Chapter 49

Kim waited until the sound of the sobbing had died down before heading back into the room next door.

The tea that she and Bryant had made was probably cold, but she placed the tray on the table anyway. Lottie took her face out of her father's shoulder and met Kim's gaze.

‘We're so sorry for your loss,' Kim said as both she and Bryant retook their seats.

Lottie nodded her acknowledgement, and Kim realised that few of the questions they'd asked the father would be relevant to the girl. Kim had gauged from Lottie's first words that she and her mother hadn't been close, so she was unlikely to know if there had been any recent events out of the ordinary.

‘What you said when you came in seemed to indicate that you and your mum weren't on the best of terms,' Kim started.

A multitude of emotions passed over Lottie's face, including guilt and then regret. She opened her mouth to say something, but then just shook her head. If it hadn't already, the realisation would come that whatever the reason had been, it could now not be undone. It was too late.

‘May I ask how long you'd been estranged?'

‘Oh God, don't say that. It sounds so formal,' Lottie said. ‘We're just not speaking at the minute.'

‘For how long?' Kim asked gently. Present tense. It hadn't yet dawned on Lottie that whatever had transpired between them was now set in stone.

‘Around two months.'

‘I tried,' Mr Davis said. ‘I tried to get them talking again, but they're both as stubborn as each other.'

‘It's not your fault, Dad,' Lottie said, patting his hand. ‘It wasn't up to you to mend us.'

Kim was reminded of a child caught up in the shrapnel of their parents' divorce. Only this time it was the father caught between his wife and their child.

‘And was there something in particular that caused the rift?' Kim asked.

Lottie coughed. ‘Dad, can you get me some water?'

‘Of course, love,' he said, sitting forward. The movement prompted the dog to jump from his lap.

Banger stood and waited for a clue to his owner's direction of travel.

‘I don't want him to hear,' Lottie said as the door closed behind her dad.

Kim nodded at Bryant, who got the message and headed to the kitchen to delay the man's return.

‘He doesn't get it. He hates it when I tell the truth about our relationship.'

‘Go on,' Kim urged.

‘My dad only sees the time we spent together over the years. He thinks it was closeness, which I suppose it was, for a long time, until I came to know better.'

Kim waited.

‘We were very close until I started to learn my own mind. It was only good when I just did what I was told.'

‘Was this during your pageant years?' Kim asked, taking a wild guess.

‘How do you know about that?'

Kim waved away the question. ‘Please continue.'

‘Well, yes, I mean, I had her whole attention. I'm an only child, and I'd get to spend loads of time with my mom. I was her world. We were having a great time until I wasn't any more. I was bored, I wanted to try other stuff, netball, hockey, athletics…but whatever I tried, Mom tried to attach herself to that too. She wanted everything to stay the same, even as I grew older.'

‘Must have been hard,' Kim said.

‘It was. She insisted on watching me practise for every sport I tried.'

Kim had been thinking more about how difficult it must have been for Sally-Ann, facing sudden exclusion from her daughter's life once puberty came along.

‘It was just embarrassing. I told her hundreds of times to just stay home. I lied; I made stuff up. I gave her the wrong locations for some of my games.'

Kim tried not to picture the woman turning up to dark and empty venues.

‘And then I'd have to lie and say I'd never told her that to get myself out of the shit.'

Great, gaslighting as well, Kim thought, trying her hardest not to dislike the girl. From the sound of it, she'd not been exactly sensitive to her mum's attachment.

‘Anyway, to cut a long story short, she never gets the message. It doesn't matter how many times I tell her, she tries to involve herself in every part of my life. She just happens to be walking past Nando's when I'm due on my break or driving past the pub when I've been out with my mates.'

The ironic half-smile told Kim that Lottie didn't yet comprehend that that was never going to be a problem for her again. The concept of permanence didn't always land immediately with people in their mid-twenties.

‘And did that lead to the two of you not talking?' Kim asked.

Lottie nodded. ‘I told her I needed a boundary break.'

Something about the phrase felt off, but Kim couldn't work out what it was.

‘What exactly did that entail?'

‘No contact. No phone calls, emails or visits until she could learn to respect my boundaries.'

Kim opened her mouth to ask another question when two things happened.

Bryant appeared at the door with an apologetic look on his face, and every ounce of colour faded from Lottie's cheeks.

Mr Davis entered the room carrying his daughter's glass of water. ‘Lottie…Lottie…what's happened?' he asked, seeing the stricken look on her face.

‘Sh-She's gone?'

And there it was. The cold hard truth had landed and would be followed by some pretty ruthless emotions.

There was just one more question Kim needed to ask before she left this family to grieve in peace. She wanted to know who had suggested the boundary break in the first place.

She would ask it, but she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.