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As she entered the kitchen her phone rang, as if it had known she was coming. Luce stared at it, sitting on the counter, with Ben’s name scrolling across the screen. Just the sight of those three letters made her heart clench. She’d need to talk to him eventually, she knew. Give him another chance for some sort of involvement—with the baby, not her. She was all set without him, thank you. She had her own not-a-plan and she was sticking to it. Just her, Dolly and the baby.
Ben had been right about one thing—even if he was wrong about almost everything else. She needed priorities and she needed to stick to them. And for the foreseeable future her priority was her child, and staying healthy and stress-free so she could look after them.
Neither Ben nor her brother were conducive to that.
The phone stopped ringing and Luce went to put the kettle on. She’d talk to him soon. Just not yet.
‘Anyone home?’
Luce’s shoulders tensed at the sound of Tom’s voice. She hadn’t heard his key in the lock, but maybe Dolly had left the door open while she was dragging in her assorted bags and boxes.
‘In the kitchen,’ she called back, and schooled her face, ready for the showdown.
‘Oh, good. I’d murder a cup of tea,’ said Tabitha.
Luce bit her lip. She hadn’t expected Mum, too. Oh, well, maybe it was best to get it all over with in one go, anyway.
‘I’ll make a pot,’ Luce said. Maybe she could busy herself with the teacups and cake until Dolly came down. Moral support was always appreciated.
‘I think that’s the last of it,’ Dolly said as she entered the kitchen. ‘And just in time, too. Hi, Mum. Tom.’
Luce placed the tea tray on the kitchen table. ‘Help yourselves,’ she said, and settled into the chair at the head of the table.
‘Now, Lucinda,’ Tabitha said, taking a tiny sliver of cake. ‘We wanted to talk to you about Tom’s idea. He says you dismissed it rather out of hand, but I don’t think you can have listened to all the details. He’s put a lot of thought into this, you know.’
‘He wants to live in my house with his new girlfriend and her children,’ Luce summarised.
‘Well, yes. But we thought that you could have Tom’s flat in exchange! Wouldn’t that be nice? This house is far too big with just you rattling around in it, anyway.’
‘Tom’s flat is rented,’ Luce pointed out. Best to address all the problems with Tabitha’s statement in turn, she decided.
‘Well, yes, but the rent’s very affordable for you on your salary. And, after all, you’ve been able to live here rent-free for the last few years. Isn’t it time Tom had the same opportunity?’
Luce blinked and looked over at Dolly, who appeared equally baffled by their mother’s attempt at reasonable argument.
‘She’s lived here rent-free because it’s her house,’ Dolly said.
‘Only because Grandad left it to her,’ Tom put in. ‘But it’s always been the family house, hasn’t it? Luce always says it belongs to all of us, really.’
‘Except for the part where it’s her house. Grandad left you other stuff. And me.’
Dolly’s voice grew louder. Her grasp on staying restrained and reasonable wasn’t going to last long, Luce suspected.
‘Not a house, though,’ Tom said, his tone perfectly reasonable.
Luce frowned. ‘Is that what this is really about? You’re jealous because Grandad left me more valuable property than you?’
Tom straightened his back and stared at her. ‘It’s not about jealousy. It’s about fairness. I need the house more than you, that’s all. We’re a family. We share.’
The really scary part, Luce thought, was that he truly believed this was a reasonable demand. She’d spent her entire life giving and giving to these people, and now they couldn’t imagine that there might be something she wasn’t willing to hand over to them.
But Dolly had grown up, grown out of that dependence. She’d changed when Luce had never really believed it was possible.
And that meant Tom could, too.
‘Do you know why he left it to me?’ Luce asked, mildly.
Tom shook his head.
‘He left me a note in the will explaining. He said, “You’re going to spend the rest of your life looking after the lot of them, because God knows they can’t do it themselves. Think of this as your salary.” And I think I’ve more than earned it over the last few years.’
Tom stared at her, his eyes wide and disbelieving, and Luce squashed down a pang of guilt. She needed to do this. For all their sakes.
