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Toby looked disappointed. ‘All right.’
Thea heard footsteps on the gravel drive outside.
Winston barked.
Thea stood up and walked over to the front window. Katie was home from school.
‘Katie is going to be so jealous when she finds out I’ve got a week off.’ Toby sniggered.
Thea turned around and folded her arms. ‘I’m going to have to tell your dad about the suspension.’
That wiped the smile off his face. ‘Do you have to?’
The head had told her there would be a formal letter sent out. She had no choice. ‘I’m afraid so, but I’m not going to tell him until he comes home.’
He brightened.
And Thea wasn’t going to tell his mum either – not at the moment. It wasn’t the end of the world, as far as Thea was concerned, and Jenna didn’t need more worry on top of what was going on with her and Mark. Although Thea didn’t think it was her own fault that Toby had been suspended, she did feel kind of responsible, as it had happened on her watch.
‘So, what are we going to tell Katie?’Toby looked at Thea anxiously. ‘She’s going to text Dad when she finds out, I just know she is.’
That hadn’t occurred to Thea. She had wanted Mark to come back as soon as possible, but now with the discovery of the key to the bookshop, she’d rather he didn’t, so that she had an excuse to stay on. She wanted to do something for her sister, but rather than occupy her time with doing things around the house, Thea had decided that her mission over the next fortnight was to get the bookshop up and running for Jenna, for when she left hospital. She imagined that her sister would be delighted – after all, what other reason would she have for having the key, and repeatedly visiting the shop, if she wasn’t intending to reopen it?
She glanced at Toby and thought of what he’d told her about hiding in the car one night and discovering that Jenna had met a man at the bookshop in the middle of the night. Whatever that was, she hoped that for her family’s sake there was an innocent explanation.
‘Auntie Thea?’
Thea heard the front door open. She looked at Toby. ‘Okay, right, well, I’m going to lie through my teeth.’
Toby scratched his head. ‘I don’t understand …’
‘You go to a big school – right?’
‘Yeah, well it’s an Academy. There’s, like, over five hundred students.’
‘Good, how many classes are you in with Katie?’
‘Well … none, actually. We are in different streams.’
Thea didn’t know what that meant, but it wasn’t important. What was important was the fact that by the sounds of it, Katie wouldn’t think it odd if she didn’t see her brother all day. She voiced that thought.
‘Actually, she’d prefer not to see me. That would suit her, seeing as she doesn’t want her dork of a brother embarrassing her in front of her popular friends.’
Thea ignored that comment, although it did rather play into her hands regarding what she was about to propose. ‘We are going to tell Katie that I’m taking you both to school.’
‘What?’
‘Listen, your mum was going to start running you both to school at the end of the term to save money. Well, I’m going to start now.’
‘But she paid for the whole term.’
‘Do you want to hide the fact that you’ve been suspended or not?’ Thea lowered her voice. She could hear footsteps in the hall.
‘Yes. I do. I just don’t like lying to my sister.’
‘I don’t see as you’ve got a choice, Toby.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. So what happens when we get to school?’
