back next week.’

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