Grounded

by A. E. Radley

  “You’re really leaving him, then?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes, but it needed some preparation. If I tell him…well, I don’t know exactly what he’d do.”

  Emily and Lucy shared a look of concern.

  “Please don’t worry for me. I’m moving in with my brother, until the worst is over.” She smiled sadly. “I’d planned to make contact with you once the dust had settled. But when I heard their plans for your friend, I had to act.”

  Emily nodded. “Thank you. I really appreciate it. I know you took a risk in coming here.”

  Irene put her sunglasses back on and made a move to stand up. As she did, Emily reached out and gently caught her arm.

  “There’s definitely a place for a grandmother in Henry’s life. When the dust settles, give me a call.” Emily meant it. For the first time in a long time, she could see Henry having a meaningful relationship with a grandparent, a window into the enigma that was his father. When she was young, she’d thought about her future children and always pictured a large, happy family. Now it looked as if she would be able to give Henry what she’d never had, safe in the knowledge that the custody case was well and truly over.

  Irene looked relieved and nodded. “Thank you. I really won’t let you down.”

  Once Irene had left the shop, Lucy looked at Emily and asked, “You trust her?”

  “Yeah,” Emily admitted. “I’m not sure why, but I do. She was willing to leave; she didn’t ask for anything from us.”

  “True.” Lucy sipped from her tea. “What are you going to tell Olivia?”

  “I don’t know. Nothing right now. I’ll tell Simon. Olivia needs time to recover, not hear that I’m causing even more trouble in her life.”

  “It’s hardly your fault.”

  “It feels like it. I feel as if my shouting fit hospitalised her. Now this.” Emily put her head in her hands. “I just don’t know if I’m coming or going at the moment. I should be jumping for joy. My debts are cleared. Henry is staying with me. I have a new start.”

  “I don’t think emotions work like that.”

  “Mine definitely don’t,” Emily agreed.

  Lucy finished off her drink. “By the way, who was that woman at the hotel? Nicole?”

  Emily chuckled. In all the excitement, she’d forgotten to tell Lucy about Nicole and her manuscript. “You might want another drink.”

  CHAPTER 32

  “So, what would you like to do?” Simon asked.

  Henry shrugged as he sat on the sofa in the living room of the hotel suite, staring at the two adults sitting opposite him.

  “Would you like to do some colouring with Auntie Nicole?” Simon suggested, ignoring Nicole’s glare.

  Henry turned to look at Nicole with a confused frown. “Are you my mommy’s sister?”

  “No,” Nicole replied with a shake of her head. “I’m a friend of Simon’s.”

  “So, you’re not my auntie?”

  “Um, no, that’s just something that adults say sometimes.” Nicole looked to Simon for assistance.

  “Why?” Henry asked, looking from Nicole to Simon.

  “Because…erm…” Simon ran out of steam, unable to explain the custom to a five-year-old in a way that made sense. He offered a smile and tried distraction instead. “So, colouring? I’m great at colouring. I always stay inside the lines.”

  “Where did my mommy go?”

  Nicole stood up, a wicked grin on her face. “Have fun, Simon. I’m going to make a drink.”

  Simon looked up to her and whispered, “You’re not going to help me?”

  “You were the one who volunteered. I’ve never proclaimed to be a maternal sort of person. You’re on your own, pal. To be honest, I’m only hanging around to see how disastrously this will turn out.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Simon mumbled as Nicole walked to the kitchen. He looked back to Henry, who was eyeing him suspiciously.

  “So, no colouring?”

  Henry shook his head.

  “Um. TV?”

  Henry shrugged, and Simon took that for as close to an agreement as he was going to get. He turned the television on, found a cartoon, and headed into the kitchen to join Nicole.

  “Given up already?” Nicole chuckled.

  “He’s nervous. He doesn’t know us very well. I think.”

  “And here I thought you could charm the birds from the trees?”

  Simon smirked. “Clearly my charm doesn’t work on five-year-old boys.”

  “I’m nearly six.”

  Both adults spun around to see Henry walking into the kitchen with a giraffe lunchbox in his hand and Tiny tucked under his arm.

  “I thought you were watching TV, mate?” Simon asked, bending down so they were face to face.

  “Tiny wants lunch.” Henry walked past Simon and put his lunchbox on the table.

  “What’s a tiny?” Nicole whispered to Simon.

  “I can hear you, you know,” Henry said as he pulled out a dining chair. He put the giraffe toy on the table and pointed to it. “This is Tiny.”

  “Oh, well, nice to meet you, Tiny.” Nicole held out her hand to the cuddly toy.

  Henry looked at her and shook his head in exasperation. “He’s just a toy. He can’t do that.”

  Nicole held her hands up, stepped back towards the work surface, and continued making tea.

  Henry sat on the chair, leaned forward towards Tiny, and listened intently before nodding his head. “Tiny wants to know if he can have a glass of water?” He looked up at Simon hopefully.

  “One glass of water, coming right up.” Simon turned around and picked a glass out from the cupboard.

  Henry opened up his lunch box and started to unfold the foil wrapper around a cheese sandwich. Simon placed a half-full glass of water in front of Tiny. Henry continued to watch Simon as he slowly chewed the first bite of his sandwich.

  After an age of slow chewing and a loud swallow, he finally spoke again. “Where’s Mommy?”

  “She’s just running a quick errand,” Simon supplied the same excuse Emily had used when she’d left.

  “What kind of errand?”

  “Yes, Simon, what kind of errand?” Nicole leant against the work surface and looked at him.

  “A very important one. But one that won’t take very long,” Simon replied through clenched teeth while scowling at Nicole.

  Henry picked an apple out of his lunchbox and held it up for Simon. Simon hesitantly took it, frowning.

  “It needs to be wet, or I can’t eat it,” Henry explained.

  Simon nodded, turned around, and ran the apple under the cold water tap.

  “Do you work with Olivia at the piggy bank?” Henry asked Nicole.

  “No,” Nicole replied. “I work in the theatre. I make plays.”

  Simon placed the wet apple on a piece of kitchen paper in front of Henry.

  “Is Olivia really sleeping?”

  “Yes, that’s why we can’t have a loud party.” Simon sat down beside Henry, who regarded him with a bored expression. Simon reached forward to the water glass in front of Tiny and mimed Tiny drinking from it, making loud gulps as he did.

  Henry watched with a stony expression, took another bite of his sandwich, and looked at Nicole. “Do you live in London?”

  “I do.”

  “Why are you in New York?”

  “I’m visiting Olivia.”

  “But she’s asleep.”

  “Yes. I’m hoping she’ll wake up before I have to go home and feed my cat.”

  “You have a cat?”

  Nicole sipped her tea. “I do. His name is Muffin.”

  “Why did you call him that?”

  “I’m not really sure. It seemed amusing at the time.” Nicole shrugged. “Why did you call your toy Tiny?”

  “I made muffins with Lucy last weekend,” Henry said, ignoring the question. He reached for his apple, frowned, and handed it back to Simon. “It’s dry.”

  Simon took the apple, stood up, an
d walked back over to the sink.

  “Do you help a lot in the kitchen?” Nicole asked.

  “I’m good at stirring.”

  Simon put the wet apple back in front of Henry on a fresh sheet of kitchen paper.

  Henry looked to Simon with interest. “Why are you in still New York?”

  “I’m helping Olivia with some stuff.”

  “Does Olivia live in New York now?” Henry looked excited at the prospect.

  “Um. I’m not sure. You’ll have to talk to your mommy about that,” Simon replied.

  Henry huffed. “That’s what adults say when they don’t want to tell you something.”

  “Would you like to play a game on my phone?” Simon tried to distract him.

  “No. Can you count to twenty?”

  “Yes, I can.” Simon nodded.

  Henry stared at him.

  “You want me to do it now?”

  Henry took a bite of his sandwich and slowly nodded as he chewed.

  “Okay.” Simon took a deep breath and then counted to twenty as fast as he could. When he finished, Henry looked unfazed.

  “That was silly,” Henry told him. “No one could hear the words.”

  “Can you count to twenty?” Simon asked.

  “I can count to a hundred,” Henry replied with pride.

  “Go on, then.” Simon sat back in his chair and folded his arms.

  “I don’t feel like it.” Henry picked up his apple. “This is dry.”

  * * *

  After lunch, Simon convinced Henry to do some colouring. He sat beside the boy as they both coloured in various animal shapes from a book Lucy had packed in Henry’s backpack. Henry didn’t seem in the mood for small talk and was quieter than Simon could ever remember him being. Simon wondered if the situation with his grandparents was still haunting him. He knew that a stressful environment was known to affect children, but he was shocked by the drastic change in Henry’s personality.

  “Are you married?” Henry’s voice shook Simon from his musings.

  “No, but I have a girlfriend,” he replied, concentrating on the purple stripes he was applying to the zebra in Henry’s book.

  “Is she pretty?”

  “Very pretty.”

  “Prettier than Nicole?”

  Simon looked up at Nicole, who paused looking at her phone to grin at him.

  “They are just as pretty as each other,” Simon replied diplomatically.

  Nicole smirked, nodded, and returned her attention to her phone.

  Henry seemed happy with the response and moved Simon’s hand to one side as he turned the page, seemingly bored with the pig he was colouring green. He looked at the new page, picked up a new colour, and handed it to Simon, tapping at the outline of a bird for him to colour.

  “Is Olivia dying?”

  Simon looked at Henry in shock. “No, she’s just a little under the weather,” he quickly answered. “She’ll be just fine in a few days.”

  “Are you sure?” Henry seemed uncertain.

  “Very. But I know that a get-well-soon card from you will make her recover even faster,” Simon suggested.

  “No, it won’t!” Henry shouted. “That’s a lie!”

  Henry slammed his pencil down, took the book away from Simon, and closed it. He folded his arms and brought his knees up to his chest. “You lied!”

  “Henry…I didn’t mean—”

  “I want to go home.”

  “Your mum will—”

  “I want to go home now!”

  Simon opened his mouth to speak when he saw Olivia appear in the doorway. She looked as if she had just woken up and leant heavily on her crutch as she frowned at the scene in front of her.

  “Henry?”

  Henry’s head spun around. “Olivia!” He sprinted across the room and hugged her legs tightly.

  Olivia put her hand on his head and gently smoothed his hair, looking curiously at Simon and Nicole.

  “Simon was practicing being a father with mixed results,” Nicole offered by way of an explanation.

  “Emily had to run an errand, and we said we’d look after Henry for her,” Simon clarified.

  “Simon said that. I mainly sat here and watched.” Nicole grinned.

  Olivia looked from one to the other and then shook her head. She adjusted her crutch, took Henry’s hand, and started to turn around.

  “What are you doing?” Simon asked, standing up.

  “Henry’s going to sit with me.”

  “You’re supposed to be resting.”

  “How is one supposed to rest when child abuse is occurring in the next room?”

  “Hardly child abuse.” Simon sighed.

  “I don’t know,” Nicole started. “Some of the bad jokes Simon has subjected that poor child to…”

  “Hey,” Simon argued.

  “Henry will sit with me,” Olivia decided. Henry turned around and nodded at Simon before following Olivia to her room.

  * * *

  Olivia got back into bed and adjusted her blankets. She took a deep breath to relax herself after the strain of hurrying out to see what the noise was about.

  “Why were you upset?” she asked Henry, who was getting her a fresh glass of water from the bathroom.

  “Simon said you were sick and a get-well card would make you better.” Henry slowly walked into the room with both hands wrapped around a full glass of water.

  Olivia frowned and shook her head. “Why would a get-well card make me better?”

  “He’s silly.” Henry gently placed the water on the bedside table. “He can’t even count to twenty properly.”

  Olivia patted the space beside her, and Henry climbed onto the bed and curled up next to her.

  “Can you count to twenty?” Olivia asked as she wrapped her arm around him.

  “I can count to one hundred.”

  “Well, if you can count to one hundred, then you can count to nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine.”

  “Can I?” Henry looked up at her, confused.

  “Yes. You say ninety-nine, one hundred, and then you start again, but you put one-hundred in front of everything. And then when you get to one-hundred-and-ninety-nine, you start again and put two hundred in front of everything. And then three-hundred, and so on.”

  “What comes after nine-hundred-and…” Henry struggled to remember the number.

  “Nine hundred and ninety-nine,” Olivia finished. “One thousand.”

  “That sounds hard.”

  “Yes. We’ll leave that until you are six,” she told him.

  “Are you very sick?”

  Olivia thought about the question. The truth was that she didn’t know. She’d been told that she had been working too hard and needed to rest, which didn’t sound all that serious. On the other hand, her body ached in places she didn’t know existed, and her mind felt fuzzy and exhausted.

  “I feel better now that I’m with you,” she answered honestly.

  “Why is this room the same as the other room?”

  “The room in London?” she questioned, looking around herself.

  Henry nodded as his hand gripped the soft blankets.

  “Because hotels are ridiculous.”

  “Do you not have a house?”

  “No.” Olivia looked around the characterless room. “But I should get one.”

  Henry looked up, a hopeful look on his face. “In New York, near me and Mommy?”

  “Yes, in New York.” She smiled.

  “Can you count to a million?” Henry asked.

  “Why would I want to do that?”

  “To see if you can.” Henry snuggled against her tighter.

  “I don’t think I want to count to a million. It would take a very, very long time,” she explained.

  “Would I be a grown-up by the time you got to a million?”

  She chuckled. “Not quite that long.”

  “How long would we need to count for me to be a grown-up?”

  Olivia consider
ed the question for a beat before understanding that a realistic answer wasn’t necessary. “A very, very, very long time,” she replied. “Why do you want to count until you are a grown-up?”

  “Because Mommy told Tom that I might have to live with Grandpa Seb, and I don’t want to. So if we count all the way until I’m a grown-up, then I won’t have to.”

  She pulled Henry a little closer. “Your mommy and I are going to do everything we can to make sure you don’t have to live with your grandparents. To make sure you can live with your mommy forever.”

  “What if I have to live with Grandpa Seb though?”

  “Then you’ll have to.”

  “But I don’t want to.”

  “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do. It makes you stronger and braver.”

  “I don’t want to be stronger or braver.” Henry sat up on his knees and looked at Olivia imploringly. “If I have to go and live with Grandpa Seb, will you beat him up for me? You can hit him with your stick again.”

  Olivia smiled. “Maybe. We’ll see.” She lifted her arm and Henry returned to his previous position, snuggled up to her side. “But for now I want to hear you count to twenty.”

  * * *

  Emily hurried back to the hotel. She trusted Simon and Nicole to care for Henry, but he’d been in such a strange mood lately. She worried that the atmosphere in the house had been getting to him. As much as she tried to keep upbeat and positive, she knew he could easily see through it.

  She felt as if she were swimming through syrup. So many huge changes were occurring at such a blistering rate that she could barely keep up. Even though she knew logically that she was no longer in debt, the suffocating fear was still strong. She imagined it would stay with her for some time yet as her brain continued to process everything.

  Of course, she was grateful to Olivia for helping her, but Emily had grown up knowing that people expected something in return for a good deed. It took a lot of willpower to supress the feeling that Olivia would suddenly ask something of her. And Olivia’s unbelievable kindness didn’t help the terrible way Emily felt for treating her so abysmally. She’d had good reasons for doing the things she’d done, but that didn’t help the guilt.