She turns to me, a shadow across her face. ‘Had.’
I blink. And maybe it’s the shock of today, but the inside of my nose stings with imminent tears. I rub my sleeve against it. The last thing I want to do right now is cry. ‘I had a sister, too…’
Her eyebrows shoot up. ‘Had?’
‘Lily. She was hit by a car.’ While Holly knows my sister died, she doesn’t know how. I don’t think she should know how. She has enough nightmares as it is. ‘Three years ago,’ I say. ‘What about your sister?’
‘Cancer,’ she says. ‘Five years ago.’
Something passes between us. We both nod.
Teri turns back to Holly. ‘Look. To be honest with you—’ she gives a small laugh ‘—I’m really embarrassed. So as far as I’m concerned, no one needs to know.’
‘Really?’ she blurts.
‘If that’s all right with Kate.’ They both turn to me.
‘Well, I mean, that would be good,’ I say. I’m a little confused. I thought we’d already discussed this downstairs.We’d established there was no need to go to the police, and Teri doesn’t want to go to hospital anyway. Who would she tell? ‘What about Scarlett?’ I ask Holly suddenly. ‘Do you think she’ll tell her parents?’
‘No. No way. Scarlett was begging me not to even call you. You heard her before. She was terrified you might call the cops.’
‘Great. So it’s settled,’ Teri says. ‘It will be our little secret.’
‘Thank you,’ Holly says.
‘That’s all right, sweetie,’ Teri says, patting her leg again. ‘It’s not like anyone died, right?’
15
For dinner, I microwaved one of those ready meals made for two people – chicken and beans – and Teri looked at it like it was a piece of cardboard I’d heated up and served on a plate.
She tilted her head. ‘Do you have anything else in the fridge?’
‘Erm…not really…’
‘I bet you do.’ She stood up with some difficulty, rummaged through my fridge, pulled out some ham and sour cream, and some dried-up herbs, then rummaged through the cupboard and found a tin of tomatoes and an unopened jar of capers.
Next thing I knew, Teri had rustled up a creamy pasta dish. It was probably wonderful, but I couldn’t taste a thing, and I had to force myself to eat a few forkfuls.
That was two hours ago.
Now, Holly has gone to bed, and I settle Teri in the spare bedroom. I show her where the downstairs bathroom is, and lend her some nightclothes and a spare toothbrush.
‘This is perfect. Thank you so much, Kate,’ she says, sitting on the bed.
‘It’s me who should be thanking you. You’ve been really good about all this.’
She waves a hand. ‘My fault. Truly.’
‘You have everything you need?’
‘Yes. This is very comfortable. Thank you.’
When I go up to my bed, Holly pops out of her bedroom. She looks really worried.
‘What is it?’ I ask softly.
She grimaces, tugging at her fingers. ‘Won’t he smell?’
