the scene playing out before her with morbid fascination.
‘Don’t be so ridiculous,’ Cassie laughed, bewildered. ‘I might have been a bit distracted recently, which is no surprise if you take into account the fact that my son died, but I wasn’t about to spray cleaning fluid anywhere near the baby. I’m not completely stupid, Adam.’
Kim winced at the reference to Josh as her son. That was just cruel. She glanced from Cassie to Adam, who’d obviously also picked up on it. He looked utterly crushed. ‘Well what the bloody hell were you doing then?’ he asked.
‘I dropped the nappy on the floor.’ Cassie looked at him as if she really didn’t get it. ‘It was the tiles I was about to wipe, not the work surface.’
‘Jesus Christ…’ Heaving out a sigh, Adam glanced away from her. The look in his eyes as he met Kim’s was somewhere between despair and desperation.
‘I was only cleaning the mess up. It’s not a criminal offence, Adam. I don’t understand what it is I’m supposed to have—’
‘He was screaming his head off,’ Adam grated, levelling a furious gaze back at Cassie. ‘You left him balanced on the work surface.’
‘Only for a second.’ Cassie’s voice quavered. ‘I didn’t move away from him long enough for him to roll over. I do have some experience of caring for a baby, Adam. Which actually you don’t,’ she pointed out defensively,
Kim’s gaze shot to Adam, who looked as if Cassie had punched him. He didn’t retaliate. Dragging his wounded gaze away, he kneaded his forehead hard, then turned towards the hall.
He met Kim’s eyes as he approached the kitchen door. He looked so tired. Bone weary. And so, so angry.
‘Kim?’ Cassie said, looking at her. ‘You don’t seriously think I would ever do anything to harm Samuel, do you? I would die before hurting him.’
‘No, I…’ Kim hesitated, furrowing her brow.
Cassie looked at her uncertainly. ‘Kim?’
‘I should go,’ Kim said. ‘Samuel’s upset.’
‘But you’ll come back?’ Cassie asked, her expression fearful. ‘Or I could come over to you, as we agreed. Tomorrow possibly?’
‘Maybe.’ Kim took her opportunity to back away as Samuel grew more fractious. He was probably starving. She’d brought a feed with her, but a tactical exit might be best.
‘Here, let me take him,’ Cassie offered, taking a step towards her.
‘No,’ Kim said quickly. ‘I have to go, Cassie. I’ll—’
She was interrupted by a loud crash. She whirled around, reaching the hall before Cassie, to find Adam quietly cursing and shaking his hand. There was blood dripping from it. Kim’s heart caught in her chest. The mirror was smashed, broken glass sprinkled around like silver confetti. The blood had dripped onto the carpet, rich red against the pale cream. That wouldn’t go down well.
‘Adam?’ Cassie said shakily behind her. ‘What in God’s name have you done?’
Adam laughed cynically. ‘Broken a cardinal rule, Cas,’ he said, his eyes blazing. ‘Made a fucking mess.’ Shaking his head, he turned to yank open the front door.
‘Adam!’ she called frantically. ‘Come back. You can’t—’
‘Enough, Cassandra!’ Adam exploded. ‘For pity’s sake, can you not just stop!’ His shoulders tense, he hesitated for a second, and then strode out, slamming the front door behind him.
Hell. Kim had guessed he might blow at some point, but she hadn’t imagined him walking out so suddenly. ‘I have to go,’ she said, grabbing Samuel’s outdoor suit from the pegs.
Sitting in an armchair in the lounge, she fed Samuel’s tiny flailing arms and legs into the suit in record time, shushing and soothing him as she did.
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Cassie offered. But she wasn’t looking at her, Kim noticed. Her attention was on smoothing and straightening Samuel’s blanket and pram cover. Kim’s eyes boggled. Did she not care that she’d just driven her husband from the house, dripping blood? It hadn’t seemed to occur to her that he might be seriously injured. It obviously hadn’t occurred to her that Josh had been seriously upset when she’d driven him out too. It was no wonder the men in her life were so bloody conflicted.
‘You could grab his bottle,’ she suggested, biting her tongue and jumping to her feet to place Samuel in the pram, then wheel it into the hall.
Cassie hurried into the kitchen. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow, shall I?’ she asked, reappearing to hand her the bottle.
Kim tucked it in the pram tray. ‘Do that.’ She forced a smile. ‘But not before nine,’ she added, a new wave of panic sweeping through