Page 121 of The Next Chapter

Obviously, no one answers.

‘And then there are the letters. I wonder, did you keep them from Lola? I think you did. I’m so mad at you for that. And for not telling me. For thinking that I’d have picked her over you.’

I think back to how obsessed I’d been with Lola as a child. About what Mr Cains said about how happy Mum and Dad had been when they brought me home.

Maybe we’ve all just been scared this whole time.

I hate the thought of Mum and Dad being scared.

What would I tell them? What would I tell Dad when he told Lola that he couldn’t lose me?

I’d have told him that they could never have lost me. That in this life and any others that there may be, they’ll always be my parents.

I’m all out weeping then. My face is so wet it’s hard to know where the rain ends and my own tears begin.

‘I think I need to go back. Not to replace you both, she could never do that, but I don’t think I can let being frightened stop me anymore.’

A man walking his dog under a huge raincoat gives me a wide berth. Probably wise. There’s a chance that I’ve started to lose my mind, because as well as talking to myself, I’m starting to hear things.

It really sounds like the ghost of my mum is calling me.

‘Lily!’

What the fuck? Today of all days would be the day I start getting haunted.

I twist round to look back at the path.

Except it’s not a ghost.

It’s Lola.

Lola is here, in this park.

And she’s coming towards me.

Chapter Twenty-Two

‘Lola.’ I stand up, realizing how soaked I am. My clothes feel like they’re lined with lead.

She’s still coming towards me. It would be weird if I started running away from her, and anyway, I don’t want to do that.

I’m not used to seeing Lola outside of Skye. It feels wrong, her being here, like the clashing of two completely separate worlds.

‘Lola!’ I’m having to shout over the rain. ‘What are you doing here?’

She answers, I can see her lips moving, but it’s hard to make out over the rain. Her plait where it pokes out of her hood is dripping wet, water running down it and onto her raincoat.

‘Come on.’ I pull at her hand. Mum and Dad’s house is just outside the park. I keep pulling her, walking towards it, my brain whirling with the fact that she’s here, she came.

We reach the house and I push the door open, dripping my way into the hall. Elton takes one look at us and makes a dash for it, as quick as his arthritic hips can take him.

Lola, who was wearing a coat and so fared much better than me in the freak downpour, takes it off and looks around.

I gaze at her like she’s some sort of apparition.

‘So, this is where you grew up?’ she asks.

I nod. Still not moving.