Page 64 of Clara's Secret Garden
The girl looks up with a vacant expression and my heartsinks.
‘Dad’s not here,’ she says. ‘He’ll be back in ten minutes.’
‘Right. But has he been in?’ I demand. ‘My brother?’
She sighs as if it’s most inconvenient having her afternooninterrupted. ‘Blonde hair? Talks a lot? Mainly about dinosaurs?’
‘Yes!’ I squeak. ‘That’s him. So he’s been in to collect hisbike?’
At that moment, the door opens and when we turn, Lois isstanding there, red-faced and panting. ‘I’ve seen him. He’s just whizzed pastme on his bike, on the other side of the road.’
My heart leaps. ‘Oh, thank God.’ I turn to the girl. ‘Tellyour dad I’ll come in tomorrow and settle up, okay? But I need to run now.’
She shrugs and gets back to her phone. And the three of us leavethe shop and get back in the car.
‘He was heading home,’ says Lois. ‘At the speed of light. Hemust have thought he could make it there and back before I got out of the bath.’
I turn in horror. ‘Out of thebath? I thought yousaid you were playing agamewith him.’
She shrugs sulkily. ‘Yes, well, I knew you’d think it was myfault if I told you I was trying out my new body scrub.’
‘Damn right I would have! So let me get this straight, Lois.Irene went out and you decided it would be the perfect time to have a spatreatment? Jeez, I leave the pair of you alone with Bertie for justtwohoursand youstillmanage to lose him.’
There’s no reply from the back and Shaun is concentrating onthe road, wisely staying out of our sisterly spat. But I haven’t got time to beangry at Lois. I’m too busy scanning the path on either side for Bertie,although we’re back into the housing estate now and there’s still no sign ofhim.
‘He pedals fast. He’ll be home by now,’ says Lois.
‘You’d better be right,’ I mutter grimly.
Next second, I spot him, cycling furiously along our street,almost home. And when Shaun pulls the car into the kerb, I leap straight out.
Bertie, seeing me, stops at the entrance to our driveway andbeams as I rush over. ‘My bike’s mended. It’s just like new. Look. But I didn’thave any money so I said I’d go back tomorrow.’
‘Bertie! For goodness’ sake.’ The words are getting stuck inmy throat, I’m so overcome with emotion to find that he’s okay. ‘I was soscaredwhen we couldn’t find you. I didn’t know where you were.’
He looks suitably chastised, getting off his bike anddropping it on the ground, and I pull him into a fierce hug.
‘Sorry, Clara,’ he murmurs into my hair. ‘I banged on thebathroom door and asked Lois if I could go and collect my bike and she said Icould.’
‘What?’ I lean away to look at him. ‘No, Bertie, Lois wouldneverhave let you walk into the village on your own.’
‘I had to shout quite loud because the bath water was reallynoisy.’
I sigh, shaking my head, feeling suddenly exhausted.Presumably Lois didn’t hear what Bertie was shouting over the sound of thegushing water. She probably just agreed because she thought he was asking if hecould watch a dinosaur movie or have a bag of crisps...
When I look round, she’s standing there watching us, lookingsheepishly awkward. ‘Of course I wouldn’t have let him do that,’ she mutters.
‘All’s well that ends well,’ says Shaun, joining us andgiving Bertie’s hair a ruffle. ‘You gave your sisters quite a scare, youngman.’
I smile at him. ‘Thank you so much, Shaun. Thank God youwere there.’
‘Hey, I didn’t do anything except drive.’
‘Yes, you did. You put two and two together and thought of thebike shop.’
‘You’d have got there eventually.’
‘Maybe. But I can’t thank you enough. I could do with aglass of wine to steady my nerves. Would you like one?’
