Page 6 of Lessons in Life

‘In bed.’

‘Oh?’

‘She’s been with Dean all day,’ Jess went on. ‘Had a McDonald’s and been to the cinema with him; probably eaten too much junk food.’

‘You OK with that?’

‘What, her knocking back burgers and chocolate milkshake? No, not really…’ She stopped. ‘Oh, you mean her spending time with Dean? Of course; he’s her dad.’ Jess glanced across at me. ‘She says she wants him to come back home. Thathewants to come back home.’

‘Forget that.’ I almost laughed. ‘When you’ve got the lovely consultant in your bed and your life?’

‘I know, I know… it’s just…’

‘Just what?’ I moved over to the kitchen unit where Jess was working, pinching a couple of blueberries intended for the so far non-existent meringues. ‘Don’t tell me you’re eventhinkingof having that tosser back.’

‘Dean’s Lola’s dad.’

‘Now you’re behaving like Mum always did with Jayden. Letting him back in when he’d tired of wherever he’d been. And with whoever he’d been with.’

Ignoring the criticism, Jess finally gave me her full attention. ‘Disconcerting?’

‘Sorry?’

‘You said the day had been disconcerting. I thought it was teachers-only day today? It was at Lola’s school. Hence Lola being with Dean.’

‘It was.’

‘So, how come disconcerting?’ she asked once again. ‘You suddenly realised you’ve still got the hots for Mason Donoghue?’ Jess, only half listening, carried on perusing recipes. Mason’s granny, Denise, was in Jess’s care up at Hudson House and Jess, along with Mum, thought Mason quitemarvellous. I knew the pair of them still weren’t convinced that Fabian, after our big fallout in London four months earlier, was the right man for me.

‘No!’ I tutted crossly. ‘For heaven’s sake, Jess. No, two things announced in the staff meeting this morning: Joel Sinclair’s been attacked?—’

‘Joel Sinclair? That friend of Sorrel’s? Her boyfriend? If he is her boyfriend? What do you meanattacked?’ That news finally had Jess relegating Delia into second place.

‘Rival drug gang probably. It’ll be on TV on tonight’sFocus North. WhereisSorrel? She was in bed when I left this morning and wasn’t next door when I got home.’

‘Idon’t know,’ Jess said somewhat irritably. ‘She’s almost sixteen, about to leave home if she wins the place at the Susan Yates place in London. She’ll be out and about with her mates somewhere.’

‘She doesn’t have that many friends,’ I reminded Jess. ‘Spends most of her time with Joel.’

‘Maybe she’s up at the hospital visiting.’

‘Don’t think that’d be allowed, do you? You know, with all the police stuff going on. Sorrel won’t be able to just swan onto the ward with a bunch of grapes. Joel’s already got a conviction and on a pretty tough youth court order…’

‘A court order?’ Jess frowned, but continued separating eggs, carefully weighing the whites in a bowl.

‘For possession with intent to supply,’ I said.

‘You seem to know a lot about it.’ Jess gave me her full attention again.

‘Well, yes, I do. With Joel being friendly with Sorrel, Mason keeps me in the loop with what’s going on.’

‘Best thing for Sorrel is to make sure she gets this place in London. Get her away from someone involved in all this. Especially if now he’s been attacked.’ Jess reached for a bag of sugar but suddenly stared in my direction. ‘And, at least Sorrel wasn’t with him last night when he was hurt.’

‘She was round here with you, wasn’t she? Another maths session with you and Matt?’ We were all helping to get Sorrel’s maths grades up: the Susan Yates Theatre School was as intent on academic strength as on their demand for exceptional talent in the creative arts.

‘You said there were two disconcerting things?’ Jess looked up again. ‘Mum’s OK, isn’t she?’

‘Hasn’t she been with you up at Hudson House? She said she was going to.’

---