Book Read Free

Do No Harm

Page 8

by L. V. Hay


  Sebastian sighed. ‘It’s not too big, it’s—’

  ‘Phones like that are about two hundred pounds!’ Lily interrupted.

  ‘That’s what I mean,’ Sebastian explained. ‘Two hundred pounds is nothing to my mother. If she’d turned up and given him something that cost a tenner, would you think that was such a big deal?’

  Lily opened her mouth as if to say ‘No’, then seemed to think better of it. ‘I guess not.’

  ‘Well, think of it like that.’ Sebastian hugged Lily; she let him. ‘I know it’s weird, you growing up with so little. But Denny doesn’t have to.’

  ‘I just didn’t want him to have a phone at six years old,’ Lily muttered, into Sebastian’s chest.

  He released her. ‘Well, then let’s tell her that.’

  Holding hands, they headed back into the kitchen. Lily smiled at Denny and sent him, clutching the phone, to his bedroom. The little boy was only too happy to acquiesce, still staring at the screen in his hand. Sebastian stood to one side to let his stepson past.

  ‘We wish you hadn’t given him that, Fran.’ Lily looked to Sebastian, who nodded earnestly in agreement. They were a unified front.

  His mother was still seated at the kitchen table, her hands in her lap. Her eyes widened, like she’d been caught in car headlights. Confusion registered on her face. ‘But you said I could give it to him…’

  Sebastian sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. He could feel the tension in his brow, leading down to his jaw and neck.

  ‘You said you had something to give to him,’ said Lily. ‘I thought it was just a bag of sweets.’ She attempted, unsuccessfully, to hide an exasperated sigh.

  Fran shot a beseeching look at Sebastian. He wanted to reassure her, to tell her he got what she was trying to do. But he had to toe the party line. ‘Lily’s right. It was up to us to decide when Denny has a phone.’

  A pang sliced through his chest as he saw the suggestion of tears in his mother’s eyes. They’d got on so well during the clean-up on the day they’d returned from holiday. Now the three of them were rubbing up against one another, clashing, all sharp edges. Was this normal? Maybe it was for stepfamilies. And the added stress of Maxwell wasn’t helping. Sebastian had never done this before, but to be fair to Fran, she hadn’t either. They’d grow accustomed to one another soon, surely? They had to.

  ‘I see.’ Fran gathered her bag’s handles together and stood, her head hung in shame. ‘I thought I was doing something nice for the boy.’

  ‘Yes, we appreciate that, but—’ Lily began, but Fran held up a hand to silence her.

  ‘It’s all right, Lily. I understand.’ With an effort, Fran got up from her chair.

  ‘You don’t have to go,’ Sebastian was dismayed.

  ‘No, please stay,’ Lily echoed, though it didn’t sound like her heart was in it.

  ‘It’s fine, I have bridge club tonight anyway.’ Fran flashed them a watery smile and leaned heavily on the bannister at the top of the stairs.

  ‘If you’re sure,’ Lily said.

  Fran disappeared down the stairs, slowly, one at a time, as if she was scared of falling.

  As the front door slammed, Lily looked to Sebastian for reassurance, biting her lip.

  But he didn’t give it. ‘Well, that went well.’

  Lily stood her ground, one foot in front of the other, hands on her hips. ‘Sarcasm is not helpful.’

  ‘I know, I know, I’m sorry.’ He encircled her in his arms again. ‘She should have asked us first, you’re right.’

  Even so, Sebastian could not help feeling that if Lily hadn’t been so irritated by Maxwell’s recent behaviour, she would not have put her foot down like this over the phone. It felt as if they were punishing Fran for Maxwell’s trespasses. But he could see Lily’s point. There were only two of them in this marriage, after all. Denny was part of his family now, as was Fran – but he wasn’t married to either of them. Lily was his wife. His honeymoon toast rolled back into his thoughts: Happy wife … happy life. That was the way he had to play it. He could make it up to his mother.

  Somehow.

  Fifteen

  The rain promised all week rolled in just after school finished for the day. As I checked through my students’ exercise books, I glanced up to see the water pouring off the school roof in steady streams. It hit the tarmac of the playground with a hiss; a smell of ozone wafting through the open window. As I closed it, I heard the distant rumble of thunder and was startled when a flash of sheet lightning illuminated the sky. The muggy June weather had broken at last. I was grateful the kids had already gone home. Bad weather and children was never a good mix: it got them antsy, jumping around in their seats like cats in spring.

  I checked my watch and groaned. After five o’clock. I should have been at after-school club picking Denny up, right then.

  I gathered up my papers and my laptop bag then almost tripped on a miniature chair left in the gangway near my desk. Leaving my classroom, I crossed the school atrium. No one was staffing reception, but that was nothing new. Sebastian’s receptionist, Rosanna, was a nightmare. In fact, ranting about her transgressions, both real and perceived, was one of his favourite things to do at the end of the day. Unlike with Maxwell though, I didn’t need to worry about Sebastian having an affair with his secretary.

  Through an inner window decorated by kids’ paintings, I could see Sebastian’s desk was customarily neat – empty of papers, pens or cups. His jacket and bag were nowhere in sight. Sebastian usually worked until six, arriving home approximately an hour after Denny and I, in time for a ‘shake-and-bake’ dinner of something like potato waffles and fish fingers.

  But I did not slow down. I was unconcerned that Sebastian was not at his desk. I’m his wife, not his jailer. The thought brought a smile to my lips. My dad would say that to my mother, whenever she asked where he’d been. It was a running joke between them: she’d send him to the shop for a loaf of bread and up to forty minutes later he’d trudge back, trailing the loaf from one hand, the other in his pocket.

  ‘Where did you get to? Was about to send a search party out,’ Mum would rebuke him in good-natured fashion.

  ‘Eh woman, you’re me wife, not me jailer,’ Dad would grin.

  Now Kelly, the after-school club group leader, appeared from a side room, surprising me. ‘Late again, Lily,’ she said. The club moved around the school and I could never remember which room it was in. Today it was in one of the larger communal classrooms and I’d rushed straight past. Kelly flashed me a confused smile.

  My words tumbled from my lips as I tried to catch my breath. ‘I know, I know. I’m so sorry. Completely mad, since I’m actually here, too.’

  Kelly’s tone was bright and breezy, but I could detect a steely undertone. ‘I know it’s hard being a working mum.’

  Was that disapproval? I was stung, even a little outraged. Kelly was well known in Epsom as a good-time girl, propping up bars every Saturday night, doing the walk of shame down an empty Epsom High Street most Sunday mornings. I’d even seen her myself once, wandering past the Co-Op as I bought a pint of milk. Her unbrushed hair resembled a bird’s nest. Shoeless, wearing a vest top and a barely-there skirt, she’d had a dreamy look in her panda eyes, her pasty skin still smeared with the previous night’s make-up.

  I laughed off any criticism Kelly might have of me; she could go and sort out her own life before she passed judgement on mine. ‘Anyway, if I could just pick up Denny?’

  Kelly’s brow furrowed. ‘His dad came and got him about half an hour ago.’

  The sight of Sebastian’s empty office and desk came back to me. I was puzzled though: he hadn’t told me he was picking up Denny and taking him home by car. When he did that, he normally took me as well. Had I forgotten something? A football match, a dentist’s appointment, a friend for tea? But those were all my department; Sebastian wouldn’t just take over without telling me. And then a sharp pain hit me low in my abdom
en as I realised what had happened. I felt compelled to check, even though I knew I was wrong:

  ‘You mean Mr Adair, right?’

  Nervous, Kelly licked her lips and hesitated before sighing heavily. ‘No. Mr Stevens. His real dad.’

  Sixteen

  Sebastian watched the rain pour down from the gutters from one of the top classroom windows. He’d finished his admin for the day, first doing data input, then responding to emails, as well as sending various press releases to the local newspapers about student achievements. He’d decided to do his nightly patrol around the school early for once, hoping to intercept Lily and Denny on the way back and give them both a lift home.

  He discovered a few forgotten coffee cups and balls of paper that had missed the bin in E6; he even cleaned the whiteboard that Ms McCarthy had forgotten. She was becoming increasingly scatty. Twice that week she’d come into school with two different shoes on. Sebastian had thought it was a myth that ‘baby brain’ took hold of pregnant women, but if she was anything to go by, it was very much a thing. Perhaps even loudly self-anointed feminists like Ms McCarthy couldn’t help but play to type when it came to biology? It smelled like bullshit to him, but what did he know?

  Weary, Sebastian climbed the winding staircase to check in at student resources, which was at the back of the library. Both of the female support staff there were stocktaking, unpacking new books and boxes of exercise books and pencils. They were flabbergasted to see him unannounced. He normally made his circuit of the school long after they had gone home.

  ‘Everything okay up here?’ Sebastian felt awkward, suddenly aware he always expected the librarians to get on with things by themselves, making the most of their ever-decreasing budget.

  Head librarian, Mim, a small, round woman with an unfortunate penchant for orange, nodded with vigour, her double chin wobbling. ‘Everything’s okay with me … You?’ She turned to Lena, a young, tall, willowy woman – Mim’s opposite in every way.

  ‘It is all okay, yes,’ said Lena.

  Lena was German but, apart from her blonde hair and blue eyes, she was as far removed from the gruff, ice-maiden national stereotype as you could get. Maternally minded, with a wickedly puerile sense of humour, Lena was a huge hit with the kids and often doubled as a teaching assistant when Avonwood was understaffed, which was always.

  ‘Okay.’ There was an awkward pause as Sebastian drank this in. Both women stayed where they were, smiles frozen on their faces. ‘Well, keep up the good work.’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ Lena gave him a mock salute as he left.

  As Sebastian made it back into his office on the ground floor, he heard the persistent vibrating buzz of his mobile. It stopped, but before he could cross the room to the desk, it started again. He snatched it up, seeing ‘LILY’ on the screen, along with ‘15 MISSED CALLS’. Trepidation jumped from his chest to his throat. Lily was not prone to panic. She tended to call once or twice, then give up. This must be serious. He pressed the green button to answer.

  Before he could even ask what was up, Lily started to babble. Something about Maxwell taking Denny. Immediately, Sebastian’s anxiety abated. Maxwell was the boy’s father, after all. But confusion was not far behind: Maxwell had come into the school? How? That was not difficult to guess, he thought: Rosanna had probably let him in without a second’s thought, she was that careless. But Sebastian had thought better of Kelly. Maxwell had never picked his son up before, not even when he and Lily were still married.

  ‘What was Kelly playing at?’ Sebastian wondered aloud.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lily said. ‘Some crappy excuse about Maxwell still being on Denny’s school registration form. That doesn’t matter now!’

  ‘I’m on my way.’ Sebastian ended the call and grabbed his stuff.

  Lily was waiting for him in the corridor that led from the big hall out into the school car park. They swept out of the school, into the rain, chucking their belongings into the back seat of his car and belting up.

  ‘That bastard. This is typical of him,’ Lily said.

  Sebastian was perturbed at how wild her eyes were, how agitated she seemed. The lad was only with his father. She surely couldn’t think Denny would come to any harm with him? A darker thought followed: perhaps this was about one-upmanship. Not just on Maxwell’s part, but Lily’s too – with Denny the prize. Sebastian banished this thought. He was being ridiculous. His wife wasn’t like that.

  Lily’s demeanour changed drastically as they entered Maxwell’s affluent estate. She went from angry and defiant to cowed and vulnerable in a matter of moments. Her body language screamed anxiety, her limbs all jagged shapes, her eyes wide and unfocused.

  As the car came to a halt outside Maxwell’s home, she turned to Sebastian. ‘Oh God, Sebastian, what if he won’t let us in? What if he tries to keep Denny?’

  Sebastian’s mind spun as he tried to catch up. ‘He won’t do that,’ he answered, trying to inject reassurance into his voice.

  In truth, Sebastian had no clue what Maxwell would do. He would never have guessed that this would be his next move. What was the point? Maxwell worked full-time as a consultant at the Cromwell Hospital in Epsom. He’d need someone to take Denny to school and pick him up … and both his mother and stepfather worked in that very same school. He often worked late into the night, plus some weekends. It made no sense whatsoever for him to go for sole custody. But then it hadn’t made sense for him to cut off the electricity either.

  Sebastian followed Lily out of the car. He watched her hammer on the door. Inside, the dog barked excitedly. Sebastian wasn’t sure how Lily wanted to play this. Was he supposed to go in there, the big protector, and grab Denny back? Or did she want him to be the silent partner, there for moral support only? His thoughts were in turmoil. Why did this have to be so damned complicated? Why couldn’t Maxwell just let them get on with their lives?

  Maxwell kept them waiting just long enough to frustrate them a little bit more. When he did open the door he feigned surprise at seeing them standing out in the rain, rather than sheltering in the porch. Lily stared at him, chin jutting out, raindrops in her unstraightened hair.

  ‘Give me Denny back. Now.’ Her words were slow and enunciated, as if she expected a fight, or at least that Maxwell would pretend he didn’t understand.

  ‘Of course. But first…’ Maxwell stood aside like a butler, indicating that they should come inside.

  The situation seemed to diffuse, the tension unexpectedly departing; but suspicion replaced it. Lily shot a pointed look at Sebastian, who could only shrug. He had no idea where this was going either. She seemed to recover her anger and took Sebastian’s hand in an unspoken show of unity. They stepped calmly across the threshold. But Lily’s haughty entrance was ruined by the elderly dog, who immediately raced into her legs with the enthusiasm of a puppy.

  Despite herself, Lily smiled and let go of Sebastian’s hand to pet the animal. ‘Hey, Ginny,’ she said, obvious affection in her voice.

  Sebastian understood: this creature had been her dog, too. He felt even more out of place now.

  Maxwell swept to the end of the hallway and indicated his big living room. The door was ajar. Through the gap they saw Denny, still in his school uniform and seated on the plush carpet, poring over his phone, a glass of milk and a plate of cookies to hand. Maxwell gave them a seemingly innocent smile that said, See, he’s fine.

  ‘Okay, what the hell is going on?’ asked Lily, when they reached the kitchen.

  She sat down at the table next to Sebastian. Maxwell lounged at the head of the table, one arm slung over the back of his chair. Sebastian squirmed awkwardly. It felt like a job interview.

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think how it would look, when you came to fetch him. It’s been a … particularly tough day, shall we say.’ Maxwell’s face seemed open, his expression contrite.

  Lily appeared to be on some kind of time delay. She looked like she was sorting through his words. Then realisation appeared on her f
ace. ‘You lost a patient.’

  Maxwell nodded, sadly. ‘Lexi Collins.’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Lily muttered.

  Sebastian looked at Lily questioningly.

  ‘A young woman Maxwell’s been – was – treating at the Cromwell for years.’

  Maxwell nodded, leaning his elbows on his thighs now. ‘Since she was eighteen. Real little fighter that one, going for years. Twenty-three. No age. I really hoped she’d…’ His words trailed off as his gaze settled somewhere beyond the window.

  Sebastian nodded, discomfort crawling across his neck and shoulders. Yet another link to the past between Lily and Maxwell. Shame followed: was that really his first thought? A young woman had died, for God’s sake. It also offered an explanation for Maxwell’s impulsive decision to pick up Denny. Of course he’d want to soothe himself by being in the presence of his only child when confronted with such a loss, even if it was mostly professional. Though Maxwell was full of swagger and bravado, it must still affect him to see people die every day. He would have to be a psychopath if it didn’t.

  ‘Well, don’t do it again,’ Lily said, though her tone was softer than her words.

  Sebastian decided that saying nothing was the way to go.

  Maxwell shook his head. ‘I give you my word. I did need to speak to you about something else, though, actually.’

  Lily cocked her head. ‘Look, I know Denny has a phone now but…’

  Her words died away at Maxwell’s questioning look. ‘That wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about,’ he said. ‘Look, there’s no easy way to say this…’ He raised both his meaty palms. ‘Denny’s been wetting the bed.’

  ‘Jesus, Maxwell, I nearly had a heart attack.’ Lily pressed a hand to her chest. Even Sebastian could feel his heart flutter in his rib cage. ‘Denny’s only six. Kids wet the bed occasionally. You’d know that if you…’

  …Were around more. Were a better father.

 

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