Her mother’s demeanour changes in a flash, just as Kathryn had known it would.
Her cold blue eyes glint dangerously and Kathryn can hardly contain her glee. ‘You went out with Lewis? As in our ex-gardener, Lewis?’
Una looks even paler than she did earlier, if that’s possible. ‘Um … not a date, exactly. I was … it was just to …’ She appears to have run out of words.
‘We’re all ears,’ says Kathryn, leaning forward on her elbows.
Una shifts in her chair. ‘There’s nothing to say, really.’
Kathryn smiles. ‘I did wonder why you wanted his number. I don’t blame you, he’s a good-looking guy.’
Una reddens and her mother looks sickened. ‘That’s enough, Kathryn,’ she snaps. ‘You’re old enough to be his mother. And, Una, I’m surprised at you. I thought you had more taste.’ She pushes her chair back with such force that the legs screech across the limestone tiles. She stands up. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a headache. I’m going to rest in the sitting room. If you could bring me up a cup of tea, Una, I’d be grateful.’
‘Of course,’ mumbles Una, from behind her hair. Her cheeks are still pink.
They don’t speak until Elspeth has left the room. Kathryn watches her mother’s stiff back, and how steady she is on her feet today. ‘Well,’ she says, finishing her coffee, ‘I’d better be off. Have a good day.’
She smiles to herself as she leaves the house, knowing Una’s day is ruined.
Jacob is waiting on the stairs when she returns, dressed in his school uniform. The black blazer looks smart on the other kids but for some reason never does on her son, probably because he walks like an ape. His navy blue regulation rucksack is by his feet. It looks empty. She knows better than to ask him about it if she doesn’t want to get her head bitten off.
‘You’re late,’ he says, as soon as she steps inside the hallway. She isn’t. She’s never late.
‘Where’s your father and Harry?’
‘Harry’s on a sleepover and Dad’s gone to work.’
‘Harry’s on a sleepover? On a school night? Who decided that?’
Jacob stands up. He’s so tall, he towers over her now. ‘Dad did. You’re never here.’
‘I was with Grandma.’
‘You’re always with Grandma.’
‘She’s old. She needs looking after.’
‘Isn’t that why she’s got Una?’
‘Well, yes, but Una needs a day off.’ She bites back her irritation. ‘We’ve been through this.’
He mutters something under his breath but she doesn’t catch it. ‘We need to go.’ He hurls his rucksack onto his back. ‘I’m gonna be late for school.’
‘What about the bus?’ He always takes the bus. He says he likes it because it gives him the chance to catch up with his mates, not that they look like they’re catching up when Kathryn sees them. They’re usually glued to their phones or their ears are plugged into them.
‘I missed it.’
Again. Last week he didn’t turn up at school. He’d taken the bus that day and she’d assumed he’d arrived okay – she has Find My Friends on her phone to keep track of him after his behaviour last year – but his phone was turned off. And he usually got the bus with Harry. Then she’d received a call from the headmaster to say he hadn’t turned up for registration. She’d rushed out of the gallery and driven around until she’d found him, walking on the Downs, in the cold, his breath clouding in front of him. When she’d asked him where he’d been, he told her he’d missed the bus and decided to walk and had then got lost in the fog. She hadn’t believed a word of it, of course. He’d been living in Bristol all his life and his school was a forty-minute walk at the most. Yes, it would have made him late but there’s no way he would have got lost going from Stokes Bishop to his posh school near the centre of town.
‘Well, lucky I’m here, then,’ she says, trying to keep her tone light so as not to antagonize her once placid son.
It was when he turned fourteen that he changed, practically overnight, from a chilled-out kid to an angsty, defensive bag of hormones. She’d heard it could happen from friends with older kids but she’d never thought it would apply to her boys. She’d brought them up well – being a good mother was just as important to her as being a good wife and daughter. Her own disastrous childhood, before she’d come to live with Elspeth, had made her determined to be the best mum she could be to her kids. And she’d thought she’d succeeded. Until last year.