Page 103 of Take My Hand

“Does this make us Brownlows?” I asked. “Maddy Brownlow.” It sounded strange. Felt strange on my tongue. “Nah, I prefer Maddy Newman.”

“Yeah, well,” Dad scoffed. “Me, too. We won’t be changing our surname. I’m very happy with Newman, thank you very much. I vaguely remember your grandma telling me that her dad Bill Newman, was a great man, which is why she called me William. After him.”

“He died when she was ten, didn’t he?” I asked.

“Yeah. It was him she inherited the heart condition from.”

“Do you know what happened to her mum?” Maya asked, turning her body to dad’s. “I know she kicked your mum out at sixteen.”

Dad shrugged. “No idea. She might be alive, but I have no idea. Don’t want to know either.” He flashed Maya a smile, and I gave a little sigh. He really liked her, and I was so happy for him. “Neither of her parents had siblings, and neither did Mum, so that’s why it was just me and her and I ended up in care.”

I hated when he talked about his childhood. It was awful thinking about him being all alone. Having to live with people he didn’t know and who rarely wanted him, must have awful. He’d never hidden his time as a child from me, but had only gone into detail once I hit thirteen. I’d cried for ages. Sobbed, in fact. I hated to think of my dad being lonely or sad. I loved him so much, and the idea that he would have to live like that broke my heart. He didn’t deserve a life like that. He was lovely. He was my daddy.

As I looked at Maya, it was obvious it hurt her heart, too. She was worrying her bottom lip, and her eyes were fixed on Dad. She opened her mouth and I thought that she was about to say something, but she quickly closed it and grabbed his hand. Dad glanced at her and smiled and then shrugged his shoulders.

“It is what it is, and nothing is going to change the past.” A thin lipped smile acted as a full stop to the conversation, and he slammed the laptop shut. “Right, who fancies a takeaway.”

“Are you staying another night, Maya?” I asked, just about stopping myself from bouncing in my seat due to the excitement.

“Is that okay?” she asked.

“Of course. No problem at all.” I mean, I knew they’d had sex the night before, but at least they’d tried to be quiet. The gentle thud, thud, thud of the headboard had told me enough. “What takeaway are we having?”

“You choose,” Dad said and then sighed. “And you can get Zak over if you like. Seeing as you were supposed to be with him.”

My heart leapt. I had wanted desperately to spend more time with him after school, but I just thought I should go home. “Are you sure that’s okay?”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have said if it wasn’t. I’ll order a few dishes. The Chinese is always quicker, so tell him to hurryup.” Dad stood up and fished his phone out of his pocket. “He’s not a veggie, is he?”

“No. He doesn’t like fish, though.”

“No king prawn then.” He bent down and kissed Maya’s cheek. “And no mushrooms for you.”

The way she looked at him, just because he remembered she didn’t like mushrooms, made my insides feel all squidgy. Anyone would think he’d just told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world, which, as an aside, I think he thought was true. She was gorgeous, though. Gorgeous and stylish, and I really wouldn’t have minded her as a step-mum, but that was jumping way ahead.

“I’ll go and call Zak.” I jumped up out of my seat. “I’ll get him to get here as quick as he can.”

Leaving my Dad on the phone ordering food, while Maya gazed up at him, I ran up to my room and bounced on the bed. My blinds were still closed, and my bed still unmade and there was a wet towel on the floor. It wasn’t like me, but I’d been in a rush to leave the house that morning. My hot boyfriend was waiting outside in his mum’s car to take me to school. As his number rang out I made a mental note to tidy it all up before Zak came over.

“Hello gorgeous. Missing me already?”

God, yes. I missed him even if I’d only seen him a few of minutes before.

“Nah, not really. My dad is, though. He wants to know if you want to come over for takeaway, seeing as we didn’t get to go out after school.” I heard something bang in the background and the clinking of a glass. My heart dropped. “Oh, are you already eating?”

“Just a snack, babe. I can eat don’t you worry about that.”

“So, you’ll come over then?”

“On my way.”

He laughed, and the richness of it warmed my blood. “See you soon.”

“See you soon.” I sighed and quickly set about tidying my bedroom just in case Dad let me bring Zak up there. Like that would happen!

“I hear you want to be a vet, is that right, Zak?” Maya asked, forking a piece of chicken.

Zak nodded, chewing the food in his mouth. After swallowing he said, “Yeah. Hopefully I’m going to Edinburgh. If I get the A-level grades I need.”

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