The Woman in the Woods by Lisa Hall

Author:Lisa Hall [Hall, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

‘I’m so sorry, Allie, I rang the bell and then you didn’t answer and I rang again, and then I thought, oh, maybe she’s feeding Leo, or he’s asleep …’ Tara starts talking the minute I open the door to her. ‘I didn’t wake him up, did I? I should know better, it’s not like I don’t know how annoying it is when someone wakes the baby up.’ She eyes the baby in the fancy travel system she is holding, the top of his head peeping out from the blue blanket.

‘Tara, it’s fine. Do you want to come in?’ Pulling the door open further, I stand aside to let Tara in, her face shiny with sweat.

‘Thanks. I’m not disturbing you, am I?’

‘Honestly, it’s fine.’ I gesture for her to follow me, calling to Mina that James is here to play. The two toddlers run upstairs to Mina’s room and I lead Tara along to the kitchen. ‘Come and have a drink. It’s a shame you weren’t here five minutes earlier, you could have met my mum.’

We step into the kitchen, empty apart from the baby and my mother’s crumpled cigarette packet left lying on the table. The baby lies in his pram, kicking and waving his tiny fists, and the chair where my mother sat is still pulled out at a slight angle. ‘Sorry,’ I say, as Tara takes a seat in the chair opposite, after parking the travel system in the hallway and sliding the baby out. ‘I haven’t had a chance to clean up from this morning yet.’

Tara looks around the kitchen, to the empty box on the worktop that held the food from Avó, the empty mugs in the sink. ‘Are you kidding me? This place is spotless compared to mine!’ she laughs. ‘This little chunk is nearly five months older than Leo and you’re far more organized than me.’

I turn to the kettle, filling it noisily as my cheeks flush a hot red, although I’m not sure why. I make tea for both of us and sit in the chair recently vacated by my mum, the wood cool against my bare legs.

‘I wanted to apologize for earlier,’ Tara says, jiggling her baby on her knee. The baby, a boy, has more hair than Leo and his mouth makes a surprised ‘O’ shape as he bounces. Ralph, I think he’s called. Or maybe Robert. ‘If I made you feel uncomfortable.’

‘Oh, no.’ I shake my head. ‘No need to apologize.’

‘I should have left it, not nagged at you to tell us your birth story. Shhh, Rufus.’ The baby lets out a grizzly cry and Tara bounces him harder. ‘I always go too far, I’m sorry. Karl is always telling me when enough is enough. That’s my husband.’

‘It’s OK, Tara, I’m fine. It’s just not that easy to talk about, you understand. It was a pretty scary experience.’

She nods, pursing her lips and for one brief, dizzying moment I think she’s going to press me on it again, that she’s going to try and cajole me into telling her the whole horrifying tale.

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