Page 137 of Our Secrets and Lies

‘If you had a twenty, that would be great.’

‘Okay,’ Lucy said. ‘Give me a sec. My bag is in the shop.’

She went through the door and Dylan looked at Kelly. ‘You okay after today?’ he said.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

‘I saw that video,’ he said, looking uncomfortable.‘You’re still getting a bit of slagging, are you?’

Kelly couldn’t believe he was so blind. A bit of slagging? Had he really no idea how bad it was? ‘It’s horrible, Dylan,’ she said. ‘The messages are vicious.’

His phone buzzed and he glanced down. ‘It’ll be grand,’ he said. ‘Ignore it. They just want to get a reaction out of you. Holidays are nearly here. It’ll be yesterday’s news, they’ll leaveyou alone.’

‘No, they won’t,’ Kelly said, struggling to hold back tears. ‘They really hate me. All of them.’ He didn’t get it – no one did. She was in hell.

Lucy came back. ‘Here you go, love. Enjoy yourself.’

‘Thanks, Mum. See you later.’ He turned to Kelly. ‘You’llbe fine.’ He zipped up his jacket and headed for the front door.

‘Have a good time, but not too good,’ Lucy called out. Sighinghappily, she said, ‘Isn’t he just great?’

Kelly said nothing but moved towards the stairs. Her phone vibrated as she went.

‘Oh, hang on, Kelly. I never took your temperature.’

‘It’s fine, Mum. I just have a headache. I’m going to have a bath and an early night.’

‘I’ll check in on you later. I’ll make some dinner for Granddad now. If you change your mind let me know and I’ll make somethingfor you.’

Kelly silently left the room and walked up the stairs.

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