Call me back, urgently. You can have the editorial job. Please.
Eve had never heard or seen Serena say please in the whole time she had worked for her.Pleasewas a foreign word to Serena’s mouth, along withthank you,great work, andwell done.
Eve had two choices. She could ignore the texts or she could be honest with her.
She thought for a moment and then typed.
Hi Serena, I won’t be coming back to Henshaw and Carlson. I hope everything works out for you there. Please don’t contact me again.
Eve
It was final. It was done. There was no going back now. Serena wouldn’t like being told no but it wouldn’t matter what Serena offered her now. Eve was done with Henshaw and Carlson.
But she didn’t know what to say to Edward. He had so much chaos in his life and watching Amber with the hammer was too much. She had agreed to help him with a book, not become his children’s stepmother.
Edward needed to work his life out before they reconnected again and Eve needed to get a job off her own bat.
She turned her phone off and then her light and closed her eyes. It would get better, she told herself, it always did. It was just hard to see it when you were in the middle of the storm.
38
Edward sat in the living room of the Pilkinses’ house. Sam stared at him as though he was the worst person in the world and Donna’s voice had an icy tone as she spoke.
‘Myles doesn’t want to return to your house,’ she said. ‘He said he wants to stay here, but we’re not his legal guardians and apparently his mother is not available to assist in any of the practicalities right now.’
Edward rubbed his chin as he thought.
Eve wasn’t returning his calls. Sam and Donna had told him they wouldn’t be discussing their daughter with him at any time. Myles wasn’t speaking to him and Flora was back to burying dolls in the melting snow. He had found the card that Flora and Eve had made for Amber. A large piece of poster paper with pictures drawn by Flora of Amber and her together, with all the dolls around them. Inside Flora had written, obviously helped by Eve, her plans for her mother’s return including breakfast with Hilditch, playing with the dolls, skiing, (none of them skied) and eating chocolate. It seemed like a reasonable plan except he knew Amber wasn’t coming to do any of those things with Flora anytime soon.
‘Amber is attending a hearing tomorrow. There is an injunction order on her and it will be extended tomorrow. I haven’t heard from her since she came to the house, so that’s good.’
Donna’s face relaxed a little. ‘The poor woman, she sounds so unwell.’
Edward was silent, remembering that was what Eve had said about Amber also. The Pilkins women immediately went to compassion instead of judgement. It was something he needed to do more of but it was hard with Amber. She was unwell but she was also destructive and difficult, and he often wondered if her being in the children’s lives added anything positive to their day-to-day experiences. Myles was antisocial and the scars of his abuse were evident. Flora was behind in her schooling and friendless and more than likely depressed, Sanjeev had said when he called him.
‘I can get you the names of some great child psychiatrists who deal with trauma,’ he had offered but Edward wasn’t sure how he felt about it all. If he was honest with himself, he was actually terrified about what they would say about him and his inaction with Amber for so long.
‘I can sign off on anything Myles needs. I am his legal stepfather,’ he said.
‘They start school next week,’ Donna said. ‘You will have a bit of running around to do for that.’
Edward nodded.
‘And what about Flora? Where is she going to school?’ Donna asked.
‘I was thinking the local school in Crossbourne.’
‘They’ll have to do a school assessment,’ Donna said. ‘It seems like she’s missed a lot of learning.’
Edward was silent in the face of the criticism. She was right. Both children had missed out on so much because of his and Amber’s dysfunction.
Flora wandered into the room and sidled up to Donna.
‘Can I stay here too?’ she asked.
‘You can stay the night but not forever. Your dad and Christmas need you at home.’
Flora had left Christmas at home when they came to visit Myles. Jimmi had jumped all over them excitedly, but Myles had said hi to Flora and ignored Edward.
