I walk down the side of the house, past the wheelie bins, and try the back gate. Past the gate the garden is overgrown and looks derelict, a pit in one corner full of old furniture, clothes, bits of wood and metal, ready for some kind of bonfire that never happened. The place is a mess.

Chapter Forty-Six

Then

Jasmine hadn’t bitten her nails in years, not since her mother put that awful tasting clear nail polish on in a bid to get her to stop. But now she was chewing on the skin around her thumb nervously as she told Carol what Tim had told her. Felicity’s mother stared in silence as Jasmine recounted what she had seen and what Tim had said. Felicity gripped her other hand for support. The silence continued long after Jasmine had finished speaking, until Felicity finally spoke up.

‘Well, Mum? What should Jazz do?’

‘She needs to tell her parents. I’ll come with you if you’re afraid. Or we can call them and tell them here, if you’d prefer. Just in case that man is around the house and listening. You can’t let him ruin your life, Jazz. There’s men out there who just want what’s in your wallet or between your legs. Sounds like he’s one or the other,’ Carol said, lighting a cigarette and taking a long draw from it.

‘You don’t think he could be telling the truth then?’ Jasmine asked, ignoring Carol’s crude assessment of Tim, feeling almost like she should defend him.

‘He sounds like a complete fantasist, sweetie. You said he was a homeless man before he moved in with your family. Maybe he has mental health issues.’

‘Mum!’ Felicity shouted with indignation.

‘I mean, you hear about stuff like that all the time, don’t you? I’ll call your house and get your parents to come pick you up. We can tell them together when they get here.’

‘Thank you,’ Jasmine said as Felicity pulled her out of the room, leaving her mother alone to ring Jasmine’s parents. Jasmine couldn’t help but feel as if she were blowing everything out of proportion. But she couldn’t explain the photos. Where did they come from? Her head was spinning. Nothing made sense anymore. Felicity was the only person she felt she could trust at the moment.

They both sat on the sofa waiting for her parents to arrive, Jasmine’s hands firmly clutching Felicity’s. They were going to be angry with her for keeping secrets. As much as her father respected privacy, he hated secrets and she had promised him that there would never be anything she couldn’t tell him. Even the thought of her parents finding out she had kissed Tim filled her with dread, let alone the other things they would discover.

‘What if they throw me out?’

‘Don’t be silly. Why would they do that?’