Page 41 of The Girl in Room 12

Poppy runs in from the garden. ‘Is lunch ready?’

I go back to making her sandwich. ‘I just had a call from the hospital. They’ve said that Daddy can come home on Monday.’

She squeals. ‘Really? Daddy’s coming home? He’s not going to die?’

I hug her close to me. ‘He’s not going to die, sweetie.’But he might go to prison if he’s guilty of what I think he is.

‘This is the best day ever! Is Monday tomorrow?’

‘No, it’s Sunday tomorrow. So the day after that.’

Poppy runs back outside and clambers onto the trampoline again. With one eye on her, I call Sarah.

‘Oh, Hannah,’ she says. ‘I’m so sorry. I’ve been meaning to call you back. Work has been horrendous. I’ve done four twelve-hour shifts in a row. I’m about to die.’ She falls silent. ‘Bad choice of words, sorry.’

‘It’s okay. I was wondering if you wanted to come over with Ivy for dinner tonight?’

‘D’you know what? I will not say no. I’m dreading the thought of cooking tonight. What can we bring?’

‘Just yourselves. But I was hoping you could do me a little favour. I’ll need to quickly pop to the bookshop to see if I left something there – would you mind if I left you all here for a few minutes after dinner? I’ll be as quick as I can.’

‘Is that it? Course. You don’t even have to ask.’

The first thing I notice when I open the door is the large dark circles under Sarah’s eyes. She smiles. ‘I look a mess, don’t I?’

‘You’ve been working so much.’

‘It’s not just that.’ She waits for the girls to run out to the garden. ‘I called Dean. He’d changed his mobile number since we were together but he still works at the same place.’

I lead her through to the kitchen. ‘What did he say? Are you okay?’

‘He went silent to start with. He was really shocked to hear from me. But then he was…kind of okay. I asked if we could meet and he said yes.’

For a moment, I push everything that’s been happening to me aside and focus on Sarah. This is a huge deal for her, and she needs me to be fully present. ‘Are you sure about this? Is it opening a can of worms?’

‘Who knows? But I need to do this. What if when Ivy gets older, she asks me why I never tried to contact her dad? Don’t I owe it to her to try to help him be in her life?’

‘When you put it like that, I guess.’

She pauses. ‘I’m so sorry, Han. You don’t need to hear all this. How are you doing?’

‘Max can come home on Monday.’

Her eyes widen. ‘That’s great news. You must be so happy.’

‘The thing is – I don’t know what to expect. He can’t remember anything and he won’t be able to work for a while. I’m struggling to see how our days will look.’

Outside, Ivy pushes Poppy on the swing. Neither of them seems bothered by the light spattering of rain that’s just begun to fall. ‘Let Ivy have a go,’ I call. Neither girl hears me.

‘Why do they insist on being outside no matter how cold it is?’ Sarah shrugs. ‘Has Max remembered anything yet?’

‘No.’

‘What about the attack? Have the police arrested anyone?’

Max’s attack has taken a backseat in my mind with everything else that’s been going on. ‘Nothing.’

She takes my hand. ‘I’m here for you. Always. Got it?’

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