to look at him. ‘Please,’ she added. This time without the attitude. It worked.
‘Five minutes,’ he said, splaying his hand in front of my face for emphasis. ‘You get five minutes and that’s it.’ He turned to Sunny. ‘Anton will be right outside the door.’
‘I don’t want him there.’ Her eyes darted to the door. ‘I don’t want him …’
‘Okay, okay.’ He held up his hand in the same stop gesture Anton had used on me. ‘I’ll tell him to go back downstairs. If you want me, you just yell, honey, and I’ll be here in a heartbeat.’
Her back was to him, but she nodded.
The cappuccino was more than okay and so was Sunny. She’d built a little hard carapace about herself but it was surprisingly easy to get beneath it. We made a bit of small talk about why she didn’t drink coffee or tea and about her dad’s gym gear importing business, but we were both aware our time alone was short. I thought her first question would be, ‘What’s my mother like?’ She surprised me.
‘What’s your mother like?’ she asked.
I tried not to let the question throw me. Fair enough, I thought. She has the right to find out about me before she gives anything of herself away.
‘Well.’ I let my breath out. ‘My mother died when I was five so all my memories of her belong to a five-year-old.’
‘Same,’ she said, pulling her bare foot into her hand. ‘Only the other way round.’ I waited, not following her meaning but knowing more was coming. ‘I wish my mother was dead and Falcon was alive.’ She made it sound very matter of fact. ‘He was five when she killed him.’ She slid a little smile in my direction. ‘I’d probably hate him. If he was alive, I mean. He’d be twelve. Twelve-year-old boys are so totally disgusting.’ She hid her emotion in her oversized cup of hot water.
‘I had a little sister,’ I said, and took a sip of the coffee. ‘I thought I’d hate her but I loved her right from the start. And even when she was an annoying twelve-year-old I still loved her.’ The words were thick in my throat. The emotion surprised us both. I glanced at Sunny before adding, ‘But maybe it’s different with a brother.’
Sunny shook her head. ‘Falcon was a really cute kid,’ she said. Her eyes moved as she pictured him. She blinked slowly, shutting the image down. ‘I try not to think about him too much.’
I could understand that. ‘You get on okay with Neo?’
‘Sure,’ she said with a hitched shrug. There was a fierceness about her as she readied herself for the difficult stuff. ‘What does she want with me?’ Her eyes darted as she searched for another way to ask the question. She ended up just repeating it. ‘What does she want?’
I took my time answering, aware every word I said was loaded. ‘Karen says she wants to know you’re alright,’ I said.
‘What do you mean alright?’ she shot back. It was the first flash of anger.
‘To be honest, I don’t really know.’ She’d drawn her legs up and was hugging them with skinny little arms. ‘Are you alright?’ I asked.
Sunny opened her mouth to speak. There was something there; some thought, some secret. Her eyes darted to the door again. I wondered if Justin was outside listening. Or Anton. Or if she thought one of them was. Whatever she’d intended to say was swallowed.
‘Alright for someone whose mother tried to murder her, you mean?’ She lifted her chin in a parody of pride. ‘Oh yeah, I’m totally excellent.’ Her voice hitched.
‘I believe Karen cares about you, Sunny.’
This was pushing the limits of what I was prepared to say about Karen’s feelings for her, but I had to give Sunny something. She feigned nonchalance and nearly convinced herself.
‘Yeah, well, whatever.’ A new thought took hold. ‘You won’t tell anyone at school, will you? Promise you won’t talk to any of them. No one at school knows …’ This was clearly her worst nightmare.
‘I won’t talk to anyone …’ I began.
‘And don’t let Mum go anywhere near my friends! If she does, I’ll … I’ll …’ She tensed. I reckoned there was a fifty-fifty chance of her making a run for the door.
‘Listen to me, Sunny.’ My chair squeaked as I leaned forward. ‘I won’t tell Karen anything you say to me. I won’t tell her anything about you. Not unless you want me to. You are