Chapter 8
‘“The night Max wore his wolf suit, and made mischief of one kind or another, his mother called him ‘WILD THING!’ and Max said, ‘I’LL EAT YOU UP!’ so he was sent to bed without eating anything.’”
Sophie waited as Harvey coughed, his little body convulsing with the force of it. There was a rattling sound in his chest that made her wince.
His cold had got worse. Mrs Penning from the school office had called around midday and asked Sophie to pick him up. When she’d arrived, her heart had lurched at the sight of him slumped on the vinyl chair outside the office.
‘I assume you’ll be taking him to see a doctor,’ Mrs Penning said with a tight smile. ‘All sorts of nasty things are going around. Whooping cough, bronchitis, Influenza A …’
Sophie had given her a nod, although she probably wouldn’t. Ryan was a bit funny about doctors.
‘And while I think of it,’ Mrs Penning went on, ‘Miss Clyde asked me to remind you that Jasmine needs to bring in her materials for the rocket-building activity they’re doing in science tomorrow. I was just about to send you an email.’
‘Rocket building?’
‘Cardboard boxes, toilet rolls …’
‘Right …’ Sophie bit her lip. Was Jaz meant to have told her about this?
‘And I haven’t received Charlie’s permission form for the geography excursion either. They were due back last week.’
‘Okay.’ Sophie couldn’t recall hearing anything about an excursion either. How did she always miss these things?
‘It’s fifteen dollars,’ Mrs Penning added.
Sophie nodded, glad it was only Tuesday. She would have the money. She took Harvey’s hand and hurried to the car before Mrs Penning could raise any other parenting failures.
After listening to Harvey cough all afternoon, she’d decided to go ahead and make him a doctor’s appointment. She’d worry about Ryan later.
‘Of course,’ Viv the clinic receptionist had said. ‘She can see you tomorrow afternoon.’
‘She?’ Sophie asked, confused. Then she remembered the sad news about Rob Foley, which had slipped her mind. ‘Sorry, who’s the doctor Harvey will see?’
‘Doctor Foley’s daughter, Nel,’ Viv said. ‘She’s a GP from Sydney. She’s kindly agreed to see patients until we can arrange a locum.’
Sophie’s mind had raced as she ended the call.
So Nel Foley was back. She was a doctor now.
Did Ryan know that? Sophie wasn’t sure if it would make him more or less likely to let her take Harvey.
These things were hard to predict. Hopefully he would be in a good mood when he got home and she could ask him.
She looked at Harvey’s pale face. ‘You okay, buddy?’ She put a hand on his forehead. It was warm, but not hot. The Panadol she’d given him earlier seemed to be helping.
He nodded, watery-eyed.
‘Shall we keep going?’
He nodded again. Sophie looked back to the book. ‘“That very night in Max’s room a forest grew …”’
As Max arrived at the island of the Wild Things, Harvey curled into her, his raspy breath warm on her neck.
By the time Max started the journey back to his bedroom, Harvey’s breathing was long and steady.
Sophie closed the book and placed it on the floor beside the bed.
Her own eyelids felt heavy. She let them close, just for a minute.
‘Mum, Dad’s home,’ Jasmine whispered.
Sophie sat up, trying to shake off the heaviness of sleep. ‘What time is it?’
‘I don’t know. The Voice is finished.’
‘Where’s Charlie?’
‘In his room.’
‘You better get to bed.’ Sophie kissed Jasmine’s forehead. ‘Goodnight, sweet girl.’
Sophie stopped at the kitchen door, watching Ryan as he waited for the kettle to boil, trying to gauge his mood. The plate she’d put aside for him sat on the bench, untouched. He didn’t like to eat after seven.
‘I didn’t hear you come in,’ she said.
He swung around. ‘Where’ve you been?’
‘I was settling Harvey—he’s got a cold. I had to pick him up from school before lunch.’
Ryan shook his head. ‘You had to be half-dead to miss school when I was a kid.’
Sophie murmured in agreement. ‘How was your day?’
‘Brilliant.’ He flashed her a smile. ‘We had another Hammond payday.’
‘Really?’
‘He bought the penthouse in the new development near the wharf for his mum, sight unseen.’
‘Wow, well done!’ Sophie said, striving for the right tone.
It had been three years since the Sydney publican had first flown into Carrinya on his seaplane to inspect the brewery.
A lot had changed in those three years. Roy had officially handed over the reins of Warner Property to Ryan and Lachie.
Ryan had bought a block of land on the south side of town with a view of the ocean and built them a new house, made possible by the commission from the sale of beachfront properties to wealthy city people.
He had also developed an obsession with cycling, which Sophie suspected cost them a small fortune.
But despite the upward trajectory of Ryan’s income—which must be significant, not that she knew for sure—her weekly allowance was unchanged.
It was becoming harder and harder to muster the appropriate level of excitement.
Ryan scoffed. ‘The man’s got more money than God.’
She laughed, tentative, not sure it was quite the right response.
The kettle clicked off.
‘You go sit down,’ she said. ‘I’ll make the tea.’