The Chain (A Catherine Diary) - Stamfield. Complete

Chapter 78

78

Andrew was outside the front of the house, doing some work on his bike, I assumed he was greasing his chain.

'Where have you been?', he asked

'Round Gemma's ', I was relieved I didn't have to lie to him.

'Well, mum's been waiting for you to get home'

I nodded and walked past him.

I found mum in the sitting room, watching television. Soon as she saw me enter, she flicked the television off.

She looked at me for a long moment, maybe trying to determine if my meeting up with dad was good or not. Ultimately, she decided the best course of action was to ask.

'Did you see him?'

I nodded and sat down into the couch that was laid at a right angle to the one mum was seated on. I dropped my bag to the ground. Swiveled my body towards her, so I would be looking directly into her face.

'Yes....for a while'

'How was he?', she looked away from me, avoiding eye contact. I knew she didn't want me to see her emotions. I gave her the privacy she craved and looked towards the blank television.

'He looked fine, he took me to a restaurant', I wondered what else I could tell her.

'That's nice. Did he say when he would be contacting us again', she seemed more interested in dad making further contact, rather than what had happened that evening.

'Yes, he said he'd ring you some time tomorrow', it was cruel to get her hopes up, but I certainly didn't want to be the one to crush her.

'I'm glad. I hope you had a good time', she flicked at the remote control and the television brought life to the room.

I waited a couple of minutes, concentrating on the television, I wanted to be sure she didn't want to ask anything more. I offered her a cup of tea before I left, she declined.

I got to my bedroom door as I heard Andrew come into the house. I was about to close the door behind me, but decided I needed to do something to build bridges, after spending the day trying to break them down. It had been a bad day all over, having to lie to Carla about my investigation into Jack, confronting Sherry, arguing with Aiden, cutting my meeting with dad short, flirting with Gemma, threatening her cousins, although I was pleased with that and lastly holding information back from my mum.

I turned back, looked down the stairs. 'Andrew, you want to play Monopoly'

Andrew looked up, waiting for a twist. There was none. 'Okay', he said cautiously.

'I'll set it up in my room"