The Mum Hunt by Gwyneth Rees

Author:Gwyneth Rees [Gwyneth Rees]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780330471817
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

I tried to go to sleep but I couldn’t. Not while everyone else in the house was still awake. I tossed and turned for a few minutes, but when I still continued to hear Matthew and Juliette’s muffled voices in the room next door, I couldn’t resist any longer.

I went and stood outside my brother’s door.

‘. . . of course he should not have hit you!’ Juliette was saying. ‘No matter how angry he is. No matter how tired. No matter how worried about you. He should not have hit you.’

‘He stresses too much about everything! It’s his own fault!’

‘Well, you and Esmie are all he has. It cannot be easy being alone with no wife to support him. And when we are stressed, we make mistakes.’

‘Juliette?’ I pushed open the door. I didn’t want to be alone any longer. I wanted to be part of this.

‘Esmie, I thought you were in bed!’

‘I can’t sleep,’ I said. ‘Please can I stay for a little bit?’ I screwed up my face into my most begging expression. ‘Please, Matty?’

‘NO!’ my brother barked.

‘Wait, Matthew,’ Juliette said. ‘I think maybe this is important for Esmie to hear too.’ She shifted to make room for me beside her on the bed even though Matthew was still scowling at me. ‘Now, tell me more about this argument in the car. What did you say that made your father so angry?’

‘I can’t remember,’ Matthew grunted.

‘You said, “If you can’t handle the stress, you should get another job, then, shouldn’t you?”’ I recounted, helpfully. ‘Only you said it more nastily than that!’

‘I did not!’ my brother protested, flushing bright red.

‘All right,’ Juliette put in, quickly. ‘Matthew, obviously whatever you said was very . . . very . . .’ She frowned as she struggled to find the right word.

‘Aggressive?’ I suggested, ignoring my brother’s glare.

‘I was going to say hurtful to your father’s feelings, no?’

‘Dad hasn’t got any feelings!’ Matthew said, scornfully.

‘Of course he has feelings! He just keeps them hidden most of the time. In France we tell each other how we feel and it is much better! Still . . . What you must do, Matthew, is tell him you are sorry and then he will tell you he is sorry and you can both talk about it and make friends.’

‘No way!’ Matthew said. ‘Not after what he did!’

‘Nobody wants to say they are sorry,’ Juliette replied. ‘But sometimes we must. You will have to learn that, Matthew, if you do not want to lose the people in your life that you care about.’

I was staring at her. I’d never thought before about how you could lose people you loved without them dying, just because you were horrible to them. That’s when I noticed Dad standing in the doorway. He was in his dressing gown and his hair was sticking up where it had got wet in the bath.

‘May I join the meeting?’ he asked, jokily.

Matthew looked up at him and Juliette quickly stood up as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t.

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