Page 42 of The Secret We Keep
You’re sticking with the full name thing?
I quickly press the button to add Morgan’s contact to my phone, selecting a picture of Kevin that I took earlier as her caller ID. I smile as I do it, going back to my messages immediately after.
Morgan: Sorry.So, does ten work?
To do what?
Morgan: For me to come over and walk Kevin
Yeah. That works. I’ll have Evie with me
The dots wiggle and stop on repeat before the next message comes through.
Morgan: You’re coming too??
Kevin’s a flight risk. If he runs away, you might need my help
I’ve stood at the window watching Evie play with Kevin in the front garden for ten minutes. Morgan arrived not long ago and is standing at the gate, one hand shading her eyes from the sun.
Morgan’s got on a pair of leggings, pink welly boots and an oversized white shirt. I can’t help but stare as she laughs at Kevin bouncing and trampling all over Evie who’s lying on the grass.
I press my lips together, turning my head when I hear Fi walk into the room.
She comes and stands by my side. “She looks happy.”
We watch as Morgan lets herself into the garden, closing the gate behind her. Her and Evie run away from Kevin, wide smiles on their faces, rapturous bursts of laughter filling the air. It warms my insides, yet it feels oddly forbidden, like enjoying watching her is somehow against the rules.
Her dad doesn’t want her anywhere near me. Initially, him laying down the law felt like I’d been slammed into a brick wall. But confusion changed to hurt, before swiftly becoming anger. My leaving had nothing to do with him, but everything to do with my fear of fucking up again. Now that I’m back, he’ll still want me to stay away from her.
“I think it’s sad,” I reply.
Fi doesn’t look at me. “What is?” I hear the scepticism in her voice.
I take a sip of the steaming coffee in my hand as Evie jumps over Kevin, running beneath her legs. “The way she’s smiling like she hasn’t had fun before.”
“Maybe she hasn’t.” Fi shrugs.
I peek down at her. “You live here, Fi. You see her more than I do. You should know.”
Slowly turning towards me, she chastely kisses me on the cheek.
“What was that for?” I wipe it away, making her smile.
“I wasn’t talking about Morgan.”
Feeling exposed, my head lowers, my feelings uncovered.
She makes her way to the door, looking back over her shoulder before she walks out. “I hope you’re here for longer this time. It’s good having you back.”
I’ve been back,again,for almost a full week. The day I left London is still a blur. A picture in my head that I can’t seem to erase. It sits right beside the devastating image that came before it, the one where I thought I was helping.
I wasn’t.
I argued with a man who was in no fit shape to be argued with. I caused a lost man to be reckless in his hour of need.
Aaron, Hannah’s brother, wasn’t a bad man. He just couldn’t handle life. He sought comfort in the bottom of a bottle, rather than be there for his family like he should have been. It killed me seeing Hannah so cut up about him that I snapped. I made the decision to intervene for everyone’s sake, not just my own. None of us could live with him being the way he was anymore.
My actions got him killed.
