Page 120 of Take Me Away

He looks up, eyes still hollow. ‘She needs clean clothes for tomorrow. I can’t – I don’t know where⁠—’

‘It’s okay.’ I step into the room, gently take the jumper from him. ‘Go sit down. I’ve got this.’

‘You don’t have to⁠—’

‘I know. But I’m here.’

He nods once, then leaves like a ghost.

Maisie appears in the doorway moments later, watching me sort through her drawers. ‘Dad forgot it’s library day tomorrow but I don’t want to remind him.’ Her lips twist into a grimace and I offer a small smile.

‘What do you need for library day?’

‘My book bag. And I need to return The Secret Garden and Dad usually signs my reading record.’

I find the book on her nightstand, dog-eared and well-loved. ‘Did you like it? The story?’

‘It was sad at the beginning. I didn’t like it when everyone died. But then it got better. Mary learned to be less mean.’

‘I don’t think she meant to be mean, she’d just never had to share before,’ I say, picking up a basket of washing that I’ve noticed in the corner of Maisie’s room the last couple of days, and beginning to fold a clean shirt. ‘People can change, when they need to.’

‘Have you changed?’

The question stops me cold. I look at her – this small, serious girl who’s been through too much.

‘I’m trying to,’ I say honestly. ‘I’m folding washing, which if I were being honest with you, Maisie, hasn’t been the top of my to-do list in recent years.’

She nods thoughtfully, tugging on one of her bunches of wild curled hair. ‘But that’s because you are a film star; you don’t have time for housework.’

I snort a laugh which is almost alien in the silence of the house. ‘I’m not sure being a film star is an excuse for laziness. Maybe I’m a bit like Mary and a brat.’

Another careful consideration. ‘No, you’re too pretty to be a brat.’

I lob some rolled-up socks at her gently. ‘Well, saying things like that will make the brattiness worse.’

‘I might become a film star,’ she adds, turning and walking to her chest of drawers and popping the socks into the top drawer. ‘Then I wouldn’t have to do chores either.’

My laughter dies on my lips, though, because there is nothing I would hate more for this beautiful girl’s future than to have it tarnished by the dirt of Hollywood. You can’t say that to a kid, though, so I paint a smile on. ‘Maybe. The pay isn’t all that.’

‘But you are suuuper famous, so you must be suuuper rich.’

This does make me laugh. ‘Women don’t get paid the same as men. And I have people I have to pay too.’

‘Like Piper?’

‘Yep, just like Piper.’

‘When you go back to being a film star will you let me and Dad come and see you?’

I blink fast because my eyes are stinging. ‘I’d love that, but I’m here for now.’

Her smile makes my heart double the size. ‘I know. And I love it.’

‘Me too, Maisie. I’m so glad I came to meet you.’

‘I’m so glad Dad stopped being embarrassing.’

I bite down on my grin. ‘Come on, let’s get this put away and then we can get everything ready for tomorrow morning.’