If there was one thing the last four years had taught Libby to do, it was multi-task. She wasted no time in snatching up her bag and weaving through her curious colleagues to make it out of the door.
Chapter 28
Problem-solving
‘One squillion times a kigillion?’ Libby heard Rosie ask as she turned the corner to Millie’s office.
‘There’s no such thing as a kigillion or a squillion,’ she heard Millie’s quietly amused voice reply.
‘Uh!’ Rosie huffed out in a disgruntled sigh.
Dr Phillips piped up. ‘Okay then, ninety-five times one hundred and fifty-seven?’
‘Fourteen thousand, nine-hundred and fifteen,’ Millie replied without missing a beat as Libby came to stand in the office doorway. Millie was sitting on the floor of her office in front of Rosie, who was perched on the leather chair, attempting a very weird plait at the side of Millie’s head.
‘Yowsers! That’s cool!’ Rosie shouted, pumping her little fist in the air. ‘You’re a superhero.’
‘That she is,’ Dr Phillips put in. ‘A maths superhero.’
‘You’ll be able to do that when you grow up,’ Millie said as turned to give Rosie a smile, and then started when she saw Libby in the doorway.
‘Will I?’ Rosie asked doubtfully.
‘Yes, you’re gifted,’ Millie told her as she pushed up to her feet. It was said as a statement, not an effusive compliment, as if it was a fact Rosie should be aware of already. For the second time that day Libby felt her eyes sting with tears.
‘Mummy!’ cried Rosie, jumping off the chair to shoot across the room and throw her arms around Libby’s legs.
‘Hey, Little Louse,’ Libby said, stroking Rosie’s curls and smiling over at Millie, who was trying to get her hair back into some kind of order.
‘Did you hear how super-cool Millie is? She can do any sum in the whole wowld.’
‘Thatiscool, darling,’ Libby muttered.
‘If only all children felt like you, Rosie, I might have had friends at school,’ Millie said, smiling down at Rosie as she pulled her mass of brunette waves into the sleek knot she always wore, then carefully straightened a couple of items on her desk so they were back in perfect alignment.
‘What d’you mean?’ Rosie asked. ‘Didn’t you have fwiends?’
‘Oh … I …’ Millie froze, her eyes still focused on the desk. ‘Well, I am a bit … different, Rosie.’
‘I like your different,’ Rosie told her, and Millie glanced at her briefly, flashing a small smile.
‘I’m glad. But at school they didn’t really like different.’
‘That’s stupid!’ Rosie shouted in affronted disbelief.
Millie smiled and squatted down in front of the small tower of rage that was Libby’s daughter. ‘Most of the time I wasn’t even with children the same age as me, so friends … well, making friends was tricky. Not everyone has a gift for this. Now you – you are twice gifted: you can make friendsandyou can do maths.’
Libby tilted her head to the side as she studied Millie. Could shy and awkward actually be mistaken for rude, arrogant and dismissive by an entire hospital? For a moment her mind flashed to an image of a small, serious little girl alone in a sea of older children, ignoring their laughter and banter as she bent over a maths book; just as the adult version tried to ignore other people now whilst bent over her scans.
‘Thank you for picking her up today,’ Libby said, then hesitated a moment before she reached out to touch Millie’s arm. Millie looked startled and stood from her crouch but didn’t pull away as Libby had expected. She even managed some eye contact and the corners of her mouth pulled up for a second before she moved back. It was the closest thing to a smile Libby had ever seen from Millie at anyone other than Rosie.
‘Bye,’ Rosie shouted, breaking from her mum to throw herself at Millie and hug her legs fiercely. Millie blinked and her eyebrows went up, giving her the slightly startled look she always seemed to wear whenever Rosie was affectionate. It took a moment, but Millie hugged her back just as fiercely.
‘I can … I can look after her if you need to study this weekend,’ she offered after Rosie had moved away.
‘Thanks, Millie, that’s really kind but we’re going to stay with her grandparents this weekend. I’ve got to work.’
‘But … but it’s so close to the exams. It’s not logical to work now. You must study.’
