Page 42 of The One Plus One
She tried to smile. ‘Let’s not talk about it now, sweetie.’
‘But what are we going to do?’ said Nicky.
‘Not now, Nicky. Let’s just get indoors.’
‘You now owe the police five grand. How are we going to get to Scotland?’
‘Kids? Please? Can we just go indoors?’
With a groan, Norman heaved himself off the back seat and ambled out of the car.
‘You didn’t say we’ll sort something out.’ Tanzie’s voice was panicked. ‘You always say we’ll sort something out.’
‘We’ll sort something out,’ Jess said, dragging the duvets out of the boot.
‘That’s not the voice you use when we’re really going to sort something out.’ Tanzie began to cry.
It was so unexpected, that at first Jess could do nothing but stand there in shock. ‘Take these.’ She thrust the duvets at Nicky, and leant her upper half into the car, trying to manoeuvre Tanzie out. ‘Tanzie…sweetheart. Come out. It’s late. We’ll talk about this.’
‘Talk about me not going to St Anne’s?’
Mr Nicholls was staring at his steering-wheel, like this was all too much for him. Jess began apologizing under her breath. ‘She’s tired,’ she said, trying to put her arm around her daughter. Tanzie shifted away. ‘I’m so sorry.’
It was at that point Mr Nicholls’s phone rang.
‘Gemma,’ he said wearily, as if he’d been expecting it. She could hear an angry buzzing, as if a wasp had been trapped in the receiver.
‘I know,’ he said quietly.
‘I just want to go to St Anne’s,’ Tanzie cried. Her glasses had fallen off – Jess hadn’t had time to take her to the optician to fix them – and she covered her eyes with her hands. ‘Please let me go. Please, Mum. I’ll be really good. Just let me go there.’
‘Sssh.’ A lump rose in Jess’s throat. Tanzie never begged for anything. She just wasn’t made that way. ‘Tanze…’ On the pavement, Nicky turned away, as if he couldn’t watch it.
Mr Nicholls said something into his phone that she couldn’t make out. Tanzie had begun to sob. She was a dead weight. It was as if she was refusing to leave the car.
‘Come on, sweetheart,’ Jess said, tugging at her.
She had braced herself against the door. ‘Please, Mum. Please. Please. I’ll be really good.’
‘Tanzie, you cannot stay in the car.’
‘Please…’
‘Out. C’mon, baby.’
‘I’ll drive you,’ Mr Nicholls said.
Jess’s head bumped against the door frame. ‘What?’
‘I’ll drive you to Scotland.’ He had put down his phone and was staring at his steering-wheel. ‘Turns out I’ve got to go to Northumberland. Scotland’s not that much further. I’ll drop you there.’
Everyone fell silent. At the end of the street there was a burst of laughter and a car door slammed. Jess straightened her ponytail, which had gone askew. ‘Look, it’s really nice of you to offer but we can’t accept a lift from you.’
‘Yeah,’ said Nicky, leaning forward. ‘Yeah, we can, Jess.’ He glanced at Tanzie. ‘Really. We can.’
‘But we don’t even know you. I can’t ask you to –’
Mr Nicholls didn’t look at her. ‘It’s just a lift. It’s really not a big deal.’
