The Boy With The Hopeless Dreams

Chapter Thirteen

As promised, we headed off to the park at a ridiculous hour in the morning to avoid the early afternoon rush of mothers, clinging desperately to their Starbucks.  Thomas had Mac on his back and pretended to be an aeroplane the entire way there. I had to admire his strength, both physical and emotional.  It gave me a chance to walk with Sam and discuss our next move.  My life now felt like a chess game: Mac was the Queen and we had to protect her from the opposition no matter what it takes; we would move somewhere, Harvey would catch up with us and take away more options of escape. It felt as though our situation was inescapable.  But at least I had Sam.  That would never change, I was sure of it.  We reached the park and Mac ran off to the merry-go-round, demanding to be spun and Thomas followed on obligingly.

“How long will you need to crash at mine?” Sam asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Umm…” I hesitated.  It felt rude to say ‘forever’, but I didn’t think we’d be going back any time soon.

“Well, how about you just stay for this week and see how everything works with Mac and school. Then, if it’s all good, we could…you know…maybe make it permanent.” Sam looked down at me, almost hopefully. I beamed and nodded, wrapping my arms around his waist, relishing in our brief moment of happiness. “But it still isn’t safe…”

 Mac came skipping over to us and jumped up, asking to be carried.  Sam bent down and lifted her up, holding her to his chest.  She giggled and said something that was obscured as her face was buried in Sam’s jumper. 

“Sorry?” asked Sam.

“I said,” Mac replied, inhaling deeply and preparing to speak. “Why is that man following us?”

She raised a podgy finger and pointed of Sam’s shoulder.  Harvey’s recognisable figure stood facing us from the opposite side of the road.  After ten tense seconds, he turned and walked away. My stomach ached again. It was constant but became muted when I was distracted.  I looked up at Sam and his face was as pale as mine felt.  Thomas took Mac from his arms and carried her over to the swings so Sam could recover.  He was trembling as I pulled him into a painful hug.

“Lily, please,” he begged. “You can’t stay with me. I’m sorry.”

I said nothing and pulled away so I could look into his worried face. Touching the scar above his eye, I asked again where he got it from.  This time instead of looking shifty, he sighed and said,

“It was Harvey’s work.  Just before I left London, we had an….altercation, shall we say. One of the worst ones. I’d been late for a few deliveries in a row because my new shift at the shop I was working in finished later than normal. He cornered me… Made all sorts of threats.” Sam shuddered at the memory. “I was lying unconscious in a back alley all night. When I woke up, the pain was just unbearable and I knew I must have looked a right state.” He chuckled. “I just walked home with my hood up. We left the next day.”

He looked at me and I felt him examining my face. I kissed my index finger and placed it to his scar. He smiled and took my hand.

“It’ll all be okay, Lily. I promise.”

We linked pinkies and he hugged me, kissing the top of my head.  We pulled apart and his arm slipped around my waist. I turned to watch Mac and Thomas. They were both laughing but Thomas sensed us watching and looked up, his face suddenly serious.  His eyes locked with Sam’s and Sam nodded.  Thomas looked frightened and it seemed he hadn’t noticed Mac calling his name and tugging his sleeve.  He jerked back to reality and they carried on as usual.

“Does he understand?” I asked.  Sam shrugged and breathed deeply.

“I think he knows what Harvey is capable of and that he needs to keep away from him but…he can’t understand that I need to work with Harvey for us to survive.”