‘Never mind that,’ snapped Annette. ‘I want an explanation.’
Spencer faced Ryan’s mum and told her what had happened, including how Graham’s medical team had double-checked Ryan’s arm to confirm it was just bruised, and that it had been filed in the incident book, not that it helped anything simmer down.
‘I’ve a good mind to sue the lot of you, and get this centre and the stupid rock-climbing place shut down.’ Annette paced by the office door.
Chris gave Jax a cuddle as his child leaned into his side. ‘A bit dramatic, don’t you think, Annette?’
If the woman’s eyes could turn red and shoot laser beams, Spencer was sure Chris would be toast by now.
‘Perhaps if your son was set to become an Olympian, you’d have something sensible to add,’ she growled.
Chris shook his head. ‘He slipped. And more importantly, he’s all right. It’s just a bruise.’
Annette pointed a finger at Spencer. ‘He should have been keeping an eye on the children, not letting them wander off to do whatever they wanted. I put my trust in this centre, and now look.’ Her finger moved to Ryan, who started crying.
‘Hey, it’s okay,’ said Spencer, about to squat to comfort Ryan.
‘Don’t you touch him,’ snapped Annette. ‘You’ve done enough damage.’
Bonnie gave Ryan a hug instead, seeing how Annette didn’t bother. She whispered soothing words while his mother continued to rant.
Debra tried to calm Annette. ‘If you’d like to wait, I can give you a copy of the incident report. The rock-climbing centre will email me one as well. I can fetch you some tea and—’
‘Tea!’ yelled Annette. ‘I don’t want your bloody tea.’ She whipped around to face Ryan. ‘You can still race, right? Bruised, they said.’
Ryan sniffed. ‘I don’t want to swim.’
‘Of course you do. It’s just a bit of stage fright at the start, that’s all, you know, like those actors get.’
Ryan shook his head. ‘I don’t want to swim,’ he repeated quietly. ‘Spencer said I should tell you.’
Annette glared at Spencer. ‘Oh, so you put this in his head, did you?’
Spencer found his mouth gaping.
‘Perhaps we could discuss this further at the children’s progress meeting next week,’ suggested Debra.
‘Yes, we will,’ snapped Annette. ‘My husband is home from work then and will want to attend.’
Ryan’s sniffles caused Bonnie to give him another hug. She glared over at Annette. ‘Could you calm down, please?’
Annette moved her son away. ‘Why should I? Look at what bringing Ryan here has achieved. All I wanted was for you lot to bring back the confidence he lost. He needs to swim.’
‘He doesn’t want to,’ said Bonnie.
Annette swung open the main door with such force, it was a surprise it didn’t come off its hinges. ‘Of course he does, you stupid woman.’
‘Hey!’ snapped Chris, but Annette stormed off.
Jax looked up at his dad. ‘Is she really going to close the centre?’
Chris shook his head. ‘No. She’s just upset right now, that’s all.’
‘Everything will get sorted at the meeting,’ said Debra, looking more hopeful than Spencer felt.
No one had met Ryan’s dad yet, so Spencer didn’t know if they would have two irate parents on their hands wantingto shut them down. He only hoped the man was reasonable enough.
With a banging headache, a need for dinner, and his heart in pieces for Ryan, Spencer went off to Debra’s office to talk about the trip, when all he really wanted was to go home. He was looking forward to seeing Beth and Archie, but he wasn’t sure how much joy he could bring to their evening while feeling utterly exhausted on every level.
