Page 95 of The Summer Escape

“Have a good day.” He smiled and gave her another quick kiss. “I’ll see you tonight.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY

Trystan’s fog of sleep lifted quickly when he rolled over in bed to find Ellie staring at him.

“Hi,” he said gently.

“Where’s my mummy?” she asked with a trembling lip.

He sat up in a rush and reached out to her, but she shrank back until she collided with the wall.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Mummy had to go to work, so I’m going to look after you today.”

Ellie shook her head and scowled. “I’m going to Ferne’s house when Mummy goes to work.”

“Yes. That was the plan, but Ferne fell over and had to go to the hospital, so I said I could look after you instead.”

Tears pooled on Ellie’s lower lids before spilling down her cheeks. She turned and fled before he could say any more, and he followed her to her bedroom, where she curled up on her bed.

“It’s okay,” he said, lingering in the doorway.

“Ferne’s hurt and Mummy’s gone,” she sniffed, hugging a teddy to her chest.

“Ferne’s fine.” He silently cursed himself. Why had he told her that her friend was in hospital? “And Mummy will be back later. I’ll be here with you until she gets home. We can play and do whatever you want …”

“I want Mummy.”

“Okay.” He glanced behind him in a panic. “How about we call Mummy? That’s a good idea, isn’t it? She can explain that everything is fine.” At the slight drop of her shoulders he backed out of the room. “I’ll get my phone …”

When Beth didn’t answer, he left her a message asking her to call back.

“We just have to wait a little bit,” he told Ellie nervously. “Mummy might still be driving or busy with work, but she’ll call back really soon and you can talk to her.” He wanted to comfort her but was nervous of making the situation worse. After pacing the landing a few times, his phone rang and he swiped a finger over the screen before pressing it to his ear. “I’m sorry. There’s a bit of a problem.”

“I take it that means you can’t meet me this morning after all?” The prickly voice didn’t belong to Beth.

He grimaced as he remembered he’d told Jenny she could come over to his place that morning to pick up her dish set.

“I was about to set off,” she said accusingly. “Would you even have let me know if I hadn’t called?”

“Sorry. I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“What’s going on? You sound weird?”

“It’s a long story.” He shook his head, wondering the best way to get her off the phone. “You can still pick up your stuff. You have your key. Help yourself and leave the key when you go …”

“Trystan,” she growled. “What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing. I just can’t talk now.” He set off pacing again at the sound of Ellie crying softly. “You’ll probably need someone to help you carry the box,” he said to Jenny. “It’s heavy. I struggled with it.”

“I’ll come another time instead,” she said wearily. “I also wanted to talk to you.”

“Just call me sometime.”

“I want to speak to you in person. There’s something I need to tell you. It’s important.”

His phone beeped with a video call from Beth. “Come another day then. Whatever you want. I need to go though. Sorry.” He hung up on Jenny and connected with Beth.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.