Page 47 of One Step Behind
‘Have you?’ Stuart fixes me with a quizzical stare. ‘Why?’
‘Because I need a break. I thought we could take the kids out of school and go on a last-minute holiday somewhere.’
Stuart shakes his head, looking pained. ‘Jenna, I can’t take time off now. We’re right in the middle of having the plans for the site reassessed. Some nosey resident is claiming our houses are taller than we have planning permission for. It’s all rubbish but there is no way I can leave right now. You know this is the biggest project I’ve ever handled.’
I take a sip of coffee to hide my disappointment. It’s watery and turns my stomach but I drink it anyway. ‘Oh well. It’ll still be nice to spend some time with the kids. I’ll take them to school and pick them up for the rest of the week,’ I say, turning to Christie.
There’s a flash of disappointment on her face and she glances at Stuart for a second before it’s gone andshe’s smiling at me again. ‘No problem. If you need me though, you know where I am.’
We leave soon after that, the kids moaning about being in the middle of a game and Stuart suddenly quiet. At home I make chicken fajitas and we eat them on a blanket in the garden, and I tell Beth and Archie about my time off. It’s easy to make it sound fun after a glass of wine.
‘Do we get a week off from school then?’ Beth asks hopefully.
‘No, but we’ll do lots of fun things after school, I promise.’
‘What kinds of things?’ Archie asks with a mouthful of food.
‘Don’t speak with your mouth full,’ Stuart says.
‘Bike rides and a trip to the funfair one day. Whatever you like.’
Beth’s smile buoys me and even I’m convinced it’s a good idea.
Later, Stuart gets the truth. My face burns hot at the thought of a colleague raising concerns about my abilities as a doctor to Nancy. It had to be someone who doesn’t know me that well or they’d have spoken to me first, surely?
‘So they’re making you take the time off?’ he asks. ‘Can they do that?’
‘I guess so.’ My head sinks into the pillow and already I feel half asleep.
Stuart slides into bed beside me and instantly his breathing slows. I wait for sleep to take me too, but it doesn’t. I lie in the dark and think about you and all the things I now know.
Chapter 26
Sophie, aged thirteen
‘Matthew?’ Sophie calls out as she unlocks the front door.
Matthew’s head pokes out from the kitchen at the end of the narrow hall. He raises his eyebrows but says nothing.
‘I’ve got two friends from school coming over for a bit. Don’t …’Be weird, is what she wants to say.Don’t stare at them without saying anything.The words stick in her throat. ‘… tell Mum,’ she mutters instead.
Sophie’s mum has never said she can’t have friends over after school, but she never said Sophie could either, and it’s not worth the hassle to find out. Sophie promised her mum she would come straight home from secondary school to keep an eye on Matthew, and she has – she’s just brought some friends too. It’s only fair. Everyone else in her year gets to go into town or to the park after school.
Matthew nods and when the doorbell rings a moment later, he disappears upstairs.
A flurry of nerves dances in Sophie’s stomach asshe opens the door. Secondary school is so much better than her old school, apart from all the homework, but it’s still taken Sophie ages to make a proper friend like Vicky. But now Felicity – Flick as she likes to be called – has joined them, and Sophie always feels like she needs to prove herself, like she’s not good enough for them.
‘Hey, come in,’ Sophie says. ‘Want a snack? There’s some Wagon Wheels and crisps.’
‘Sure.’ Flick shrugs, sharing a look with Vicky that Sophie doesn’t understand. Are they mocking her because their houses are much nicer than hers? She pushes the thought away and wishes she could relax.
‘Have you got MTV?’ Vicky asks, munching on a chocolate biscuit and opening up the cupboard with baked beans and tinned tomatoes in it. Vicky wrinkles her nose and shuts the cupboard with a slap of her hand.
‘Nah,’ Sophie sighs like it’s the worst thing ever. She’d die before she’d tell Vicky and Flick this, but the few times she’s watched MTV at their houses, she thought it was kind of boring. ‘I’ve got the newNOWCD in my room though.’
‘OK,’ Flick says with a long yawn that makes Vicky smirk.
When Sophie opens the kitchen door to show them upstairs, Matthew is standing there, leaning against the wall and watching them through the crack.
