She stared down into her cup of tea. ‘Ryan kicked us out because I found texts from other women on his phone. They were sending him photos of themselves.’
‘Did you confront him about the texts?’
‘Yes, and he got angry.’ A solitary tear trickled down her face. She wiped it with the back of her hand. ‘He said Zac and I are annoying, and we were getting in the way of him enjoying himself.’
‘Where have you been living,’ I asked, glancing at Zac playing in his travel cot.
She let out a heavy sigh. ‘Zac and I have been sofa surfing. Well, he’s all right as he’s in his travel cot, but I have been living on the sofas of friends.’
I instantly thought of Maddie. She’d be horrified if she knew. ‘Have you told my sister about this?’
Layla shook her head. ‘Mr Baxter knows but I don’t think he’s told her. He told me it wasn’t his problem. This is why I have had Zac with me on cleaning jobs. Ryan would normally look after him, but he doesn’t want anything more to do with us. Christmas is coming and my baby and I are going to be homeless. Plus, there is a lot of snow coming and do you know what the icing on my “crap life cake” is? I don’t even…’ She let out a large sob. ‘I don’t have a sodding hood on my coat.’ She dissolved into tears.
Instinctively I jumped out of my seat and put my arm over her shoulder. ‘Hey, Layla, don’t cry. Come on, dry your eyes.’
Grandpa and I exchanged worried glances. ‘Do you not have any family you can stay with?’ I asked.
‘I don’t have any family,’ Layla said. ‘My mother stopped speaking to me when I was seventeen because she listened to my stepfather. He hated me.’ Layla flashed us both a brave smile and wiped her face. ‘I’ve only just started speaking to my biological dad, but I have never met him. I can’t really turn up on his doorstep.’ She sniffed. ‘I’ll be okay.’
‘How old are you, Layla?’ I asked.
‘Twenty-one. It’s going to be okay. Sometimes baby Zac looks at me when we’re crashing on a friend’s sofa, and I wonder what he’s thinking. I tell him, “Don’t worry, Mummy is going to sort this mess out.”’ More tears streamed down her face.
I studied her and thought about all the things I’d moaned about lately; having to look after my grandpa over Christmas, the state of my hair, being forced to stay in a luxurious manor house for three weeks and seeing my family on WhatsApp enjoying themselves in Tenerife. I wasn’t homeless and I had somewhere to sleep tonight. Layla’s issues put things into sharp perspective. Without hesitation and any thought about what my brother-in-law might think or say, I placed my hand over Layla’s. ‘Stay here, Layla, until you find somewhere permanent or until my sister and her husband return after Christmas.’
She wiped her damp cheeks and glanced at both of us. ‘What? Really?’
Grandpa nodded. ‘Rachel’s right. How can we live in this huge manor house with the empty rooms and enough food to last for weeks knowing you and your baby son are homeless over Christmas.’
‘You can have the room Maddie was going to put me in,’ I explained. ‘It’s the bedroom with the peacock bedding. I will find another room.’
‘Are you sure?’ Layla gasped. ‘You don’t know how much this means to me.’
I smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry. There’s room for all of us.’ She stood up and gave both Grandpa and me a hug. ‘You’ve made my year, both of you.’
Warm tingles shot up my spine at seeing Layla’s happy smile.
Grandpa went over to say hello to her baby son who was playing with a soft toy.
‘How old is he, Layla?’
She smiled. ‘Nine months.’
‘Ah. Nice to meet you, young man. You’re staying here for the next few weeks, and I have my eye on you so no trouble.’
Layla chuckled as Zac handed Grandpa his toy and babbled something in baby language. A worry about Frank finding out flared up inside my mind but I suppressed it. I couldn’t let Layla spend Christmas homeless or sleeping on sofas.
CHAPTERELEVEN
A thought hit me – I remembered Humphrey was still missing. With a heavy sigh, I grabbed my coat, a dog lead and car keys. ‘I’ll be back. I’m going to find Humphrey.’
Grandpa leaned over and picked up his coat. ‘Let’s go.’
‘We don’t both need to go. Stay here, put your feet up and relax.’
Grandpa shook his head and cast me a mischievous grin. ‘I do enough of that at home. As I said before, I am ready for an adventure.’
Layla took our cups to the sink. ‘I’m going to finish the cleaning and see if the person who I am currently sofa surfing with can drop my stuff over. Good luck finding Humphrey. He burrows under a hole in the fence at the bottom near the gates. I’ve told Mr Baxter that he should get the fence fixed as it leads onto the road, but he doesn’t listen.’
