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‘I didn’t know.’

‘You didn’t want to know. You were too busy with your new girlfriend.’ She spat the word out, trying to rid herself of the bad taste it coated her mouth with.

‘I’m only human, Livvy.’

‘You know your parents stopped taking my calls too. They cut off all contact with Summer. Any idea why that might be?’

‘Not a clue. You know how my parents can be.’ He shrugged off the responsibility, just like she knew he would. He was so unlike the man she’d married, that it felt like she was staring at a stranger.

‘I’ll ask you one more time, not because I’m really all that interested, but because I want you to leave, and not ruin this weekend for Summer. Or any other day. What do you want?’

Charlie tugged at his shirt collar. ‘I saw the stories about Summer online. They said if she gets to America, she’ll get better. Like properly better. I thought, when she is, I thought maybe we could give it another go. What do you think?’

‘What do I think?’ Evelyn forced herself to take a few deep breaths, before stepping closer to him, not wanting anyone around them to hear what she was about to say. ‘Are you freaking kidding me? You nearly killed Summer!’ Evelyn hissed through clenched teeth.

‘It was just a stupid mistake. Is it an apology you want? I’m sorry. There we go. Can we move on now?’ He stepped even closer to her. ‘We were good once, Evie. We could be again. We could be a family.’

‘You have a family. What about your new baby?’

‘He never stops crying. And I’m not even sure it’s really mine. It doesn’t look like me.’

‘It?’

‘C’mon, Evie. Don’t be mean about this. I’m offering to try again.’

‘I’m being mean?’ Her hold on her anger dissolved. ‘Are you for fucking real?!’ She jabbed him in the chest, forcing him to step backwards. ‘You nearly killed our daughter, then threw us away like something you scraped off the bottom of your shoe. You lied, you cheated, and you broke Summer’s heart. And now, as if by magic, when there’s a bit of media attention and a spotlight you can crawl into, suddenly you reappear. When did you become such a selfish, arrogant, immature bastard!’

‘That’s a little harsh …’ He started to argue, but Evelyn wasn’t about to let him interrupt.

‘I’m not even close to finished,’ she snapped at him. ‘Your selfishness was our biggest problem. It wasn’t that we had an unhappy marriage – or a loveless one – it was that Summer needed me more than you did, and you couldn’t handle that my world stopped revolving around you. So you slunk off to get your ego stroked somewhere else, and now that she doesn’t have time to cater to your every whim and constantly chase away your insecurities, you’re back. Trying to steal attention from your daughter. Your sick daughter. What type of person does that?’

‘I’ve made mistakes, I admit that. But it’s not like you were perfect either. If I changed, it was because of you.’

‘How dare you!’ Her fury blinded her. Somewhere behind her, Evelyn was aware of familiar footsteps approaching, but in her anger she ignored them. ‘I was trying to keep our daughter from dying, and you’re blaming me for that?’

He slunk forward. ‘You were so busy with Summer, you never really gave me a chance.’

‘Well you weren’t stepping up to look after her! One of us had to!’

‘You could have made more time for me. More time for us. You changed when Summer got sick.’

‘Of course I bloody did! She’s our daughter!’

‘And then you raced back down here, to move in with your mum. You cut me out of your life.’

‘You were the one who left, remember? You emptied our bank account and left me basically broke.’ Evelyn forced her arms to remain at her side – it was that or slap the smarm off his face. ‘You ignored my calls. I even had the hospital try and call you.’

‘I’m here now.’ He rested his hands on her elbows, trying to pull her close.

‘Get your hands off me.’

‘Evie, please.’ He gripped her arms more tightly.

‘You’re hurting me.’

‘I think you’ll find she asked you to let go.’ Jake’s voice was harsh and clipped.

‘Just bugger off, mate.’ Charlie barely bothered to glance at him.