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‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Well, you don’t have a choice. We’re going to talk about it now.’ Liam knew his voice was coming across harsher than he intended it to, but Cassie was being so difficult today.
‘I’ve already told Miss Lawson. She told you. Why do I need to say it all again?’
‘I want to hear your side of things.’
‘No, you don’t. You never listen to me anyway.’ Cassie finally plucked up the courage to walk away from her dad. She slammed the door, and he heard her race up the stairs into her bedroom.
He was left standing in the hallway, his fists clenched and his arms shaking. He blinked back a stray tear. How had he got this so wrong? He looked up as if to ask Emily for an answer. But, of course, she wasn’t there to help him. So often, he felt like he needed her help, but she was never there.
He walked into the kitchen and sat down, his head resting on the cool table. He replayed the afternoon in his mind – from the moment he’d received Sophie’s phone call to now. He’d not handled a single thing successfully, but then, neither had Sophie nor Cassie. He thumped the table with his fist and let out a groan.
He cursed himself for letting Sophie and the concert get in the way of what he truly wanted to do, which was being there for his daughter. His daughter, who at just five years old had lost her mother. An enormous cloak of guilt came over him that he had even considered other aspects of his life to be so important when Cassie, the single most important thing in his life, was going so horribly wrong.
Chapter Thirty
Mortified, and far too exhausted to do any more work, Sophie packed up her things and went home. It was only 5 p.m. when she walked from her car to the flat but it was pitch black outside and, through the entrance to the car park, she could see the street was lit with Christmas lights. Employees were leaving the shops, while the windows remained festive, brightly lit and decorated. Ordinarily, Sophie would have felt warmed by such things, but tonight she just felt sorry for herself and the only thing she noticed about the outside was how cold it was. She sniffed and pulled her scarf up to cover her mouth and nose, hurrying to her flat to get away from the Christmas cheer.
Inside, she didn’t bother with the Christmas lights. Instead, she opened the fridge to find something to eat. There wasn’t much. She reached for a yoghurt. One of the ones with fruit in the corner. It was a couple of days out of date but it would have to do and besides, she’d lost her appetite. How had things changed so suddenly from the bliss she’d found herself in on Friday night? She’d ruined everything with Liam, and now she worried he was so angry with her that he might not turn up to the final rehearsal or the concert at all. He wouldn’t be that petty, would he? She swallowed down a knot of anxiety.
Muffled steel drums came from her bag. She ignored them and finished her yoghurt. When they rang again a minute later, she took her time to put the empty yoghurt pot in the bin and answered. ‘Hi, Mum.’
‘Hi, love. How are things?’
Sophie opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted before she could begin talking.
‘Just wanted to see how you’d got on with your flyers?’
‘Good actually,’ Sophie said, relieved that in amongst all the hideousness, she finally had some positive news for June. She ignored the tugging at her brain that reminded her getting the flyers sorted might have been a complete waste of time after all, considering that the concert might not even take place now. ‘They’ve been reprinted and I’ve put them up all over town. We should get a good crowd.’
‘That’s great news, love.’
Sophie toyed with telling her mother that she had taken on the solo given Lulu’s fall, but with the nagging worry that Liam might pull out of the concert completely, she decided against it. The less they spoke about the concert at this point, the better. That way, when it didn’t happen … who was she kidding? Fundraising was far too important to June and her charity. Maybe she should sow the seed just in case …
‘Yes, hopefully,’ Sophie said.
‘Hopefully?’ June took the bait.
‘You see, there’s been a bit of a problem with the musical director, and Lulu, our soloist, took a fall.’ Sophie stood up and paced back and forth between the living room and the kitchen – all four steps of it. She couldn’t keep still.
‘Sophie, this concert is going to happen, isn’t it?’ June’s tone was clipped and already sounding worried.
‘Yes. Yes, I think so.’
‘You don’t sound very certain.’
‘Well, I just want you to be prepared in case things don’t go as planned. I’ll make sure that I raise the money for the charity, though, whatever happens. I promise.’
‘And how exactly will you do that?’
‘I’m not sure yet, but I’ll figure something out. Maybe I’ll do a sponsored run or something.’ That would never happen, but Sophie was desperate to placate her mother.
‘Couldn’t someone else do the solo?’ asked June.
Sophie let out a strained laugh. Yes, they could if they’d not fallen in love with the MD and then let his child get injured in a fight.
‘Couldn’t you do it?’ June pressed her.
