Forty. Meggie

 

Sephy's out tonight at her gig at Russell's and to be honest, I was glad. During the last two weeks, things had gone from bad to worse. Sephy changes Callie's nappy, she feeds her, she bathes her but she won't hold her. Hugs and cuddles are a thing of the past. And Callie cries a lot more often now. It's a vicious circle. Sephy doesn't want to hold Callie, so Callie cries harder and longer and more often to be held. I've picked up Callie more in the last two weeks than Sephy has. Sephy's been at rehearsals with that Jaxon Robbins – who I wouldn't trust with one of my used tissues – or else she makes excuses to leave the house. She tells me she needs to go for a walk or she's going shopping or she's visiting friends, but what it boils down to is Sephy isn't here. And her daughter is. So I've made a decision. I had no choice but I knew Sephy wouldn't see it that way.

I pressed the digits on my phone and placed the receiver to my ear. My heart had leapt up to my throat so 1 wasn't sure if I was going to be able to squeeze a word out anyway. The phone rang twice only.

'Good evening. The Hadley residence.'

My heart plummeted to my heels, then bounced like a super ball inside me at the sound of Sarah Pike's voice. So she still worked for Jasmine, did she? I guess she was just niftier than I was at keeping her head down and keeping on Jasmine's good side. I'd made the mistake of thinking Jasmine and I were good friends. But one error, one slipup – and I'd been out on my ear.

'Hello?' Sarah prompted.

I swallowed hard and forced myself to speak.

'Can I speak to Mrs Hadley please?'

'Can I say who's calling?' asked Sarah politely.

She obviously hadn't recognized my voice, but then why should she?

'Er . . . it's . . . Meggie. Meggie McGregor,' I said softly.

I caught Sarah's gasp, even though she tried to disguise it immediately afterwards by launching straight into a monologue.

'Oh, Meggie. I . . . Hello . . . I'll just go and see if Mrs Hadley is available.' And she put the phone down with a clunk that made my ears ring.

Hello to you too, I thought sourly. No 'how are you?' for old times' sake. Sarah was obviously the same scared little mouse she'd always been. I could just imagine the conversation happening now between her and Jasmine. What was I thinking? This had been a bad idea. But at least I'd tried. Maybe I should just put down the phone now, rather than wait for Sarah to give me some feeble excuse and bounce me off.

'Hello, Meggie.' Jasmine's voice shocked me into silence. 'Meggie, are you there?'

'Hello, Mrs Hadley.'

'Please call me Jasmine. Is my daughter all right? Has something happened?'

'No, she's fine. It's nothing like that. Sephy and Callie are both fine. Everyone's fine,' I blathered.

'I don't understand then,' said Mrs Hadley. I couldn't think of her as anyone but Mrs Hadley.

'I'm worried about Sephy but it's not really something I can discuss over the phone. Perhaps we can meet up?' I suggested.

'Is Persephone ill? What aren't you telling me?' Mrs Hadley said at once.

'I promise you Sephy isn't ill or anything like that.' I took a breath to steady myself before continuing. 'I'm . . . concerned about her behaviour and I'd like to discuss it with you face to face.'

'Shall I come to your home tomorrow?'

Surprise at her suggestion almost made me say yes on the spot. The Jasmine Hadley I knew wouldn't dream of setting foot in any area where the majority of the residents were noughts.

'Er . . . no. Maybe we could meet at a coffee shop?'

Pause. 'Would you like to come to my home? We could have coffee here. You'd be more than welcome.'

'No. I don't think so,' I shot back.

Too much time had passed and the water under the bridge was too deep to go back to her house. That place would stir up too many bad memories.

'Java Express then. The coffee shop on the high street, next to Markman's bookshop,' Mrs Hadley suggested.

'Ten o'clock?'

'Ten will be fine. I'll see you then. And Meggie?'

'Yes?'

'Thank you for phoning.'

Even as I put down the phone, I wondered about the wisdom of what I was doing. Sephy was going to hate me for it.

But what else could I do?

I had to think of Callie Rose. Callie came first. No ifs, ands or buts. And she always would.