The Girl Who Came Back

by Susan Lewis

  Jules looked at Em helplessly. There was no point trying to explain something to someone who’d lost the ability to process it.

  —

  “In Amelia’s case I wonder if she ever even had the ability in the first place,” Jules was saying to Andee as they reached her car, which was alongside a row of beach huts. “She certainly didn’t seem to operate the same way as everyone else.”

  “So I take it nothing ever came of the flirtation with Joe?”

  “Not in the way she wanted, that’s for sure, because it’s what prompted Daisy to cool it with her in the end. It didn’t happen that Christmas, although I know Daisy was a bit freaked out by the way she was carrying on, and she definitely didn’t like the way Amelia kept walking into her room without knocking, especially when Joe was there. Anyway, when the new year came and everyone went their separate ways we didn’t hear from Amelia again until the end of January. She was in London, apparently, with her father and a boyfriend we’d never heard anything about until suddenly she couldn’t seem to text about anything else.”

  “Did you ever meet him?”

  “No. To be honest, we weren’t even sure he existed. She just kept sending Daisy messages about how fantastic he was, and how wonderful it was to be in love, and how she couldn’t wait to bring him to Kesterly.”

  “But she never did.”

  Jules shook her head.

  “Did she ever send photos? They’re all so mad about Instagram and selfies and so on these days.”

  “No photos that we ever saw. When she finally showed up again she said she’d broken up with him because he was getting too serious, and she’d rather be here with Daisy and everyone than in London, where she hated it.”

  “How did Daisy react to that?”

  “She seemed OK with it at first, but then Amelia started to get clingier than ever, wanting to go everywhere Daisy went, be involved in everything Daisy did….She even used to wait outside the college to offer Daisy a lift home at the end of the day, which Daisy accepted at first, but then Stephie didn’t want to get into the car anymore, so Daisy decided she wouldn’t either.”

  “Was Amelia upset by that?”

  “Was she ever. She came to see me in a terrible rage, telling me I didn’t know what Stephie was like, that she was a liar, and that she’d been saying evil things about Daisy behind her back and Daisy ought to be warned…She ranted on and on until finally I had to ask her to leave.”

  “So that was when Daisy stopped seeing her?”

  “Not quite. She carried on for a while, even though Stephie and the others made it clear that they didn’t want her around. It was when Joe came at Easter and Amelia started making moves on him again that Daisy finally told her that they needed to cool it.”

  —

  “I’m sorry, but I have to say this,” Daisy told Amelia as gently as she could. “The way you are with Joe…I mean, it’s kind of embarrassing, and it’s not really the way you should be with someone else’s boyfriend.”

  Amelia regarded her with bewildered yet hostile eyes. “So what do you want me to do?” she snapped. “I mean, if you don’t want to share Joe, I get it, but I want you to know I’d be happy to share him with you if he were mine.”

  “But that’s just weird,” Daisy protested. “Surely you can see that.”

  Amelia’s face remained cold and pinched as she stared at her.

  Daisy looked at her mother, apparently lost for what to say next.

  Since she was there because Daisy had felt anxious about handling the situation on her own, Jules said, “Amelia, what Daisy’s trying to say is that you could both probably do with some space from each other for a while.”

  “But why?” Amelia demanded. “I don’t feel as though I need any space.”

  “Well, I’m afraid Daisy does.”

  “It’s not that I don’t like you,” Daisy quickly added. “It’s just that things have become kind of a bit intense, and I’ve got loads of college work to get through…”

  “I can help you with that. You’re taking the same subjects as I did.”

  Daisy looked at her mother again. They both knew that wasn’t true, but neither of them attempted to challenge it.

  “It’s OK, Joe’s helping Daisy while he’s here,” Jules told her, “and she’s doing pretty well anyway. There’s just a lot of it.”

  “Please, don’t be upset,” Daisy urged. “It’s not like I’m saying I never want to see you. We can still get together, just not as often, and you don’t need to text me every day, or call up. We can just, you know, cool it a bit.”

  Looking as injured and incensed as she clearly felt, Amelia said, “You don’t know the first thing about friendship, do you? Everyone else laughs about you behind your back. They think you’re pathetic. If it weren’t for me, they’d have nothing to do with you—”

  “Amelia,” Jules interrupted.

  Rounding on her, Amelia cried, “And I’m the one who tells everyone it’s rubbish about your husband having affairs all over the place. They all gossip about you, making things up—”

  “Amelia,” Jules shouted over her. “It’s time for you to leave.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m going,” Amelia raged, starting for the door. “But you’ll be sorry about this. You know my dad’s a really important lawyer, and no way will he allow anyone to get away with treating me the way you have.”

  Jules was at home now, sitting at the kitchen table with the answerphone flashing on the countertop behind her and her thoughts still hopelessly trapped in the past. Andee had wanted to come with her, had obviously been concerned about leaving her on her own after their talk, but Jules had insisted she was fine.

  She wasn’t, of course, but neither was she Andee’s problem. She’d taken up enough of the ex-detective’s time, and though she couldn’t stop this journey now she’d begun, she felt instinctively that she needed to go on alone.

  Of course Amelia’s threat about her father had been so absurd that neither she nor Daisy had taken any notice of it. However, what she’d said about Kian had upset Daisy a lot.

  —

  “You don’t believe her, do you, Mum?” Daisy had cried worriedly as the door slammed behind Amelia. “You know what a liar she is, and Dad would never…I mean, it’s just not the way he is.”

  “Dad would never what?” Kian demanded, coming into the kitchen. When neither of them answered he said, “What’s going on? And what was all the shouting about just now?”

  “It was Amelia,” Daisy explained. “She got upset because I told her I didn’t want to see so much of her. To get back at us she…” She glanced awkwardly at Jules.

  “She said,” Jules continued, “that you were having affairs all over the place.”

  Kian frowned.

  “And we know it’s not true,” Daisy jumped in, “because we know what a liar she is.”

  There was a horrible silence as Kian stared at Jules. “Did you believe her?” he said coldly.

  “No, of course not,” Jules retorted, though a part of her had, or maybe had wanted to, if only to ease her own conscience.

  “So why are we even having the discussion?” he demanded.

  “We’re not!” Daisy exclaimed. “I mean, we were, but only to say what a meddling liar she is, and how she’s always trying to make trouble. For God’s sake, she’s doing it now between you two, and you’re letting her. So stop. Both of you.”

  Seeing how tense Kian remained, Jules decided to back down first.

  “You’re right,” she said to Daisy. “We should know better than to allow her to manipulate us like that.”

  “Maybe she wouldn’t be able to if you didn’t have a problem with trust,” Kian commented acidly.

  “I don’t have a problem with trust,” she protested. “I’ve already said I didn’t believe her, so can we leave it at that?”

  “Come on, Dad. Joe’s going to be back any minute with Dean, and we don’t want them walking into the middle of a domestic.”


  Never able to resist his daughter, Kian allowed her to take him down to the bar while Jules stood at the kitchen window, staring out at the estuary and doing her best not to weep for all she’d spoiled with one random act of selfishness.

  —

  They hadn’t heard from Amelia for months after Daisy’s little chat with her, no texts or Facebook messages, no phone calls or emails. At first the silence had surprised them, even unnerved them a little; was she plotting some terrible revenge, watching them from the shadows, digging up some awful dirt that they knew nothing about? Maybe she was trying to persuade her father to bring some fantastic lawsuit against them.

  In the end it became a bit of a joke, especially with Stephie and Dean, but Daisy, typically, worried about how much Amelia might be hurting, so she began sending texts urging Amelia to let her know how she was. She even invited her to the pub if she was around.

  Finally, after a few weeks, she received a text saying, Life hectic here in London, too busy to get together. Ax

  Satisfied that Amelia was moving on with her life and apparently not spending nearly as much time as Daisy and Jules reliving that awful breakup scene, Daisy put it out of her mind and became so immersed in exams, the trip to California she and Joe were planning for the summer, the shooting of a short comedy film Stephie and Dean had written, and all the other things that filled her teenage world that she all but forgot about Amelia.

  As did Jules. Amelia’s life might be hectic, but so was hers, especially with her mother needing so much more attention now. She was going downhill so fast that Jules and Kian decided to move her over to the pub, in spite of her protests. She really couldn’t cope on her own. In fact, she was so bewildered or distressed most of the time that she was alarming the neighbors and even fighting off the carers who came to help her shower and dress in the morning, thinking they were there to harm her.

  So Jules and Kian settled her into the room next to Daisy’s, with Jules taking on the care herself, often assisted by Aileen, while Daisy spent what little spare time she had taking her granny for walks on the beach or going through old photograph albums with her. Marsha always loved having Daisy around; Daisy could make her laugh in a way no one else could, although she often confused her with Jules, telling her how happy she was that she’d met Kian and brought all those lovely Irish people into their lives.

  “They’ll keep us safe,” she would tell Daisy. “They’re good people and I’m not afraid of them, though I probably ought to be.”

  Or she’d pat Daisy’s hand and say, “You’ll have a baby one day, you wait and see.”

  “I’m that baby, Granny,” Daisy would tell her, “but I’m all grown up now.”

  Marsha usually blinked at her in a kindly way as she said, “Of course, you’re Daisy, you’re Daddy’s all things Bright and beautiful.”

  Those were the good days; the bad days could be beyond distressing, when Marsha screamed and choked and soiled herself in fear of only she knew what. Kian generally took charge on those occasions, partly because he had the physical strength to deal with her, and partly because he seemed to have a knack for calming her.

  There was so much going on in their lives around that time that when, in late July, Daisy received a text from Amelia, Jules read it and said, “Who’s A?”

  Daisy rolled her eyes. “Duh! Amelia,” she replied.

  Frowning, Jules returned to the message. OMG, have found out where my mother is. In bits. Don’t know what to do. At Crofton Park. Please come. Ax

  Jules looked at Daisy.

  Daisy shrugged.

  “Are you going to go?” Jules asked, willing her to say no.

  “Go where?” Kian wanted to know, glancing up from the paper.

  Jules passed him Daisy’s mobile.

  As he read the message Daisy said to Jules, “I have to go. I mean, finding her mother…It’s going to be a major thing for her.”

  Jules didn’t doubt that, but with Amelia’s track record of lying…“When was the last time you heard from her?” she asked carefully.

  Daisy shrugged. “Ages ago, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

  Jules wasn’t sure. “You’re about to go to California with Joe,” she reminded her, “so do you really want to get involved in this when you can’t be there for her after today?”

  Daisy threw out her hands. “I don’t see how I can turn her down,” she cried. “If she’s found her mother, and she’s asking me to go and see her…”

  “I understand that you want to be supportive.”

  “Of course I do, because I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up without you, to not have you there for me every step of the way, knowing what I’m thinking—which is really annoying, by the way—to care and love and all that rubbish, in spite of everything. That’s what mothers do, and she had so little of that. In fact, I reckon it could have been us rejecting her that pushed her into looking for her mum, and now that she’s found her she needs to share it with us and ask our advice.”

  Jules stared at her hard. “So what are you going to tell her?” she asked.

  “I’ve no idea until I find out where her mother is and what the circumstances are. Mum, I can’t just ignore her. It would be so mean.”

  “Of course. I’m just thinking…” What was she thinking?

  “Do you think I should go, Dad?”

  “I don’t see why not,” he replied, glancing at Jules. “In fact, I can drop you if you like. I’m meeting Geoff Peters at the Castle in half an hour and it’s on the way.”

  “Great,” Daisy cried, giving him a hug. “I’ll get my bag.” And off she went to her room, already texting Amelia to let her know she was coming.

  “What’s the matter?” Kian asked Jules as she stood staring after Daisy.

  Jules’s eyes went to his. “Will you pick her up on your way back?” she asked.

  “Sure, if she’s ready to leave. If not, Amelia will probably bring her.”

  Yes, of course, Amelia had a car—so why hadn’t she offered to come and collect Daisy?

  —

  By seven that evening Daisy still wasn’t back. Jules had tried calling and texting, but she was constantly directed to voicemail, and so far there had been no texts back.

  “This just isn’t like her,” she said anxiously to Kian. “She’s always got her phone on. Tell me again what she said when you rang to ask if she wanted a lift home.”

  Finishing an email, he replied, “Just that Amelia would bring her later.”

  “Is that all?”

  “That’s all.”

  “How did she sound?”

  “What do you mean, how did she sound?”

  “Was she upset, in a rush, laughing…?”

  He shrugged. “She sounded normal.”

  Still not quite satisfied, Jules forced herself to carry on checking the invoices in front of her, needing to get them approved by the morning.

  Half an hour later she tried Daisy again.

  “Her battery must be flat,” Kian decided, getting up to pour them both a drink.

  It was possible, it happened, but Amelia must have a charger, or if she didn’t, she’d surely let Daisy use her phone.

  Sending a text to Stephie to ask if she had Amelia’s number, Jules said, “I hope they haven’t gone off on some crazy mission to confront the mother.”

  With raised eyebrows, Kian said, “If they have, it’s not likely to end well.”

  Jules threw him a look.

  Sighing, he picked up his own phone. “I might still have her father’s number,” he said. “I guess he could be at the house. If not, he should be able to give us Amelia’s number.”

  As Jules watched him scroll and dial, she was doing her best not to overreact, but her imagination was taking her to such terrible places that she was finding it hard to make herself think straight.

  Taking a breath, she reminded herself that Daisy was a young adult now, independent, sensible, and considerate, so th
ere was bound to be a simple explanation for this silence.

  Finding himself connected to Quentin’s voicemail, Kian said, “Hey, Anton, Kian Bright here, at the Mermaid in Kesterly. I dropped Daisy at Crofton Park earlier to meet Amelia, and we thought she’d be back by now. If you can shed any light on where they might be, will you give us a call? Or text me Amelia’s number?” In spite of the lightness of his tone, Jules could tell he was starting to worry now too.

  “From the ringtone,” he said, “it sounds like Quentin’s abroad.”

  Jules snatched up her phone as it beeped with a text.

  It was from Stephie. Sorry, don’t have it. Everything OK?

  Not sure, Jules texted back, Daisy went up there this pm and hasn’t come back yet.

  A moment later Stephie rang. “How come she went up there?” she demanded. “I thought she didn’t want any more to do with her.”

  After explaining about the texts earlier, Jules said, “I’m afraid they might have gone off to confront the mother, except surely Daisy would have let me know, and anyway she should still have been back by now. She’s flying to the States in the morning and she hasn’t finished packing.”

  “There’ll be a reasonable explanation,” Stephie assured her firmly. “God knows what it is, but we’ll find out soon enough. Meantime, I’ll try Dean to find out if he has Amelia’s number.”

  As she rang off Jules had to force herself to breathe steadily.

  Glancing at the time, Kian said, “Maybe we should take a drive up there. OK, I know Daisy might not appreciate us crashing in…”

  Jules was on her feet. “I just need to check on Mum.”

  “I’ll get someone up from the bar to stay with her while we’re gone,” Kian said, and picking up his keys, he made for the stairs.

  After finding her mother dozing in front of the TV, Jules ran down to the bar, passing Romana, a sweet Polish girl who helped in the pub, on her way up to sit with Marsha.

  It took her a while to get through the garden tables with so many people around that she knew, but eventually she found Kian in the car park with two of his cousins, Finn and Liam.