Page 10 of Cupcakes and Kisses in Micklewick Bay

Hi Jasmine, thought I should warn you, but I’ve just heard the dreaded Jason Scragg’s moved to town with his family. He has a son called Bruce who’s Zak’s age and a daughter called Nina who’s Chloe’s age. Made me wonder if she’s the girl who Chloe was talking about. Sorry to dump this on you, flower. Try not to let it spoil your picnic xxx

The surname glaring back at Jasmine made her blood run cold. It was quickly followed by a tight squeeze in her chest.

No!She clamped her hand to her forehead, her breathing shallow.It couldn’t be! Why was he back? Had he returned to seek vengeance? And, if so, why had he waited for so long?

FOUR

‘Please don’t tell me they’re back.’ Mere mention of the Scragg family had the power to trigger a wave of painful emotions and resurrect a slew of unwelcome memories from over twenty years ago. And it wasn’t just Jasmine who felt this way towards them. The town had heaved a collective sigh of relief when the troublesome Scraggs had upped sticks and moved out of the area.

She swallowed, and drew in a steadying breath, taking a moment to calm herself and marshal her thoughts. She didn’t want the kids to rush in and see her knocked off-kilter like this. They’d know something was wrong straight away and she didn’t want anything to spoil their picnic, particularly since the Scraggs were the cause.

It felt like a lifetime ago that she and Jason Scragg had come to blows. Scraggo – as he was known then – was an inveterate bully who’d strutted around the school like some sort of juvenile gangster, with his mini-henchmen by his side, instilling fear into the other pupils with his menacing ways. Looking at it from this vantage point, and with a greater understanding of his family circumstances, Jasmine could see that Scraggo’s behaviour had stemmed from the fact that it was himself, and what was goingon in his own unsettled home life, that he was unhappy with. His subconscious way of dealing with his situation had been to project those feelings and frustrations onto someone else. Someone he viewed as weaker than him. Someone who was unlikely to fight back. Someone who would allow him to vent the unhappiness that had churned around inside him without the risk of consequences. And someone who had nobody at home to contact school and fight his corner. Jason Scragg had found the perfect candidate in little Max Grainger.

And he’d made the lad’s life a living hell.

Jasmine’s jaw tightened and her heart pounded as memories crowded her mind, each one jostling for prominence. An image of Max and the hurt in his eyes loomed as clear and vivid as if it had happened only yesterday, resurrecting the intense feelings of anger and injustice Scraggo’s actions had created all those years ago. She could fully understand why her nine-year-old self had reacted the way she had at the time, and even now, she didn’t regret it one little bit. And though an understanding that had come with maturity had allowed her to scrape together a modicum of sympathy for the bully and his family circumstances, it didn’t mean she viewed it as an excuse for his hideous behaviour. She still considered it unforgivable. It took a certain sort of person, whatever their age, to treat another as cruelly as he’d treated Max. History was not going to repeat itself with the next generation of Scraggs. And if this Nina Scragg thought for even the tiniest of seconds she was going to get away with making her daughter’s life a misery, then she had another thing coming. She’d picked on the wrong child.

She was determined to nip this new generation Scragg problem in the bud before it had a chance to escalate. There was no way Chloe was going to suffer in the way Max Grainger had. Of that, Jasmine was certain. She’d do some surreptitious questioning when they were having their picnic on the beachlater that afternoon. She’d also have a quiet word with Zak, see if he could shed any light on things. Then she’d call school first thing on Monday morning, armed with the details, and make them aware of the situation.

In the meantime, she only hoped she didn’t clap eyes on Jason Scragg in town; the urge to give him a piece of her mind was going to be hard to resist. She knew she had to deal with him and his toxic progeny through the proper channels, and that meant going through school.

Jasmine added more sand to the castle-shaped bucket and firmed it down with the small spade, the sound of children’s laughter in the background, the screech of a herring gull as it wheeled overhead. She and the children had found themselves a decent patch on the beach, not far from the pier whose gangly limbs towered over everyone as it stretched its way out to sea, and marked their spot with their beach towels. To the right of them, the cliffs stood proud in the distance, Maggie and Bear’s whitewashed cottage perched atop Thorncliffe and glinting in the sun. While to the left was the new marina that was under construction.

Adjusting her sunglasses, Jasmine’s eyes surreptitiously flicked to her daughter who was sorting through the shells she’d carefully collected. Chloe was looking adorable in her favourite pink flowery shorts and unicorn T-shirt. Zak had tasked them with building “the most awesome” sandcastle on the beach and had issued instructions that they should take it seriously. He’d started on the moat and had gathered bits of wood to make a drawbridge. Jasmine noted his face was bright red, his forehead covered in beads of sweat. She handed him his insulated bottle of water decorated in superheroes. ‘You need to keep hydrated, Zaky. You too, Chlo.’ She handed Chloe hers. Since the textfrom her mum, all Jasmine had been able to think about was the Scraggs, her emotions veering from boiling rage to pity for Chloe. It had been a battle to keep her feelings hidden, but somehow she’d managed.

‘So how’re things going with the seaside project you and Sophie have been working on in class, Chlo?’ Jasmine asked, being careful to keep her tone light and casual as she tipped her bucket upside down, lifting it up to reveal a perfect sandcastle. She figured bringing Sophie up in conversation and using the topic of the collage would be a good way of subtly broaching the subject of school since it was something Chloe had been excited about. She’d been paired with Sophie Stanhope, her best friend, to make a picture of the beach using recycled bits and bobs. Both girls had been bubbling with enthusiastic plans for their design.

Chloe’s face was shiny from the sunblock Jasmine had slathered over her in a bid to protect her fair skin. The little girl pushed her strawberry-blonde hair back, knocking her sunhat skew-whiff in the process, though she seemed not to notice. ‘We had to start it again because it got… We just needed to do it again.’ She gave a half-smile, a shadow of sadness darkening her expression, before quickly turning her attention back to her shells. Her shoulders heaved with a sigh.

It wasn’t the reaction Jasmine had expected. She felt her anger spike. She instinctively knew one of the Scraggs had something to do with it. Her gaze slid to Zak whose non-verbals were telling her that he knew the reason the collage needed to be redone, but she resisted the urge to ask him in front of Chloe.

She’d managed to have a brief word with her son earlier when they were at home. He’d nipped in from the backyard where he’d been patiently trying to teach Chloe how to spin a football on the tip of her finger, and Jasmine had seized the opportunity. In the few short minutes she’d quizzed him, she’d learnt that Nina Scragg had recently turned her attention ontoChloe, as had Bruce Scragg with Zak. He said he had no idea what had brought this about, but Zak had assured his mum that he could handle Bruce, who was in his class. As if hearing him say that wasn’t bad enough, Jasmine had been beside herself when her son had told her he’d recently had to step in when he’d caught Nina teasing Chloe and calling her names. ‘I wanted to tell you, Mum. Honest. But Chlo made me promise not to in case you got in touch with school and it made things worse. Please don’t let on I’ve said owt.’

‘I won’t, son, but you’ve done the right thing in telling me.’ Jasmine had given his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Her stomach had churned and her cheeks burned with anger at the thought of her children being on the receiving end of the Scragg siblings’ nastiness.

‘So what was Nina Scragg saying to Chlo?’ Jasmine had asked, injecting a forced calmness into her voice as she braced herself for what she was about to hear.

Zak’s gaze had fallen to his trainers. ‘She was just being mean, that’s all.’

‘Didn’t you at least get some idea of what she said?’ Much as Jasmine had felt desperate to push her son to tell her everything he knew, experience had told her she needed to tread gently if she was to get a hint of what the girl had been saying.

‘It was something about…’ He’d started to shuffle awkwardly, still reluctant to give her eye contact.

‘Something about what, lovey?’ Jasmine had asked gently.

‘I think it was about Chlo not having a dad.’ His cheeks had flamed. ‘Her stupid brother’s been saying the same sort of stuff to me as well, but I just tell him to get lost.’

‘I see.’ A tidal wave of rage had surged through Jasmine, her hands balling into fists, making her knuckles blanche. It had been a battle to stop herself from seeking out Jason Scragg and telling him to sort his children out or else she would.

‘You won’t go up to school about it, will you, Mum? Promise?’ Zak had pleaded.

Jasmine had taken a deep breath, using every ounce of strength to quash her blazing anger. ‘Don’t worry, Zak, I won’t. I’ll find a way to get it sorted.’ She’d been reluctant to make promises she knew she was going to have to break, but she hadn’t wanted to put the dampeners on her son’s weekend by having him worry that she’d be seen going into the headteacher’s office by his classmates.

And now, here on the beach, seeing how the light had dimmed in Chloe’s eyes, Jasmine decided she wouldn’t push her daughter any further for now. There was no way she was going to let thoughts of the Scragg family dominate her children’s day. As hard as she worked, Jasmine always made sure she kept a chunk of the weekend free to devote solely to her children, and she didn’t want that precious time to be tainted by the likes of the Scraggs. She’d deal with them next week; it would at least give her time to figure out how best to tackle the problem, and for the initial heat of her anger to cool. Now was the time to take Chloe’s mind off them.

‘Tell you what, how about we try to build a really tall sandcastle?’ Jasmine said, injecting a cheerfulness into her voice she didn’t feel. ‘We could each fill our buckets with sand, and pile them one on top of the other, see how high we can make it. What do you think, kids?’

‘Yeah! That sounds dead cool! We can keep going till it collapses.’ Zak responded with his usual enthusiasm. He didn’t waste a moment and immediately started shovelling sand into his bucket, sending it flying everywhere.

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