Page 31 of Pit

“Eight.”

“Jesus. Did you get taken from her?”

“No, Te. I didn’t tell anyone.”

She cranes her head back to look at me. “Why?”

“Because she was my mum.”

“Did she hurt you again?”

I run my fingers through her hair. “More times than I care to remember.”

“I’m really sorry, Pit.”

I kiss the top of her head. “Don’t be. It was a long time ago, and it made me stronger.”

“No kid deserves that.”

“What about you?” I ask. “Where did you grow up?”

“In the countryside at first, then we moved because of Dad’s job. It was a council estate, not a good one.”

“Both parents?”

“In the beginning. Mum died when I was little. My dad raised me.”

“What’d she die of?” I ask.

“A broken heart,” she says, her voice laced with sadness. “If you asked him, he’d say that was stupid, that you couldn’t die from that, but she did.”

“Your dad broke her heart?”

“He broke her completely. Body, mind, soul. He beat her down until she was nothing but an empty shell.”

“It’s a shit thing to live with as a kid, ain’t it? Broken parents who hate each other so much, yet they can’t be apart.”

“She wouldn’t leave,” says Tessa. “Even though she hated how he treated her, she stayed for me. And when he realised that, he got a lot worse.” We fall silent, and then she throws her leg over mine and pulls herself to sit over me. “Let’s just forget about all that,” she says, leaning down to kiss me.

Tessa

I wake the same as I have the last few mornings, with Pit bringing me breakfast in bed. Once we’ve eaten, and he’s joined me in the shower, cleaning me mainly with his mouth, he takes me back to the bedroom, where some clothes have been laid out. “I got London to pick you up some things,” he says, lookingunsure. “I don’t know if it’s your style, but London seemed to think it would suit you.”

I pick up the pair of jeans and hold them out. “They’re great, thanks,” I say with a smile. After days of wearing Pit’s shirts, I’m looking forward to being clothed fully. I pick up a fitted T-shirt. It’s something I’d usually wear, so I smile, adding it to the jeans hanging over my arm.

“In the bag, there’s some new underwear. We went off the sizes on your others.”

I peek inside and smile. There’s a lot of underwear, mostly lace. “Thank you.”

“And trainers,” he adds, nodding to the floor where some brand-new Nikes sit. “Maybe you can get out into the garden?”

I nod eagerly, wanting to stretch my legs beyond these four walls. “I’d love to.”

“Okay, get dressed and join me downstairs. We can take the dogs for a walk.”

By the time I head down, Pit is waiting with both dogs sitting at his feet. King wags the second he spots me, and I smile, knowing I’ve won him over completely. Gigi, not so much, but I’m working on it.

Pit hands me a tennis ball. “They love this,” he says as he heads for the door, whistling for the dogs to follow. I fall into step beside him, and he slips his hand in mine, leading me up the garden path and towards the field at the back of the farmhouse. The dogs run around my feet, King barking, eager for me to throw the ball, which I do, laughing as they rush off after it.

---