Page 110 of Seven Letters

‘Because you’re a woman.’

‘Yes, but you’re a man so you understand male urges. You can explain to her that she should not have sex until she’s twenty-five, but that if she decides to, she needs to make this boy use a condom and that boys like girls who aren’t easy.’

‘Are you winding me up?’

‘No, I’m deadly serious. It’ll be much stronger coming from you. I’ll talk to her about the pill, but you need to do the condom chat, and mention STDs too.’

‘Ah, Jesus, Mia.’

Mia kissed his cheek. ‘It’s called parenting and protection, Johnny. Make sure you really drive home how much boys respect girls who don’t have sex until they’ve been going out with each other for ages, like, a year or so.’

‘Why can’t you say it all in the car on the way to school?’

‘I’ve just explained. You can do it later, while I visit Sarah, and then it’ll be sorted.’

Johnny looked far from convinced. ‘Are you heading to the hospital after school?’

Mia nodded. ‘I need to see her. I don’t know if I’ll get in, but I have to try.’

‘Keep calm if you bump into Adam.’

‘I will.’

‘Mia?’

‘I’ll try.’

As Mia was getting her car keys, Johnny’s phone rang. He looked at the number and coloured. He moved into the lounge and closed the door. Mia went to the hall to put her coat on. She leaned towards the door. She could hear Johnny saying, ‘Just give me a few more days to sort things out and I’ll have the article for you.’

Riley joined her, bag slung over her shoulder. They headed out to the car.

‘I just heard your dad saying something on the phone about an article,’ Mia said. ‘Wonder what that’s about.’

‘Yeah,’ Riley said, ‘there’s definitely something happening. I heard him talking to someone yesterday and it sounded like he was working with them. He was talking about the article needing more time to fine-tune or something. I thought he was going to announce a new job.’

‘Really?’ Mia said, turning to look at her. ‘You genuinely heard that?’

‘Yeah,’ Riley said. ‘I could be wrong, like, but he was cageyabout it when I asked, so I reckoned he wasn’t ready to tell us yet. Maybe the article is, like, a test and then he’ll get the job.’

Mia smiled. ‘Finally some good news,’ she said. ‘These last months have been so bloody long and unending. If Johnny’s found work, I’ll be able to breathe a bit more again. Oh, please let him get the job.’

‘It’d be great for you and him. Fingers crossed.’

They drove to school, Riley humming and Mia smiling. Johnny was being offered work. A weight lifted from her shoulders. It was a tiny sliver of bright hope in the horrible darkness Mia was living in right now. Riley was happy and Johnny was working. The world seemed a little less bleak.

42

Rob finished filling the dishwasher, popped in a tablet and pressed the button to start the programme. He looked around and nodded, satisfied. The kitchen was clean and tidy again, just as Sarah would like it. Adam had been too distracted to notice the mess. Rob felt it was important that the place looked like home to Izzy. He was so worried about her and was doing anything that would help to keep her life at least partly normal.

He went to check on Adam, who was packing a bag of fresh pyjamas for Sarah.

‘Hey, are you heading to the hospital soon?’ Rob asked.

‘They just rang,’ Adam said, as he folded Sarah’s things carefully. ‘There are some new complications that need attention, so they asked for no visitors until about one. I’ll go in then.’

Rob spotted an opportunity for some time out, which he badly needed. ‘Would you mind if I went for a walk?’ he said. ‘I’ll be back by then.’

‘Of course,’ Adam replied. ‘You don’t need to check in with me, bro. Take a walk any time you need it.’

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