Page 84 of Her Last Mistake

Hannah swallowed and nervously scratched her forehead. ‘Sam had gone to his sister’s in London and he called to see if I wanted to join him. He promised to show me the sights.’

‘So you just went?’

She nodded.

‘Were you sleeping with him?’

‘No way. When you came to the Cleaver and he was there, he’d helped me home from the pub. I’d had too many and I really thought he was simply being a nice person. I guess I just enjoyed feeling wanted for a while. Now I see through him, he was just trying to rile you. He wasn’t my friend at all.’

Gina could see that there was more to Hannah’s story. ‘What’s going on, love? You can’t fool me. There’s more to this than you just getting drunk in the Angel.’

‘It’s stupid.’

Gina placed her hand over her daughter’s. ‘It’s not.’

She shrugged her shoulders and stared at the table. ‘Greg has been working away a lot and we’d been arguing so I went out a few weeks ago. I just wanted to feel like I was free, just for a while and I met a man. I cheated on Greg.’

That wasn’t what Gina had expected. For some reason she imagined the blame would lie with Greg, an assumption she wasn’t proud of making. ‘I gather he found out.’

‘I told him. I couldn’t base our relationship on lies and secrets.’

Gina almost felt the pain of her statement. Her relationship with her daughter was littered with secrets and she knew the tension they caused. ‘And?’

‘We muddled along for a while but then he said he needed time to think which is why I came here. He was so upset, Mum. He cried. I broke him.’ She smiled. ‘The good thing is, he called. We’re giving it all another go. He’s going to cut down on working away and I am going to do everything in my power to make him trust me again.’ Hannah paused. ‘When I came here, I wanted to tell you but as always you were called away, and I’m sorry I acted the way I did. I was just so confused and I was angry that you’d gone again.’

Gina gripped Hannah and hugged her. ‘I may be called away for work but I am always here for you. You can always talk to me, tell me anything and I’ll listen without judgement.’

Hannah hugged her mum back. ‘Thanks, Mum. I have to get going now. Greg is waiting for us. I need to get home and try to fix my little family.’

‘I’ll miss you.’

Hannah wiped her damp eyes and stood. ‘Come on, Gracie. Come and say bye to Nanny before we go.’

The little girl ran in and held out her chocolate-coated fingers and gripped Gina in a clumsy embrace. ‘Love you, chicken. You be a good girl for Mummy and Daddy and I’ll see you soon.’

‘Bye, Nanny.’

‘Catch you soon, Mum.’

As quickly as she’d arrived, Hannah had left. A tear trickled down Gina’s cheek. Those few moments between her and her daughter had meant everything. Whatever the future held, Hannah would always have her and now Hannah knew that. Gina glanced at the returning squirrel as it continued to crunch on nuts. She shivered in the silence of her cold house that lacked love and happiness. Ebony meowed. She bent over and stroked the cat.

Her phone beeped. It was a message from Briggs.

Gina, please come over tonight. Let me cook for you. We don’t need to talk. In fact, number one rule, no talking. That’s a promise. Just us, having dinner – and it won’t be egg and chips. I promise. We could take Jessie for a walk too. X

Gina smiled. She’d love to go over and walk his dog, then be treated to a lovely dinner without the pressure of talking about her horrible past. Her smile faded as she replied. But was it a good idea? She pressed reply and typed away. Maybe it was time to live a little.

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