The minute she’d made that announcement he’d sprinted back to the Health Centre, bumping into Michael who had just returned from his house call. Without pausing to give an explanation, Joel had relieved him of his car keys and had bundled a shaking Lucy into the passenger seat.
He still didn’t understand why she was so panicky about being a few minutes late, but her utter desperation affected him in a way he hadn’t experienced before and he knew he had to help her.
Now she sat next to him in frozen stillness, her eyes fixed on the road ahead.
Instinctively he reached out a hand to grasp hers and felt a rush of satisfaction when she didn’t pull away.
‘A whole year,’ she whispered, her fingers shaking slightly under his. ‘For a whole year I’ve made sure that this never happened. That I was never, ever late. And now…’
She gulped and swallowed and he tightened his grip.
‘Calm down.’ His voice was strong and solid. ‘We’re nearly there. You’re only five minutes late.’
She snatched her hand away from him and turned to look at him, tears shimmering in her amazing green eyes. ‘You don’t understand.’
Well, that was true.
But he intended to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible, he thought grimly as he pulled up outside the school and jerked on the handbrake.
She was out of the car before he’d switched off the engine, her shiny dark hair flying around her shoulders as she raced across the playground to the front door of the school.
Joel was hot on her heels.
The door opened and he recognised the headmistress, Isobel Hawker. She’d been headmistress of the First School for as long as anyone could remember, and she was his father’s patient.
Her expression was concerned as she looked at Lucy. ‘Mrs Bishop—’
‘I’m so sorry.’ Lucy looked at her with trepidation and the headmistress sighed.
‘He’s in the classroom, but he’s—’
‘I can imagine how he is.’ Not waiting around for a discussion, Lucy sped off in the direction of the classroom, and Joel followed her, barely pausing to greet Mrs Hawker.
Lucy stopped dead in the doorway of the classroom. There was just one child left in the room and Joel saw her eyes glisten with tears as she stared at the boy.
He was sitting on a pile of cushions, his face pale and swollen from crying, his little shoulders slumped with exhaustion. The class teacher was stroking his back gently and she looked up with an expression of relief when she saw Lucy.
‘Sam, here’s Mummy now! There, I told you she’d come.’
Sam lifted his head and his face crumpled.
‘Oh, sweetheart…’ Lucy ran across the room and dropped to her knees, gathering his shaking body against her chest and holding him tightly.
Joel felt his throat close.
Damn.
What was going on?
Why the hell was the child so upset?
‘I thought—I thought…’ The words came out in between sobs and Lucy tightened her grip on the child.
‘I know what you thought,’ she whispered, stroking Sam’s hair gently with her free hand. ‘And I’m so, so sorry I’m late.’
‘You promised you’d never be late.’
Lucy squeezed her eyes tightly shut and Joel could almost feel her guilt. ‘I know I did, but—’