I’ve always wanted him to be happy. Up until now, I wasn’t sure if he was capable of it.
Our childhood… it’s made us both… guarded. We don’t trust people easily.
All I knew about Heath and Verity’s upbringing was how very privileged it was. Their family home was practically a castle, for goodness’ sake. Their dad was a lord. They had been to the best schools in the country – their cut-glass accents and connections were testament to that. But then, other small disturbing facts filtered into my memory as I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling.
I remembered Heath once telling my nephew, “By your age I’d been living at school for three years, mate – least you can do is turn up at yours for a poxy six hours each day.” Teddy had been ten at the time and played truant on occasion – most likely in an attempt to get his mum’s attention, which was, unfortunately, a lost cause. Thankfully after Max’s ex moved away, we became Teddy’s family and that was that. So, Heath must have gone to boarding school at seven years old. Who sends their kid away at seven? Then I remembered a scar I’d once seen on Verity’s forearm. When I’d asked her about it years ago she’d shrugged and said she burnt it trying to cook fish fingers as a child, and that at aged five she should have stuck to sandwiches. But why was she trying to cook at all when she was only five? Why wasn’t there anyone there to stop her?
I went to sleep with an image of a beautiful seven-year-old Heath on his first day at boarding school.
Chapter 17
Something is wrong with Heath
Yaz
“Mia, what’s up?”
“I’ve come to take you to Sandbaggers practice.”
I stepped off my windsurfer as I glided it onto the shore. Mia was standing by the water’s edge with her hands on her hips and a determined expression on her face. I sighed. Whilst I was glad that Mia had come out of herself, this newfound bossiness was inconvenient when it interfered with my avoidance strategies. Turning away from Mia, I pulled my rigging up onto the beach.
“Mia, Max won’t even let you play at the moment, and I’ve got another client in half an hour, so– ”
“Something is wrong with Heath and Verity,” she said, cutting off my lame, half true excuse. I hadn’t been to Sandbaggers practice for the last four weeks now. Originally just to avoid Heath, but then after the run in with my family, I’d added Max onto the list as well. I felt bad about Mia – by avoiding Max I inevitably ended up avoiding her – but I’d decided to protectmyselffirst and foremost.
“What do you mean?” I dropped the sail and turned fully towards Mia. Her expression was still determined, but it was edged with concern as well.
“I don’tknow, that’s the point.” She gave a helpless shrug, her hands falling from her hips. “Verity called in sick at the beginning of the week.”
“What?” I knew Verity had never taken a sick day in her life, especially not since working with Max. She was the client-facing partner. Max was not so good with people to say the least. Mia winced.
“It wasn’t pretty. Max nearly lost us the eco village client. I had to do some serious smoothing over after that meeting – managed to cut him off before he told the client exactly where to shove his lightwell. But we’re still on the project… just.”
“V would never leave Max to deal with an important meeting like that.”
“What was even more weird was that she wasn’t answering her phone. Max rang Heath in the end, and he said she’s fine and to “give her a couple of days”. But Max didn’t think he sounded right either. So he went over there, and Heath looked terrible. Max got pushy about what was going on and Heath shouted at him.”
“Heath never shouts.”
“Exactly. Something’s happened. Max and I are worried. Heath rang to apologise. Max asked if he was coming to training and he said of course he was, like nothing’s the matter, but he still sounded… off.”
Verity’s panic attack and her words had been bugging me for days now, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get Heath out of my mind. This obsession with him was like a sickness. Worse than all the years I pined for him as a teenager because now I had really concrete memories of how it felt to have his skin against mine, his breath on my face, his hands in my hair. It was as if there was a hole in my chest, a gaping wound left by the absence of him. The thought that something might be wrong with him or with Verity only intensified that ache.
“Fine. I’ll come.”
Mia smiled at me and then launched forward to give me a hug. As I squeezed her back, bump and all, I felt like a bit of a shit.
“I’m sorry I’ve been staying away from you as well, Mia,” I said into the side of her head and she gave me another squeeze. “You feeling okay?”
“Second trimester’s a breeze compared to the first. I’m fine. You’ve missed her kicking though.”
“Her?” I gasped and Mia smiled.
“You know how impatient Max is. He had to find out. We had the scan last week.”
I felt my eyes sting. “I’m going to have a niece?” I whispered then launched myself at Mia for another hug. Her stomach moved against me this time and I leapt back in surprise. “She kicked me! Oh no, she’s going to be just as grumpy as her dad.”
“God, I hope not,” Mia said through her smile. “I can’t handle two of them.”
