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‘Maybe he couldn’t be like that with Alice because he had to hide a huge part of his life from her. You and Poppy. The less he said about anything, the better, I reckon. The less likely he’d get caught out in all his lies.’
My head starts to spin as I finish my drink. ‘I need to go home. I can’t think about this right now. I need to get back to Poppy.’
Taylor stands. ‘You need to be careful. Don’t trust him, Hannah.’
Downstairs, I watch Taylor leave, then immediately lock the door again. I need a minute by myself before I can face Sarah and the girls. It still doesn’t sit right with me that I’m not telling my closest friend the truth, and instead I’m conspiring with a stranger. A man I don’t even know I can trust.
It’s started to rain when I lock up the shop; there aren’t many people out, but a steady stream of cars passes by.
Someone is running towards me, shouting my name. It takes me a second to realise it’s Taylor, and further seconds before I notice the blood trickling down his face.
‘Someone stole my phone,’ he shouts. ‘I tried to fight back but there were two of them. They ambushed me!’
‘We need to get you to hospital.’
‘No. I’m okay. It’s probably worse than it looks. But my phone had the picture of Alice and Max. Without that, we have nothing.’
TWELVE
Monday comes too quickly, and with it a tightening in my stomach. Now I have to face Max.
Poppy kept me distracted over the weekend, meaning I had little time to dwell on what happened to Taylor. I’d told him there must be a backup on the cloud, only to have the air sucked out of my lungs when he said whoever stole his phone had hacked into it and deleted it from the cloud.
The photo of Max with Alice has gone – Taylor was targeted deliberately for his phone. Someone wanted that photo of Max and Alice. The same person who’s taken the hotel key card? What I can’t understand is why. All of this is evidence pointing to Max, and he’s in hospital so hasn’t done this himself.Who, then?
‘Do I have to go to school?’ Poppy says while we’re eating breakfast. ‘I want to be here when Daddy gets home.’
I push my bowl of cornflakes aside, no longer able to force them down, and plant a smile on my face that feels as if it will crack my skin. ‘He’ll be here waiting for you after school, I promise.’
And when I wave Poppy off at the school gates, my stomach once again twists into tight knots.
For the rest of the morning, I’m on the shop floor, giving Cole a break so he can come in later when I leave to pick up Max.
‘You must be thrilled to have him home,’ Cole says, when he comes to take over. He glances at Katy, who is half-heartedly clearing away cups and plates from a table. I’m so used to her calling in sick or not turning up, it’s surreal that she’s actually here again.
‘It won’t be easy,’ I say. ‘There’ll be a long road to recovery. He won’t be able to work for a while.’
Cole lowers his voice. ‘Has he started to remember anything yet?’
‘No.’
‘That’s a shame. I can’t imagine losing six months of my life like that.’
‘I’ll get going, then.’ I pick up my bag. ‘Don’t be hard on Katy,’ I say.
Max doesn’t speak on the way home from the hospital. He stares out of the window, his eyes darting around. It’s as if he can’t quite place anything. Perhaps everything is familiar yet unknown all at once.
‘It must feel good to be out of hospital,’ I say, to fill the silence.
There’s a sharp intake of breath before he answers. ‘It is. But there are so many gaps. I just want to remember it all.’
I try to offer him comforting words, but he doesn’t seem to register what I’m saying.
He’s still quiet when we get home and I help him to the sofa. He brushes me off. ‘I can do it myself, Hannah. I’m not helpless. Stop fussing!’
‘I need to get back to work,’ he says later in the afternoon, when he’s woken up from a short nap. ‘From home, I mean. I can’t just do nothing.’
‘Stefan said you don’t need to worry about anything,’ I say calmly, even though I want to shout my words. ‘They’re managing.’
