Second Chance Lane (Brockenridge #2) - Nicola Marsh Page 0,67
all night.
She fled.
CHAPTER
24
With Isla’s thirteenth birthday coming up, Tash had to face facts. She may have been fiercely independent since she’d returned to Brockenridge and had encouraged Isla to be the same way, but sobbing her heart out in Kody’s arms a week ago had given her a much needed wake-up call. Now she’d faced her greatest fear—letting Kody into Isla’s life—maybe it was time to confront her parents.
Once Kody returned to the limelight the news he had a daughter would break and despite the cruel way her parents had shunned her, she didn’t want them hearing about Isla’s paternity via the media. Not that her folks had ever paid much attention to the news, but the small part of her that harboured guilt she’d disappointed them felt compelled to tell them face to face. So with one of the part-time wait staff covering her shift at the roadhouse, Tash drove two hours to the tiny town of High Ridge, a dot on the map south of Swan Hill. She’d never been there before but she’d researched her parents online. They weren’t hard to find considering they’d set up a Christian school for kids in remote areas. Their website boasted thirty students of varying ages, with a wide range of subjects on offer. Though Tash knew firsthand the primary form of education would be religious indoctrination.
She’d timed her visit to coincide with the end of the school day and as she parked opposite the small hall and watched kids trudge out, jostling each other and scuffing their shoes in the dirt, she hoped they had a better time being educated by her parents than she did. Predictably, a giant white cross took pride of place on the roof above the front door. She believed in a higher power, always had, but the sight of the cross brought back memories she’d rather forget: being dragged to mass despite having a temperature bordering on forty degrees; having to recite the rosary repeatedly until her throat ached because she’d been caught with a young adult paranormal novel deemed unsuitable; being grounded for a month because a boy in her class had asked her out on a date.
Blinking back tears, Tash waited, watching the deserted schoolyard for another ten minutes before getting out of the car. Crazily, she’d contemplated bringing Isla along to soften the confrontation, in the vain hope her parents might take one look at their incredible granddaughter and fall in love. But if this went the way Tash expected, she’d be glad she’d never exposed her precious daughter to her parents’ special brand of hate. She could take it—she had in the past—but it wasn’t fair to ask Isla to accept such awful treatment.
Steeling her resolve, she squared her shoulders and marched across the yard and up the steps to the front door. It was open, giving her a clear view into the hall. They’d set it up like a normal classroom, with two seats at each of the rectangular tables. A whiteboard took pride of place at the front, bookshelves lining one wall and stackable tubs emblazoned with children’s names on the other. But that’s where the similarity to other classrooms ended. There was no artwork on the walls, no colourful posters or newspaper articles featuring current affairs. As for computers, one screen with an ancient hard drive attached to it sat in the corner at the front of the room with the screen angled so that everyone could see it. It rammed home the fact that her folks still viewed art as frivolous and self-indulgent, and media as the devil’s work.
Determined to get this over with, Tash knocked on the door and entered, almost jumping out of her skin when her father appeared seemingly out of nowhere from behind her.
‘What can I do for—’ The colour leached from his face as he gasped in shock.
He’d aged—a lot. Her parents had been in their early forties when she’d been born, so they’d always seemed old to her, but her dad looked older than seventy-six. Lines covered his forehead and cheeks, deep crevices surrounded his mouth and his tan emphasised the leathery appearance of his skin.
She wanted to say so much to him but settled for taking a step forwards and half-lifting her arms in the hope of a hug.
He scowled and took a step back.
She let her arms fall to her sides and dragged in a deep breath. ‘Hi, Dad.’