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‘Maybe,’ Sophie said, not believing for a second that her mother would ever make it to something she was organising. ‘Bye, Mum.’
She held the phone to her ear until June hung up. Her breathing had returned to normal, but it had been replaced with a tightness in her chest and she felt warm despite the freezing temperature. Her mum really knew how to press her buttons.
She let out a growl between clenched teeth and mimed throwing her phone over the fence. It slipped out of her gloved hand and she watched as it flew several metres and landed in the grass on the edge of the brook.
Sophie swore under her breath. There was only one thing for it. She crouched down to climb through the fence and padded along the bank. It was muddy underfoot. She knew that her beautiful shoes were going to be ruined.
Moving away from the fence, which she held with her fingertips for balance, she let go of her grip. After a few steps, she tripped on the uneven ground and fell in the mud. Her head landed on something sharp, and she watched as her phone slid further out of reach and into the water.
She blinked a few times, her vision a little fuzzy. Bringing her hand to her face, she felt warm blood coming from a cut. The skin was already tender around it. Cursing, she pushed herself up and waded into the water, reaching her hand into the murky depths to retrieve her phone. She was sure she’d read somewhere that an airing cupboard and rice could fix it once she’d made it back to the flat.
Footsteps came towards her down the path. Sophie knew she looked a mess and didn’t really want to explain to anyone why she was wading in the brook and covered in mud and blood. She crouched down, realising too late that the cold water was deep enough to soak through her trousers and knickers, freezing her bum.
The figure walked past, a figure that she would have recognised anywhere. The silhouette of Liam’s curls and the low hum of a melody as he passed gave him away instantly.
Sophie felt herself crouch lower still. There was no way she wanted to be found like this by him. She’d already embarrassed herself in front of Liam Hawthorn enough this evening. She didn’t know if her heart or her stomach could take any more.
When the coast was clear, Sophie raced along the path to her flat and once inside set to covering her phone with rice and placing it on top of the boiler in the airing cupboard.
Moving to the bedroom to get out of her wet clothes, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. What a mess. A muddy tide line marked itself across her thighs, her shoes, trousers and coat ruined. Around her face, her hair hung in limp clumps, still dripping with muddy water. The mud on her face made her look like a marine, camouflaged, but not at all ready for battle. After the day she’d had, all the fight had gone. Her cheek was grazed. Tiny flecks of blood pooled where the rough ground had broken the skin. She sighed.
She wanted to call someone, but she had no phone. And even if she did, who would she speak to? Her parents wouldn’t be interested, and Kate wasn’t talking to her. And then there was … no one else.
Chapter Seventeen
It was the light creeping through her curtains that woke Sophie rather than her alarm. It probably meant she had overslept …
It probably meant that she’d overslept! Again.
Cursing under her breath, she sat up, rubbing her face and realising too late that it had grown incredibly sore during the night. The brook, her phone, Liam, the solo. It all came rushing back to her and made her head hurt even more.
Stumbling to the bathroom, she looked at her watch. It wasn’t as late as she’d feared, but she didn’t have long to get ready and leave for school. The mechanic still hadn’t been out to look at her car. And now she didn’t have a phone to use to deal with the situation.
Her head throbbed like she’d downed a bottle of wine the night before. She felt hard done by to be experiencing the symptoms of a hangover without having enjoyed the merriment of wine the previous evening. It wasn’t fair. Rubbing her head in a lame attempt to get rid of her headache, she took a quick shower and readied herself for school.
She rummaged around in the pile of rice in her airing cupboard to discover that the rice thing was a myth, before opening her laptop and finding five minutes to cancel her phone and order a new one. Thankfully, they would deliver it tomorrow, and she’d still have her old number.
The world outside was far brighter than Sophie felt. It was still dark, and the way was lit with Christmas lights illuminating shop windows, the winter sun just making its slow ascent above the horizon. It was quiet, but the few people who were already braving the cold were wrapped up warm, their faces ruddy and smiling.
Sophie pulled her scarf up a little higher to mask the bruise that had spread across her cheek from the evening before. It smarted, and she wondered what she was going to tell people at work. The truth was far too ridiculous.
Turning the corner, she almost tripped over an old, greying Labrador. The owner was a homeless woman, wrapped up in layers of tatty, old fabrics and sleeping on a pile of cardboard boxes. Sophie was surprised. You didn’t see homeless people in Cranswell.
The Labrador stirred from its slumber and languidly raised its head to look at her before nestling back down again. The old lady reached out a gloved hand and rested it on her companion.
Sophie pulled a five-pound note out of her purse and rolled it up, placing it in the woman’s hand. It was freezing, even in her coat and scarf, and she couldn’t bear to see the woman suffering.
She heard a muffled, ‘God bless you,’ as she continued on her way.
Arriving at school, Sophie raced across the playground, keen to get to her classroom and set up for the day. Yesterday had not gone as planned, and she craved the normality of a problem-free school day.
A cry stopped her in her tracks. She turned, noticing one of the reception children on the floor, hands out in front and looking stunned. She spun around and went to help.
‘Goodness me, that was quite a fall.’ She put on her cheery voice as the child pushed themselves up off the floor.
Their face was covered in an unpleasant mix of tears and gravel from the ground.
‘Come into my room and we’ll get you cleaned up.’
