Page 63 of In Just One Day
‘Well…’ Flora laughed. ‘We’ll talk later. But yes, I feel much better for going, actually. Thank you.’ She kissed her husband.
‘Ew.’ Tom pulled a face as he went to get down from the table.
‘Not at all. I’m glad you went.’
‘The weird thing is, I saw someone else there. At the church.’ Flora sat down, picking up a leftover chip and dunking it in the ketchup left on the plate.
‘What, someone you know?’ Johnny went to the fridge. ‘Want a glass?’ He held up the bottle from the fridge door.
‘Yes, please. I honestly don’t know who it was, but she looked so familiar. I’ve been trying to place her all the way home, but I just can’t. At least it stopped me thinking about my bloody parents, I guess.’ She reached out to take the glass Johnny had poured for her. ‘Ooh, that’s good. What is it?’
‘South African Chenin. Got it in the supermarket for six quid.’ He held up the bottle triumphantly.
‘Johnny, what are you thinking? That’s our competition!’ Flora looked mock-horrified.
‘I know, I just wanted to see what they had in their range and this was on offer. Couldn’t resist.’
Flora screwed up her nose. ‘It’s brilliant, annoyingly.’ She took another sip. ‘Anyway, I’m pleased I went. After seeing Mum this morning, I just needed to clear my head a bit.’
‘Hey, you two, why don’t you go and stick the telly on for a bit so I can talk to your mother.’ Johnny picked up the empty plates from the table.
‘Put your bowls in the dishwasher before you go, please,’ said Flora.
With the children gone, Johnny sat down next to Flora. ‘So, go on, what did she say?’
‘Not much, really. Just that it was complicated. And that she was sorry.’ Flora shrugged.
‘So she definitely doesn’t know about your father seeing someone else?’
‘I don’t think so. At least she didn’t say anything about it. I’m thinking I need to tell him he’s got to do everything to try and make it right.’
‘Flo, we’ve been through this. You can’t expect to be able to fix it. You’ve got to trust them to sort it out themselves. Maybe, with a little more time, they might be able to get back to normal – well, as much as they can. I mean, after the trial…’
‘Oh my God, that’s it!’ Flora banged her glass back down on the table. ‘That’s who the woman was at the church!’
‘Who?’ Johnny didn’t follow.
Flora shook her head fiercely. ‘I think it was the mother of the boy who killed Billy.’ She stared at Johnny, wide-eyed.
‘But… how do you know? You’ve never seen her, have you? There wasn’t a picture in the paper.’
‘No, but it was her. I know it, Johnny. It was the way she looked at me.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘I’m telling you it was her. She just disappeared when she saw me. Practically bolted, in fact. Seriously, I think she’d gone to see Billy’s headstone.’
‘Isn’t that a bit… insensitive?’ Johnny trod carefully, not wanting to say the wrong thing.
‘Maybe. I don’t know… She must feel wretched, though. I mean, her son is likely to go to prison for what he’s done. It’s not like actually mourning the death of a child, but living with the guilt – well, isn’t that a sentence of sorts?’
Johnny could practically see her mind racing. ‘Hang on, why do you think she would go there?’
‘It would be easy enough to figure out where the church was, given newspaper reports of the accident or the memorial service or whatever. And like I said, I think she must feel so awful, guilty even. I mean, you’d just be stuck with it forever. Honestly, she looked so, so sad.’
‘I still think it’s a bit odd to go, knowing she might bump into one of you.’
‘Well, it was a rainy Tuesday afternoon. I’m sure she didn’t want to be seen. In fact, definitely not, given that she bolted as soon as she could once she’d seen me.’