Read Online The Broken by Tamar Cohen - Free Book Online Page A

afternoon he’d been looking forward to getting home and shaking off the stress of the day, but here was yet more stress and his wife greeting him with a half-hearted ‘Oh, it’s you.’
    ‘That’s nice. You could sound a little happier to see me. I’ve had a shit day at work, in case you’re interested.’
    Hannah was banging around unnecessarily in the kitchen. ‘Yes, well, at least you’ve done some work. I’ve done absolutely nothing, and I’ve a feature due on Monday.’ She was hissing under her breath. The noise joined with the metallic whistle of their old kettle and the clanking of crockery in an unpleasant cacophony that irritated Josh’s ears.
    ‘You’re just going to have to tell her you need a bit of time to yourself.’
    ‘I can’t! You can see the state she’s in.’
    As if on cue, Sasha appeared in the doorway. She seemed even thinner than when Josh had seen her the day before, and her small, hollowed-out face bore an expression of nervous anticipation which drained instantly when she saw him.
    ‘Oh, hello Josh,’ she said, turning away. ‘I thought you might be Dan.’
    In the living room, over what appeared to be yet another in a long line of cups of tea, Sasha once again returned to her favourite subject – Dan’s apparently aberrant behaviour and how it was clearly symptomatic of some kind of psychological crisis he was going through, didn’t Josh think? Well, Josh didn’t bloody well think, actually. Josh was too exhausted to think. All he wanted was to sit down and have half an hour of silence to read the paper or listen to music, or just offload to Hannah about his crappy day.
    ‘Why don’t you just ask Dan?’ Josh said.
    If Sasha noticed his slightly snappish tone, she didn’t let on. ‘You know he’s insisting we don’t talk to each other until the weekend. “ We need to give each other time to breathe .”’ Sasha’s imitation of her husband’s laid-back drawl with its slight inflection at the end of the sentence was uncannily accurate.
    ‘What do you think, Josh?’ Sasha’s hazel eyes had an unnerving yellow glint to them, like a cat’s. ‘Is he starting to come round yet? Does he miss us, do you think? You’re his friend. He must have talked to you about it.’
    ‘Not really.’
    ‘Well, how does he seem then? Is he down? Subdued? Does he give you the impression he’s having regrets?’
    Josh had a flashback to the night before, when Dan had been entertaining them with stories of that day’s shoot which had involved a particularly flatulent Great Dane and its anorak-wearing trainer. Dan was not giving the impression of a man riven by doubt. He shrugged uncomfortably. ‘You know what Dan’s like. He plays things pretty close to his chest.’
    ‘Mummy!’ The shout going up from Lily’s room was so piercing it could only belong to one person. ‘Mummy! Come here. I need you.’
    Sasha stayed on the sofa, with her hands wrapped around her mug, still frowning at what Josh had just said.
    ‘ Mummy! ’
    ‘I think September might be calling you.’
    Sasha didn’t respond.
    ‘September. She’s yelling for you.’
    ‘Oh, right. It’s OK, sweetie. I’m coming.’
    But still Sasha made no attempt to move off the sofa.
    Josh waited for a moment and then, knowing how Lily hated raised voices, he went to investigate.
    Lily’s normally neat bedroom looked post-apocalyptic. Boxes of toys had been emptied out over the floor, the wardrobe door was open and clothes were spilling out in a tidal wave of pink and flowers (they’d tried to get Lily interested in less stereotypical, more androgynous clothing, but to no avail). Someone had obviously been trying to make a den out of Lily’s bedcovers, which were pulled off the bed and draped haphazardly between a chair and table. Lily’s prized collection of kitten stickers lay scattered like confetti over every surface.
    ‘Is everything OK?’ Josh frowned, taking in the carnage.
    Lily took after him in feeling