Major Surgery by Lola Keeley

Author:Lola Keeley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Published: 2019-01-14T15:53:25+00:00

Chapter 17

The taxi rank is populated mostly by braying city types and giggling girls daft enough to go home with them. Veronica keeps an instinctive distance without surrendering her place in line. When slipping into the cab, she pops her hopefully visible white earphones in, pausing only to give her address. She’s in no mood for small talk.

There’s no point pulling out the journal that rests unread in her lap for the short journey. She skips a few tracks on her phone until something classical with thundering percussion and no words fills her head. All the better not to think to.

Just as she gets out of the taxi, dreading an empty house, she sees her ex waiting. Leaning against the garden wall, Angela makes for a tall silhouette, but one Veronica can still recognise anywhere. Those broad shoulders, the regal tilt to her jawline—it couldn’t be anyone else. The soft cloud of her afro is gone these days, but the close-shaved look is just as striking on her. It’s nice to still see some of what Veronica loved about her in stolen moments like these.

“He’d better be in there.” And thus the nostalgic spell is broken. That passes for a greeting when it comes to her ex-wife these days. Angela doesn’t bother adding a hug or any kind of physical contact to her words, not the easy way she always used to.

“Danny? He didn’t say anything about coming here. And you could have called if you were looking for him.”

“Well, he’s not answering the door and I don’t have a key. He’s an hour past curfew and his phone’s turned off. Yours is just ringing out.”

The obvious reply is a sarcastic one, and sure enough Veronica can almost feel it queuing up on her tongue. She summons one last scrap of energy, and her better instincts along with it.

“Well, let’s see if he’s here. Sorry about the calls, I was in a late meeting.” She opens the front door and can feel the emptiness of the house from the first step. “And then we’ll go looking, if you drive.”

“Out partying, were we?” Angela accuses, but her heart doesn’t seem in it.

“Couple of glasses with a colleague having a tough time, if you must know.” Veronica slings her light coat over the bannister and heads upstairs, looking around. No shoes kicked off, no schoolbag full of homework dumped in the hallways. She calls out for Danny, getting no response, as expected.

Angela isn’t satisfied. “Can I go upstairs and check? Just for my peace of mind?”

Veronica nods. What does it cost her at this point? She’s trying to ignore the chill down her spine, the creeping dread she’s only known since becoming a parent. She listens to Angela’s progress by footsteps, only moving when she hears them reach the stairs.

“I found this?” Angela says when she gets to the bottom. There’s a little red book in her hand. “I thought it looked a bit like a school book, but it says Cassandra

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