Page 106 of Guilty Mothers

‘We’ll only be a few minutes late,’ Mom says as she drives towards the high street. The minutes stretch. I’m impatient. She’s finally letting me go to a party, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my class looks like.

‘Here we go,’ she says, pulling into a space. ‘Always good to make an entrance.’

She opens the door to the pizza parlour and pushes me inside.

Instantly I think we’ve made a mistake and we’re at the wrong place, but then Sadie emerges from the crowd and spots me. Her face freezes in shock. So does mine. Her expression breaks down into amusement. Mine is still frozen in horror.

The room is full. There are more people here than are in my class. And not one of them is in fancy dress. The space is awash with jeans, leggings, tee shirts, hoodies and trainers.

A sea of people turn to stare as my cheeks flame hot. I am rooted to the spot as the pointing and laughing starts. People step forward, in front of others, to get a better look. Mobile phones and cameras start to appear.

My humiliation is absolute.

‘Oops,’ Mom says with laughter in her voice.

How could she have made such a mistake?

And then I realise. In my eagerness to attend, I’d missed the logic of it all. If the theme of the party had changed, Sadie would have told me. I never told her I wasn’t going to come.

I turn and see the amusement on my mother’s face and all doubt about her deceit disappears.

She leans down, close to my ear. ‘I wonder how many will want to be friends with you now.’

I turn away before the threatening tears add to my humiliation.

I already know that I will never forget this day as long as I live.

SEVENTY

‘Go easy, guv,’ Bryant said as they knocked the door of the house that belonged to Toyah’s father.

‘I’m fine,’ she growled.

‘Not really. Your face has been stuck on that expression since Stacey called.’

She ignored him, but he wasn’t wrong. It took a lot to get Stacey worked up, so she could only imagine the level of Tony’s rant, and no one got away with treating her team like that except her.

Thankfully it was Toyah who answered the door.

‘May we have a minute?’ Kim asked, stepping forward.

Toyah nodded, moving out of the way. ‘Look, I’m sorry about?—’

‘Through here?’ Kim asked, heading towards the kitchen.

She appreciated Toyah’s effort in offering an apology, but it wasn’t her manners at fault. She would go easy, give Tony the benefit of the doubt and assume he’d thought better of his behaviour.

Kim entered the kitchen, but before taking a seat, she focussed her attention on Tony, who was reading the paper at the table. ‘Mr Shaw, I understand that this is a stressful time for you all, but please don’t ever speak to any member of my team in that manner again.’

A multitude of emotions passed over his face: irritation, rage, disgust. Kim could see that he wasn’t the slightest bit sorry and in fact was ready and waiting for round two.

She held his gaze and tipped her head. She was happy to take the next bout.

Mr Shaw senior entered the room, and Tony glanced away. It appeared they now understood each other.

‘Inspector, do you have an update?’ he asked.

‘Not as yet, Mr Shaw. We just need to clarify a couple of things with Toyah.’