‘Because that’s just weird. Why would she still be in touch with Scarlett?’
Sophie sighs. ‘I don’t know,’ she says. ‘But from what I’ve heard about Scarlett, she was a charismatic young woman. She had a lot of admirers. There was her little clique of friends. Liam. Her ex-head, Jacinta Croft, said she had a way of managingpeople, manipulating them. And now it looks like maybe Tallulah and Scarlett weren’t as unacquainted as Scarlett might have led everyone to believe. So it is possible that your mum’s stayed in touch. Behind the scenes.’
Lexie is already shaking her head, even before Sophie has finished talking. ‘Nope,’ she says. ‘No. You’re barking up the wrong tree. Totally.’
Sophie smiles at her sadly. ‘Lexie,’ she says. ‘You’re not here very much. Your mum lives here alone nearly all the time. Who knows what she does when she’s on her own? She’s a very caring woman. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if she was still in touch with Scarlett Jacques.’
Lexie doesn’t reply this time. She says, ‘So, what are you going to do? Are you going to ask her?’
Sophie and Kim exchange a look. Kim nods and says, ‘Yes. We’ll probably have a little chat with her.’
‘She won’t know anything,’ Lexie says. ‘I promise you, she won’t.’
Sophie closes her laptop then and is about to pick it up and leave when her eye is caught by something poking out from the half-disgorged contents of Lexie’s suitcase.
It’s a copy of her book.
49
June 2017
‘You look gorgeous,’ says Zach, appearing in the kitchen a while later. ‘Look at you.’ He grins at Kim and says, ‘Your daughter is properly hot,’ and Kim laughs and looks at Tallulah indulgently and says, ‘Well, she’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.’
Zach approaches Tallulah and kisses her gently on her cheek. Then he grabs Noah from his high chair and twirls him around the kitchen until Noah is helpless with laughter. Zach’s energy is off the scale, high octane, almost infectious. Almost, but not quite. Tallulah forces a smile as Zach passes Noah into her arms and says, ‘I’m off for a shower. I won’t be long.’
When he’s gone, Tallulah’s mum looks at her and says, ‘Well, someone’s in a good mood.’
‘Yes,’ she replies. ‘He is a bit.’
‘Nice to see him so happy. He’s seemed a bit, you know, preoccupied lately. With the flat.’
Tallulah nods, but doesn’t reply.
‘So, tonight, any particular reason for it?’
‘No,’ she replies airily. ‘No. I just think he was getting bogged down in saving up and wanted a break from it all.’
‘Well, you both deserve it,’ says her mum. ‘The two of you are incredible. So hard-working and selfless. It’s about time you put yourselves first for a bit and went out and had some fun.’
‘Are you sure you’ll be all right getting Noah down? He’s been a nightmare lately.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ her mum reassures her. ‘If the worst comes to the worst, we’ll just stay up late. It’s the first time I’ve babysat for ages; I don’t care how challenging it is. I just want you to have a wonderful, relaxing, possibly exciting’ – she throws Tallulah a mischievous look – ‘night out. I don’t want you to think about Noah or me or anything that isn’t fun-related. OK?’
Tallulah wonders about her mother’s use of the words ‘possibly exciting’ and the strange look she’d thrown her. Does her mother know? she wonders. Has Zach told her? Or, God, heaven forbid, maybe even asked her permission? The thought freaks her out.
But she smiles and says, ‘OK. I promise not to think about my mother or my child.’
‘Good girl.’ Her mother throws her another indulgent smile. ‘Good girl. And if you’ve got a hangover tomorrow, just stay in bed. I’ll do the morning for you too, OK?’
Tallulah nods, then places Noah back in his high chair and holds out her arms towards her mother and says, ‘Hug?’
Her mother smiles and says, ‘Oh, yes please.’ And they hug there, in the kitchen, the sun shining on them from the garden, Zach singing in the shower overhead, Noah chewing thoughtfully on the corner of a book and watching them curiously, almost sagely, as if he knows that this is a night that will shape his destiny. At the very thought of it, Tallulah feels a tear roll down her cheek. She wipes it away quickly so that her mother doesn’t notice.
50
September 2018
It’s four o’clock. Kim left Maypole House two hours ago to collect Noah from nursery and now Sophie pulls on a cardigan, grabs her phone and heads out into the grounds. Classes are over for the day and the paths swarm with teenagers. She imagines these same paths swarming with Scarlett’s cohort. She pictures tall, lean Scarlett as Liam described her back then, with her hair a natural dark brown, a minidress, opaque tights and clumpy boots, followed by her adoring coterie.