Page 38 of Tears of Glass

I step forward between the two men. “Philip, I promise we’ve only just found out. Tabs and Lewis came to see me in Brighton and we only got back the other day.”

“What were you doing in Brighton?” He spins and turns to Lewis. “This is the problem with you, Lewis. You are never where you should be, doing what you are told. How am I supposed to trust you?”

“Jesus.” I don’t think Lewis’ tone is quite the right one in the circumstances, but I give him the space to talk. “I had one brush with the police and suddenly I can’t be trusted with anything.”

“Well clearly you bloody can’t. Elijah has been trying to get you off your charges and the whole time you’ve been—” Philip points at Tabitha but then loses the steam of his argument when he sees her face: pale and blotchy with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Philip slumps. “Shit, Lewis, what would your mother think?”

“She’s not fucking here, Dad, because she fucking left us.”

We all recoil from Lewis. His words make my heart ache with a heavy pull. He turns and storms from the room and Tabitha whimpers a little as he pushes past her.

“I’ll go,” Elijah says, turning to follow but I hold onto his arm. The sensation of his body beneath my touch, even the skin and bone of his arm, creates sparks of electricity that shoot along every inch of me. Okay, that shit needs to stop.

“No, Elijah. He needs his dad.”

Philip is a man crushed before us. For a long moment he’s lost in thoughts, his expression dark and tormented. When he turns to us it’s with a vacant gaze. “You know, I really wish she was here.”

Elijah steps up and claps him on the arm, squeezing the material of his shirt. “I know you do, and I know this is not good timing with the case coming up, but it is what it is.”

Philip blinks up into Elijah’s face before nodding. “You are right. I didn’t handle that well, did I?”

I slip to Tabitha’s side and put my arm around her shoulders, squeezing her into my side.

Philip catches my movement and gives Tabitha a wan smile. “Sorry, Tabitha.”

She stands up a little straighter and releases my grip. “It’s okay. I get it. I’m scared, too.”

Philip steps up and grabs Tabs into a bear hug. “Come on, let’s go talk to Lewis and get this sorted.” He turns to us. “Sorry, Eli, Faith. I think dinner is postponed.”

I nod and look up to find Elijah watching me carefully. I breathe in deep and meet his eyes. “Any chance of a lift home?”

He grins, and I want to smack him around the face. Scowling, I pick up my stuff and wait for him by the front door.

“Are you going to pull that face the whole way home?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, I can’t wait.”

***

I’M WOKEN BY MY PHONE vibrating.

Gerard Steers: first day of year three... you coming?

I groan and drop my arm across my face. I actually don’t have anything to get up for. Well, I’ve got brainstorming for Angela, but I know nothing about planning a TV show. That will take all of thirty seconds to stare at a blank piece of paper.

I should go shopping, get some supplies; maybe get some food, especially as my stomach is now officially eating itself after the failed lasagne. I grab my phone back up and ignore Gerard’s message as I drop a quick line to Tabs to see if she’s okay. I know Philip was in shock, but he seemed a decent kind of guy. I doubt Tabitha and Lewis got thrown out onto the street—and if they had they would have come here.

Dropping my phone back onto the mattress I stare at the ceiling long and hard. How did I get so tangled with the Faircloughs? I’ve had three friends my entire life. I’ve successfully locked everyone else out—excluding Gerard, but the less said about that mistake the better. Yet now I seem to have acquired a younger sister.

It’s impossible for me not to think of Elijah and the drive home last night. That aching distance between us.

Where is the man with the sliders and artistic soul? Why isn’t he the one trying to win me back?

How come we are still circling around each other despite the fact his sister needs him more than ever. He always said his sister came first. Those were his exact words, so why did he send her to me?