They were home. Two hours in accident and emergency was a record. Once, when Dominic was a baby, she’d been passed from nurse to nurse and spent almost five hours there. A wailing baby with a high temperature and not one person seemed to care. She’d been terrified. She was young and naïve; terrified that she had left it too long to get medical help for her son. Mike had driven them and then Marilyn had turned up. Perfumed, preened and wearing pearls. At one in the morning. The memory sent a shot of bile into her throat. She swallowed it down.
‘Mum! How long does it have to stay on?’ Dominic called.
She came back into the room.
‘At least a week. You heard the doctor. And no football either.’
She put another cushion behind Dominic’s back and lifted his injured leg onto the sofa. Just a bad sprain, nothing torn or broken they’d said.
‘Are you hot?’ She put the back of her hand on his forehead.
‘My ankle is and the bandage is made out of that stinky stuff. It’s like the one Grandad had on his arm when he hurt it at badminton.’
‘I’ll get you a drink. Hot chocolate?’ Emma offered.
‘Coke?’
‘Dom…’
‘Please.’
‘Oh, go on then,’ she gave in.
She flicked on the television and handed Dominic the remote control.
She was exhausted. After a late night and a morning of emotional turmoil she was done in. She switched the kettle on and opened the fridge. She took out the Coke and poured some into a glass.
Her mobile phone vibrated with a text message. She looked at the sender. Chris.
Did Dom enjoy the training?
She let out a sigh. She couldn’t reply. She should call him. She should let him know about Dominic’s ankle but she couldn’t do it now. He would ask a load of questions and she’d feel uneasy. She still felt uneasy about what happened with Guy. He’d looked so determined, then so wounded and finally, furious. When he’d planted his hand on the window, a moment from the past had flashed before her. She had ached to say the right things. Not the truth, but the words to stop him asking. She’d never expected him to be here. He wasn’t supposed to ever be in her life again. What she’d left in France was supposed to have stayed there and what she’d taken away wasn’t meant to be shared.
A knock on the front door made her jump.
*
He should have been travelling back to Finnerham but instead he’d waited for Ally to leave the fitness centre. He was convinced a good friend would need to check up in person, make sure the boy was OK. She’d driven to a leafy suburb and parked outside a terraced home with Venetian blinds at the windows and a dark green front door. He parked across the street, not directly opposite, but close enough to see. He slunk down low in the seat, knowing his Range Rover probably stuck out like a sore thumb. He felt like a voyeur. Watching, he saw Ally knock on the door. His heart picked up pace as he waited. Perhaps this wasn’t where they lived. Maybe this was another friend of Ally’s or a man, a boyfriend.
The door opened a crack and he saw her. A look of relief seemed to cross her face when she greeted Ally, as if she was expecting another caller. Had she expected him? If she had, that told him everything he needed to know.
*
‘God, you look bloody awful… on skis. It’s broken, isn’t it? It’s broken and you’re going to sue Ultra Leisure,’ Ally spluttered when Emma opened the door.
‘Oh it’s you!’ Emma exclaimed. Relief wrapped around her words.
‘Is it in a cast? Please don’t sue the leisure centre, Em. I’m really enjoying the job and it’s great money…’
‘Come in,’ Emma said, opening the door wider.
‘What can I do? There must be something I can do. How about free membership… for life,’ Ally said. She wrung her hands together.
‘It’s not broken. It’s just a bad sprain. He’s fine,’ Emma told her.
‘Oh thank God! I was totally panicking. For a minute I thought I was going to get fired and have to hang on to Jonty for a bit longer until I found another job!’
‘And you’re also relieved Dominic isn’t going to be on crutches for weeks.’
‘Oh, Em, of course. I mean that goes without saying,’ Ally said quickly.