Missing (53 page)

Kelsey’s eyes sparkled. ‘You know what, I don’t even really care that
she’s
going to be there when I get home,’ she declared rashly. Then, after considering that for a moment, ‘Actually, it’s going to be a bit weird seeing Dad with Rufus the dufus, knowing he’s like his and all that.’

‘Oh it’ll be fine,’ Martha told her. ‘He’s just a baby. Theo’s the one you need to be worrying about. Have you decided what you’re going to wear yet?’

Kelsey was back in her suitcase. ‘Oh look, I’d forgotten all about this red top,’ she cried, holding it up. ‘It is soooo lush. I have to wear it. Or maybe I should save it for Saturday. You’re definitely coming
to
the auction, aren’t you? Dad’s reserved us places right in the front row, he said.’

‘Are you kidding? I’m definitely going to be there. But what about
her
? Won’t she be there too?’

‘Oh, we’ll just ignore her. With any luck she might go away.’

Martha giggled, more because she was expected to than because it was funny. ‘You know what,’ she said, getting on with her own packing, ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying, but I’m still finding it a bit freaky the way you’re suddenly OK with your mum. I mean, like she was always really cool with me and my parents, but you two were always at one another …’

‘Actually, I think she’s got God,’ Kelsey informed her, whilst wriggling out of her old jeans. ‘Or they’ve put her on new medication or something. Anyway, whatever, she’ll probably go nutso again any time now, so don’t get too worried. I know I’m not.’

Martha glanced up at her but she didn’t say anything, even though she knew that Kelsey really was worried about her mum. However, Martha could understand why she wouldn’t want to talk about it now. Who would, when Theo Kenwood-South was on his way to pick her up?

Until the moment she sauntered out of the school’s ancient front doors to find Theo waiting next to his motorbike, surrounded by younger girls clamouring for his autograph, Kelsey had never really understood what a true high was. It was like floating on air, she found. She was a movie star, a pop idol, the most important person in the world. Her heart was tripping and she was finding it nearly impossible to stop smiling and stay cool, though she was shaking and still
felt
a bit sick inside. It wasn’t only the way a path started opening up for her to go through, it was knowing that apart from the girls already stumbling towards their parents’ cars, and those who’d come out purposely to get near him, every window in the school had faces pressed to it not wanting to miss the big event.

Being too shy to look at him, Kelsey kept her head down as she walked, glancing out occasionally, but hardly registering a thing. When she reached him her elation soared to new heights as he took the small bag she was carrying, before handing her a helmet to put on.

Seconds later they were roaring out through the school gates, her arms clasped around his waist, her head resting against his back and her heart just about ready to burst.

Having thoroughly approved of Miles’s idea of Theo going to collect Kelsey, Vivienne was now daring to hope that when Kelsey came in she might be distracted, or even bedazzled enough, not to care about anyone or anything besides her new crush. And even if she did, while Theo was around surely the worst Kelsey would be was sulky and silent rather than downright rude.

That was Vivienne’s hope …

Nevertheless, she couldn’t remember when she’d last felt this nervous. There had been so much discussion about how and where to greet Kelsey, which room, who should be there and who shouldn’t, that by the time they heard the motorbike coming up the drive Vivienne was about ready to bolt back to the refuge. She was by now under no illusion: no matter
how
warm or carefully planned this homecoming might be, Kelsey still wouldn’t accept her. This didn’t mean she, Vivienne, wasn’t going to try to make the next few minutes go as smoothly as possible, she’d just rather, given the choice, be almost anywhere else in the world.

‘It’s going to be fine,’ Miles whispered, putting an arm around her.

‘Easy for you to say when you’re the hero on her pedestal,’ Vivienne murmured through yet another fluttering of nerves. ‘Still, at least she’s not getting me and Rufus all in one go.’

‘Maybe that would have been too much,’ Miles conceded, ‘but it’s going to happen, and sooner rather than later, especially if he wakes up in the next ten minutes.’

‘He wouldn’t,’ Vivienne said. ‘He’s my son, he knows when he needs to give his mother a break.’

Miles laughed and touched his mouth to hers. ‘No running back to the cider press,’ he warned.

Vivienne’s eyes came guiltily to his.

‘I can read your mind,’ he informed her. ‘But you’ve promised the place to Alice and Angus for the weekend now, and besides, this is where you belong.’

‘Try telling your daughter that.’

‘I’m about to, if forced.’

At the sound of the front door opening, Vivienne’s face visibly paled. ‘Our father who art in heaven,’ she began, making both herself and Miles laugh.

‘She’s a fourteen-year-old girl,’ he reminded her.

‘And you don’t get how much worse that makes it?’

‘You can handle it,’ he whispered, and letting her go, he turned round ready to greet his daughter. He knew he was probably every bit as anxious as Vivienne, but
was,
for the moment anyway, doing a better job of hiding it.

Outside in the hall Kelsey was saying to Theo, ‘If she’s in there I’m sorry, but I’m just walking out again.’

‘No you’re not,’ Theo informed her firmly. ‘You’re going to be polite and charming and give your dad the kind of hug you normally do.’

‘I am so not hugging her.’

‘No one’s asking you to, least of all her.’

Kelsey’s eyes flashed. ‘Like she gets a choice?’

‘Will you just go in there?’

Kelsey turned towards the door, but moved no further. ‘You first,’ she said. ‘No, hang on, what am I supposed to do if Rufus the dufus is there? There’s like no way I can pretend he’s my brother.’

‘Where’s the pretence?’

‘You know what I mean.’

‘You understand me too, now get yourself in there and at least say hello.’

As the door opened Vivienne’s heart felt as though it was ducking for cover.
Just remember she’s fourteen and you’re an adult
, she willed herself silently,
and it’s not as though you’ve never met before. OK, she didn’t like you then, but there were occasional moments when she was less hostile
. Not that Vivienne could think of a single one offhand, but she knew they’d happened, so hanging onto that thought she summoned a warm, welcoming smile and managed to sustain it until the moment Kelsey came into the room behind Theo. That was when she knew, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it was going to be all uphill from here.

Still struggling with her smile, she watched Miles
embrace
his daughter as though she were a prodigal returned. It was overdone and they all knew it, but everyone was on edge. Vivienne’s eyes flicked hopefully to Theo, but though his expression was eloquent, she couldn’t work out what he was trying to tell her.

‘You’ve met Vivienne before,’ Miles was saying as he eased Kelsey in Vivienne’s direction. ‘She’s in charge of Theo’s auction at the moment, as you know, so all I can say is Theo better watch out.’

It was such an astonishing banality for Miles that Vivienne could only blink, while Kelsey rolled her eyes and turned her head aside with a superior sigh.

Collecting herself quickly, Vivienne said, ‘Hello Kelsey, it’s lovely to see you again.’

Kelsey pursed a corner of her mouth and looked everywhere but at Vivienne.

‘Kelsey?’ Miles prompted.

‘Oh sorry, like you want me to pretend,’ she said, as though just getting it. ‘OK, fine. If that’s what I have to do, hello Vivienne, it’s nice to see you –
not
.’

Vivienne coloured, but as Miles drew breath she quickly stepped forward. ‘No don’t, it’s all right,’ she told him.

‘No it isn’t,’ he corrected. ‘Kelsey, I’m not going to tolerate that kind of rudeness—’

‘So don’t! See if I care. I’ll just go and live with Mum.’

‘Actually, you’ll go to your room, is what you’ll do,’ he told her sharply.

‘Great,’ but as she made to flounce off Miles grabbed her arm.

‘You’ll apologise before you go,’ he said furiously.

‘No way,’ she spat.

Theo said, ‘Kelsey, why don’t you just give her a break? She hasn’t done—’

Vivienne cut in. ‘Kelsey’s obviously upset, so why shouldn’t she show it? I’d rather that than have you pretend to like me,’ she said directly to Kelsey. ‘At least this way we know where we stand.’

Kelsey’s face was a mask of insolence.

‘Just so’s it’s clear,’ Vivienne said pedantically, ‘my position is that I’d like us to be friends, while yours is to make sure we’re enemies.’

‘What
-ever
.’

‘OK. You realise that’s going to hurt your dad a lot more than—’

‘He’s made his choice. I didn’t ask you to come here—’

‘That’s enough,’ Miles growled angrily. ‘Kelsey, leave the room now, and don’t even think about coming back until you’re ready to apologise.’

‘Well that won’t be any time soon,’ she snarled, and spinning on her heel she stormed out of the door.

Looking helplessly at Vivienne, Theo said, ‘I’m sorry, I did my best—’

‘It’s not for you to be sorry,’ Miles interrupted tightly. ‘I thought she might behave a little more courteously with you around, but apparently I was wrong. So it’s for me to offer you an apology.’

‘It’s cool,’ Theo assured him. ‘Shall I go and see if I can reason with her?’

Miles shook his head. ‘I’ll go when she’s had a few minutes to stew,’ he said. Then to Vivienne, ‘I didn’t expect it to be quite that bad. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s just going to take time,’ she assured him, trying to play it down despite now being horribly torn about whether it was wise for her and Rufus to stay any
longer.
Then, remembering Rufus asleep upstairs, ‘She won’t go into your room, will she?’ she asked anxiously.

‘I doubt it.’

‘Maybe I should go and check on him anyway.’

After closing the door behind her she stood in the hall taking a deep, steadying breath, not having realised until then quite how shaken she was. Clearly Kelsey was terrified of anyone coming between her and her father, but though Vivienne could understand it, she didn’t, for the moment, have a clue how to handle it.

As she began climbing the stairs she was wondering how Miles would take it if she told him she and Rufus were moving out. The trouble was, it might create even more tension between him and Kelsey, and maybe it wasn’t a good idea to let Kelsey think she could rule her father’s life with tantrums and rudeness. However, while she was going through this difficult period with her mother …

She’d arrived on the landing and was passing Kelsey’s room as quietly as possible when the door suddenly opened and Kelsey came out.

‘Oh my God, what are
you
doing here?’ Kelsey spat, recoiling as though she’d just walked into a snake. ‘I so don’t have anything to say to you. In fact I can’t even believe you’ve got the nerve to come up here.’

‘Kelsey, I’m not—’

‘Just when Mum’s starting to get herself together, you have to turn up again. Well, we don’t want you here, OK? So why don’t you just go, and take that stupid kid of yours with his stupid name with you. In fact, I bet he’s not even Dad’s, you’re just saying that—’ She gasped and turned white as Miles came
charging
up the stairs. ‘Don’t touch me,’ she cried, shrinking back as he came across the landing.

‘Get in that room now,’ he raged. ‘I’ve had as much as I’m going to take from you, young lady—’

‘Well that’s good because I’m leaving.’

‘In that room now,’ he seethed, and moving straight past Vivienne he slammed a hand into the door before Kelsey could bang it shut. ‘Oh no, you’re going to listen to me,’ he told her, and pushing her out of the way he closed the door behind him and marched her over to the bed. ‘Sit there,’ he barked furiously.

‘I am not—’

‘Do as you are told, or you can forget going to camera rehearsals with Theo tonight.’

Startled, since she hadn’t even known she was invited, she said, ‘You can’t threaten me—’

‘I can, I will and I just have. Now sit there and calm down.’

‘
Me
calm down, what about you?’

‘You’ll learn to curb your tongue or your privileges will be whipped away so fast it’ll make your head spin.’

‘If I’m living with Mum it won’t be up to you. In fact, I’m going to call her right now and tell her you’re abusing me.’

‘
Think
before you use words like that,’ he snapped. ‘They’re dangerous and could cause a whole lot more trouble than either of us could handle.’

‘Well, you are! Look at you, standing there shouting at me.’ Her face started to crumple. ‘It’s not fair. You always blame me for everything, and it’s not my fault. I didn’t ask her to come here, and I didn’t ask you to have any more children, but now you’re making me
live
with them and I don’t want to. This is my house, and Mum’s, not theirs.’

‘Of course it’s yours,’ he said, his temper dissolving as he went to sit beside her. ‘No one’s ever going to dispute that.’

‘So why do they have to come here?’

‘You know why.’

‘No I don’t.’

He took a breath, and putting an arm around her, he said, ‘Look, I understand this is difficult for you …’

‘No you don’t. You’re not thinking about me at all. You’re taking her side all the time.’

‘You make it hard to take yours when you’re being rude and offensive. So tell me how I can defend that.’

Her jaw clenched as she jerked her head away.

‘At least Vivienne’s prepared to give it a try,’ he coaxed gently. ‘I wish you would too.’

‘I don’t want to.’

‘Not even for my sake?’

‘No, because you’ll just keep picking on me, no matter what I do.’

‘You know that’s not true.’

‘Yes it is.’

‘Have I ever treated you unfairly before?’