She picks up.
“Hi, Mum.”
“Hello, love, is it your day off? Did I get it right?”
Hannah smiles. Her day off has always been Wednesday, for all of the nine years she’s worked at Tall Tales, but for some reason her mother can never seem to remember that.
“Yes, I’m in the park. How are you?”
Her mother ignores the question.
“I’m driving so sorry if I cut out. I’m on hands-free. But are you okay? I felt worried after you rang off yesterday. I shouldn’t have ambushed you at work.”
“No, it was fine.” Hannah watches a little girl evade her father and run gleefully into a huge muddy puddle at the foot of the slide. “You were right, it was better I heard it from you.”
“Did you get any trouble?”
She means journalists, doorsteppers, cold callers, Hannah knows. In the early days it was a swarm. When they came back to Dodsworth, in those first few awful weeks after April’s death, her mother had wooden shutters installed on the ground floor of their home so people couldn’t peer through the curtains, and a brush on the inside of the letter box. Hannah remembers them calling through the door, Any comment, Mrs. Jones? Is Hannah here? What would you like to say to John Neville if you met him?
“Not really,” she says now. “Just an email. Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“And how’s Will?”
That’s a more complicated question and Hannah pauses. How is Will?
“I think he’s okay,” she says at last. “You know what he’s like, he clams up whenever it comes up, but we talked about it a bit last night. I think he’s just relieved it’s over, mainly.”
“He needs counseling,” Hannah’s mum says severely. “You both do.”
Hannah rolls her eyes. This is a discussion they’ve had before. In fact, she did have a few counseling sessions after the court case, and it helped in some ways—gave her tools to deal with the panic attacks and unhealthy behavioral patterns. It was the counselor who suggested the Requests folder on her phone, so she could mentally put the emails away until she was ready to move on from them. But she got everything useful out of the sessions, and then got out. And Will—she certainly can’t imagine Will sitting in some office talking about his feelings.
“I know. We have talked about it. We’re just a bit busy right now. You know, work, the baby. Will’s working really long hours at the moment—he’s barely ever home before seven.”
“He should be looking after his pregnant wife!” her mum says, and Hannah feels a rush of annoyance.
“It’s not his fault—he’s hardly choosing to work twelve-hour days. But there’s a partnership position coming up. He needs to be seen to be putting in the hours if he’s going to be in with a chance.”
And God knows, they need the money before the baby comes, though she doesn’t say that to her mother. Cathy is the nicest employer in the world—but the shop barely makes a profit. Hannah will be getting the statutory minimum maternity pay, and that’s it. Cathy can’t afford any more. And although Will has a reasonable salary, once they’ve paid their mortgage, there really isn’t much left. If Will can make partner before she goes on leave, they will both breathe easier.
“I thought I’d come up in a couple of weeks,” her mum is saying. Hannah can hear the tick-tock of the indicator over the car speakers. “Help you out. Cook you both a few meals. Faiza at work gave me some absolutely lovely maternity clothes, there’s a really good coat. She said take what you want and charity-shop the rest. I’ll bring them up when I come.”
“That sounds lovely,” Hannah says. “I’ll try to get a day off, maybe. What date are you thinking?”
She waits for the answer but it doesn’t come, and when she looks down at the phone, the call has ended. Great. Presumably her mum has driven through a dead spot.
The rain has stopped, and she leaves the shelter of the yew tree and walks across to the gate to the playground, pulled, as if magnetized, by the little group of kids and their parents. There’s a strict limit to how long a lone adult can watch children playing, she’s discovered. About five minutes before you start to get glances, maybe ten before someone comes over and asks if you’re looking for someone, though her growing belly gives her something of an alibi now. Women are more likely to smile sympathetically than glare suspiciously, and some will even start up a conversation. “Do you know what you’re expecting?” or “When’s the wee one due?”