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“I miss my children and my wife.” Tears streamed down Clark’s face.

“And Janey?”

“She was a mistake.”

“Then why the hell did you leave?”

“She told me she was pregnant. But she’s not. It was a lie.”

“Jesus Christ.” What a bloody, awful mess.

“I was scared, okay? If I didn’t try with Janey, I was worried she’d threaten my job.”

“So instead of stepping up and taking responsibility for the shit you started, you abandoned your family?” Shaking her head, Lydia took a step back. “I’m sorry, Clark, I shouldn’t judge. I told you I didn’t want to discuss this. You have to work it out with Fe.”

“Will she take me back?”

“Honestly?” He nodded. “No. Not right now.”

“What do I do?” Clark’s brokenness was evident. Lydia felt for him, but getting in the middle of this wasn’t right. Her job was to be there for her niblings and sister.

“I don’t know. Give it time, I guess.”

“Do you think Halle would talk to her?”

“Oh no, don’t even think about it. Halle’s more likely to rip you a new arsehole than hear you out, let alone advocate for you.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Wiping his eyes, Clark turned and left Lydia standing in the street, a little shell shocked. Of all the things she’d worried about today, this wasn’t one of them. Should she tell Fe what Clark said? Would Fe be pissed if she didn’t tell her, or more upset if she did?

Mumbling, “Buggering hell.” Lydia set off for the museum. There wasn’t any time to ponder. Lydia’s shift started in half an hour, and she was already on thin ice with Norris. Apparently, hospital visits weren’t a valid enough reason to need time off.

The bus arrived with five minutes to spare, although Lydia ought not to have worried as every employee and visitor were outside behind police tape.

Pushing through the crowd, she spotted Cathy and Harrison. “Hey, what’s this about?”

“Bomb scare,” Harrison answered matter-of-factly.

“Just a prank,” Cathy added. “We get them once a bloody year at least.”

“Outstanding, just what we all need. Hypothermia.”

“How did it go this morning?” Cathy offered to come along, but there was no way she’d have got the okay from Norris.

“Fine, no problems. Everything is still going forward.” Casting her gaze across the sea of pissed off people, Lydia wondered if she should tell Cathy about her quick conversation last night with Halle.

“You look like you’re thinking really hard there, sweetie.”

“I spoke to Halle last night. She wants to meet up this evening after work.”

“That’s good, right?”

“I haven’t the foggiest. It was strange. It almost sounded like she was okay with me kissing her.” Lydia lowered her voice just in case Fe was hiding somewhere, ready to pop out and kick her arse.

“Interesting. I won’t say I told you so.” Cathy’s grin said it all too loudly, anyway.

“Stop. Anyway, I agreed to meet up. But that’s not everything. On the way here I ran into Clark, Fe’s husband. He had a full bloody meltdown on me.”

“Jesus, is your life always this entertaining?”