Chapter 29
‘Holly?’ I shout her name as I open the door, and for a horrible moment I think she’s run away, but then I see her, sitting on the bottom step, her head on her knees. When she looks up, her face is streaked with tears. Mixed with all that makeup, it makes her look like a sad clown.
She rubs her nose with her sleeve. ‘Is it true you’re leaving?’
‘Of course it’s not true. She’s trying to turn you against me.’
‘Why would she do that?’
‘Because she’s a horrible person.’ I close the door after me.
She stands up. ‘I don’t believe you!’ she cries, her mouth distorted, before taking off upstairs and slamming her bedroom door so hard it echoes through the house.
I put her things on the table and follow her. I knock on her door. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Go away.’
‘Holly, I’m not leaving you. We’ve gone through so much together, you and me. You barely know Teri. Why would you believe her?’
‘Go away!’ she shouts.
I open the door. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’ I step inside her room. She’s sitting on her bed, arms wrapped around her knees, her face blotchy. ‘Why do you believe her over me?’
She’s been crying so much, she’s finding it hard to breathe. ‘You saved all this money. You got yourself a house in Hull.’ Her eyes meet mine. ‘Is it true?’
‘Not in the way you think.’
‘Oh, God…’ She’s shaking now. ‘That’s why you haven’t even done anything with…him. You’re going to leave me here! With him! And they’ll arrest me! And you’ll be gone!’
‘None of that is happening.’
She stops crying and looks up at me with her swollen red eyes. I feel a shudder run through me.
‘Let me explain.’
She drags her hands down her cheeks. ‘If you leave me, I’ll tell them you did it.’
‘I would deserve no less.’
‘Now get the hell out of my room.’
She wouldn’t listen to a word I said. I understood that this was because of me not being able to fulfil my promise. So, as much as it hurt, I let it go. I left her alone.
That night, I went to bed and cried.