Page 52 of The New House

I’m taken aback by the sudden change of topic.

And then I realise it’s not a change at all.

‘Were you expecting me to follow him to the hospital and tackle him as he sat by Archie’s bedside?’ I ask coolly.

‘We have to move out of our house in less thanten days,’Harper says.

‘Even if the Porters sold me their house tomorrow, it’d still be weeks before—’

‘You haven’t eventried!’ she cries, a note of hysteria creeping into her voice. ‘We’ve had to rent a tiny flat so we can be in the right catchment area for Asher Brook before school starts, which is just money down the drain! Houses come onto the market and are sold before we even have a chance to call our agent! And you know how fast property prices are rising – even a month or two off the ladder could put houses in this area out of our reach—’

‘What is it you expect me to do, Harper? Break the rest of his fingers one by one until he agrees to sell me the Glass House?’

‘Tell him you’ll spill the beans about the divorce if he refuses to sell you the house.’

‘And if he calls my bluff?’

‘Sell your house to me anyway.Yourent a place.’

I laugh. ‘You know I’m not going to do that.’

‘So talk to Felix!’

I pull a couple of weeds from the raised flowerbed by the silver birch. ‘Look, Harper. Honestly? It’s not going to make a difference. He’s not going to care. Stacey will find out about the divorce soon anyway. The only reason I haven’t warned her myself is because I didn’t get a chance with everything that happened yesterday.’

‘So you’re just going to give up?’ she demands. ‘What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed tolive?’

‘You’ll find somewhere else. Be patient. Houses around here are coming onto the market all the time—’

‘I don’t have time to be patient!’

I toss the weeds onto the small compost pile in the corner. ‘Well, you don’t have a choice, Harper,’ I say, exasperated.

There’s a long silence. For a moment, I think she’s hung up on me.

‘I could tell Stacey what Peter did to her son,’ she says finally. ‘She’d never sell you the Glass House then.’

‘Oh, Harper,’ I say. ‘I really wouldn’t threaten me if I were you.’

chapter 33

millie

Four days after Archie’s accident, Stacey turns up at our house at seven in the morning with a black eye.

‘Jesus Christ,’ Tom says, when she walks into the kitchen behind me. ‘What on earth happened to you?’

‘That fucking bastard,’ I hiss.

Even Tom can’t ignorethis.

He pulls out a stool at the kitchen island and motions to her to sit down. ‘What can I get you?’ he asks. ‘Tea? Coffee? Or would you prefer something stronger?’

‘It’s seven a.m.,’ I say.

‘Coffee,’ Stacey says. ‘Thank you.’

‘Let me take a look at your eye,’ I say.

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