‘I really hate this.’
I nodded and waited until I could hear his footsteps descending the stairs before saying softly,
‘Which is why it will never happen again.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘So, it wasn’t a full-blown asthma attack?’
‘They call the less serious ones flare-ups,’ I corrected. I was a brand-new expert on the condition, having spent a large part of the previous night following every online link I could find relating to childhood asthma. I’d probably only scratched the surface of available information, and yet it had still been enough to frighten the life out of me. How did anyone ever manage to navigate being a parent without living in a constant state of panic?
I looked across the room at my friend and added a footnote to that thought: unless they were like Mel, of course. There were some people who were born to nurture and care for others. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I was one of them.
‘Tell me again exactly what Rhys said when he phoned this morning,’ Mel questioned, swapping out my empty coffee mug for a fresh one. She paused on her way to the dishwasher to wave at Steve, who was walking up and down their lawn pushing a mower. He waved back and they both looked so happy that I immediately regretted bringing down the mood of their happy home by intruding on their Saturday morning routine.
‘He said that by the time he got to Annalise’s, Tasha was fast asleep in bed and was breathing okay. Thankfully the flare-up had subsided.’
Mel made a face like she was sucking lemons.
‘Did his ex say what had triggered it?’
I shook my head, but I knew that triggers could come from anywhere. ‘Maybe it was pollen, dust, or pollution. Or perhaps she just has a nasty cold. They’re often the cause,’ I said, quoting Dr Google. ‘Lots of kids suffer really badly in winter.’
‘It’s summer,’ Mel said, nodding towards the rays of sunlight slanting in through her open kitchen windows.
‘A summer cold then,’ I said, wondering where she was going with this. Mel loved nothing more than a good crime thriller. Film, TV, or book, she adored them all. She could sniff out a red herring faster than a bloodhound and left most fictional detectives in the dust when solving clues.
‘Just hypothesising here, but how sure are we that Rhys’s little girl—’
‘—Tasha. Her name is Tasha,’ I supplied.
‘How sure are we that Tasha was as bad as her mum made out last night?’
There were a great many thoughts that had run through my head since Rhys had left my flat the night before, but that one hadn’t even occurred to me. I was so shocked that the full cup of coffee wobbled in my hand as I set it back down on the kitchen table.
‘Are you suggesting that Annalise made it up?’
Mel gave an eloquent shrug.
‘What kind of mother would do something like that?’ My own had certainly had some questionable parenting skills, but I also knew she would never have feigned an illness.
I shook my head vehemently and the ponytail I’d gathered my hair into swung from side to side like a red warning flag.
‘No. I can’t imagine Rhys ever falling in love with someone capable of lying about their own kid’s health.’
Mel gave a you-could-be-right shrug. ‘Although I bet if you’d asked him a few years ago if she’d sleep with another man in their bed, he’d probably have said she wouldn’t do that either.’ I felt a sudden stab of guilt at having shared Annalise’s betrayal with my friend, because it hadn’t been my secret to tell.
‘This is different,’ I insisted. ‘This is a step too far. If you had a sick child, you wouldn’t tempt fate like that.’
Mel gave a twisted smile. ‘Listen to you, talking about fate as though it’s something you actually believe in. Where’s that career-driven woman who always said you make your own destiny?’
‘I killed her off,’ I said, reaching for a second brownie before my conscience told me it was a bad idea. ‘In a lightning flash.’
‘Just think about it for a moment,’ Mel urged. ‘You and Rhys bump into wicked best friend at your awards do—’
‘We can’t say for sure that Helen is wicked,’ I said, determined to play devil’s advocate.
‘Okay. Well, Helen is none too pleased to see her bestie’s ex turn up with a new girlfriend.’