The Good Neighbour
Page 32
‘Oh, Laura, that isn’t what I meant.’ He tries to touch me, but I sidestep away. ‘Of course, I’ll come if you really want, like a shot, just say the word. But I’ll be in the way. Your mum needs you. You can focus on her and your stepdad.’
It’s just another little let-down from Huw. I’m getting used to them. My mind races through lists of what I need to organise. It helps to make lists. It’s better than thinking about Michael, frail in hospital, Mama distraught at his side.
‘I’m just saying it would be handy if I didn’t have to cancel that devolution group meeting thing on Tuesday.’
‘Can’t have you missing a meeting. Must get our priorities right.’
‘It’s not a meeting, it’s the meeting, the one I’ve been working towards for months.’
Is he still talking?
‘I already said, you don’t have to come.’ I’m working out what clothes Evie will need, and whether we can share a holdall, when I think of something else, something bigger, and sit down abruptly on the floor with an ‘Oh!’
Huw kneels next to me. ‘What is it, cariad?’
I go dizzy for a moment; the room tilts and bleaches out. I bend my head forward. Huw puts his arm round me, saying, ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ in a soft voice. It takes me a minute to recover, then I sit up slowly and look into his worried face.
‘I was just thinking,’ I say, ‘that if Michael’s really bad, they’ll send for…’
I haven’t said their names for a very long time, and can’t seem to bring myself to say them now.
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Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing,
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Copyright © Beth Miller 2015
Beth Miller has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published by Ebury Press in 2015
www.eburypublishing.co.uk
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780091956332