What was going on with him? I didn’t really have time to waste but decided Adrian could hold the fort a little longer. I went down the corridor to tell Sax I thought he should stay home and rest. I was prepared for a battle—there wasn’t one class the boy would be prepared to miss—but when I pushed open the door to his bedroom, I found it empty.

Dammit. I screwed up my nose and started picking up the dirty clothes scattered across the floor. On his desk, I found a bowl of Nutri-Grain growing mould, a couple of empty cans of energy drinks—banned in this house—and dozens of lolly and chocolate wrappers. If this was an indication of his current diet, no wonder Saxon looked terrible.

Had Adrian been paying any attention to our children?

‘Are we going or what?’

I turned to find Payton standing in the doorway.

‘Saxon’s gunna kill you for going in his bedroom. Can’t you read?’ She pointed to the door where a sign read, ‘WARNING: NO TRESSPASSING. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED.’

‘I think that’s meant for you,’ I said, crossing the room, my arms laden with dirty clothes. I’d deal with the other mess later—or rather I’d make Saxon deal with it. ‘I’ll be five minutes.’

Payton groaned as I rushed past her, hurled the clothes into the laundry and hurried into my bedroom.

Six minutes later, after a one-minute shower, another minute trying to select an outfit that looked professional but womanly, and the rest of the time spent doing my makeup and pulling on my boots, we were in the car.

I tried to explain why I needed to help Adrian, that me spending time with her father would ultimately be a good thing for all of us, but Payton wasn’t in the mood to listen to reason. She was uncharacteristically silent and didn’t even look at me but gazed out the window the entire time instead. I thought she might deign to open her mouth to complain when I dropped her off in the Kiss and Drive rather than walking her in, but she got out, slammed the door and headed into school without even a backward glance.

Just fabulous.

Nothing I liked less than my daughter being angry at me, but sometimes the ends justified the means. Payton would get over her disappointment eventually, and Adrian and I working alongside each other would give me the chance to remind him how good we were together.

Chapter 28

28

On Friday when the phone rang, I glanced at the bottom of my computer screen to check the time before picking it up.

‘Good afternoon, Wood’s Podiatry, Ashling speaking. How may I help you?’

‘Oh, hi Ash, it’s Kristen.’

My heart sank at the sound of the cheerful, healthy voice on the end of the phone line. ‘Hey. How are you feeling?’

‘Much better.’