Another burden lifted. Sarah sent a text to Millie, trying not to sound too anxious but asking her to get in touch.  Talking to Elena and understanding why Oliver had been so unreasonable made Sarah feel so much better so she decided to celebrate with pizza – her feel good food.  She wasn’t sure that it was such a good thing to have the local pizza company recognise her voice and her order, but it made her feel at home and so relaxed that when the door buzzer went, she pressed the button without checking who was there. She opened the door expecting to see her regular delivery man but instead, she saw Marta. Marta clutching the pizza Sarah had just ordered. Before she could react and shut the door, Marta had thrust herself into the doorway and stomped down the hallway to the kitchen.

“So! You surprised to see me, no? And I have your pizza and garlic bread.”

“Yes. Why are you here Marta? I thought you had gone back to Holland.”

“I go back and I wait for the show to be on. It has not been shown yet. I tell all my friends that I am famous but they don’t believe me. So, I phone the studio and I speak to a young girl. She tells me that the show will be on next month, but that is no good for me. I want you should show it now. I ask the girl if I speak to you. I say that you were kind and listen to me so she gived me your address. And here I am! And you have pizza which is my favourite! I shall stay here and you will get my show on the TV so my friends will know that I am famous and I am not the liar.”

“It isn’t up to me when shows are scheduled to be shown Marta. I am on the aftercare team, we deal with the social care side, not production.”

Marta was sitting at the table now, and stuffing the slices of pizza into her mouth.

“No, I have decided that you will help me. You are the social worker and it is your job to look after people. You must look after me and make sure that I am happy. I am liking this pizza. What do you have to drink?”

Sarah got Marta a glass of water and placed it on the table. She looked at it with disdain. “You have no wine, or at least a fizzy drink? That is not very hospitable, is it? I have come to you for help. You must help me because it is the law.”

Taking in a deep breath, Sarah pulled out another chair and sat down at the table.

“That may be your perception of the law Marta, it may even be the law in your country but although I am a social worker I am not employed by the state, just the production company that makes the show. My job is to provide aftercare and counselling to people, and in your case, it was to see that you were safely on your way home. There is nothing I can do to help I’m afraid and you have to go.”

Marta sat back, her face smeared with tomato sauce, her piggy little eyes made even narrower by the rising anger. She slammed her fist on the table, leaving pizza and tomato on it. “YOU WILL HELP ME! I demand it!” she shouted, and stamped her feet on the floor like a very large and petulant toddler.

“That will do Marta! Look at the mess you’ve made on the table!”

Marta sat back, stopped in her tracks by Sarah’s best authoritative voice.

“I sorry to make mess. I make clean?”

“Make yourself clean first please. The bathroom is second door on the left. I’ll get some things for you to clean up here while I’m waiting.”

“Sorry Sarah, I am sorry. I will go and get cleaned, then I sort mess and we call for more pizza? Yes?”

“Go on then, I’ll get the menu.” said Sarah as she got up from the table and walked towards the breakfast bar. As soon as Marta had gone into the bathroom, Sarah grabbed her keys and phone and was out of the front door.  Mercifully the lift was on her floor and she prayed frantically that Marta hadn’t heard the door shut. As she ran out of the building toward her car she looked up at the flat and saw Marta, outraged standing at the window. “Sorry Buster.” she whispered as she got into the car and locked all the doors. She phoned Al, who mercifully picked up the phone on the second ring. He told her to drive to the local burger outlet, which was brightly lit and populated at this time of night. He said he would meet her there and would also call the police. “Just get out of there Sarah. We don’t know what she might do.”

“But what about Buster?” Sarah wailed.

“From what I know about Buster he’ll hide away from her, and if she does find him, he’ll give as good as he gets.  Get a move on now please!”

It didn’t take long for Sarah to get to the burger outlet. Al was right, it was very busy. She went inside and ordered some food and a large hot chocolate. It was only when she sat down that she realised that she was still wearing the large pair of fluffy purple slippers she had put on when she got back from shopping. Mercifully she was still wearing the jeans and plaid shirt she had gone out in, and had her credit card in her pocket. Al must have driven like a madman to get there as quickly as he did, and she didn’t think that she had ever been so glad to see anyone as she was him at that moment.

“Are you alright? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

“Well, she ate my pizza.”

“I’ll buy you another.”

“It’s okay. I’ve had a burger now. What are we going to do?”

“I’ve arranged for us to meet the police back at the flat. Leave your car here for now, we can collect it later.”

By the time Al and Sarah got back to the car park, two patrol cars with flashing blue lights were parked outside the entrance. Sarah handed over her keys and sat in one of the cars whilst Al and the police went upstairs to the flat. Her phone rang a few moments later. It was Al.

“She’s not here. Buster is though, and he doesn’t like policemen much. I’ll come down for you, we need to know if she took anything and what she said to you exactly.”

Al came down to collect Sarah and whilst a couple of the policemen checked out the rest of the building in case Marta was hiding elsewhere, Sarah went through the details of Marta’s visit. The only thing that was missing from the flat was Sarah’s beloved laptop. She felt like crying when she realised it was gone.

“My whole life is on that laptop. She has access to everything about me, my friends, my job, my family.”

“Is it password protected?” asked Al.

“Yes, the chap from the shop was adamant about that. Oh! I just remembered something else! It has a tracker. The thing is in the laptop bag, she didn’t take that too, did she?”

“She just took the laptop from what I can see, the power lead and the mouse are still here. Where do you keep the bag?”

“Under the table. Oh, thank goodness, it’s still here and here’s the tracker thing. do you know how it works?”

“No, but these guys do.” Al handed the fob to one of the policemen.

“Do you think she’ll come back? She doesn’t really know anyone else here.”

“It’s highly possible. Is there anywhere else you can go or someone who could stay with you?” asked the policeman.

“I can’t leave Buster. “

“I can stay.” said Al, blushing slightly. “If you want me to. I could sleep on the sofa?”

“You can have Tom’s room. I changed the sheets this morning. Thank you, Al. I’d feel so much safer.”

“Deal.”

He really does look a bit like Christopher Plummer, thought Sarah, and smiled.

Jude was intrigued by the flat; she’d only ever lived in family houses before, and this style of living was an entirely new concept. Like Millie and Sarah though, she loved the views of the canal and the other old mill buildings.

“So, will you start looking for your own flat when Millie comes back?” Jude asked as they sat on the sofa watching the lights of the city through the window.

“Probably. I know there isn’t any rush as far as Millie is concerned. She loves me being here, and I feel extremely comfortable. We shared a student house for two out of our three years at Uni, and we were in halls together for the first year.  People change a great deal over time but we don’t seem to have.  We complement each other I suppose, like an old married couple. At the same time, I feel for poor Tom having to sleep in that tiny room. It’s okay for the odd weekend but I think I should be looking to move before the summer comes. Millie bought this place but there are plenty of others up for rent in this block alone. I might trump her and go for a penthouse suite!”

“Really? This is all so exciting Sarah! Thinking back six months, you’d never have dreamed of all this happening, would you?” said Jude, shaking her head in amazement.

“Nope. Six months ago, the most exciting thing on my agenda was a visit from you, or a visit to you. I still rate those visits very high on the enjoyment tariff, even though I am a high living media woman now!  I’ve changed the sheets on Millie’s bed for you, help yourself to towels and stuff for a shower or bath. We need to leave by eight-thirty tomorrow morning so I’ll be up at seven, and give you a call if that’s okay?”

“Seven! That’s a lie-in! I’d normally have been up for hours dozing with the girls in front of Peppa Pig! I hope they miss me.” Jude’s voice lowered and sounded more than a little sad. Sarah squeezed her hand.

“They will, and you and I both know that it’s good for them to miss you. Ooh! A text from Millie!”

“What? What does she say?”

“Her texts are cryptic at the best of times. ‘Hotel gorgeous. Spoilt rotten. Sightseeing at the moment, but starting the hunt tomorrow. I have a nice ex-pat lady who is going to help me. Nervous. Hug Buster and Jude – but Jude first xxx M’. That’s probably one of her better ones.”

“I’m impressed that I get hugged before Buster.”

“Don’t be too impressed. He hates me, and just about tolerates my presence in the house. Added to which I banished him to Tom’s room this morning in case his hair got all over your bed.”

“Poor old boy. Can I go and see him?”

“I’ll have the antiseptic and bandages ready, but by all means. Tom’s room is at the end of the hall.”

Jude very gingerly opened the door to Tom’s room a little wider and turned on the light. Buster was well and truly at home in the middle of the bed. He hissed and flattened his ears back when Jude sat down on the bed next to him. Jude stayed where she was, and waited. Sarah watched them from the hallway. Very slowly Buster got to his feet and walked towards Jude, his tail waving ominously. He sniffed Jude’s leg and then her hand. She remained still. To Sarah’s amazement, Buster began to purr and butt his handsome black and white head against Jude’s leg. Once he had climbed onto her lap, he allowed Jude to stroke his head and the purring became louder. Jude smiled.

“He can come and sleep on Millie’s bed if that’s okay. I think we’re friends now.”

Trying not to glare at Buster too much, Sarah put his dinner down, and cleaned out his cat litter tray. Buster was very much an indoor cat and even wrinkled his nose up at the fresh air when the balcony doors were open. Sarah slept better that night, knowing that Jude was there with her, and when she poked her head round the door of Millie’s room, she could see that Jude and Buster were very happily curled up together.  Putting the coffeemaker on, and taking the opportunity to have a quick shower before breakfast, Sarah was surprised to see a very wide-awake Jude and a happy Buster sitting at the kitchen table.

“You were fast asleep when I looked in. I thought I’d leave you for a bit. The bathroom’s all yours now.”

“Thank you. Buster is a very good companion; his purring is quite hypnotic. I just got a text from Dan. He says he hates Peppa Pig.”

“Tough! Toast or cereals for breakfast?”

“Do you have Marmite?”

“We do. I’ll go and get dressed, and put some toast on.”

Buster looked quite bereft when Sarah and Jude left for the studio. As soon as the door had shut, he made his way back into Millie’s bedroom and curled up once again in his customary spot by her pillow.

Sarah was pleased with the friendliness with which Jude was greeted when they arrived. Al sorted out the security passes, and Daryl promised to make sure that Jude had a seat with a view, but away from any potential drama that might occur in the audience.  The filming started later than it should have due to some minor temper tantrums on the part of Oliver, who felt that the couple should just bury the past, and get on with life with their new partners.  He didn’t agree with the lie detector tests, and was feeling very tetchy. He rarely got to meet the participants beforehand, and Sarah felt that on this occasion it would have been a good idea if he had at least read through the case papers. The woman came on first and Oliver was initially sympathetic to her story of a cheating partner. When her ex-partner came on stage though, he gave an equally convincing story of being cheated on that confused everyone – including Oliver. He asked the couple what they would do if the tests proved one or the other – or both had been cheating. They shrugged. Shrugs always annoyed Oliver. He read out the man’s test results first. All three questions were answered with lies and the man responded by gluing his eyes to the floor. Sarah could see that Oliver was seething now.

He ripped open the envelope containing the woman’s results. Same again. All lies. the pair sat there, sullen and uncommunicative. Oliver threw the results envelopes to the floor; said he was going for a lie down, and advised them to do one as he couldn’t be bothered with them. The pair were ushered off stage by two of the researchers, and Sarah went off to make sure Oliver was calming down. He wasn’t. In fact, he was pacing up and down the room like a caged lion. He turned round when Sarah came into the room, and was about to hold forth when something in her expression changed his mind.

“I suppose you are going to tell me that I came over too strong with them?”

Sarah shook her head.

“No. I agree with you that it is a waste of valuable resources, but we have to have cases like that don’t we? Just to add a bit of boring normality to all the drama.  I just came up to make sure you were okay. The next one is easier. Just a pair of kids who had a bad start and might get back on the rails if we help them.”

“Hmmm. Kids having kids. You know how I feel about that!”

“I do, but I think these two are fragile, and could get things back together given our support.”

“Thank you, but I’ll be the judge of that. I may not be a social worker Sarah but I’ve been doing this for ten years and I know my stuff.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it then.”

Sarah left the room feeling more than a little annoyed with Oliver. If he was going to continue in this frame of mind it did not bode well for the next couple, and the final case had so many elements that could set him off on another temper tantrum that Sarah wondered how many takes they’d have to go for before they got some good footage.

Jenny was coming down the corridor; her face displaying her annoyance with Oliver.

“How is he?” she said.

“Grumpy,” Sarah replied, “and we have a delicate one on next. Something’s got up his nose this morning.”

“Make sure your team are ready to pick up the pieces then. I’ll deal with Oliver from now on.”

The rest of the aftercare team were ready and waiting, Sarah also warned the rest of the staff. Oliver in a bad mood was liable to lash out at anyone that he felt was not doing their job properly.  It was a tense atmosphere therefore that greeted both Oliver, and the young couple as they waited in separate pods. Oliver stalked on stage and did his preamble about young kids having kids, and the importance of using contraception if you weren’t prepared to deal with the consequences. The young lad came on first; he was quiet and clearly hurt regarding the prospect that he might not be the father of the baby.  Oliver was a little brusque with him and this resulted in monosyllabic answers that annoyed Oliver even more. When the girl came on stage to join them, she cried. And cried. And cried.

There was a real possibility that the lad might not be the father of the baby. They were on a break around the time that the baby was conceived, and in between sobs, the girl confessed that she was drunk at a party and had sex with two complete strangers.  Oliver was getting very angry. Al brought the DNA results out and handed them to him. Not surprisingly the baby was the product of one of the strange men at the party. The lad burst into tears; so did the girl. The tissue box was passed between them whilst Oliver paced angrily around the stage. Sarah heard Jenny calling Oliver through his ear piece to go to a break. It wasn’t scheduled but the case was going nowhere and she needed to get the aftercare team in to mend a few bridges. Oliver grudgingly announced the break and that the aftercare team would be waiting to sort out this ‘mess’.  By the time the runners had the couple in the safety of one of the pods, Sarah was there to meet them.  Jenny was hovering outside, and going on a curt nod from Sarah, she made sure that Oliver didn’t join the young couple.

It was salvaged. It wasn’t easy but it transpired that the young girl had no idea who the potential fathers of her child were. She had never seen them before or since, and didn’t want to either. She was devastated that her boyfriend wasn’t the father – and so was he. Having been there at all the scans and the birth, he truly believed that the baby was his. Slowly and calmly, Sarah listened to them both, and talked to them about the options. They truly did want to stay with each other, and although it would have been the best thing in the world if the baby had been his, the boy wanted to carry on being a father. Sarah set up some counselling sessions with them, gave them a contact number for emergencies, and told them that above all, they had to talk to each other about problems rather than bottling it all up as they had before. They seemed to be taking it all in and eventually, holding hands, they went off to the creche to see their baby. Sarah breathed a deep sigh as she watched them go and felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Daryl.

“That was brilliant Sarah. You did such a good job with them.”

“I hope so. One more segment to go, and I can’t see it going smoothly somehow. Is Jenny around?”

“Outside soothing Oliver; he says that he hadn’t finished with those two. She just told him that he was.”

“Oh hell, there’s only one way out of this room isn’t there? Is my friend Jude, okay?”

“I’ll go and check now before we start the last segment. Perhaps you can sneak out behind me?”

Sarah drew herself up to her full five foot four.

“I am not sneaking anywhere Daryl. If Oliver doesn’t like me, he can sack me but I’ll be a huge pain in the arse to him for my month notice!”

Oliver was still outside with Jenny and looked as if he was about to say something but Jenny’s hand on his arm stopped him. She smiled at Sarah.

“Ready for the last section Sarah?”

“We are.” said Sarah trying to keep her voice as even as possible, and walk sedately down the corridor to where one of the two families were waiting.

When Oliver stalked onto the stage, there could have been few people in the audience and none on the crew, that were oblivious to the brewing storm.  The young girl that came on stage was not an example of all that was good in the world. She was chewing gum, loudly. Her hair was pulled up on top of her head and her pink sparkling tee shirt and matching leggings would have still looked tacky on a girl three sizes smaller. As it was, every time she raised her hands to gesticulate wildly, several inches of pasty white muffin top were exposed. There was no way to deny it, she was one of the most unlovely females that had ever been on the show. She swore so much that the bleep boy was kept on his guard every time she opened her mouth. Oliver made no attempt to hide his disdain, and when her parents joined her on stage, his sneer went into overdrive. Mother was a larger, much larger, version of her daughter and had even more pasty flesh on show. Father was a tall, skinny, bedraggled creature in stained joggers and a tee shirt meant for someone much broader. He limped on with a crutch but used it more to emphasise his points than as a support for walking.

It appeared that the girl had originally moved in with her boyfriend in his parents’ house when she found that she was pregnant.  The standard of living there was considerably higher than she was used to, and whilst her boyfriend and his father were out working during the day, she lazed around and invited her friends in to enjoy, and trash the house. Her behaviour was tolerated until the baby was born, at which time she took to her bed, and expected everyone to look after her and the baby. Not surprisingly, the boy fell out of love, and his ex-girlfriend moved back to her parents, and took the baby with her. She had come on the show to expose him as a liar and a cheat who was stalking her, and constantly harassing her family. There seemed to be only one other thing she and her family wanted – apart from humiliating her ex, and that was money. Her requests were far in excess of anything that the CSA would order the boy to pay for his child, and Jude, sat out in the audience, could feel the seething dislike for the charmless trio increasing as they painted themselves the victims.

Eventually, Oliver brought on the boy and his father. They were both quiet and well dressed. Unusually there had been no raised voices from their pod, despite the obvious insults and lies that were being hurled at them.  The boy answered Oliver’s questions calmly, ignoring the cat calls from his ex-girlfriend and her parents. He had tried very hard to get her to look after the baby, to help out with the washing, and to tidy up after herself but she refused, and what had been love and affection rapidly turned to loathing. According to his father, she had caused thousands of pounds of damage to the house when she and her friends were partying during the day, and had even tried to set up a cannabis farm in one of the outhouses.  She denied all this. She claimed that she had been kept a prisoner in the house and had to do all the family washing up until the week she gave birth. Her story was full of inaccuracies and when pictures of the trashed rooms were shown, she just grinned at her parents, and waved her hands about in a mocking fashion.

Sarah and the rest of the audience were waiting for Oliver to put his foot down. He didn’t. In fact, he launched both barrels at the boy and his father for their middle-class values and taking advantage of the girl. A DNA test had been requested and Oliver seemed to relish telling the boy that he was indeed the child’s father and that he ought to face up to his obligations. Oliver offered contact sessions and arranging for money to be paid into an account for the child. The boy was agreeable to this, although there was some discussion about the amount of money requested. The girl however, said that she would have the money, but that the boy would never see his daughter again. She had already had the boy arrested twice for harassment – and released without charge on both occasions. When the subject of contact was mooted again, the girl got up from her seat, stuck two fingers up at her boyfriend and stalked off stage, followed by her parents, the father forgetting that he should be limping. Shrugging his shoulders, Oliver indicated that the lad and his father should leave from the other side of the stage, and suggested that he should use contraception in the future, and be a bit selective about who he had sex with.

The usually noisy audience was silent when Oliver wrapped up the show, and only a few people clapped him as he left the stage. Sarah left the obnoxious girl and her parents to other members of the aftercare team, and went straight round to the boy and his father, who were sitting in the green room, stunned and silent. The boy looked up as she came in and she was struck by the terrible sadness in his eyes.

“She wasn’t always like that you know. When I first met her, she was in care, we had two years of happiness. She had really nice foster parents. Her own parents didn’t want her. When she left care, she came to live with us and we got engaged. She said it would be okay to have sex because she had an implant. She got pregnant and I found out that she lied about the implant. She went off the rails after that, and once the baby was born her parents told her to come home – so that they could get benefits for her and the baby. She isn’t a bad girl really, it’s just her parents.”

Nodding in agreement, Sarah took his hand in hers.

“The most important thing is that you don’t get caught up in the illegal side. She can and will accuse you of anything in order to blacken your name, but you need to stay calm. We’ll give you some guidance about the legal side, and we will try to work with her – and her parents – but you may have to face up to going for custody in order for your daughter to have the life she deserves.”

She left them with one of the aftercare team, who gathered more information and gave them the dates for counselling. Sarah walked along the corridor; she had no need to ask where the other family were. She could hear them and so could the audience, slowly filing out of the studio. When she entered the room, she found Oliver in a slanging match with the mother. Hands on hips, he was giving far better than he got but Sarah had visions of the whole sorry story ending up in the news. Beckoning to the girl, Sarah led her out of the room and into another pod. She threw herself down on the sofa and glared at Sarah.

“What? He ain’t seeing my kid and that’s the end of it.”

“Why? Is he such a bad father?”

“No, he did more of the looking after than I did when we brought her home. My mum says it ain’t natural a bloke looking after the baby so I left.”

“Who looks after the baby now?”

“My sister does. She’s only fifteen but she loves babies. I’d be happy to give her to my ex but my mum and dad said we could make enough money for me to have a nanny. Then I could get back to my modelling career.”

Modelling for what? Sarah wondered but supressed the thought quickly. she handed the girl the packet of counselling leaflets, and some telephone numbers, but suggested that she stop making false allegations because she would probably be the one getting arrested for wasting police time if she did it again. For some strange reason, this seemed to sink in and the girl became silent, sullen but mercifully silent. Sarah arranged for Daryl to escort the family off the premises, making sure they went in the opposite direction to the lad and his father. Jude was waiting in Sarah’s office. she was rather white-faced and didn’t look well.

“Oh, darling Jude. I’m so sorry you had to witness all that. They seemed like such easy cases yesterday. Was it really awful out there?”

Jude nodded. “I feel so disillusioned about Oliver. I know he can be a bit snippy at times but that was horrible. People in the audience were whispering about it, and booing him.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve managed to sort out the second couple, and I’ve given the lad some advice. Are you okay here for now? I think I need to see Jenny – and Oliver – before we go.”

Sarah made them both a cup of coffee first, then making sure Jude really was okay, she picked up her cup and went in search of Jenny. The sound of raised voices made it easy to track them down to a green room far from the stage. Jenny saw Sarah coming through the half-open door and beckoned her over.

“Are they alright?”

“Yes, we held onto the lad and his dad until the girl and her family had left the building but it’s all clear now.”

” I suppose you waved your magic social work wand and sorted all their problems out then Sarah.”

Oliver’s words were spat out with venom. She did her best to stay calm.

“Is it okay if I go now? My friend is in the office waiting for me.”

Jenny nodded. “We’ll look at this on Monday, okay?”

“If Sarah still has a job by then.” muttered Oliver, stalking over to the sofa. Sarah chose to ignore him and went back to Jude.

“Come on lovely. Let’s go home to normality.”

Al caught up with them as they walked to the car park.

“Are you alright? It got a bit hairy out there. I’ve never seen Oliver lose it like that before.”

“It’s probably because Millie isn’t here. She’s so much better at dealing with his tantrums than I am. “

“He’ll have calmed down by Monday.”

“I know. This is my friend Jude, she used to be a fan of Oliver’s.  Jude this is Al, who is a very good friend of mine.”

Jude shook Al’s hand, noting that Sarah’s words had made him blush.  He smiled at them both.

“Take care of yourselves and have a good weekend.”

The drive home was very quiet, and Sarah felt angry with Oliver for spoiling what was supposed to be a treat for Jude. When they got home, Dan invited Sarah to stay for dinner but looking at Jude, they both knew that she needed to go to bed.  Making her excuses Sarah got back into the car and waved everyone goodbye. She was so distracted by what had happened that she didn’t notice the car driving behind her as she left Jude’s house.

She just wanted to get home.

Millie’s absence was obvious to everyone; not just from a practical aspect but because everyone was so used to her long rangy figure loping around the corridors, and managing to be everywhere at once. Sarah did her best to compensate, but she learned very quickly that the teamwork approach she and Millie had developed, was nowhere near as effective without Millie.

 It didn’t help that there had been a huge row up in the Chief Executive’s office which resulted in Natasha’s mother resigning, because she couldn’t accept that her darling daughter had done anything wrong, and couldn’t understand why efforts were not being made to have Natasha reinstated and apologised to.  The Chief Executive had explained that Natasha had not reached the required performance level required for a permanent contract, and in addition she had broken the law and put the lives of her colleagues at risk. A member of the legal team had been brought in and further emphasised the issues regarding Natasha’s employment but this was to no avail; Natasha and her mother were taking the company to court – allegedly.

As a consequence, everyone was on their best behaviour and rather snippy.  Sarah picked her moment before asking Oliver if Jude could come to the studio and see the show. He grimaced but gave his consent.

“On one condition though Sarah.”

“Of course, what is the condition?”

“Make sure that the runners know that your friend is not seeking employment, she is just coming here to visit, and see what it is that you do for a living now. I don’t want any more runners getting silly ideas.”

“Jude is a social worker, but she is also a very busy mother of three who is not in a position to take up any work even if she wanted to, which she doesn’t.  She does watch your show though and enjoys it. She’s very excited at the prospect of actually seeing the show being filmed – and of seeing you!”

Oliver preened, just as Sarah knew he would, and gave her a wink as he wandered off in search of someone else to irritate. She sent a text to Jude confirming the arrangements for Thursday, and was immensely cheered by an immediate response saying that Dan and the girls could do without her for the two days, especially when it meant a posh dinner with Auntie Sarah.

A meeting was held that afternoon to look at the cases for Friday. There wasn’t likely to be any controversy, a double lie detector, a DNA and a DNA plus ‘I don’t want my ex to have any contact with me if the baby isn’t his’. There was something about the last case that annoyed Oliver, but Sarah couldn’t put her finger on it. The research was thorough, if a little limited by contradicting information given by both parties. Sarah decided to look at the cases more closely given Millie’s absence, and make sure that the aftercare team had everything set up ready for the end of each show segment. Neither Sarah nor Millie usually did this; it was a job that fell to the researchers, but Sarah just a niggling feeling that wouldn’t go away.

The first couple were in their late twenties and had been going out with each other for a couple of years, but they kept splitting up and drifting back together again. Mercifully there were no children, and they had both settled with new partners. Rumours about both of them cheating on each other were rife, and they felt that they could only move on with their own lives if they could finally find out if any cheating had gone on. It was the type of case that Oliver hated; it was unlikely to produce any dramatics, no real aftercare was needed, and the lie detector test wasn’t really needed now that they were no longer together. Sarah expected that there would be a bit of an Oliver rant at the end of the segment. The next couple were temporarily estranged until it could be established whether the male partner was actually the father of the little boy. He was only four weeks old, and his mother looked very young and fragile. Her partner was a couple of years older, but from the answers he gave the researcher, he really wanted to get back with his girlfriend, and be a good dad to the baby. Oliver would like that one. It would give him the opportunity to show his softer side. Sarah hoped to hell that the girl was telling the truth, and the baby was her partner’s. She hated it when it all went wrong, but at least this case had the possibility of reconciliation through counselling, or at the very least, access arrangements set up by aftercare.

The last case had the potential for fireworks if it wasn’t handled well. It was another couple who had split up. The young mother was being dominated by her parents who wouldn’t let her ex-partner see their child. Her ex was being equally supported by his dad, and there were accusations of stalking, bad motherhood, overbearing parents, and drug-taking flying about on both sides. Just from looking at the notes, Sarah could tell that the girl and her parents were from different social circles to the boy and his father. The boy worked in his dad’s building firm and was being groomed to take over the company; the girl was the youngest of six children, all of whom lived at with their parents in a very crowded house. They were all on benefits of some kind according to the boy’s father. None of them had ever worked for more than a day or two, and they were constantly trying to get him to resign from his father’s company and live with them on benefits. It all looked very stacked against the girl and Sarah could just hear Oliver sounding forth on benefit cheating, and silly kids having babies in order to get a house. Kid gloves for this one definitely, she thought as she filed them away in her bag and left the office.

The underground parking was always a bit spooky but especially so at night. Sarah had parked near a wall light that morning but some bright spark had smashed it during the day. She got the distinct feeling that she was being watched, as she walked to her car and felt in her pocket for the rape alarms that all the staff had been issued with. She was just about to press it when she heard her name being called. She turned round and there like some black clad avenging angel, was Al.

“It’s you! I was sure that someone was following me, and I was just about to press my alarm.”

“I’ll walk you to your car. We’ve had some vandalism down here today, and I said I would keep an eye out, especially for the female staff. Did you see anyone when you came down?”

“No, it was just a feeling. Here we are. I’ll just check the back seat for intruders.”

“Don’t joke about it, Sarah! Umm, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for a drink again?”

Sarah felt a little thrill but dismissed it immediately. “I need to do some shopping tonight, and clean the flat. My friend Jude is traveling up with her family on Thursday, she’s coming to the show on Friday, and then I’m taking her home to hers afterwards. I’m free over the weekend though?”

Al looked somewhat crestfallen. “I’m busy all weekend. I said I’d help my sister decorate her kids’ bedrooms and the front room. She’s a single mum and doesn’t get much help from her ex.”

“Careful, Oliver might snap her up for the show. I’ll see you tomorrow anyway. Thanks Al.” 

Sarah got into her car and drove off, hoping that she hadn’t put Al off. She really didn’t have any food left in the flat, and wanted to have the place tidied for when Jude stayed. She came to work on the tram the next day. It was much cheaper and she still enjoyed looking at the old buildings on her way in. It was whilst the tram was waiting at some traffic lights that she thought she saw a familiar figure standing in a shop doorway. Marta? She looked back but the figure had gone and the tram moved forward. Sarah tried to reason with herself. Marta was in Holland. There was no way she could know where Sarah and Millie lived. There were lots of women who looked and dressed like Marta. She must have been mistaken. She was going to mention Marta to Al, but he seemed to be very distant all day, so she thought she had better leave well alone. Oliver kept her very busy anyway.

Thursday was one of those lovely bright days where there was a slight nip in the air and all the trees displayed the golden red hues of autumn. Sarah was glad to have brought her car in though. The day passed without incident, and she was roused from her case studies by a phone call to say that Jude and her family were in reception.  Oliver had agreed to Sarah giving the girls a very quick tour of the studio; there was nothing much going on in there anyway. Jude and Dan were almost as fascinated as the girls with this peek into Sarah’s new world. Having watched the show so often, Jude was particularly keen to see the pods at the back of the set, and the corridors where Oliver and the crew were constantly chasing people who suddenly decided that they didn’t want to be on stage anymore. They bumped into Al as they were coming back out of the studio, and Sarah introduced him as ‘my friend Al’ which made him smile and blush slightly.  Seeing this gentle giant interacting with the girls, Sarah took another step back as it struck her again what a very nice man he was. He looked a lot happier than he had the last time she’d seen him.

Tour over, Sarah collected her things and led the way over to the Italian restaurant. There were other places to eat but this was her favourite.  She was greeted warmly by the manager, and a great fuss was made of the girls.  It was a lovely meal with much laughter; Sarah watched Jude and Dan, glad that finally she was able to give them something more than the snatched hours that were their lot when she lived with Andy. The concourse was lit up and rather magical when they left the restaurant.  They all walked back to Dan’s car and collected Jude’s overnight bag. There were hugs and a few tears, when the girls realised that Mummy and Aunty Sarah weren’t coming home with them, but with the promise that both would come home tomorrow teatime, Dan packed the girls into the car and drove off.

Sarah and Jude walked back to the underground car park arm in arm.

“This is almost like the old days, isn’t it?” said Jude.

“A bit yes, nicer surroundings than the old social work offices though.”

“Oh yes, this is such a glamorous place to work by comparison.”

She hadn’t thought of it in that way before, but looking around now, this new world was rather glamorous and she had a lot to be grateful for. Someone had arranged for the broken light to be replaced and Sarah had a feeling that she knew who that someone was. The thought of Al made her smile again, and so distracted by the thought and the need to drive carefully out of the entrance, she didn’t even notice a familiar figure standing in the shadows and watching her every move.

Ever the gentleman, Al had insisted on going right up to the door of the flat. Sarah unlocked the door and as Al turned to go, she gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. He blushed. She’d never seen him blush as much as that before, and thought that she had better get back inside before he realised that she had seen him. Buster glared at her as she turned the living room lights on.

“Better get used to it mate. It’s going to be me that gives you your dinners for the next month or so.”

He got up slowly, arched his back and walked off in the direction of Millie’s room. The door was shut but Sarah saw no point in tormenting him further so she opened it. Tail held very high, he walked through the doorway and jumped onto the bed, turning round three times and curling himself up into a big fat ball on Millie’s pillow. Sarah sat down in front of her laptop; feeling slightly bereft of any project planning for India now that Millie had gone. She looked at her watch. It was only just ten o’clock, and wondering if Jude had gone to bed, she sent her text. The reply came back almost immediately. Jude had been asleep for most of the day, Dan and the girls had gone to bed and she was too wide awake for her own good. Sarah rang her.

“Hang on, I’m in the living room under a blanket but I’ll shut the door so as not to wake anyone up. Is everything okay? Did Millie get off alright? Are you feeling lonely yet?”

“I’m fine Jude. We saw Millie off at the airport, then Tom at the station.”

“We?”

“Al came, we couldn’t fit the three of us and Millie’s luggage in my little car, so Al from Security very kindly offered to take us in his big black car.”

A note of curiosity crept into Jude’s voice. “So, what did you do when you’d seen Tom off?”

“We both felt a bit flat, and Al offered to take me for a drink. He seemed a bit taken aback when I said yes.”

“So where did you go? Come on Sarah! Spit it out!”

“Just teasing, I know how nosey you are. We went to a little old pub in the country, near Al’s old home. It was lovely. Very eccentric and full of memorabilia, and the food was to die for. Toilets were a bit eccentric too, but you can’t have everything.”

“What did you talk about?”

“Al did most of the talking actually. He used to be in the police force. We did swap a few gory stories, but mostly I listened. He’s very good company.”

“I’ll bet. What happened next?”

“He insisted on coming up to the flat door with me. I offered coffee, but he declined. I gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, and he blushed as he said goodbye. Is that a thorough enough description for you?”

“No, but I doubt if I’ll get much more out of you anyway. How are you feeling though? Lonely?”

“Not really. I got used to being alone after Andy left and rather enjoyed it, especially when I had Abigail to spar with. I’ve been so busy sorting out Millie’s trip over the past couple of weeks, I feel I’ve really neglected you all.”

“It’s okay. We understood. I missed you most though.”

“Well, I was thinking about that. If I can arrange to get you in, would you like to come up and sit in on the show sometime this week?”

“Oh, would I? You bet!”

“Would they be able to do without you for a night as well? I thought maybe Dan and the girls could bring you up at after school, we could all go out for a meal, Dan could take the girls home, and you could stay the night and come into work with me the next day, and I’ll take you home afterwards.”

“Wow! Would I get to see behind the scenes as well?”

“Yes, and meet Oliver if you’re really unlucky. No, I don’t mean that. He’s quite nice really, it just doesn’t always come over that way.”

“Oh Sarah. I would so love to come and have a peek at your world.”

“By the end of the filming you’ll be looking through your fingers, I can assure you. We’re filming on Wednesday and Friday. How about coming up on Thursday and I’ll take you home on Friday night?”

“That sounds great. Can I check with Dan in the morning?”

“Sure, I’ll sort things out at work, but I don’t think Oliver will raise any objections. I’ve just signed a permanent contract so I’d have to do something pretty dreadful to get the sack – especially with Millie away. Anyway, you sound sleepy now. Go to bed and I’ll text you tomorrow once I’ve sorted things out.”

“Night Sarah. Thank you. You just turned a bad day into a brilliant one. Will I get to meet the lovely Al too?”

“Probably. Goodnight my lovely. Sweet dreams.”

Sarah had taken Daryl back to his flat to get a change of clothes on Sunday, but neither she nor Millie were happy with him staying at home alone so he came back with her.  Sarah made a massive Greek salad with buttered chicken, and they both watched on in amusement as Tom and Daryl played more mindless war games on the X-Box. Tom’s first lecture wasn’t until Monday afternoon, so they dropped him off at the train station on the way to the studio.

“Keep me posted about finding my Dad.”  Tom whispered as he hugged Millie goodbye. “I don’t want you wandering off without some kind of tracking device on you.”

“I appreciate your concerns my darling, but I have travelled around India before you know!”

“Hmmm, and came back pregnant with me. Times have changed Mum, and there are a lot more safeguards that we can put in place before you go. Okay?”

“I do love you, Thomas.”

“And I love you, Mum. If you can find my Dad, and he wants to be involved then all well and good, but you’ve been all I needed for the past eighteen years, and now we have Sarah too.”

Millie looked at him, long and hard, realising that she really had done something very right when she brought up this intelligent and empathic boy – well – man now. Tom hugged her again, waved at Sarah and Daryl, then ran off down the stairs to his train platform. Millie gulped and climbed back into the car. Daryl handed her a tissue, and Sarah turned the radio up a notch.

The studio was a rather sombre place that Monday morning; Daryl was the only one of the five runners to make it in, and understandably everyone needed to know what had happened. After the first rush Millie noticed that Daryl was looking pale, and took him off for a coffee whilst Sarah explained to the others that he was still suffering from shock. Jenny arrived then, and agreed to put Daryl on office duties with the aftercare team. Fortunately, there was no filming that day so the runners were not as missed as they would have been.

Oliver called everyone into the office at mid-morning. He was quite gentle with Daryl but wanted to know what had happened that night.  Daryl haltingly explained that the meal out after work had been arranged a couple of weeks earlier, and that they’d all agreed to go by train and taxi. It was Natasha’s idea to borrow her mother’s car and take them all in it instead. None of her friends knew that she wasn’t insured to drive the car, or they would never have gone with her. They also thought that she had sobered up from lunchtime, because she seemed okay when they set off after work. The meal was good; Natasha wasn’t drinking during dinner, and Daryl said she seemed to be in a happier mood. It was when they were driving home that she changed. She started ranting about Sarah stealing her job, and how she was going to get even with Sarah, but wouldn’t tell anyone what she had done.

One of the other girls got very cross with Natasha, and said that she wanted to go home. That seemed to make her even worse, and her driving got very erratic as she did her best to scare them all. Then it all went too far; Natasha was going too fast round a corner, and the car ended up in a ditch. The car behind them swerved and missed them; the driver called 999 and managed to get everyone out. The police had breathalysed Natasha at the hospital, but Daryl didn’t know what the result was.

Rubbing his chin, Oliver looked rather pensive and turned his attention to Sarah. “Natasha’s mother has been ranting on the phone at me from Barbados – says it’s my fault for employing you instead of Natasha. I made it quite plain that I would never have considered her daughter for a permanent job here. I told her that I’m sorry about the accident, but even beforehand I found Natasha to be sloppy, lazy and totally unreliable. The fact that she injured four of my staff as well as herself because she decided to drink drive, and show off in her mother’s car makes her even less reliable. I won’t deny that her performance at work has deteriorated over the past couple of months, and that may well be due to her jealousy of someone who has more experience, more intelligence and personality than she has.”

“Thank you.” Sarah gulped. “What worries me is that she told Daryl and the others that she had done something to me to get her own back. Did she give you any idea of what she had done?”

Daryl didn’t shake his head; he had learned not to by now. “She didn’t say. I know she was looking at the case notes of past programmes the other day but I thought she was just doing some research.”

“Anyway,” said Oliver. “I’m satisfied that Sarah hasn’t done anything wrong. On the contrary. I’ve spoken to the other three, but either they are dopier than you Daryl, or they feel the need to cover up for Natasha.”

“They were all in the back.” said Daryl hastily. “I doubt if they heard as much as I did.”

Oliver patted Daryl’s shoulder very gently.  “Good quality loyalty. Admirable but don’t waste it on Natasha – a spoilt brat if ever I saw one.”

“Her Dad’s okay. Isn’t he Sarah?”

Sarah nodded her head. “He’s not the one that’s been spoiling her. I think that’s Mummy’s problem.”

“Yeah, well Mummy needs to be a bit careful as well. She may work in the Chief Execs but her daughter has broken just about every rule in the book here, as well as drink driving and driving without insurance. Thank goodness the guy behind her didn’t hit the car.  I’ve also got four staff that are traumatised and injured because of her selfishness. She ain’t coming back here if I have anything to do with it.”

On that he stalked back out of the office with all the dignity he could muster. Sarah looked at Daryl and shrugged her shoulders.  Millie invited Daryl to stay the night again but she got the impression that her flat might not be so enticing now that Tom and his X-Box had gone home. He had been quiet all day, but she felt it was more to do with the revelations about Natasha than the accident itself.  They dropped him off home and he assured them that a friend was coming round that evening and that he would be fine.

Things gradually came back to normal at the studio; the other runners returned and at Daryl’s insistence, told Jenny what Natasha had been saying. They also apologised to Sarah and Millie for the trouble that was caused.   Millie waited for the dust to settle before she dropped her bombshell about going to India to look for Tom’s father. Not surprisingly, Oliver went ballistic. Jenny however, understood completely; she had lost her own father at a very young age.

“To be honest Millie, your annual leave is mounting up anyway. You carried over leave from last year, and the year before. How long do you think you’ll need?”

“I really don’t know. Sarah helped me track him down – or at least the place he was last known at. I’d like to spend a bit of time just travelling and sight-seeing as well. Can I risk a month do you think?”

“It’s doable. By the way Sarah, I have a new permanent contract for you – if you are interested of course?”

Sarah hesitated just long enough for Jenny to look worried.

“I’d be delighted Jenny. It’s been a steep learning curve but I think I can manage to take off my stabilisers now. Any news on Natasha?”

“Good news.  Well goodish; no lasting damage done. The bad news is that her mother is insisting on us having her back but the legal department are set against it, not just because of her work record, but drink driving, no insurance and endangering the lives of other staff when you are on a final warning call for instant dismissal. I’ve got Mommy Dearest coming down to see me this afternoon. She had to fly back from Barbados in a hurry, and is still banging on about Sarah stealing her daughter’s job, but I have a file of incidents that happened before you even came here Sarah. Natasha’s been on borrowed time for quite a while – it’s just that she and her mother are too deluded to accept it.”

“I’ll keep out of the way this afternoon then.” said Sarah quietly, still wondering what it was that Natasha had done to get back at her.

“Not too far away. I will be asking Natasha’s mother to apologise to you on behalf of her and her horrible daughter!”

“No! She’s been through enough Jenny. It isn’t her fault she has a silly mother who indulges her.  Maybe this will knock some sense into her. I really don’t want an apology, please?”

“Fair enough. See you later then, and don’t worry about Oliver, I’ll calm him down.”

Now that the decision had been made, and the annual leave agreed, Millie, aided and abetted by Sarah, set to plan the trip to India with an efficiency that Tom would have been proud of, but which had played no part in Millie’s earlier trip to India.  Sitting on the sofa, sipping red wine after a leftover pasta dinner, the idea of India turned into a reality for both of them.

“It’s scary Sarah, I didn’t even have any jabs before I went last time. I had a rucksack full of clothes, three hundred pounds, a return plane ticket and a student rail card.  I can’t go anywhere for another two weeks because of the jabs – that’s assuming I can book an appointment with the overseas inoculation specialist – I think that’s the practice nurse. Oh, why do I have these silly ideas?”

“Calm down Millie. Time to set up a nice project sheet with dates and parameters.”

“I haven’t done one of those for years.”

“Ah but I have, and I have the software on my laptop. As a going away present I will set you up a plan, and an agenda. You need to tell me where you want to go and how you want to travel. Knowing you as I do, I won’t make the timescale too rigid – enough to get you there and back again.”

Millie’s face brightened; she quite liked the idea of her itinerary being mapped out for her. “So, if I do a bit of research about India and travel and that kind of thing ….”

“…. I will stick it all together in a nice neat package. I take it that you no longer want to travel student class?”

“Lord, no! I’ve earned the money for this trip, and I’d like the best I can get. Ooh, can I stay in a really posh hotel this time?”

“There are plenty of posh hotels in New Delhi; they may not be what you want though. There are some nicer boutique hotels from I’ve seen, small but very tasteful. I’ll draw up a short list.”

“Oh, bliss! Vaccinations first. I do think it’s rather wonderful that my health centre arranges this kind of thing online now.”

“Sign of the times my dear. Much better than having to listen to an endless engaged tone or queue up to make an appointment together with a load of sneezing, coughing sick people.”

That night marked the first of many nights spent searching for the ideal holiday for Millie.  The combination of her fantasies with Sarah’s more practical approach gradually evolved and was slotted into the project plan.  The budget flight of ten-two years ago was transformed into business class on Emirates flights.  Millie decided that flying First Class was pushing the boat out too much, but when she saw the photographs of the pool at the Imperial Hotel, New Delhi, she knew that this was what she wanted. Everyone at the studio joined in on the project planning; whenever the subject arose, there was always someone who had an idea or an opinion to voice. Al came up with the practicalities regarding staying safe and being contactable.  His suggestions made both Millie and Sarah feel more secure, and fell in line with Tom’s ideas about keeping in touch.

The clothes shopping was perhaps the most enjoyable trip for both Millie and Sarah. Buying thin cotton dresses that floated gracefully, scarves, loose tops and palazzo trousers, was bliss when the weather outside was cold and grim. Sarah allowed herself a few little indulgences in case anyone ever asked her out on a date where a floaty dress might be appropriate. Millie’s holiday started two days before she flew out. The studio staff took over the Italian restaurant for a farewell dinner, and Tom managed to get a couple of days off to come home and make sure his mother was sorted.  When Millie was determined not to get too stressed but was failing badly, Sarah stepped in and took over; every step planned and executed immaculately, and ending with Millie being waved off at the airport by Tom, Sarah and Al, who had volunteered to help with the luggage by chauffeuring them in his shiny black people carrier with tinted windows.

Sarah tried very hard not to get choked as she saw Millie disappear through security. Tom was dropped off at the train station again, and as Al negotiated the army of taxis outside, Sarah felt rather flat.

“Umm, Sarah?”

“Sorry Al, I was miles away.  Thank you for all this. You’ve been a miracle worker.”

“It’s been a pleasure, honestly. Uh – I don’t suppose you’d like to go for a drink, would you? I won’t be offended if you say no.”

Sarah smiled for the first time since Millie had gone. “Do you know what Al? I would love to go for a drink. Where shall we go?”

“What do you want? Loud and brash, quiet and sedate, or quirky.”

“Definitely quirky. I take it you have somewhere in mind?”

“I do. It isn’t far but it’s out in the country. It’s a pub near where I grew up. The owners have stuffed it full of war time memorabilia, dusty as hell but the food is good too, if you are hungry that is. The landlord’s an old mate.”

“Do I need to get changed?” asked Sarah.

“You look lovely – I mean fine – as you are. You always look good.”

Sarah was glad of the darkness of the car so that Al couldn’t see her blushing.

Al pointed out landmarks as they drove through the countryside; the pub was exactly as he had described it but even better. Al was greeted with enthusiasm by his friend, and the smells coming from the kitchen reminded Sarah that she hadn’t eaten since a quick sandwich at lunchtime. The food was excellent, and Al was wonderful company. He told her tales of previous close call incidents at the studio, and of his career in the police force. Sarah had such a good evening that she almost forgot that Millie was flying away to India.

After all the angst, it was turning out to be a good weekend.  Tom quite liked sleeping in the small room; he and Sarah got on really well, and all of Millie’s anxieties went out of the window. There was a brief moment when she almost objected because Tom wanted to go and meet up with some friends for lunch on Saturday, but then she stopped herself, remembering that he hadn’t just come home to see her, he had friends of his own too.

“What do you think of him then?” Millie whispered.

“He is lovely; incredibly handsome and very intelligent. He obviously thinks the world of his mother, and I find him to be very easy company. Stop worrying so much. You’ve done a wonderful job of bringing him up to be confident and independent. Well done!  At the same time, he has mislaid his phone three times since we got home yesterday which makes him a fairly normal teenager by all counts.”

After Tom, in unfeasibly tight jeans and a brightly striped tee-shirt, had gone out to meet his friends, Sarah turned on the TV to catch the lunch time news. The main section was full of doom and gloom as usual, but it was the local news that made Sarah sit up and call Millie in from the kitchen. She came running in quickly at the sound of fear in Sarah’s voice. There had been a car accident in the early hours of the morning. Five young people were in the car. No one was killed fortunately, but all five were in hospital, and the front seat passenger was said to have head injuries. It was when the camera showed footage of a large dark green Range Rover stuck in a ditch that Sarah had cried out. It was Natasha’s mother’s car.

Millie flipped through the channels trying to find out more information, whilst Sarah did the same on her laptop.  Details were sketchy but it appeared that all the occupants had been drinking, and the driver had taken a corner too quickly and gone into the ditch.  Millie phoned Jenny, who had only just heard about it herself, but had been able to ascertain from the police that it was Natasha that was driving. Jenny had given the police details of Natasha’s mother’s whereabouts, and was able to provide further information about the other four people in the car based on what the police had given her.  According to Jenny, Natasha had come off worse in the accident; her ankle had also been broken in the impact. The other four had scrapes and bruises but were very lucky. They had all been discharged from hospital except for Daryl, the runner that Sarah had met on her first day at the studio. They didn’t want to let him go as he lived on his own, and he had bumped his head when the air bag went off.

“He can come here.” said Millie impulsively. “I’ll sleep on the sofa and he can have my bed.”

“Are you sure? I thought Sarah was staying with you, and that you had Tom home this weekend?”

“All the better, plenty of us to keep an eye on him.  We’ll come and collect him from the hospital. Will you let them know?”

“Of course. If you really don’t mind?”

“We don’t. We’ll be over for him in about half an hour.”

Millie and Sarah sat in silence for a moment or two after Millie had put the phone down. They looked at each other.

“There was nothing we could do to stop it happening, Sarah. They’re all adults after all and who’s to say that she was drink-driving anyway; she may well have sobered up by the time they’d gone out and had a meal.”

“Do you really think so Millie? I think Natasha is so used to getting her own way that even if we’d got the car locked up somewhere, she’d have gone home and borrowed another one.”

“I didn’t realise her parents were that rich.”

“If her boasts are to be believed, they are.  She generally uses the family Golf to whizz around in, but wanted to impress her mates by using the Rangy because it’s brand new and can seat five.”

“Not any more by the look of that TV footage.  The Rangy is a write-off now.”

“Poor silly little girl. Come on, I’ll drive.”

The hospital wasn’t far away and Sarah managed to squeeze into a parking space not far from the entrance. Daryl was sitting in a wheelchair near the entrance talking to a nurse, and a tall man whose face looked rather familiar.

“Hey!” said Daryl. “Thank you so much for this. I wanted to go back to my flat but they don’t want me to be alone for the next day or so.”

“He may have concussion as well as a sprained wrist and a number of bumps and bruises,” explained the nurse.

Daryl indicated to the man next to him. “This is Natasha’s father, this is Millie and this is Sarah, they are social workers on the show.”

Mr Hart-Heron frowned. He shook Millie’s hand but took a pace backwards. “Sarah? Aren’t you the one who took Natasha’s job?”

Millie shook her head. “The post calls for a registered social worker with extensive experience in a number of fields. Natasha has only studied media to ‘A’ level, there’s no way she would have been considered for the job.”

Mr Hart-Heron’s frown deepened and he turned to Daryl. “Is that right Daryl? Natasha led us to believe that she was being lined up for promotion to the aftercare team.”

Daryl started to shake his head but thought better of it.

“No, Sir. Natasha was only on a temporary contract as a runner; she’s the youngest of all of us, and has the least experience. In fact, she dropped a huge clanger today that could have caused a huge amount of trouble if one of the security guards hadn’t stepped in so quickly.”

Natasha’s father turned back to Sarah. “Then I apologise for my daughter’s behaviour Sarah. Is that why she had been drinking yesterday?”

“It started off badly for her.” said Sarah and went on to explain about the car parking incident, being late for the meeting, getting hauled out of the meeting and then making a mess of the exit strategy. “We saw her with her friends in the restaurant and she’d been drinking then. I thought you were going to sober her up a bit Daryl?”

“We tried, but she had a bottle of vodka in her bag, and after she’d been put on a final warning by Jenny, she went off to the toilets, drank the lot and passed out. We put her in one of the green rooms to sleep it off, and she seemed to be okay when we came back to get her. I’m sorry Sarah, but she blames you for everything. There’s no rhyme nor reason to it – she’s just jealous that you got the job that she wanted.”

Millie shook her head in amazement. “I’m sorry Daryl, but Sarah and I qualified as social workers over twenty years ago. Does she not understand that?”

“Nope.” said Daryl. “She said that her mother thought she would make an ideal social worker, and that she would speak to Oliver about trying her out, but before she could, Millie had introduced you to Oliver and he’d given you the job.”

“I’m afraid my wife and I have widely differing opinions regarding Natasha’s abilities. Don’t worry. I’ll sort this all out when she gets back.”

Sarah looked thoughtful, “Perhaps Oliver might consider putting her into the aftercare team as a runner once she’s better. It might help her to understand that the job is nowhere near as glamorous as it looks. How is she anyway?”

“Whiplash, a broken ankle and some facial injuries from the airbag; she was very lucky really. They think that she probably does have concussion as well. I dread to think of what might have happened to both her and Daryl if it wasn’t for the air bags. Thank you again ladies. I’ll go back up and check on her.”

Millie pushed Daryl’s wheelchair out to the car and took it back whilst Sarah got him settled in the back seat.

“Does she really hate me that much Daryl?”

“She’s jealous. She adores Oliver and doesn’t like the way he asks yours and Millie’s opinions all the time. Her dad is right. Mrs Hart-Heron thinks Natasha is exceptionally talented, but to be honest we have to carry her most of the time because she gets so distracted,”

“Oh well, these things will sort themselves out eventually. Are you hungry?”

“Starving. I could murder a cheeseburger.”

“Fine, we’ll stop off at the drive thru’ on the way home. I could murder one myself and Millie is very easily persuaded where junk food is concerned.”

Millie needed no persuasion at all and the three of them arrived home laden with cheeseburger, fries and thick milkshakes. Once these were dispatched, Millie escorted Daryl to her room and ordered him to bed. He didn’t need much persuasion. Tom returned around six o’clock, in very high spirits, which were dampened slightly by the news of the car crash. Sarah was a little puzzled by his level of concern, and then she realised that Tom had spent a great deal of time on set after school and in the holidays, so he knew most of the crew very well.

They had planned to go out for a meal but in view of Daryl’s situation, they decided on pizza instead. Sarah grinned as she reached for the menu.

“What’s so funny?” asked Tom.

“Andy hated pizza. I tended to order it when he was away, but however hard I tried to get rid of the boxes, he always knew. I always got the same lecture as well. Pizza boxes may be made of cardboard but they contain a substantial amount of animal fat on them which could taint everything in the recycling bin, and make it all worthless.”

“He’s quite right Sarah, you are very nearly as irresponsible as my mother.” said Tom with a wink as he dodged the tea towel his mother threw at him.

The smell of pizza and garlic bread had a reviving effect on Daryl, who limped blearily out of Millie’s bedroom in time to sit down at the table and eat. The bruises on his face were beginning to show now, but his appetite didn’t seem to be affected by the accident. After dinner, Tom and Daryl commandeered the TV and set up Tom’s X-Box. Despite the sprained wrist, Daryl seemed to have no problem competing with Tom, and sometimes even winning. After clearing away and not putting the pizza boxes in the recycling, Millie and Sarah moved into Sarah’s bedroom and sat by the laptop.

“I need your help Sarah. I need to bounce something off you so you can tell me if I’m mad or not.”

“Okay. How mad?”

“Very. When I went down to visit Tom, he kept on asking me questions about his father. Questions that I couldn’t answer.”

“He’s at that age, and a point in his life where a bit of curiosity would be expected.”

“Yes, yes. I know that. Sarah, I’m toying with the idea of taking a leave of absence from the show and going to India to find Tom’s dad.”

There was a part of Sarah that had been expecting this to come ever since she had tracked him down on the Internet, so she had prepared herself.

“Will Oliver let you go? Do you have enough money?”

“Now that we have you on the team, Oliver and Jenny will be fine. I may have to leave it a few weeks until the runners are back, but that’s not a problem. I have plenty of money to finance the trip. I was hoping that you would put off your flat hunting for a while and stay here to look after Tom and the cat. Would you?”

“Of course, I would. “

“Good. Will you come with me to tell Tom?”

“Shouldn’t you tell him on his own?”

“No, I can’t put off telling him any longer. Come one.”

Millie led the way back into the living room where Daryl and Tom had just completed another war game.

“Tom, can you turn that thing off for a moment please?”

Tom looked at Daryl, then at Sarah, and turned the X-Box off.

“What’s up Mum?”

The response came out like a bullet. “I’m going to India to find your father.”

There was a moment’s silence before Tom turned back to the X-Box.

“Yeah, I hoped you would. Will you be gone long?”

“A couple of weeks, a month maybe. Sarah will stay on here to look after the cat – and you if you come home.”

“What’s Oliver going to say?” asked Daryl.

Millie grimaced. “He won’t like it, but I’ve not had a proper holiday for a couple of years, and now that Sarah is on the show, he can probably do without me for a while.”

“One condition Mum.”

“Yes Tom, what’s that?”

“Make sure you come home, and don’t join a religious sect or a harem or something?”

“I promise not to. Daryl, not a word of this at the studio. I need to do this my own way.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Good,” said Tom. “Can we get back to the game now?”

Millie and Sarah went back into Sarah’s room, and spent the next hour or so checking out what vaccinations Millie would need, which flights were the best, and where to stay. It was quite exciting really.

Tom was coming home for the weekend and Millie was more hyperactive than Sarah had ever seen her before. The flat was cleaned and re-cleaned. Millie stressed over whether Tom would like sleeping in the small room, and Sarah offered to go to Jude’s for the weekend so he could have his old room back. Millie was desperate for the two of them to meet however, and Sarah had to admit, she was just as anxious to make Tom’s acquaintance.  It wasn’t that Millie was being bad-tempered or awkward about anything, but Sarah found herself tiptoeing around and doing her best not to untidy anything.  It was after Millie had wiped the worktop down for the fifth time before they were due to go off to work, that Sarah took her friend by the hands and sat her down on the sofa.

“Millie. Chill. The flat is cleaner that it’s ever been. Tom’s told you a million times that he’s happy sleeping in the little room and can’t wait to meet me. That’s mutual. You are my oldest friend, and I love you to bits, therefore I will love Tom to bits as well. Let’s get to work now. Oliver is filming one of those cases where he crams a dozen people on the stage and security are run off their legs trying to stop everyone killing each other. It promises to be a busy morning, which is just as well because you need something to keep you occupied today. I’m taking you out to lunch, and then Tom is coming to the studio to meet us. He’s been to the studio a million times; he is a street-wise young man who can cope with trams and a rucksack. Put your shoes on, and I’ll drive us in so that Tom can relax on the way home, and you don’t have to swear at the traffic too much. Deal?”

“Sorry.” said Millie, with a rueful smile. “I am being a pain, aren’t I? I just don’t want Tom to think he’s being pushed out. I love having you in the flat, and I’m in no hurry for you to buy a place of your own. It’s just so important to me that the two of you get on.”

“We will. Just don’t get so tense about it. Come on. Shoes!”

Sarah handled the morning traffic with an ease that Millie envied. She even managed to find a decent parking space under the studio, nipping in quickly ahead of one of the younger runners who had borrowed her mother’s Range Rover and was having difficulties manoeuvring.

“Sorry!” Sarah called cheerily, as she and Millie hurried towards the lift. “Got a meeting to go to.”

“Mean girl. You know that she has to be at that meeting too.” said Millie.

“I know. I also know that she was boasting about her mother’s new Rangy in the green room yesterday, that her mother is away and that little Miss Spoilt is driving said Rangy without insurance or her mother’s knowledge.”

“Ah.”

“Quite! I also know that she has been spreading poison about me to anyone who will listen. God knows why because the only qualification the child has is an alleged ‘A’ level in media studies, and a well-placed mother who has had to pull a lot of strings to get her kept on.”

“Natasha will be out by the end of the month. Does she even have a car park pass?”

“Nope. She’s using her mother’s pass, again without permission, and there will be hell to play if she gets caught. Someone mentioned the risk to her yesterday, and she just batted her baby blues, tossed back the blonde locks, and said that she was sure she could blag her way out of it. Apparently, she is taking some of the other runners out for a meal and drinkies tonight, hence borrowing Mummy’s Rangy.”

“It’s one of those times when you know that you should butt out and leave them to it, but the old social work instincts keep nagging at you to do something. But what can you do?”

The lift arrived and took them up to the fifth floor. Al passed them in the corridor and grinned. “Busy one this morning. Get your flak jackets on.”

“I know. I’ll be the one hiding behind you Al.”

“Any time Sarah, Any time.”

Millie nudged Sarah with her elbow.

“You’re blushing! You do like him!”

“How could anyone not like him. He’s a lovely man. Don’t get ideas, I’m just getting comfortable with the idea of being single again.”

“I know, but he really is a nice man.  A lot better than Andy I’ll bet.”

“Andy was nice – is nice – and will undoubtedly be a total hero to whoever it is that he’s fallen in love with. Just not me. Hurry up or we’ll end up sitting in the danger zone.”

Fortune favoured them and they were able to get two seats well out of Oliver’s eye line. They already had their coffee to hand and notepads at the ready when Natasha, red-faced and glowering entered the room, only to be pushed into the hot seat directly in front of Oliver by Jenny as she shut the door.  Sarah got the distinct feeling that someone was looking at her; raising her eyes up from her notebook she caught the hate-filled glare of Natasha, her little lips pursed and her eyes narrowed.  Sarah returned the gaze with a beatific smile, and looked back down to her notebook quickly.  Oliver was on good form this morning. The aftercare team came in for a battering, more to get them ready for the amount of work they would get from the morning’s show than for anything that had gone wrong. Someone in the research team got well and truly told off for some sloppy work, that had it not been picked up by one of the more experienced staff, could have caused a great deal of embarrassment to everyone involved with the show.

Just as the meeting was winding up, there was a knock on the door and one of the car park security guards entered.

“Looking for a Natasha Hart-Heron?”

All eyes turned to Natasha, and Oliver pointed her out. “What’s the problem?” said Oliver. “Only we are in the middle of a meeting you know.”

“Sorry Mr Standish. I’ve just had a complaint that a car belonging to Emma Hart-Heron has taken up two spaces. I went up to see Mrs Hart-Heron but it appears that she been in the Bahamas since Saturday. I came to see if her daughter might know why the car is in the car park when her mother isn’t in work, and why it is taking up two spaces?”

“Off you go Natasha – yet another black mark my dear. Bad enough pinching your mum’s car when she’s away, but to pinch two parking spaces when they are at such a premium …” Oliver’s voice trailed away ominously.

“It wasn’t my fault!” spat Natasha. She pointed at Sarah. “It was hers! She took the space I was going to park in.”

The look that Jenny gave Natasha would have silenced anyone sensible, but not Natasha who embarked up on another rant about the unfairness of it all.

“Just remind me.” Oliver drawled. “Are we in the habit of giving parking spaces to runners who are still on six months trial?”

“Definitely not! Off you go now Natasha and get the car moved. You’ll have to have to move it to the long-stay car park if you can find a space. Report to me when you get back.”

Jenny was definitely cross now and started packing up her laptop. An indication that the meeting was well and truly over. Oliver waited until Sarah and Millie were walking past, and put his hand on Sarah’s arm. “How’s it going Sarah?  Settling in okay?”

“Yes, thank you. I mean I hope so. I should be asking you really. Am I doing okay?”

“Considerably better than that gobby little madam. We only took her on as a runner because Mummy works upstairs in the Chief Execs office.  She doesn’t appear to have taken a shine to you, though does she?”

“Oh well, we can’t be loved by everyone can we.” said Millie brightly. “I think Natasha considers everyone over forty to be too boring for words, and can’t understand why we haven’t all be put out to grass.”

Knowing that Oliver was very tetchy about his approaching fiftieth birthday, Millie had touched exactly the right nerve to make him even more annoyed with Natasha.

“Jenny!” he called. “Just a word please?”

Millie and Sarah made good their escape, and settled down with the other members of the aftercare team to check out the case notes of the people appearing on the show that morning.  As predicted, the huge family group took some handling; the mother and father had been separated for years, and hated each other. The mother said that her husband had cheated on her, so of course she had cheated on him. There were seven children in all, the first three went into care when the couple split. Then they got back together, had four more children who went to live with their grandmother when she gave up work to look after them. Two of the children went back to live with their mother when grandmother died, the other two went into care. Four of the children hated their father, three of them hated their mother. None of them appeared to like each other particularly, and a complicated strategy had been worked out so that each group was kept separate from the other until they actually went on stage.

It would have worked out okay if everyone had followed the strategy. Security worked very hard but because of a moment of inattention, two of the brothers that should have been kept separate managed to find themselves in a corridor and started lashing out. It took a while for Al to get from the corridor on the other side of the stage, to the corridor where all the action was taking place. He split the lads up before any real damage was done, but unfortunately blood was spilled, and a cameraman was already filming. Oliver soldiered on, and through sheer luck, managed to get some of the siblings reunited. The DNA test results were read out and to the surprise of nearly everyone, especially the mother, all the children turned out to have the same father after all. The mother was rather concerned about this as she had been getting the CSA to get money out of two other men who she’d claimed were fathers of her children. The mother and the father still didn’t like each other, and although the children were more kindly disposed to each other now that they knew that they shared the same parents, none of them wanted anything to do with said parents for abandoning them.

The aftercare team swooped in and made counselling appointments for everyone who felt that they needed them. Oliver carried on with the last part of the show, which was rather quiet and understated, in an attempt to patch up a sad relationship between two gay men who were seriously insecure about their relationship. Give Oliver his due, he had no shred of homophobia in him, and he dealt with their situation with an unusual amount of tact and diplomacy. He wrapped up the show with one of his standard homey platitudes to camera about dealing with conflict in a controlled environment. Sarah had heard most of them before but this one rang true, and she had a feeling that things were going to get ugly when Oliver found out who was responsible for letting two of the opposing sides end up together without security.

Word flew around and soon everyone involved with that morning’s show was gathered in the meeting room. Oliver sat on the table with his legs on a chair. He only usually adopted this position when he was delivering a bollocking to someone. Jenny was beside him, clipboard in hand ready to ascertain who it was that had let the side down. The aftercare team were immediately eliminated; their job began after the show. The researchers appeared to have done their job well, which brought it down to the runners, and to security.

“So, Al.” said Jenny. “Thank you for getting there so quickly but why were you on the wrong side of the stage?”

“We’d arranged for the more aggressive lad to be brought off on the left, that’s why I was waiting there. He was escorted off on the right though, and the other aggressive brother was already waiting there.”

“Right.” said Jenny, looking around the room. “Who took the brother off the wrong side of the stage?”

There was a silence as people looked around the room, and checked their clipboards. After looking at his colleagues, the chief runner cleared his throat.

“It was Natasha, she was responsible for the older brother.”

“So, where is she?” asked Jenny.

“She said she had to nip out and get another ticket for the car park. She hasn’t come back yet.”

“Okay, so now you can all see what goes wrong if people aren’t where they should be at the designated time. If you see Natasha, send her to me again. I’ll be my office. Do you want a word with her too Oliver?”

He nodded, thanked the rest of the teams for their hard work, punched Al in the arm and followed Jenny to her office. It was time for lunch in the Italian restaurant across the concourse. Millie and Sarah sat in one of the booths, hidden from sight and munching on garlic bread until their main course came. The distraction of work had taken Millie’s mind off Tom’s arrival, but she was beginning to get anxious again. It was while they were tucking into tagliatelle carbonara, that they heard familiar voices from the booth behind them.

“Natasha! You have to go back. Jenny is waiting for you.”

“Tough.” Natasha’s words were slurred, and she obviously realised what she had done wrong. Her friends ordered strong black coffee and tried to make her drink it. It was while Natasha was being escorted to the toilet, that Millie and Sarah took their opportunity to escape. As they were paying the bill, one of the runners came up to them. “

Please, you won’t tell anyone will you? We’ll try and get her sobered up before we take her back.”

Millie and Sarah looked at each other and shrugged.

“Been there and done that. Of course, we won’t say anything. Just make sure she doesn’t smell of booze or sick when she gets to Jenny’s office.”

“She isn’t that bad really.”

“She has good friends. That makes all the difference.”

As they walked back through security, Al popped his head round the door.

“Someone to see you. I put him in your office.”

“Tom!” squealed Millie as she ran down the corridor to the office.

Sarah made to follow her but was stayed by Al’s hand on her arm.

“Give her a moment with him.” he said quietly.

“Good idea.” said Sarah and sat down at the desk next to Al.

“Nasty business this morning.”

“It was all over before it started. You got there really quickly considering you’d been sent to the wrong side.”

“I move fast for a big guy – or so I’m told.”

Sarah laughed and nodded in agreement, trying very hard not to think about Al moving fast.  He was still smiling when he left the room, and made way for Millie and a very handsome young man.

“Sarah, please allow me to my lovely son Tom.” Said Millie with pride.

“God mum! Do you have to be so embarrassing! Hi Sarah. You don’t look as if Mum has driven you round the bend yet then?”

“No, she hasn’t so far – we seem to rub along quite well together.  Are you two ready to go soon?”

“I forgot to say Tom, Sarah’s got her car here so we don’t need to go on the tram.”

“Thanks Sarah, Will you have room in your car for my stuff?”

“What have you got?” Sarah followed him back in to the office. “That’s not much. We’ll fit that in easily.” 

Tom walked over to her and gave her a hug. “I’m glad Mum has you Sarah. I don’t need to worry about going away so much now.”

Looking back, Sarah realised how easy people were on her in those first few weeks of working on Oliver’s show. She sat in the audience for many of the shows, getting a feel for the production methods, how the runners and researchers worked, and where she would be fitting in to the bigger scheme of things.  One of the younger researchers seemed a little offhand but Millie soon put them in their place if she caught anyone making snide comments about Sarah. Finding her way round the studio, and all the associated rooms and corridors took quite a while. During filming, if she wasn’t actually sitting in the audience, she would watch on the monitors and be ready to flatten herself against a wall when the camera and sound man came hurtling past with Oliver, in pursuit of someone who had suddenly become camera shy.

It seemed at first to Sarah that the attitude held towards the people who came on the show by those who worked with them was rather callous. Initial applications were filtered and grouped according to the main course of action needed. Some of the people came under more than one heading – ‘cheated on by ex’, ‘DNA’, ‘double DNA’, ‘double lie test’, ‘estranged sisters’. Once they had been grouped into the appropriate category, each case was then given a sexy strapline that would be bound to attract the viewer, and keep their interest during the advertisement break as it was put up on the screen at the beginning and ending of the segment.

Sharing the flat with Millie was the easiest part of her new life. They didn’t always work the same hours or even the same days, so there was no constant falling over each other in the flat. They laughed and chatted as they had in the old days, but now they had so much more to talk about. Millie encouraged Sarah to cook again, although with the plethora of restaurants surrounding the Quays, there were times when going across for a meal after a hard day was by far the easiest, and most palatable option.

Sarah felt like her horizons were being expanded in every way, and she liked it. The house purchase went through, and Roseanne kept her updated on the progress. She was delighted to hear that the young couple who bought the house intended to rip out all the seventies ghastliness, and turn it into a sleek, modern family home. Abigail had complained about the fact that Sarah had not packed Andy’s things up, but received a quick retort from Roseanne regarding the fact that Abigail would have only unpacked everything to check that nothing was missing anyway.  There had also been a couple of calls from Simon to see how she was, which she thought was rather sweet. His office had also been besieged by Abigail but she refused to talk to Simon, and would only pass messages to him via his secretary. As predicted, she had demanded the return of the box, but Simon had sent her a very formal letter stating that Andy had specifically requested that the box be kept safely until his return. She threatened all kind of legal action, but gave up eventually and concentrated on putting Andy’s belongings into storage, and cleaning every trace of Sarah from the house.

The rest of the aftercare team accepted Sarah, and she found that the time spent in forensic social work was particularly relevant to many of the people who came on the show. It was at a pre-show meeting at the start of the week that Sarah and Millie’s past came back to haunt them. They were seated round the table looking at cases and deciding which case would fit best with the others. Oliver had a tearjerker episode scheduled for the end of the week, where he gently interviewed some particularly tragic but non-confrontational cases in order to show his softer side. Young children were inevitably involved and the bestowing of toys, or an iPad for the older ones, was part and parcel of building up the genial Oliver persona. Sarah found it all a bit saccharine, but decided to keep her opinions to herself. It was media, and media was the part she had to mug up on. The producer was working through the resumes of the cases when a familiar name jumped out at both Sarah and Millie. Amy Loomis! The siren of the Graduation Ball and the seducer of Steven Horgan. They nudged each other and read through the notes quickly. Amy Loomis was going to be on the show!  Would she recognise them? 

Skimming through the notes, it appeared to them both that fate had not been kind to Amy. She had an adult daughter who had three children of her own, and Amy had another four younger children, from three different relationships. She was coming on the show to establish the DNA of the two youngest because her current partner was accusing her of cheating. She was also accusing him of cheating, so it would be a double lie detector test as well. How Oliver relished those! On the plus side Amy had a large council house, and was on every benefit she could get, so there was no need for the aftercare team to get involved. Nowhere was there any mention of Steven Horgan however, and Sarah couldn’t help wondering how long the two of them had lasted after graduation.

Oliver decided that it was quite meaty case, so he’d sandwich it between a father with issues about his ten-year old son’s gambling habit, and a couple who were being harassed by a jealous ex-girlfriend. Oliver was optimistic that the case could be sorted out on the spot, and so they would have a happy ending. At the end of the meeting Sarah and Millie both spoke to Jenny, and made her aware of their previous association with Amy Loomis. She seemed slightly irritated, but having read through the notes again, decided that if there was any aftercare involved another member of the team could deal with it.

“Try and keep out of the corridors that morning if you can. I really don’t want this woman throwing a wobbler because she recognises you both from her dim and distant past. By all means, watch it on the monitor though, and if you see anything that might be useful, let one of the team know.”

Feeling summarily dismissed, they went back to the aftercare office and had a quick meeting with the rest of the team, most of whom were fascinated to know how both Millie and Sarah knew her of old.

The day of the filming arrived and there was a higher level of curiosity than usual about Amy Loomis and her family, because of her previous association with Millie and Sarah. The first section of the show went without a hitch. The father confronted his son about the gambling and money issues. The son broke down in tears. They hugged, and were left off stage to talk to the aftercare team about gambling addiction and counselling. Tucked safely out of the way, Millie and Sarah sat together, glued to a monitor for the first sight of Amy Loomis.

“If she’s still wearing her hair in pigtails I shall scream.” muttered Sarah.

“No.” said Millie. “She must have grown out of them by now.”

Oliver was on stage doing his introductory piece on Amy. Several other people had come into the room since the section had started, almost as curious to see what Amy looked like as Millie and Sarah were.

Amy wasn’t wearing her hair in pigtails. She was wearing it scraped up on top of her head in a pony tail, a style that was only ever flattering to models with high cheek bones and perfect skins. Amy had neither of those. Time had not been kind to her. The dark-haired girl in a red satin blouse was now painfully thin, her brown trousers hung on her and the beige cardigan that she pulled around her was far too large. Her skin was pale and there were huge circles under her eyes. The worst moment was when she managed a nervous smile and revealed several gaps in her teeth.

Haltingly she told a tale of how she had achieved a degree in media studies at university, but fell pregnant to a fellow student who had dumped her shortly after the Graduation Ball. He had never been interested in her daughter, nor contributed any money to her care. Amy and her daughter Stephanie lived in various hostels and sheltered housing, because her parents would have nothing to do with her.  Eventually she met up with and married a kind, gentle man who was happy to take Stephanie on as his own, and they had a son to complete the family. Seven years into the marriage her husband was punched in the face whilst on a stag do. He fell to the ground smashing his head into the concrete and died within a couple of hours.

Amy turned to drink as a way out, and had another baby by a man she could hardly remember.  She had two more children by her current partner, who was also a drinker, and who didn’t get on with Stephanie. Torn between her eldest daughter and her partner, Amy threw Stephanie out because she couldn’t stand the arguments any more. Stephanie’s relationship with an aggressive boor who beat her resulted in twin girls, a baby boy, and numerous visits to hospital for Stephanie with broken fingers, black eyes and bruises that never matched up with the accidents that she said had caused them.

Amy told Oliver that what she wanted most in life was some peace. She knew her current partner was cheating on her, and was just looking for a reason to get out of the relationship, which is why he was accusing her of cheating too. She wanted proof that the two youngest children were his, and that she, too tired and weary to do much more than look after her children and worry about Stephanie, had not cheated on him. Stephanie joined them on stage and Sarah was struck by how much she looked like Steven Horgan. The penny dropped. She felt a shiver down her back. Steven Horgan was the kind of man who got a woman pregnant and then dumped her. What a lucky escape she’d had.

Stephanie was angry. She was angry with her mother; she was angry with her mother’s partner. She was angry with the man who had supported her through two pregnancies, but had then abandoned her for another girl who didn’t have any children in tow.  For once the audience were very supportive of both Amy and her daughter; the boos and catcalls started when Amy’s partner strolled onto the stage looking very full of himself.  He threw himself down in the chair and glared at Oliver as if he was the worst person in the world.  He was not a pretty sight; shaved hair, tattoos that went from his shoulder, up his neck and ended where his hairline would have been, if he’d had any hair. The researchers had managed to persuade him to change his tee-shirt, as it had a particularly obscene phrase on the front.

Oliver went into his summary spiel to bring TV viewers up to date. He did his best to engage with the man, but each question was met with a hostile glare. As a consequence, the results of the lie-detector tests were presented to Oliver sooner than normal.  He opened Amy’s envelope first. Not surprisingly, the test proved that she was not lying on any counts.  It was a shame that the same could not be said for Amy’s partner. He failed. He tried to get up and walk away, but Al and Dave prevented him going until he’d heard the DNA test results. As Amy had predicted, both the younger children were his, and although she was throwing him out of the council house they shared, Amy had the grace to say that he could visit his children when he wanted to.

Both Millie and Sarah were feeling empathic towards Amy. On the day of the Graduation Ball, they had all had high hopes for the future.  Sarah realised now that she could have been in Amy’s position. That it could have been her sitting on Oliver’s stage, warn down and haggard, arguing with yet another worthless man who had left her high and dry. She knew that she and Millie shouldn’t get involved, but she had a compulsion to see Amy before she left. To tell her that things would be alright in the end, but everything that she thought of saying seemed trite and trivial compared to the awfulness of Amy’s situation.  She felt that Millie was having the same thoughts, and as the show cut to an advertisement break, they both sat in the office, silent and rather ashamed.

A runner burst into the room just then, “Oliver wants you two downstairs as soon as possible.”

“What for?” asked Millie.

“Dunno. Just said to come and get you both quick.”

Casting confused glances at each other, Sarah and Millie followed the runner downstairs and through the maze of corridors to another green room. Oliver was sitting on a sofa talking with Amy.

“Ah, come in you two. Amy was asking after you. She’s very eagle-eyed and had seen Millie on the show ages ago, but then she saw a more recent recording and recognised you as well, Sarah.  She asked if she could say hello?”

Oliver moved over so that Sarah and Millie could sit next to Amy. She smiled; a shy ‘I-know-my-teeth-are- bad-but –I-can’t-afford-to-see-a-dentist’ smile.

“I wasn’t sure if it was Millie, but then, when I saw you as well Sarah, I remembered how inseparable you two were at Uni. You both look as if you are doing well. Is it all okay with you?”

Sarah couldn’t find the words at that moment but luckily Millie could.

“Hey Amy, I have a son who’s just started at Uni. Sarah’s just emerged from a long-term relationship. She’s a bit like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon. She’s staying with me till she finds a place of her own.”

Amy smiled again and they could all see beyond the wrinkles and the sunken eyes, what a pretty girl she used to be.

“Just like the old days at Uni then. There’s something I’ve always felt guilty about, Sarah.” she said. “This seems to be a day for getting things off my chest. I had a feeling that you had almost arranged to go to the Graduation Ball with Steven, and I stepped in and pinched him. Do you forgive me?”

“There’s absolutely nothing to forgive Amy. It sounds as if you saved me from a fate worse than death.”

Amy nodded. “It was good with Steven at first but once he found out I was pregnant he wouldn’t stay. He went off to some foreign place to find himself.”

“So, did I, and found myself pregnant instead.” said Millie.

“My partner – sorry – ex-partner has just gone off to Thailand to find himself.” said Sarah trying not to sound too bitter.

Just then a runner turned up and announced that the car had come to take Amy and Stephanie back to the train station, so that they could go home and start the process of throwing her partner out of the house and reclaiming it for their own.

“Thank you for today, for getting to the truth for me, and for letting me meet up with my old friends.” Amy said to Oliver as he stood by the doorway doing his compassionate clasping of hands. Impulsively, Sarah came forward and hugged Amy, followed by Millie.

“The aftercare team will be here to support you Amy.” said Oliver in a less oily tone than usual.

“Thank you. I feel like you’ve put me on the way there already.”

“Just out of interest, what happened to Steven in the end?” asked Sarah.

“I’m afraid he died. He joined the army and became an explosives officer.  He was defusing a bomb in Afghanistan. I kept in touch with his mother. He wasn’t a bad man Sarah, just young and unable to handle the consequences. I have Stephanie to remind me anyway.”

Amy turned and followed her daughter and the runner out to the waiting car. Sarah and Millie both sat down on the sofa.

“Come on girls! No blubbing! Amy has left the building and you two have work to do. Chop, chop!”

There were times, thought Sarah, when she could cheerfully strangle Oliver Standish.

There can be few things nicer than waking to the smell of fresh coffee – unless of course you don’t like coffee. Sarah felt confused.  Andy didn’t drink coffee, and grudgingly made her cups of instant coffee. He had frowned at her attempts to persuade him that a cafetiere would be a useful addition to the kitchen.  Pulling on her dressing gown, she stumbled downstairs to the welcoming sight of Millie soft boiling eggs, cutting bread soldiers and pouring coffee from what must be her own cafetiere.

Millie turned round and grinned. “I thought that we should celebrate your last morning here doing things that Andy wouldn’t approve of. I’m having one egg, you can have two so that all the egg cups are being used again, and I hope you appreciate the neatness of my soldiers?”

Sitting down at the breakfast table, Sarah felt a lump in her throat and looked up at Millie.

“Stop it Sarah, don’t you go getting all sentimental on me now! Today marks the ending of one life and the beginning of another. We’ll take the storage boxes down after breakfast, I get to meet the lovely Jude and her family, and then we hightail it off to the big bad city and the overwhelming whims of Oliver Standish! Ta Da!”

“It almost feels as if we were back at Uni again. Promise me something Millie?”

Millie sat down at the table next to her. “What’s up?”

“Promise me that you’ll be honest with me, and tell me if I behave like a prat?”

“As if!”

“No, I realise now how poor the communication was between me and Andy; how little I knew about him really. There were things I should have said and so should he, but both of us were too scared to say them. Promise me that you’ll tell me if I do anything to annoy you, or you need more space, or you regret having me to stay – and work with you?”

“Listen, I know an awful lot of things have happened to both of us since Uni days, but I knew as soon as we sat down to lunch that day, that beneath it all, we were still the same two silly sods as we used to be. I was dreading Tom going off to Uni. I miss him so much. You know what it’s like coming home from a traumatic day with no one to offload to.”

“I know, I used to stop off at Jude’s sometimes because I knew that Andy wouldn’t want to listen.”

“And Jude will still be there. We’ll have each other to grumble to when Oliver gets up our noses, or we have a really sad story that doesn’t look as if it will work out.  You’ve been living in limbo land for a long time, and now it’s time to take the real world on. I promise not to make you eat boiled eggs every day though. I like the egg cups for their decorative use as well as practical. Now taste this coffee, it is rather gorgeous but needs to be drunk fresh.”

The storage boxes took up all the room in both their cars and Sarah was glad of Millie’s previous experience of storing goods as the whole system was totally alien to her. When she moved out of her parents’ house Andy had hired a house clearance firm to take everything but Sarah’s clothes, and her most personal belongings. She had been so shell-shocked by the death of her father that she had just let Andy take charge of everything, signing papers when bidden but unable to deal with anything that reminded her of the loss of both her parents. To be fair to Andy, he had done an excellent job. He told her that most of the money from the house sale had been invested in shares for her, and the rest put into a savings account that he set up in her name. He really had been her rock in those early days and she was grateful for his kindness, which she now knew she had mistaken for love.

Sarah was fascinated by the storage facility. The manager had looked at the number of boxes they had, sold them a stout padlock with a couple of keys, and helped them load the boxes onto a trolley.  He led the way down a dark corridor where movement activated lights sprang into life as they passed. The little windowless room that would house Sarah’s belongings for the time being was half-filled by the time the trolley was unloaded, and as she padlocked the door and pushed the empty trolley back to the entrance Sarah felt like another door in her life had closed.

“This is the key code to get into the building, and the same code opens the gates if you decide that you desperately need something when the office is shut. We have ten-four-hour CCTV, so although you may feel you are alone if you come in out of hours, I can assure you that we’ll be watching. It gets a bit spooky here after dark though, so I wouldn’t advise it.”

The manager was quite matter of fact but Sarah had a feeling that she wouldn’t be venturing down the corridors if there was no one with her. A simple pub lunch rounded off the morning and left them both in a better frame of mind for the final packing up. Sarah phoned Jude when they got back to see how she was. It was a good day.

“Are you sure Millie doesn’t mind stopping off here on the way back?” said Jude.

“Of course not, she’s really looking forward to meeting you – all of you – she understands just how important you are to me. Oh, and we have to tell you about Andy’s solicitor Simon.”

“Nice?”

“Oh, more than, he went to school with Andy and – get this – Abigail used to stalk him and fantasise about him.”

“Oh my god! What else?”

“No, I’ll tell you when we get there. I’ve got three bags of charity stuff but I thought the girls might like a rummage for dressing up clothes first.”

“Brilliant. Millie will like us, won’t she?”

“She’s just as worried that you won’t like her, and desperate for you to know that she won’t take me away, or try to take your place. I love you both, and I know that you’ll be able to see in each other what I see in you.”

“Okay, we’ll see you soon. Have you eaten?”

“Pub lunch after the storage place. All fed and watered and very anxious to close the door on this place for the last time”

“Hurry up then.”

With renewed vigour, Sarah and Millie packed away the last of Sarah’s belongings and put them into her car. Sarah left most of the house keys in an envelope on the kitchen table, and after a long look around each room in the house to say goodbye, she locked the front door and posted the keys back through the letter box. No turning back. Millie waited patiently in her car, watching Sarah methodically saying goodbye to the house she had seen as a home for the past ten years, then followed her on the drive to Jude and Dan’s house.

The girls greeted Sarah with enthusiasm, but the potential dressing up clothes met with absolute joy. Dan took them off into the front room to supervise, and indicated with his head that Jude was in the kitchen. Sitting at the table, with coffee and biscuits ready, Jude looked very nervous, but one look at Millie’s face made her realise how nervous she was as well. Sarah made the formal introductions and once they were sitting down, began to tell Jude all about Simon, Abigail and the revelations of the day before, with the occasional back up from Millie. Within a few moments all three of them were laughing, and both Millie and Jude realised that no one had anything to fear in regard to losing Sarah’s friendship.

Dan sent the girls in to display their creative use of Sarah’s old clothes; the combinations were hilarious but Sarah wondered why she ever wasted money on some of them.  Dan followed the girls.

“I’ve packed the other stuff away and I’ll take it to the charity shop on my way to work tomorrow. I have to say Sarah, there are some really bad taupe things in there that even the girls wouldn’t entertain.”

“Don’t blame me. They were presents from Andy in his effort to make me look more like his sainted mother. I fell very short of the mark, I’m afraid. Most of them I wore only once, just to please him, the others stayed hidden in the wardrobe. Andy was a kind man, but he had no taste whatsoever.”

“I’ll say!” said Millie. “I couldn’t believe it when I first walked into the house. Those kitchen tiles!”

“Yes!” said Jude. “And the pine cladding. I’ve never seen so much pine cladding before in my life!”

“Okay you two. No ganging up on me. I know that I should have persuaded Andy to do something about the décor years ago, but it’s too late now. That house is someone else’s problem. I need never set foot in it again. Although I’d give money to be a fly on the wall when Abigail goes in there, and finds that the box of papers has disappeared. Simon says that he will write to her saying that the box is in his safekeeping till Andy’s return. For some reason he didn’t seem too keen on giving her a call!”

United by a common dislike of Abigail, the rest of the afternoon sped by and soon it was time for Sarah and Millie to make the last leg of their journey back to Millie’s flat. Jude hugged them both goodbye and whispered into Sarah’s ear, “You’re right, she’s lovely and I do like her, and I’m not worried anymore.”

With that reassurance ringing in her ears, the drive back gave Sarah a little more time to take stock of all that had happened in such a short space of time. Before she realised it, she was following Millie’s car into the car park and parking beside her in what was now her designated space. It took three trips to get everything upstairs and the flat looked a little cramped once Sarah’s belongings cases and boxes were placed inside.

“Come and look.” said Millie, leading Sarah towards the box room. It was completely transformed. Millie had managed to get rid of most of the clutter and with the addition of a new single bed and wardrobe, it now looked like a place that Tom would be willing to sleep in when he came home.

“This makes me feel so much better Millie. I was worried that Tom would feel resentful about me coming here and taking over his space.”

“He’s fine. I sent him pictures and even he was quite impressed with what I’d done to the junk room. Now come and look at your room.”

It too was transformed. Millie hadn’t gone mad but she’d had toned down Tom’s masculine approach and made the room a softer and more feminine place by a fresh coat of lilac paint, some pretty curtains and duvet cover.

“How on earth did you manage all this in two days – and work?” said Sarah.

“I can’t take all the credit. Our good friend Al came over after work and did all the heavy stuff as well as the painting. He wanted you to have a warm welcome too.”

It was all a bit too much and Sarah sat down on the bed, feeling that the emotions she had been trying so hard to keep at bay for weeks were about to break through the well of self-defence. Millie handed her a box of tissues and left the room so that Sarah could have the time to herself. She cried like she had never cried before; big sobbing gasps that eventually subsided into snivels that could be safely mopped up by the tissues. Sarah was just beginning to pull herself together when Millie knocked on the door and came in bearing two large glasses of red wine. Her timing, as always, was impeccable.

“Sorry Millie.”

“What for? It was bound to catch up with you sooner or later. Come on Ms Professional Social Worker. You should know as much if not more than me, about the process of separation and grieving.  Drink up that wine and when you are ready, come and join me in the kitchen where I am cooking up my signature dish.”

“Which is?”

“You’ve forgotten already? Cheesy pasta topped with griddled spicy tomatoes – except the spices are a bit more sophisticated than they used to be.”

“Ah but one can work wonders with a tub of curry powder!”

“You do remember! The pasta’s just gone in the oven but I need to stand over the tomatoes in case the grill incinerates them. Warning – it can get a bit fierce. I’ll see you in a bit?”

“How can anyone resist the lure of your cheesy pasta and griddled spicy tomatoes? Do you mind if I do a bit of unpacking?”

“Course not. It’ll save me from tripping over the cases when I use the bathroom.”

“Sorry!  Oh, you were taking the mickey. I must get out of this habit of over apologising.”

“You must! I’ll call you when it’s ready. Drink up!”

Sarah pulled her suitcases and boxes out of the hallway and into her room. She had done her best to be organised and written a resume of the contents on each of the boxes. On closer examination of the room, she was pleased to find that she had a double wardrobe, two chests of drawers and a floor to ceiling bookcase.

With an unusual self-control, Sarah unpacked all her clothes and hung them up, or folded them away. The suitcases went one inside the other and Sarah managed to put them up on top of the wardrobe. That left her books, DVDs and CDs, and the little box containing her most precious items, including the egg cups. She decided to leave these, till later, and having deposited her make-up, perfumes and pitifully small amount of jewellery on the desk cum dressing table, she took another sip of her wine, threw her shoulders back, and followed the enticing smell of cheesy pasta into the kitchen – her new kitchen for the time being.

Millie wasn’t due to arrive until eleven o’clock but something made Sarah wake up early and connect the printer to her laptop. She dug out the box containing Andy and Abigail’s mementos and scanned some of the documents; not the photographs, she didn’t feel that she wanted anything that would remind her of the two of them as children. Abigail as a child, looked like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Andy’s mother had made a point of dressing her adopted daughter in frills and flounces. The early colour photographs made the pink dresses look particularly sickly.

By nine o’clock everything necessary had been scanned and the box was packed up and sealed.  The devil in Sarah was still active, so taking a chance that some solicitors might work on Saturdays, she called Andy’s solicitor. He was in and seemed quite nice on the phone. Sarah explained about the box of papers and photographs and asked if she could drop them off at his office for safekeeping.

“I’m moving out this weekend you see, and I don’t like the idea of them being left in an empty house. I’ve only had a quick look but there are things in the box that must be important to Andy….”

“….and to Abigail I would imagine.”

“Ah, you know about Abigail then?”

“I’ve known the family for many years; Andy and I went to school together. I think you’re right, they should be here really till Andy comes back. Rather than you come in here, would it be easier if I popped round later? We close the office at one o’clock.”

“That would be fine, my friend and I are packing up my things today – I’d be grateful to have a third-party present otherwise Abigail will accuse me of stealing the potato peeler or something!”

“She hasn’t changed then. She had a ridiculous crush on me when Andy and I used to hang around together. I tried to dissuade her as gently as I could but she took to stalking me. Every time I left the house she would be hiding badly behind a bush. I told Andy eventually and I don’t know what he said to her but the stalking stopped. I also stopped going round to Andy’s after that. His parents took Abigail’s side – she’d told them that we were going out and I dumped her of course – it was a shame because Andy was always a good friend, although I don’t suppose you want to hear that right now do you?”

Sarah couldn’t help but smile.

“Strangely enough I’m feeling rather grateful to Andy right now. He gave me the jolt that I needed. I know that you are his solicitor, but can I tell you something in confidence?”

“You mean that you don’t want Abigail know. My lips are most definitely sealed!”

“Phew. I must admit that I felt quite distraught when Andy left, but in retrospect, it was the best thing that could have happened. Having to think about my own future instead of trailing along in Andy’s wake for another ten years was just what I needed. I took voluntary redundancy and went off to the big city looking for work. Purely by chance I met up with one of my oldest friends in a coffee shop. Thanks to her, I start my new job on Monday and I’ll be staying in her spare room till I find a place of my own. “

“Wow! Things have moved fast. Is this the friend who is helping you pack?”

“Yes, Millie. We were at Uni together and lost touch when we graduated.”

“I look forward to meeting you both later this afternoon then.”

Sarah hung up the phone and grinned. She phoned Roseanne next and let her know that she would be moving out that weekend, and that the solicitor was popping round that afternoon to collect some of Andy’s papers. Roseanne laughed.

“I bet those are the papers that she’s been nagging me about. I’ve told her that no one can remove anything from the house until you have handed the keys over and moved out. She got very agitated and was rather rude.”

“Sorry about that. I think I may have wound her up a bit. Can I give you my forwarding address? I’ve arranged to have my post redirected but it won’t kick in for another week. “

“I promise not to give it to Abigail.”

“Please no! I really don’t want her stalking me in town as well. I sometimes wonder why there isn’t anything more interesting in her life than bothering me, but she’s a little obsessive so that probably accounts for it.”

“When are you actually moving out?”

“Tomorrow. We’ll be taking my boxes out to the storage centre in the morning and then taking my clothes and stuff back to Millie’s in the afternoon. I can leave the keys in an envelope here for you. There is one key that neither you, nor Abigail has, it’s for Andy’s chest in the garage. It’s full of fairly expensive climbing gear so we always kept it locked. If Abigail is going to be responsible for packing up the rest of the things in the house then I suppose it makes sense for her to have it.”

“Just leave her a note explaining about the extra key then. That way she won’t be ringing me non-stop asking what happened to it.”

“Will do. Thank you for everything Roseanne. You’ve made it all quite painless.”

“It’s been nice knowing you. Shame I can’t say the same for Abigail. Bye.”

Thinking about how modern and individual Millie’s flat was, Sarah couldn’t help but wonder what she would make of Andy’s monument to seventies bad taste. Strange how she was able to look at the house through different eyes now, and realise how dreadful her surroundings were. Moving from the lounge to the kitchen, her eyes were assaulted by the cladding and those horrible brown and white tiles. She looked at her watch. Nearly eleven and Millie would be here very soon.

Although Sarah had been looking out of the window like an impatient child, she actually missed Millie’s arrival due to a telephone call from Abigail, who was demanding to come round again. Sarah told her, quite curtly, that it wasn’t convenient as she had visitors and didn’t want Abigail there making a nuisance of herself. Abigail took great offence at this and was about to come over anyway and have a showdown, when Sarah dropped her bombshell and mock-reluctantly stated that it was Andy’s solicitor that was visiting, and she was quite prepared to complain to him about Abigail’s behaviour if she did turn up. This seemed to silence her temporarily at least.

Sarah managed to let Millie in through the front door whilst still on the phone to Abigail. She took advantage of Sarah’s being busy, and prowled around every room downstairs, coming back to Sarah in the hallway with her eyes opening wider and wider, as she wondered how on earth Sarah had managed to live in a place like this for so long. When she finally got rid of Abigail, Sarah joined Millie in the kitchen where she was unpacking a number of mysterious looking tubs and packages.

“Abigail?” said Millie.

“The very same. What’s all this?”

“Lunch. I hit the deli on the way over. I have a variety of cheeses and meats, some olives, anchovies, tiny red bell peppers stuffed with cream cheese, and some fresh granary bread. I thought I’d lay it out on the table to warm up a bit.”

“There’s an awful lot for just two of us.”

“I know. I always over cater. Still, what we don’t eat today we can have for lunch tomorrow.”

“Actually, we have a guest so extra is good.”

“Who’s coming? Not Abigail surely?”

“Good God no! Would I waste food like this on her? No, Andy’s solicitor is coming round after one o’clock to collect that box of photos and papers I told you about. He doesn’t think they should be left in the house.  He knows all about Abigail’s past, in fact, she stalked him when he was at school with Andy.”

“No! Poor guy. What’s he like?”

“Nice enough on the phone. Never met him in person before. Andy didn’t mention that he had a solicitor, let alone one that he went to school with and who Abigail had a huge crush on.  I felt that the box should be in safekeeping because if I left it here Abigail would get her mitts on it and probably destroy the paperwork. If it’s in a safe place then Andy can decide what to do with it if he ever comes back – with his true love.”

“What true love?”

Sarah poked around in her handbag for Andy’s latest postcard. She handed it to Millie who read it and whistled. “Are we still taking bets on whether he comes back with a he, a she or a ladyboy?

“Please don’t. Whoever he or she is, I hope they’ll benefit from Andy getting rid of this mausoleum.”

Millie looked around her and sniggered.

“How the hell did you live in this place without going off your trolley. It hasn’t been decorated since the seventies. I didn’t know that Formica existed anymore.”

“It probably came back into fashion but nobody told me. Come on let’s get some packing done. Sitting here looking at all that food makes me feel hungry, and I don’t think we’ve done anything to earn it yet.”

The next two hours passed quickly as Millie helped Sarah sort through her clothes and the other personal belongings that would be coming with Sarah when she moved in. Sarah was stunned to find how much of what she owned had sat at the back of a drawer or in a wardrobe for years without being touched. There were outfits that hadn’t been worn since she graduated; together with several items of clothing that were obviously presents from Andy, and an attempt to turn her into a taupe ghost of his mother. It was these items that Sarah took the greatest of pleasures in designating to the growing charity shop pile.

It was while the two of them were giggling over a particularly loathsome polyester blouse in orange, black and green, that Sarah heard the knock at the door. She looked out of the window and after establishing that Abigail’s car wasn’t outside, they went downstairs hoping that the caller would be Andy’s solicitor. It was, tall, dark and rather handsome, he introduced himself as Simon Forder, as he followed the two women into the kitchen. He looked around and laughed.

“Nothing changes. This is exactly the way I remember it. Andy’s mum was so pleased when they had the cladding put in here. She said that it added ‘chick’ to the room. I always thought that it made it look like a run-down sauna.”

“That’s exactly it!” said Sarah. “I wish that I could say that Andy left the house the way it is because of his childhood memories and as a tribute to his parents, but I rather think that he saw no reason to change, and that doing anything with the house wasn’t very stimulating compared with gardens, trains and mountain climbing.”

“Didn’t you try and get him to change? To decorate and make something of your home?” asked Millie as she opened up the cheese and hams ready for lunch.

Sarah shrugged. “Getting Andy to do something that he really didn’t feel comfortable doing, was almost impossible. I’d get sulks, and if that didn’t work, there would be the ‘stomping around the house’, and as a last gasp attempt, he would invite Abigail and her family round for dinner. He always cooked it though. He didn’t trust me after the time when I let a pan of potatoes boil dry because I was watching the news on the TV.”

Millie pulled a face and started cutting the bread into suitably thick slices whilst Sarah laid the old mismatched plates round the table. Simon watched them both, partly amused by their interplay but also wearing the face of someone who really needs to say something.

“Can I ask you a really personal question Sarah?”

Sarah sat down at the table. “Fire away. It seems that you knew Andy far better than I did though.”

“Possibly. We’ve got to know each other a lot better in the past couple of months whilst he was planning his trip.”

“His escape you mean?”

“Don’t be bitter Sarah. He felt very guilty doing it the way he did, but he didn’t think he had any choice other than to make a clean break. He wanted you to be angry with him, he felt that it would hurt less.”

“You’re certainly right about the being angry bit.” said Sarah, tearing a lump of bread off the slice that Millie had just put on her plate. “I was furious with him. It passed after a day or two though. It’s so much easier to be furious with Abigail.”

“I suppose Andy explained why he had to leave to you, didn’t he Simon?”  asked Millie, cutting chunks of cheese and putting them on a plate with the slices of ham and salami.

“He did, and I’m assuming that I can say what I like in front of Millie, can I Sarah?”

“Of course, you can. It all sounds very mysterious though. Has he got some serious condition? A brain tumour or cancer or something like that?”

“No Sarah, although it would probably be easier if he had.”

“Is he gay?” asked Millie.

“Possibly, although I think confused would be a better description.”

“Right. That would explain a few things. Umm. Was he experimenting before he went away Simon? I mean, should I go and have any blood tests or anything?”

“Unfair Sarah. He wouldn’t do a thing like that to you. He had a full health check before he went, and his physical health is fine.”

“I’m sorry Simon, it’s just that spending ten years with someone, and then finding out that you didn’t really know them at all, it’s a bit much to take in at once. I don’t feel angry with him anymore. He made the best decision for both of us, and I really am grateful to him for being brave enough to make it.”

“He told me that you’d come round sooner rather than later. He said that you deserved so much better, and that he’d been holding you back all these years because he was so frightened of change.”

“I’d noticed.” said Millie as she looked around the room.

“That’s why you have to admire his decision to put the house up for sale. He knew it would force your hand about moving out, and when he eventually comes back, he can start from scratch.”

Sarah stared at the food on her plate, not really feeling very hungry now.

“I wish we’d talked more. Ten years is such a long time to be wishing you were somewhere else.”

“No, he only began feeling like this about six months ago. He mentioned you’d been on a secondment some years ago?”

“Yes, forensic social work.”

“Right, and he said that you did very well and they wanted you to apply for a job there.”

“It would have meant longer hours, travelling. It felt like a huge step. Andy wasn’t happy about it; in fact, he was so stressed that I didn’t feel I could take up the job.”

“And this post you are about to take up?”

“Bloody hell!” said Millie. “An even huger step if you ask me!”

Sarah looked a Simon a little ruefully. “Okay. You win. I just hope that things work out well for Andy too.”

“He’d be very happy to hear you say that.”

 Simon’s mobile rang and he looked at the display. “I’ll just take this out in the hall if that’s okay?”

“Of course.”

As Simon closed the door behind him, Millie reached over and squeezed Sarah’s hand.  “He’s a nice guy. How are you feeling?”

“Fine. A little shell-shocked but I’m glad that Andy has got someone like Simon that he can talk to. That was one of the things that I worried about. Not that Andy and I did talk – or confide in each other for that matter but, to be honest Millie, I’m even more anxious to get out of this house and all its memories as soon as possible.”

Simon came back in.

“Got to go. Something urgent has cropped up. You have my number Sarah, if you have any problems, don’t hesitate to call. Now where is this highly confidential box?”

“Here, I’ll carry it out to the car.”

“Thank you. Nice to meet you, Millie.”

Sarah walked out to the car with Simon, and he locked the box securely in his boot. “I meant what I said Sarah, call me – here’s my mobile number as well – if you have any issues. I’ve got your numbers, and Millie’s address. Do you want to know when Andy comes back?”

The question took her aback but when she stopped to think about it, yes, she did want to know. Sarah nodded, feeling a bit choked. Surprisingly, Simon hugged her and got into the car. He grinned and waved as he drove away and Sarah couldn’t help wishing that she had met him sooner; he might have helped her to understand Andy and Abigail.

Millie was in the kitchen examining Andy’s list and comparing it to the items on show. She turned to Sarah with a quizzical look on her face. “You don’t seem to own much in the way of kitchen equipment my dear? I can see a garlic press, one small aluminium saucepan, and a set of ‘comic’ egg cups on this list but not a lot else.”

“I bought the garlic press; the saucepan is a hangover from Uni days,and the set of egg cups is one of the few things I bought from my parents’ home.  A chicken, a duck and a rooster. Andy hated them. I used them to annoy him. I also cut my bread into soldiers and dipped. Very cross face. In fact, he wouldn’t sit across the table from me if I was having a boiled egg. “

After rummaging in the kitchen cupboard, Millie found the egg cups and pulled them out triumphantly. “Oh, these are so cute. If you don’t mind Sarah, until you find your own place, these will have pride of place on the dresser. One can never have too many small saucepans and Tom broke my last garlic press. You are coming to our flat with a considerable dowry already!”

The rest of the day sped by; having Millie there took all the pain and strain out of the packing. They decided not to pack up any of Andy’s things as Abigail was bound to unpack and check everything anyway. By nine o’clock all the storage boxes were packed, the charity boxes were ready to be dropped off at Jude’s as there were no shops open, and Sarah thought that it would give Millie and Jude a chance to meet finally. Sarah’s own belongings were mostly packed with just a few things that would be needed overnight and in the morning.

Sarah ordered pizza for them both and opened a bottle of wine. They watched an old comedy programme on the TV and laughed. It was a good end to the day.