Chapters (67)
- Cover
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- PART TWO
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART FOUR
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- Mailing list
- A Letter from Kathryn
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Kathryn Croft
Back upstairs she’s making her way back to bed when she hears it again. A thud. Something smacking against the back wall of the house. She rushes to the spare room and peers through the blind. There’s someone out there, standing in the back garden; a dark shadow.
Sienna.
Abby knows it’s her, even though she can’t make out any of her features. She rushes downstairs and unlocks the back door, rushing outside in her bare feet. She’s had enough of this.
But she’s outside alone.
‘I know it’s you, Sienna,’ she yells, her voice seeming to swirl around her. ‘This needs to stop.’ Softer now. ‘Please. We need to talk.’
Only silence answers her back.
TWENTY-THREE
Sienna
Each morning she wakes, there’s a fleeting moment of time where she forgets. Maybe forgets is the wrong word, it’s more that she’s unaware of it. She wishes she could stretch these moments, manipulate them into lasting longer, so that even for this short time she can believe that Greg is downstairs. He’s woken before her and is making them coffee and toast, almost burnt, just how she likes it.
Inevitably, reality hits, and the pain in her chest intensifies so greatly with each day that she’s convinced it will be the end of her.
Beside her on the bedside table her phone rings. She checks the caller ID and sees that it’s safe to answer.
‘Hey, how are you doing? Any news?’ Holly’s calm voice is a tonic.
Sienna pulls herself up, embarrassed that she’s still in bed when it’s past ten a.m., even though there’s no way Holly will know this. ‘Nothing,’ she says.
‘I knew it but every time I call you there’s a glimmer of hope.’ She sighs. ‘Jackson keeps asking when his dad will be back. It’s strange because he knows I don’t know – I think he just needs to ask so he’s got something to cling on to.’
‘This must be really hard for him.’
‘And for you. Sorry, I wasn’t trying to make out that this is all about Jackson.’
This thought hasn’t crossed Sienna’s mind; of course Jackson is more important in all this. Greg’s his father. She reassures Holly of this.
‘There’s another reason why I’ve called,’ Holly says. ‘I was wondering if you’d like to come for dinner? Tonight, if you don’t have any other plans. Tuesdays seem to be the only evenings Jackson doesn’t have something going on at the moment. Not that he’s been in the frame of mind for anything lately.’
Sienna is touched by this woman’s kindness. ‘That would be nice. Are you sure Jackson won’t mind?’