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“Mm?” He pottered around her, filling the kettle and lighting the stove.
“Kim’s been calling me.” She’d been avoiding the subject all day but needed her dad’s advice. “She needed my help.”
“Again, love? Didn’t you put her off the last time?” His eyes narrowed.
“I thought so. But I’m all she has, really. And every time it gets a bit tough, she has nowhere to go. I can’t imagine what it must be like to support the children with no one else.”
“I thought there was a new boyfriend on the scene?”
“He’s not much use. I don’t think he gives a shit about the kids because they’re not his. He’s just interested in Kim.”
“You have no obligations there, Charlotte.” He frowned and deep ridges etched his forehead. “I know you want to do the right thing. But it isn’t down to you. It never has been.”
“I know.”
“Sherbert,” he said softly. “You love to fix things for people but in this case, that’s a role that you simply can’t fulfil. You’ve got your own life to live.”
“I know I have a life, Dad.” It was like he could read her mind.I have a life.
“Sweetheart, what is it?” Her mum came back into the room and set her sewing on the worktop.
“It’s Kim. She’s been in touch again.” Charlie rubbed at her face.
“Oh, why? It’s all in the past. You were just a child when all that happened. She should focus on raising her own children.”
“Mum, please don’t make it worse. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.” Charlie swallowed back the lump in her throat and gathered her bag.
“I just don’t know why that Kim is dragging it all up. Theresa has been gone for a long time now.”
Charlie stared at the watercolours on the kitchen wall, her mother’s words washing over her.It wasn’t the same for you.“It’s tough at this time of year, Mum.”
“I’m sorry, I know you loved her, and it brings it all back.” Her mum pulled her close and Charlie welcomed the hug.
“It’s good to be here,” she said, “and if I can support Kim and the children, in some weird way that helps me too. Listen, I’d better head off. It’s getting late.”
Most days, Charlie kept her mask in place. The strong, professional woman who demanded respect in both the office and the bedroom. But no matter how much therapy she had, the grief never lessened. Maybe she’d carry it forever. She wished she could shrug it off and move on, but the calendar would turn again, and she’d wake up to fresh agony, as if time hadn’t passed at all.
Her parents waved her off, and the lights from the porch faded to nothing in the rear-view mirror.
Charlie gripped the steering wheel and squinted. The lanes between her parents’ house and the main road were narrow and winding.
She had been just fourteen when Theresa moved into the house across the road. Charlie hadn’t known the family, but they were foster carers, and kids would come and go. Sometimes they’d only stayed for a night or two but now and then, they’d stick around.
Theresa had stuck around, and Charlie was drawn to her like no one she’d ever known. Remembering it now, Charlie rubbed the goosebumps on her neck. Theresa had been everything.
Together, they’d been a force to be reckoned with. Theresa wasn’t just her neighbour; she was her classmate, and they were inseparable. They’d huddle in Charlie’s room, sharing a pair of headphones, listening to music. More than once, they stole booze from the cupboard under the sink and spent the night under the stars.
Charlie gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to think about their nights under the stars. It hurt to remember Theresa’s kisses. But even now, she could bring to mind the touch of her fingers beneath her T-shirt.
But she’d lost her. And now she faced the burden of Theresa’s birth mum and younger siblings to look after.Dad’s right. What am I trying to fix?
She reached the main road and straightened her shoulders. She needed to keep her mind on the journey. The roads were pitch black, and it had started to rain. She fiddled with the windscreen wipers but struggled to settle on the perfect speed. She loved her Ford Capri. An oldie and a goodie but at times like these, it showed its age.
Rounding the bend, she blinked at two full beams straight ahead and knocked her own lights down. As her eyes adjusted in the darkness, something appeared on the side of the road. It took a second to register, but the shape was in the road, and she was going to hit it. She swerved the steering wheel, slammed the brakes, and the car screeched. Charlie closed her eyes and braced for the impact, but it didn’t come.
Scanning the darkness, she couldn’t see a trace of the shape. She grabbed at the car door and forced it into the night. Panicked, she clambered across uneven ground to the spot behind her that she’d swerved to avoid. Lying in the depths of a grass verge was a woman.
“Shit. Are you okay?”
