The Legacy by Caroline Bond

Author:Caroline Bond [Bond, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books

Chapter 34

SHE WAS like a bloody dog with a bone. He didn’t want the watch. Why did Liv have to keep banging on about it? Noah took another slug of wine. The thought of slipping the chunky gold-link bracelet onto his own wrist and snapping shut the clasp actually made him feel sick.

Why?

Because Noah wasn’t without imagination. He knew how many lonely hours his father had spent sitting by the window, staring at the sea and the sky; how little he’d slept; how the pain he’d had to endure day in, day out had warped time, making it drag and creak; how long the last few months must have been at the end. He knew how often his father must have sat looking at the second hand crawl around the face of the watch as it measured out the last dregs of his life.

The watch had marked out every agonising, slow minute of his father’s illness and death.

So, no. On reflection. Noah did not want his father’s watch.

He felt, rather than heard, his phone buzz as Megan brought in the cheesecake.

Josie. A WhatsApp.

Making sure his screen was angled away from his mother, Noah clicked on it. It was a photo of Lily, in her ballet tutu, grinning. The message read: She did fab. Loved every minute of it. Even tolerated me trying to get her hair tied back. If you want to call before she goes to bed, that’s ok.

Noah was away from the table in a second. He grabbed his jacket on the way out, banging the front door shut behind him.

He listened to the dial tone, aware of a breathlessness that this time had more to do with anxiety than with his walk up the drive. Josie’s phone rang, and rang. His call went to voicemail. Damn, damn, damn, damn! It was only then that he thought to check the time. 8.51 p.m. He looked at the picture of Lily again. Time sent: 6.43 p.m. The fucking signal in the house! More than two hours late. Lily would be in bed, fast asleep by now. Josie would be fuming. He still had to try.

The ringtone echoed through the dark garden. Pick up. Please, just pick up the sodding phone!

Josie appeared in the screen, the image small. She was obviously holding her phone at arm’s length, keeping her distance. ‘Yes.’ One short, sharp word, standing in for a thousand longer repressed words. Josie on the sofa in their home, the lamp casting a warm halo around her. A cosy domestic scene that couldn’t have been staged any better – if the intention was to punch a hole in your heart. The night air around Noah seemed suddenly darker.

‘Josie. I’m sorry. I only just got your message. Just this minute. You know what the phone reception is like in Dad’s house.’ Silence. ‘I’ve been trying to reach you all day. You must have seen my missed calls.’

‘We’ve been out. Lily was tired. I wanted to get her settled before I spoke to you.

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