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Troy slowly got to his feet. ‘I know when I’m not wanted. Annabelle, are you coming?’
‘I think you already know the answer to that.’
Troy turned his attention to his son. ‘Well, that was a waste of money, wasn’t it?’ he said to him. ‘Why did you drag me all this way for nothing?’
Jake’s eyes were huge and his chin wobbled. ‘I want to go back home, Dad, back to Cairns. I thought if you and Mum—’ He stopped and bit his lip. Then he said in a very small voice hardly more than a whisper, ‘Mum’s right, you don’t love us.’
‘Don’t listen to your mum—’
‘I’m not. I’m listening toyou.’
Eh?’ Troy was flummoxed.
‘I’m not stupid,’ Jake said. ‘I heard everything.’
‘I didn’t say that I don’t love you.’ He turned to his daughter. ‘Izzie, I didn’t say that, did I?’
Izzie was sucking furiously on her thumb and tears were trickling down her face.
Jake said, ‘You didn’t have to say it in words.’
‘Get out,’ Brett ordered, and Troy held up his hands.
‘I’m going. There’s no need to be so shitty about it.’ He sidled towards the door. ‘Any chance of a lift to the airport?’ he asked, then hastily added, ‘I thought not,’ as he saw the expressions on the faces of the adults.
Just as he was about to put his foot on the first step, Jake called after him. ‘Dad!’
‘What, son? I hope you’re not going to ask to come with me, because you can’t.’
When Jake spoke, his voice was firm and unyielding. ‘You’ve ruined my life. I never want to see you again.’ And with that, he turned away from his father and buried his head in his mother’s chest.
Troy hesitated, an unreadable expression on his face.
Then he was gone, and Annabelle finally allowed the tears she’d been holding to flow free.
‘Don’t cry, Mum. Dad’s not worth it.’ Jake pulled back and looked into her eyes. He was about to say something else, when Kate appeared.
‘Is Ron in here?’ she asked, poking her head around the living room door. ‘I’ve got some news for him.’ Her eyes widened when she heard the front door slam so violently, that it rocked the very foundations. ‘What was that?’
‘Troy leaving,’ Brett said.
Annabelle led her children to the sofa and the three of them sank onto it, Jake on one side of her, Izzie on the other. She wrapped her arms around them and pulled them close.
‘Why, what’s happened? Annabelle, are you all right?’ Kate came further into the room, her attention on Annabelle.
‘Didn’t you hear?’ Brett asked.
‘Hear what?’ Kate’s eyes flickered around the room, briefly coming to rest on her mother and Helen, before returning to Brett.
‘Troy was causing a bit of a scene, but it’s OK, he’s gone now,’ Brett explained.
Annabelle marvelled at the way Brett had stood up to Troy. For a moment she’d thought Troy might have got aggressive, not physically, because she’d never seen him do that, but her ex was certainly an in-your-face kind of bloke, and he could have a nasty, mean mouth on him when he wanted, especially when things weren’t going his way.
‘Oh, I see,’ Kate said. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked again, putting her hand on Annabelle’s shoulder.
‘I’m fine,’ Annabelle said, her stock response reminding her acutely of Ron, and she swallowed back a sob.
‘No, she’s not,’ Beverley said. ‘None of us are. It’s Ron – he’s gone.’
