The Playdate by Victoria Jenkins

Author:Victoria Jenkins [Jenkins, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800195059
Published: 2021-05-20T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Three

Dani

On Tuesday, Dani had the day off work. She took Layla to nursery, went to the supermarket to pick up a few things, then headed back home to prepare a surprise picnic lunch. She would take Layla to the park after picking her up and treat her to an ice cream once they’d had their sandwiches. She wanted to keep things as normal as possible for her, though she wasn’t sure what normal was any more.

It had occurred to her that in just over a year, Layla would be at nursery every morning, and the following September she would be in school all day every day. There had been times when the thought of this might have offered some reassurance, the promise of a break and five minutes to herself, but now that the reality of it was getting closer, she was already mourning the time that she and Layla had together, just the two of them. As she buttered bread and grated cheese, she felt a sadness grip at her heart. Layla was only on loan to her, and Dani was living on borrowed time before she would have to give her away to the world. She wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye, grateful that there was no one there to witness it.

Her mother had stayed in bed even later than usual that morning. She was still understandably upset about Dylan, but Dani knew there was more to it than that. Caroline was worried about her, about what she might have got herself involved in. Dani fretted about the days when she wouldn’t be able to keep her daughter protected, but Caroline was already living them. Her mother hadn’t left the house in days, and even the vacuuming had been abandoned.

As she busied herself with preparing the picnic, she resisted the temptation to check her phone. Travis hadn’t replied to her message, and the longer it went without a response, the more convinced she became that he had changed his mind.

Being near her phone now also meant an inevitable temptation to look again at the photograph of James that she had screenshot from Paul’s profile. She didn’t want to look at him, though she knew she was going to have to face him in person at some point. She was going to have to face his wife.

She was searching the cupboard next to the fridge for a Tupperware box when there was a knock at the door. She waited for the sound of her mother on the staircase, but when Caroline didn’t shift herself from her room, Dani sighed, abandoned her search and went out into the hallway.

When she opened the front door, she was greeted by a bouquet of flowers sitting on the doorstep. She checked the street, but there was no one to be seen. The flowers were a beautiful mix of yellow roses and white chrysanthemums, and when she saw a card with her name printed on it, she smiled to herself as she picked up the box and took it into the house.

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