Page 11 of Sorry, Not Sorry

Delilah pulled the front door shut behind her and stomped down the garden path, muttering under her breath.

Salome needed her head examined if she thought her stupid plan stood a snowball’s chance in hell of happening.

She had seized on Farhan returning home with a grouchy Arin as her excuse to escape, although not before Salome had extracted a promise to at least consider her suggestion.

Lost in thought, it took Delilah a few moments to notice the man stooped over a flowerbed in the adjoining front garden.

The familiar figure straightened and pulled off a worn pair of gardening gloves to scratch his head.

Looking over the low dividing fence, he caught her eye, and she froze.

For a long moment, they observed each other in silence and Delilah could have sworn there was a faint smile on his rugged mahogany-brown face.

Their paths rarely crossed, and it was almost two years since Delilah had laid eyes on him.

There was perhaps a little more grey visible in the tufty dark hair than she remembered, but his expression was as warm and kindly as it had always been.

Seeing him in his staple uniform of baggy chinos and checked shirt sparked a kaleidoscope of memories: howling with laughter over Jenga, blatantly cheating at Monopoly, dancing to the reggae tracks from his impressive music collection, sampling his famous lamb curry, and, most of all, long, quiet conversations in which she felt safe enough to tell him things she had never shared with Noah.

For a time he had been a father figure to her, and she missed him more than she allowed herself to admit.

But those days were gone, and today there was much more than a wooden fence separating Delilah from Noah’s father.

‘ Neville! Why have you left the front door open? I don’t want no creatures scurrying into the place!’ The sound of the woman’s voice from inside the house next door broke the spell and jolted Delilah back to reality.

Unwilling to risk another run-in with Mrs West, Delilah gave Neville a tentative smile and, when he nodded in reply, she hurried down the path, almost breaking into a run in her haste to get away.