The Lodger by Newbound Netta

Author:Newbound, Netta [Newbound, Netta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0B2Q4JQWD
Goodreads: 61246236
Publisher: Junction Publishing
Published: 2022-07-02T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Hannah felt numb as she glanced around the house. The place already seemed different without the presence of her poor daddy. It still hadn’t sunk in entirely. She was never going to see him again.

Her mother slumped into his armchair and a fresh bout of sobs erupted from her.

Although devastated herself, Hannah knew she had no choice but to keep it together for her sake. She made a pot of tea—not that either of them really wanted it, but she figured she needed to keep herself busy. “Can you manage a piece of toast, Mammy?”

“No, thank you, sweetheart. But can I ask you a favour?”

“Of course.”

“Call Shaun for me, please. Everyone else can keep until tomorrow, but he needs to know. I can’t face it.”

Hannah nodded and reached for her phone before heading up to her bedroom. She knew telling Shaun would be awful and didn’t want to upset her mother any more than necessary.

She sat on the edge of her bed and breathed in deeply, exhaling in a slow blow through her parted lips. Then she dialled her brother’s number.

He answered on the second ring.

Hannah realised she’d been holding her breath again and released it with a whoosh at the sound of his voice.

“Hey, sis, how’s things? It’s not like you to call on a Sunday morning. Did you pee the bed?” As usual, he sounded upbeat and ready to banter.

“Are you at home, Shaun?”

“I am. Why?” The smile fell from his voice.

She took several deep breaths in and out, unable to find the right words.

“You’re worrying me now, Hannah. What is it?”

“It’s Daddy. He’s… he’s had an accident.”

“Is he okay?”

Hearing the shock in his voice caused fresh tears to pour from her eyes. She leaned forwards, her chest almost touching her thighs as a pain she could only describe as pure grief gripped her in the centre of her core. A pain she was oh too familiar with since losing Max.

“Hannah?” His raised voice was filled with fear.

“He died, Shaun. Daddy’s dead.”

“Oh, my God. Is Mammy okay? What happened to Dad? Did he crash the car?” His words came out in one long stream.

“A machine fell on him in the barn. Mammy’s fine. Well, not fine, but she’s not injured.”

“Okay. I’m gonna see what time the ferry leaves. I’ll text you with an ETA once I get organised.”

She hung up the phone and returned to the living room.

“How did he take it?” Her mother’s voice was flat, but at least she’d stopped crying for now.

“Shocked. But he’s making arrangements to come over.”

“I hope he comes alone. I don’t think I could cope with a houseful right now, never mind the kids running about.”

“I don’t think he’d bring the kids. He’s not that stupid, surely.”

A knock at the front door startled them both.

“Who is it?” Her mother gasped.

“I dunno. Hang on.” Hannah peered from the window and spotted two uniformed police officers, their backs to her. “It’s the police.” She went to answer the door.

The officers, one male and one female, introduced themselves.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.