Page 66 of Serenity Falls

I don’t have to ask too late for what.

‘Oh.’

‘Yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I probably would have kept the baby anyway. His dad wanted me to get rid. Said it didn’t matter that I was over the limit here. He could take me some place else. They’d sort it.’

‘The romance.’

‘Yeah. You know, I think the fact he was so desperate for me to get rid of the baby made me want to keep it more. Which isn’t a great reason for bringing a new person into the world, I know, but—’ She shrugs.

‘At least you thought about it. Seems a lot of people don’t think about the consequences of having children.’

‘Yeah. Well, nine months later and the consequence was that I was a single mom at seventeen. Not exactly great grades, no job, no prospects and this tiny little human depending on me.’

‘Being a single parent is tough.’

‘And I wouldn’t change it,’ she says quickly. ‘I love my little boy.’

The but hovers in the air, unspoken but there just the same. But for a different life. One unlived. We all have that ‘but’. The sliding doors. The cross in the road. The path not taken.

Hailey takes a sip of lemonade. ‘What happened to Sadie’s mom?’

‘She left.’ I clear my throat. ‘When Sadie was very young.’

‘Why?’

The million-dollar question. Why?

‘She had mental health problems. It all got too much.’ I reach for a cookie, looking to change the conversation. ‘What about Brandon’s father?’

‘Oh, he doesn’t want to know. Got a nice job, respectable fiancée. Getting married soon. He sure as hell doesn’t want to be reminded of his past indiscretions. Claims Brandon isn’t his. Told everyone I was sleeping around.’

‘What an arsehole.’

‘Yep.’

‘But—’

She holds up a hand. ‘I know what you’re going to say. Not all men are like that. The right man is out there. Plenty more fish in the sea, etc.’

‘No, actually. Most men are idiots. Stay well away. Urgh.’ I put on an exaggerated shudder.

Hailey laughs. It’s nice. Her tone is generally on the cynical side, exaggerated by the lazy Floridian drawl. But the laughter is light and innocent.

I’m about to ask her something about herself when she says: ‘I’m just gonna check on Brandon.’

I nod. ‘Okay.’

She slips from her seat and pads inside. I remain sitting, enjoying the shade, the ice-cold lemonade. Weirdly, or perhaps not, I feel more at home here than in our own palatial residence.

My eyes wander to the empty pool again. Maybe they couldn’t afford the upkeep. Hailey said that they didn’t run the aircon, and although this is still a far nicer house than most people could dream of affording in the UK, everything about it screams ‘struggling’.

I stand, still clutching my lemonade, and walk a little closer. The wire mesh has been nailed down into the concrete around the pool. Obviously, to stop Brandon falling in. The pool isn’t deep, but it’s certainly deep enough for a child to hurt themselves. The sides are black and green with mould, the bottom a mulch of dead leaves. It looks like it’s been empty for a long time. I wonder why they don’t just have it filled, but I guess that would be expensive.

‘Hey. What the hell are you doing?’

The voice makes me jump. I spin around. A woman stands on the grass. Late sixties or seventies. Her hair is long and blonde, hanging in tangled knots over her shoulders. She’s dressed in a vest and leggings, worn house shoes on her feet.

‘You stay away. You hear me. You stay away.’