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‘Of course,’ Sophie said. ‘Shall we sit in my classroom and get out of the cold?’ She’d popped out for her end-of-day duties in just her cardigan and was regretting it.
‘No problem.’ Liam held out his hand to indicate she should lead the way.
Sophie went inside, her cheeks burning and her whole body aware of Liam’s presence behind her. She could feel him looking at the back of her head, her neck warm, and somehow her art of conversation, or even small talk, ceased to exist.
In the classroom, the three of them sat down around one of the desks, knees hunched up on the tiny chairs once again. This time, though, it didn’t seem as funny. Liam fiddled with his coat and then his hands as they settled. He looked worried, a wrinkle in his forehead as he waited for Sophie to begin.
‘So, Cassie was a little upset today,’ Sophie said.
‘Oh?’ Liam looked at his daughter, who, for some reason, was looking at the floor and seemed to be ashamed. He brushed her hair away from her face. ‘What happened, sweetheart?’
Cassie said nothing.
‘Another child, I’m afraid to say Lily again, was being unkind to her.’ Sophie paused. She was worried about giving him the details because she knew it might hurt him, and she didn’t want him to react badly and walk away from the conversation again. What if it really upset him? Selfishly, and a little surprisingly, Sophie didn’t want to see how he felt about another woman. After a second, she said, ‘She was making fun of Cassie’s mother.’
Liam nodded. ‘I see.’ He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, he looked down at the table in front of him. Sophie searched his face to try and work out what he was feeling, but his expression was even, his hazel eyes glazed over slightly as he processed what she’d said.
‘It doesn’t matter, Dad.’ Cassie broke the silence. ‘Miss Lawson said that sometimes when things are difficult, people laugh because they don’t know how to be.’
‘Is that right?’ Liam said. He looked up at Sophie and smiled, his face changing completely. ‘Well, Miss Lawson is right. They probably think it’s a horrible thing to have happened and just don’t know what to say to you.’
He held Sophie’s eye contact. His smile had reached his eyes. The tiny crow’s feet at the corners crinkled with relief.
‘Cassie was great today,’ Sophie said once she’d found her voice. ‘She sat on the friendship bench so I knew she wanted to talk and then we came in here and she helped me to make the Christmas decorations for the class tree.’
‘You did, did you?’ Liam put his arm around his daughter.
‘Look,’ Cassie said, getting her candy cane out of her pocket and holding it up to show him.
‘That’s lovely. Very good!’ Liam took it and held it up to get a better look. ‘Well done, sweetheart.’
‘I hope you don’t mind. I said Cassie could take that one home,’ Sophie said.
He didn’t know that she knew about their lack of Christmas tree, but she hoped that she wouldn’t offend him with the gift.
‘Of course not.’
‘Miss Davies, the headteacher, is meeting with Lily and her parents now about what’s happened over the past week or so. We don’t tolerate bullying here. We will probably get the girls together next week for Lily to apologise to Cassie. I hope that’s OK?’ Sophie spoke tentatively, hoping that Liam would be satisfied they were doing all they could to keep Cassie safe and resolve things with Lily.
‘That sounds great. Thank you for looking after her today,’ Liam said.
‘Of course. It was my pleasure.’ Sophie felt lighter at his reaction, relieved that he trusted she was doing all she could, given the situation.
‘Cassie,’ Liam said. ‘Why don’t you just wait outside a minute so I can have a private conversation with Miss Lawson?’
Cassie looked up at her dad, slight concern written on her face about what they might say.
‘Don’t worry, I won’t say anything too embarrassing,’ he joked, tousling her hair. She got up and left dutifully, closing the door behind her.
Sophie found her mouth dry and could feel her blood pumping. They were alone. Normally when this happened at school, he shouted at her. Today, something had shifted between them, but the uncertainty of how it was going to play out sent Sophie’s heart racing.
‘Thank you for today,’ Liam said.
‘That’s OK. I was worried about her. It must have been a really tough time for you both.’
‘It was over five years ago now,’ Liam said, as if explaining it away.
‘Still …’
