The Apartment - K. L. Slater Page 0,18

school, if you’re able to travel there in the meantime,’ Mrs Grant suggested. ‘We hold a holiday club all through the summer break, so Skye can come in a few times and get used to the school and meet some of the children who’ll be her new classmates in September.’

This had sounded like a great plan, and I was heartened by the thought of Skye making new friends before the autumn term started.

Once her old school closes down for the summer, there are no other facilities offered. There are no holiday clubs, no residential camps. Already I can see the benefit of my daughter attending a better-funded school with such useful additional holiday activities, particularly when the time comes for me to find another job.

It’s mid-July, so there is only a week and a half of the school term remaining.

Although it takes three times longer to get to Grove Primary from our new address, we won’t have to do it for long, and it will give Skye a chance to say goodbye to her teachers and friends.

I get an uncomfortable pulsing in my throat every time I think about telling her. I’ve done everything the wrong way around. I should have dealt with this stuff while we were still living in the old house, but our moving date came around so quickly, I barely had time to think.

I haven’t even spoken to Kat, her best friend Petra’s mum.

Skye skips along the pavement, excitement buzzing like a layer of electricity under her skin.

Before all the awful things that happened with Lewis, she used to remind me of an effervescent bath bomb, fizzing with energy and a joy for life. He left us for another woman first and then he died.

Unsurprisingly, tragedy sucked that joy out of her, and I’ve become accustomed over the past year to her new, more reserved nature. Too reserved, some of the time. For a healthy five-year-old anyway.

So it’s lovely to see a little of her old joie de vivre.

‘I’m going to tell Petra all about us moving to Adder House today, Mummy.’ She dances around me like a mini boxer as I steer her to the bus stop. ‘Can she come over to ours soon? I know she’ll want to help me unpack all my Sylvanian Families and see my new bedroom. Oh, and she’ll need our address so her mummy can bring her over. But I’ll still see her every day at school, won’t I?’

‘And you might be able to finish your painting today in art class!’ I say quickly. ‘We can stick it up on your bedroom wall.’

Thankfully, we spend the rest of the journey talking about the art supplies she’d like for her birthday which falls at the end of August.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I drop her off and finally beat a hasty retreat from the playground, grateful not to have bumped into Kat. We’re not big friends ourselves but we’re both under no illusions that our girls are close buddies and that the friendship means a lot to each of them.

Once I tell Kat exactly where Adder House is, she’ll know immediately that Skye cannot practically continue attending this school. But the last thing I want is for Petra to know that Skye will be leaving Grove Primary before my daughter herself does.

I head for the bus stop and blow out a long exhalation of air. I resolve to speak to her this evening. It’s the right thing to do.

Impulsively, on my way home, I decide to pop in and see Brenna. A quick chat with her over a coffee will be sure to cheer me up.

As a respected professor in the field of psychology, Brenna occasionally guest lectures at universities throughout the UK, but mostly prefers to work from home writing her academic research papers.

Her partner, Viv, works away a lot, and as such, we’ve always spent quite a bit of time together; and she’s been a godsend in looking after Skye at short notice.

The last time I visited her at home was just after I’d met Dr Marsden in Starbucks. ‘I’m so glad you called in, I have great news,’ she’d said cryptically when I rang the doorbell. She signalled for me to sit at the breakfast bar while she made coffee. ‘Viv has a friend in phlebotomy who’s looking to rent out her apartment while she takes a sabbatical year abroad. It’s a little small and further out of town, but Viv has visited her there