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‘Of course I’m angry about the situation. My little girl has a cut on her face and is being punished like a bully. I refuse to have her treated like this.’ He stood up and left the room in three big steps. ‘Good afternoon.’
Sophie stood as he left, one of her legs shaking slightly. She was opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, annoyed that she’d not had anything sensible to say in response and worrying that in no way had the situation been resolved – merely postponed.
Several times on the drive back to the farm, Liam looked over to Cassie but she spent the entire journey staring out the window, her hair flopping forward over her face and her fists clenched in her lap. He considered saying something to her and then decided against it, instead gripping the steering wheel tighter.
Glancing at her for the hundredth time, he noticed the bruising on her cheek coming out and the plaster that Sophie had put on it earlier.
‘Are you hurting?’ he asked gently.
Cassie shook her head and fixed her eyes firmly on the fields as they went past in a blur.
Liam pulled into the courtyard outside the farmhouse and climbed down out of the Land Rover. Before he could make his way round and open the door to help, Cassie had jumped out the other side and was already making her way over to the front door.
‘Hiya, love.’ His mother stood at the door, ready to welcome them home. Her smiling expression changed when she saw Cassie walking towards her. She stormed straight past her grandmother, kicked off her shoes and stomped towards the stairs.
For a moment, Liam’s thoughts went to his wife. She had always been so neat and tidy. Taking her shoes off at the door in the middle of an argument was exactly what Emily would have done. He swallowed away the thickness in his throat.
‘Cassie. Don’t walk away from me. We need to talk.’ He walked past his mother and squeezed the top of her arm before following Cassie through to the living room. ‘Cassie.’
She stopped but didn’t turn. ‘What?’
‘Cassie, we need to talk about what happened today. You were in a fight.’
‘So?’ Her shoulders rose in a shrug.
‘So, it’s not like you. I want to know what’s up.’
‘Nothing. Can I go now?’ She folded her arms.
Liam’s jaw ached from the tension. He didn’t have the energy for another fight, not after he’d handled the meeting with Sophie Lawson so appallingly. He sighed loudly. ‘Fine.’
Without another word, Cassie went upstairs to her room. At least she hadn’t stomped her way up. Still, it annoyed Liam that he’d not got Cassie to open up and tell him what was wrong. Story of his life.
‘Cup of tea?’ His mother hovered in the doorway.
Liam exhaled and closed his eyes before turning to smile at her. ‘Yes, please.’
‘Come on, love.’ Barbara put an arm around her son’s shoulders and guided him into the kitchen. She pushed him down into a chair.
‘Why is she always like this?’ Liam asked. He plonked his head down on the dining table and held his hands to the back of his head.
‘Be fair, love. This is just a phase. I know it’s been challenging, moving back, but she hasn’t always been like this.’ She brushed her son’s curls back, encouraging him to sit up, and placed a hot cup of tea down on the table in front of him.
‘Thanks.’ He picked up the mug and sipped it straight away. ‘The problem is,’ he said, putting his mug down again, ‘is that I suddenly seem to be parenting a teenager, but she’s only ten. Nobody prepared me for this.’
‘I don’t think anyone is prepared for any stage of parenthood, not really.’ She took off her apron, hung it on the back of the kitchen door, and sat down opposite him with her own drink. She brushed back a wisp of greying hair and tucked it into her messy bun.
‘Emily would have known what to do,’ Liam said. His voice cracked and his chest tightened.
He didn’t like to bring Emily up with his mother. He knew it hurt her to see him grieving so. Still, parenting hurdles had been so much easier when she’d been around.
‘Oh, love, you’ll know what to do too,’ Barbara said, reaching across the table to take her son’s hand. ‘You might not know what to do right now and it’ll be difficult while Cassie is acting so closed off, but you will resolve this and all the other behaviour that’s been going on, eventually. I promise you. And it won’t be the last issue you have to get over either. Her teenage years are just around the corner, you know.’
Liam groaned.
‘You weren’t so easy to parent either.’
He smiled at that. His childhood had been a wonderful one, thanks to his mum, but he could definitely remember getting up to all sorts of mischief when he was younger.
