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‘Sophie!’ he called out.
But she had already crossed the hall and fled.
Chapter Sixteen
The cold air rushed at Sophie’s face, knocking what little breath she had left out of her lungs. She hurried across the green and along the edge of the brook towards her flat, desperate to get in there and hide.
The muffled sound of steel drums rang out from within her bag. With an aggravated sigh, Sophie stopped, leant her bag on the top of some fencing and rifled in it to retrieve her phone, with only the light of the screen to guide her.
‘Are you OK?’ Her mother sounded concerned when she finally answered.
‘Yes, fine. Why?’
‘You sound a bit out of breath.’
Now she came to think of it, Sophie did feel breathless. She rested her arms on the fence and held her head in her hands.
‘I’m fine, really,’ she lied. ‘Are you OK? Why are you calling?’ She didn’t mean to sound rude, but her tone was off and she knew it.
There was a rustling at the other end of the phone, and Sophie found herself feeling annoyed that her mother wasn’t just getting on with it.
‘How’s the fundraising going?’ June said, once the rustling had stopped. There it was. There was always an ulterior motive with her mother. This was a business call, not pleasure.
‘Slowly,’ Sophie said carefully. Still acutely aware of her breathing, she stood and waited for the spots before her eyes to clear, using her free hand to squeeze her temples.
‘Have you raised anything?’ June’s voice grew a little higher. ‘Anything at all?’
‘Well, you know, it’s just …’
‘Sophie, we’re banking on a big donation. It’s part of our plans for fresh initiatives in the new year.’
Despite taking deep breaths, Sophie was struggling to fill her lungs. Her mother’s call was an ambush, and she wasn’t mentally or emotionally prepared after the day she’d had. She wished she hadn’t answered the phone at all.
‘We’ll raise plenty,’ Sophie said, rubbing her eyes, tired. ‘Historically, most tickets get sold on the door, so we’ll do the bulk of our fundraising on the night itself.’
Her mother breathed a sigh of relief. ‘That’s good then. Have you got anyone sponsoring your programme or flyers or anything?’
Another question Sophie didn’t know how to answer.
‘We did have but there were a few issues, so I’m in the process of finding a couple of new companies and getting the flyers reprinted.’
‘You mean advertisers pulled out? Or didn’t you check the flyers before you sent them over? That’s a costly mistake, Sophie, don’t you think?’
The chastisement took her back to her childhood.
Sophie’s temples throbbed. ‘It wasn’t my fault, Mum. They changed their minds. Besides, Albert from the rotary club is in charge of publicity.’
‘It rather sounds like he shouldn’t be.’
‘I can’t do everything.’ Sophie was annoyed on Albert’s behalf, protective over her friend. She could almost hear her mother’s lips purse together over the phone as she judged her.
‘Well, hopefully with your Hollywood star doing the solo, you’ll get a sizeable audience, which will help.’
Sophie swallowed uncomfortably and blinked back the tears that lurked just below the surface. There was no way she was going to drop that one on her mother just yet. She didn’t need to know about her absent soloist until it was absolutely necessary.
‘Yes, it should be great,’ she lied, controlling her voice and keeping it even, too afraid to reveal the truth. ‘Anyway,’ Sophie said, before her mother had time to respond. ‘I have to go. I’m nearly at my front door.’
‘OK, love. Let me know how it goes. I’m happy to get involved if you need me to. Maybe I could be there on the night as a kind of representative?’
