Unsuitable

Neeva fair stomped to the table, pulled out the chair directly opposite Audrey and sat. “It was pretty evil what you did to him. He looks dead tough, you know like nothing could smash him, but he’s got a sloppy heart, so like, if you’re figuring on hurting him again it would be better if you made a different plan. And he doesn’t know we’re here.”

“He’d die,” said Gin.

“We won’t be telling him,” Neeva finished.

Audrey didn’t see Mia; she felt her tug on her jacket sleeve. She couldn’t take her eyes off Neeva.

“Why is everyone mad, Mum?”

“No one is mad, Mia.”

Neeva was magnificent. Gin was a sweetheart. Flip was fun and Etta was like Audrey remembered being at sixteen, half cross at the word and half ready to take it on. She pulled Mia on to her lap. How long till it was too difficult to do that, till she had no lap to offer? She thought about what Reece might say.

“No one is mad, Mia. But everyone is upset because I made Reece go away.”

Mia patted her face. “Yes, you did. That was bad.”

“And you want him to come back, don’t you?”

Pat, pat. “Yes, I do.”

“I need to tell him how sorry I am for being scared.” And that by itself was a frightening proposition.

“Monsters aren’t real, Mum. Reece made them all go away.”

The only monsters were in Audrey’s head and in the actions she took when she sent Reece away.

“Maybe Reece won’t want you back,” said Etta. “He’s a hunk, you know. He’s got options. He doesn’t exactly need you.”

Audrey met Etta’s eyes, via Neeva’s, Gin’s and Flip’s. “I’ll have to try hard to convince him that Mia and I love him as much as you do.”

“Please try hard, Audrey,” said Gin.

“Try hard, Mum.”

Leaning on the doorjamb, Cameron nodded. “If I have to lose my job, I’m okay if it’s to Reece. Someone deserves a happy ending.”

The part about not crying anymore was getting harder and harder to stick with. Audrey didn’t know what to do with the swell of emotion sloshing around inside her. She hugged Mia and tried to hold it together while the seven of them made a plan. All that was left was for Reece to come back and Audrey to convince him to come home to her.

Building highways in China would be easier.

If she played it right, this was the last plan she was going to make without Reece in her life.

It started with a phone call the next day. She thought about the last call she’d made to him, how she’d cut the conversation short when his anger bled down the connection and how she’d pretended it was better that way. She dialled and the call answered.

“Hello.”

A woman’s voice. Not one of the girls. His mum? Her pulse leapt. This could all be too late. “I’m looking for Reece.” She had the right number it was plugged into her phone’s directory.

“This is Sky. Reece left his phone at my place.”

Oh. God. “Sky.”

“Who is this?”

“My name is Audrey. I was—”

“I know who you are.”