Chapter 42

Chapter Forty-Two

Will

S usan hugged the mug of coffee to her chest as she sat opposite me at the breakfast bar in their huge kitchen. It smelled of lemon after Maddy had mopped the floor and cleaned all the work surfaces. There were two black bin bags at the back door waiting to be taken out, one of which included numerous empty booze bottles.

"You have to get it together, Susan," I said, turning my attention back to her. "Ana needs you to be her support."

"I know." Her gaze dropped to the marble work top. "It's just been so difficult. We've been drifting apart for years, but him leaving me for someone else was just… difficult."

"A blow to your confidence?" I asked.

"Definitely." She gave me a small smile, the first in the couple of hours I'd been there. "She's a little younger as well, so…" She shrugged. "I thought he only cared about the business, but it seems I was wrong. Knowing that it was just me he didn't care about sent me over the edge, and it only went away when I got drunk." Her shoulders went back. "But I know that isn't going to help for long, and I'm finished with it before it gets to be a real problem."

Her bottom lip trembled, and I felt for her. The situation must have been hard, but she was the adult. "I hope so, because she's just a kid, Susan, and she's supposed to be enjoying the best time of her life. Apart from the fact she's got exams to study for."

"How did you do it, Will?" she asked, putting her mug down and looking at me with sad eyes. "Bring Maddy up on your own all these years. How do you be both Mum and Dad?"

"I never knew any different, and you're not on your own. Mike left you, but he didn't give up responsibility for his kids. Besides which, Theo has left home, and Ana will be going to uni soon. So, until then, it's up to you to hold it together. Now," I said, tapping the top of her hand, "call Mike and tell him you need to sort out money, the business and whatever is best for Ana."

She gave me a nod and when she pulled her phone from her hoody pocket, I stood up and left her to it and went to join the girls in the lounge.

Looking around, I felt proud of them and the work they'd put in to getting it tidied. When I'd arrived, Maddy and Emma were trying to persuade Susan to get a shower while Ana looked on scowling. Taking charge, I told the girls to start cleaning while I spoke to Susan, and I gave it to her straight. Told her that if she didn't pull herself together, then she'd lose her kids as well as her husband. They were too old to be taken into care, but it didn't mean they wouldn't cut her out of their lives if she carried on drinking.

As I watched the girls finish up, Ana approached me, her feet dragging, and her shoulders rounded.

"Thank you so much, Mr Newman," she said in a quiet voice, pulling the arms of her jumper down over her hands. "I don't know what you said to her, but at least she's showered and dressed."

I placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping it gave her some comfort. The poor kid didn't know what had hit her recently. She was finding it hard enough with her dad leaving, then her mum checked out on life. I knew what it was like to have no one, and I hated the idea of that for her.

"I think she just needed to be reminded of the fact that life needs to carry on." She gave me a watery smile. "She might take a few steps back at times, but she's made a start. And you don't forget to call, Theo."

Frowning, she nodded. "If I must."

"Yes, you do," I chastised her gently. "He needs to know what you're dealing with and take some of the strain. This might not be a magical recovery, you know."

Her shoulders dropped in defeat. "Okay. I'll call him later." She looked over her shoulder, at Maddy and Emma, who were giggling about something as they flicked dusters at each other. "I'm still mad at her for calling you, but she was right—we needed help."

"Well, it should never have got to this, Ana, so, if there's any hint of it happening again, you tell Mads, okay?" I peered into her eyes. "Promise me."

With a single nod, she said, "Yeah."

She didn't sound very convincing, but I'd have to take her at her word. "Right," I said, "we'll go and let you have some peace. Pizza is on its way for you and your mum."

Her eyes went wide with surprise. "You didn't have to do that."

"I did, love, I saw what you had in your trolley at the supermarket. Pasta is boring without anything to put with it."

We both grinned, and then she flung her arms around me and gave me a tight squeeze with a whispered, "Thank you." As she moved away, her mum shuffled into the room with her arms wrapped around her body.

"Okay?" I asked.

She nodded and came over to us, placing an arm around Ana's shoulder. "Your dad is coming over tomorrow, and we're going to sort a few things out."

The optimism in Ana's eyes was brighter than the lamp shining next to the TV, but I had a feeling it was about to be dimmed. Susan had clearly been crying and they were threatening again. She must have noticed her daughter's excitement because she pulled her closer and said, "He's not coming home, love. We're just going to talk about a few things, like the house and you and Theo, because you might both be grown up, but you're still our kids. He also wants to spend some time with you."

"I might not want to spend time with him," Ana said sulkily.

"Ana," Susan sighed. "This wasn't all down to your dad."

"He was the one who?—"

"Enough." Susan stopped her. "You're not privy to everything that went on with me and Dad, so just give him a chance."

"And what about her ?" Ana spat out. "Is she coming with him?"

Susan swallowed and shook her head. "No. Just your dad."

That seemed to satisfy Ana because she visibly relaxed, even giving her mum a small smile.

"Okay, girls," I announced, clapping my hands together once, "let's go and leave Susan and Ana to it."

As I bundled the girls into my Range Rover, I hoped that they'd be okay, aware that it would take much more than pizza and a quick clean of the house to sort them out. At least it was a start.

"Fancy something to eat girls?" I asked as I drove away from the house. "We've got burger night on at the bar tonight."

As I glanced over at Maddy, she looked hesitant, and my heart sank. It was starting to happen. The day I'd dreaded since she was a tiny baby. The time when there was someone else she'd rather spend her time with. The idea of it was more painful than I'd ever imagined, and that look on her face was just the very start of it, and it had only been for a second. Soon, it would get the point that she couldn't even hide it from me. She would look at me with disdain and surprise that I would even think for one minute that she'd want to spend time with me. Then it would come to the point where I'd have to beg her to come home and visit me and… shit, I needed to sort my head out, I was going to drive myself crazy.

"Could I ask Zak to come, Dad?" she asked. "Only we were supposed to be going to Maccies for tea."

I gripped the gear stick, my fingers clenching around it, knowing that I needed to be the grown up. "You go off to Maccies if you want, sweetheart."

"No way," she gasped, "I want to come with you. Plus, I've heard that Robbie's burgers are amazing."

"Yeah," Emma added from the back seat. "My mum said it was the best burger she's ever had on the last burger night you had."

The relief that seeped through me was ridiculous. It didn't matter that it was my burgers she was interested in as well; it was those words, ‘I want to come with you'. They'd made me feel happier than I thought possible, happier than was necessary. She wasn't going anywhere, she was my little girl, and she loved me, but life was moving on. This was what I'd wanted for her, to spread her wings and be independent, so I had to accept that her need for me would lessen with time.

"What about Liam?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at Emma in the mirror. "Do you want to ask him as well?"

She leaned forward and poked Maddy in the shoulder. "You told him."

Maddy and I both burst out laughing, and once again my chest filled with joy. Maddy was still confiding in me and that was a win.

"I know everything," I told her. "So, do you want him to come?"

"Is that okay?" she asked, her irritation quickly forgotten.

"Yes, it's fine." I sighed, like I was agreeing under sufferance, when really I loved the idea.

"You're still going to sit with us, though, aren't you, Dad?" Maddy said while tapping at her phone screen.

There was that pinch in my chest again.

"Sure, if you don't mind me cramping your style." Hiding my grin was hard, but I managed to keep it to a small smile.

Emma giggled and when she did Maddy shushed her. "Don't even say it. His head is big enough as it is."

"What?" I asked.

"You know exactly what she's not saying," my daughter grumbled. "All the bloody women in this town fancy you. As if you could cramp our style."

Chuckling, I continued the drive to the bar with only had one wish—that Maya was there, too.