Read Online The Mysterious Miss Mayhew by Hazel Osmond - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Hazel Osmond
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on your own.’
‘But Mummy says I could. And that she can look after me without you over Christmas. Why can’t she do that?’
It was a question she hadn’t asked the night before. Her face told him that he wasn’t going to be able to fob her off with not answering it.
‘Because Mummy will have to work some of the time and you’ll be looked after by people who I don’t know and you don’t know. And sitting in this car here, with me, you think that will be OK, but just try and imagine going to bed without someone you know to tuck you in, or if you fell over and hurt yourself and you wanted a bit of a hug …’
He hated this, not least because he was putting fears in her mind on purpose. It would serve him right if she was still living at home in her forties.
Her face, as he’d been talking, had been scrunched up, as if she was imagining the scene he’d just outlined.
‘I wouldn’t like that,’ she had said, so earnestly that he had wanted to hit his head on the window for being such a horrible manipulator. ‘I would be really sad.’
He’d felt her hand turn in his and gave it a squeeze.
Some serious swallowing had been necessary before he’d replied, ‘I wouldn’t like it either, Hats.’ And then he heard himself say, ‘How about if I see whether you and I can go skiing over Christmas? Just the two of us? And then, eitheron the way there, or the way back, we can pop in and see Mummy.’
He wished he’d thought about that a bit more before he’d opened his mouth. Hattie’s face was no longer scrunched up. ‘Yes,’ she said on a breath out. ‘Yes. Us skiing. Yessss. I’m going to tell Josh.’ Slipping her hand from his, she had struggled to get out of her seat.
He was powerless to stop the onrush of enthusiasm that he’d started. Steph was going to go ballistic. And how to tell Rob and Kath they wouldn’t be around for the first Christmas with the new baby? How to tell his mum?
In the end, he’d decided not to worry about that now. Hattie had stopped dwelling on the pain of missing her mother and they’d swerved round the tricky nature of reality once again.
He drove away from school, watching it recede in the rear-view mirror.
Lies and bribery. And possibly a scheme that wasn’t going to work anyway. Fantastic fathering skills. Well done, Tom. Top of the class.
*
Liz was standing in exactly the same spot as yesterday.
‘Bloody hell, you look like crap,’ she said. ‘And what I’ve got to tell you isn’t going to help.’
Until she’d spoken, he didn’t realise how much heneeded to shout at someone. He clamped his mouth shut, but couldn’t keep the emotion off his face. In his office, he took it out on the door before checking again to see if Natalie had replied to his text from last night about babysitting.
He sent another.
The phone on his desk rang.
‘I’d leave you alone as you’re obviously premenstrual,’ Liz said when he answered it, ‘but you’re going to get a visitor in about ten minutes and I thought you’d rather know about it than have her just appear.’
‘Her?’
‘Mrs Mawson.’
‘Did she say what she wanted?’
‘Nope. Probably going to sack you or something.’ The phone was put down.
He put his down too and went to the window to see if he could spot Mrs Mawson’s car. No, just a bright-red one trying to go the wrong way out of the square and having to reverse in the face of a bus.
Bit worrying that Mrs Mawson was visiting the office. Now and again she would ring to congratulate him when circulation figures showed a particularly large hike. Four times a year he was invited to schmoozing suppers that she held for advertisers and directors at Mawson Towers (aname he found easier to remember than the real one). But normally she trusted him to get on with it.
The phone rang again. ‘And not that I bloody care, but there’s nothing wrong with Hattie, is there?’ The concerned tone of Liz’s voice made him start to feel shabby
‘But Mummy says I could. And that she can look after me without you over Christmas. Why can’t she do that?’
It was a question she hadn’t asked the night before. Her face told him that he wasn’t going to be able to fob her off with not answering it.
‘Because Mummy will have to work some of the time and you’ll be looked after by people who I don’t know and you don’t know. And sitting in this car here, with me, you think that will be OK, but just try and imagine going to bed without someone you know to tuck you in, or if you fell over and hurt yourself and you wanted a bit of a hug …’
He hated this, not least because he was putting fears in her mind on purpose. It would serve him right if she was still living at home in her forties.
Her face, as he’d been talking, had been scrunched up, as if she was imagining the scene he’d just outlined.
‘I wouldn’t like that,’ she had said, so earnestly that he had wanted to hit his head on the window for being such a horrible manipulator. ‘I would be really sad.’
He’d felt her hand turn in his and gave it a squeeze.
Some serious swallowing had been necessary before he’d replied, ‘I wouldn’t like it either, Hats.’ And then he heard himself say, ‘How about if I see whether you and I can go skiing over Christmas? Just the two of us? And then, eitheron the way there, or the way back, we can pop in and see Mummy.’
He wished he’d thought about that a bit more before he’d opened his mouth. Hattie’s face was no longer scrunched up. ‘Yes,’ she said on a breath out. ‘Yes. Us skiing. Yessss. I’m going to tell Josh.’ Slipping her hand from his, she had struggled to get out of her seat.
He was powerless to stop the onrush of enthusiasm that he’d started. Steph was going to go ballistic. And how to tell Rob and Kath they wouldn’t be around for the first Christmas with the new baby? How to tell his mum?
In the end, he’d decided not to worry about that now. Hattie had stopped dwelling on the pain of missing her mother and they’d swerved round the tricky nature of reality once again.
He drove away from school, watching it recede in the rear-view mirror.
Lies and bribery. And possibly a scheme that wasn’t going to work anyway. Fantastic fathering skills. Well done, Tom. Top of the class.
*
Liz was standing in exactly the same spot as yesterday.
‘Bloody hell, you look like crap,’ she said. ‘And what I’ve got to tell you isn’t going to help.’
Until she’d spoken, he didn’t realise how much heneeded to shout at someone. He clamped his mouth shut, but couldn’t keep the emotion off his face. In his office, he took it out on the door before checking again to see if Natalie had replied to his text from last night about babysitting.
He sent another.
The phone on his desk rang.
‘I’d leave you alone as you’re obviously premenstrual,’ Liz said when he answered it, ‘but you’re going to get a visitor in about ten minutes and I thought you’d rather know about it than have her just appear.’
‘Her?’
‘Mrs Mawson.’
‘Did she say what she wanted?’
‘Nope. Probably going to sack you or something.’ The phone was put down.
He put his down too and went to the window to see if he could spot Mrs Mawson’s car. No, just a bright-red one trying to go the wrong way out of the square and having to reverse in the face of a bus.
Bit worrying that Mrs Mawson was visiting the office. Now and again she would ring to congratulate him when circulation figures showed a particularly large hike. Four times a year he was invited to schmoozing suppers that she held for advertisers and directors at Mawson Towers (aname he found easier to remember than the real one). But normally she trusted him to get on with it.
The phone rang again. ‘And not that I bloody care, but there’s nothing wrong with Hattie, is there?’ The concerned tone of Liz’s voice made him start to feel shabby
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