It is a genuine request for help. He is hoping Maddie might have some insight for him, but she nods in agreement as though the question is rhetorical.
As she looks back at the picture, relief is pouring through him. He doesn’t have to carry this problem alone any more. Maddie will help him sort it out.
He registers that her phone is ringing just before Maddie pulls it from her pocket. She is still staring at the photo when she answers, ‘Hey.’ There’s a pause. ‘I’m fine,’ she says, and to Zac’s dismay her voice has changed. It’s slightly higher, she’s talking faster, her arms are waving around. He wants to recapture his phone before she drops it. ‘Oh my god, I know. I’m at my uncle’s. Well, actually I’m on the path in the middle of the wood, walking Arthur with Zac.’ There’s another delay, and she laughs and looks quickly at Zac and away again. ‘Stop it.’ She listens a bit more. ‘Okay, sure, if you want to. You can come up through the back gate and we’ll be with you in five minutes. I’m sure my aunt and uncle won’t mind.’
Zac kneels down to fuss over Arthur as she talks. When she hands his phone back, she says what he already knows. ‘That was Jax.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah, she wants to come and see me. Can we hurry to the gate, I’ve told her we’ll meet her there in five minutes. She doesn’t want to walk through the woods on her own.’
Her words replace his relief with an onslaught of dread. This wasn’t what he had envisaged at all. But before he can do anything, Maddie is going at such a pace that he is almost jogging to keep up with her. As they hurry through the woods, the trees either side of the path crowd in on him, wagging their spindly branches in his face. All too soon he can see the gate up ahead, and Jacinta is already there, and the girls wave excitedly at one another.
‘Please don’t tell her about that photo,’ Zac hisses to Maddie’s back as Jacinta comes towards them.
Maddie turns and gives him a kind smile, her glance only reaching him briefly before it flickers away. ‘Don’t worry about Jax,’ she says, before she is pulled around and swallowed with a squeal inside her friend’s enthusiastic embrace, and Jacinta’s beady bird eyes smirk at him over Maddie’s shoulder.
19
ANYA
Many of the children have left already, thank goodness, so there are only a few pairs of gawking eyes present to watch the stretcher being wheeled out of school. When the doors of the ambulance close, I take hold of Leticia’s hand and stare through one of the narrow slatted back windows to watch the school disappear. As it recedes, I resign myself to this role. I need to do my best for this child, even as I long to be with my own. I stroke her cold fingers all the way to the hospital, telling her it will be okay, with no real idea of whether or not I am telling the truth. I wish the journey away as the paramedic works around us, monitoring Leticia’s vital signs and asking her questions. Not until she is wheeled ahead of me through the emergency doors do I pull out my phone and call Callum.
‘Pick-up pick-up pick-up,’ I say under my breath. I will scream if I hear his answerphone message right now.
‘Hi Anya.’
‘I’m at the Royal Lancaster,’ I say without preamble. ‘A girl collapsed at school and I had to ride in the ambulance with her.’
‘Christ, I thought you were going to say something about Sophia,’ Callum replies. ‘Is the girl okay?’
‘Not really, but it’s a long-term thing – she has an eating disorder.’
‘Oh.’ There’s a beat of silence. ‘All right, then, how long will you be?’
‘I don’t know . . . but I’ll need a lift back to school – I had to leave my car there. How’s Georgia?’
‘She’s fine,’ Callum replies. ‘I’ll come and get you. I’ll leave right away, but it might take me an hour at this time of day, if the traffic’s bad.’
‘Bring Georgia with you,’ I tell him. ‘I’ll go over and see Sophia while I’m waiting.’
There’s a pause. ‘Good idea, she’s on the general ward in the Centenary Building,’ he says. ‘Oh, and Anya, before you do that, I need to tell you something . . .’
But as he speaks, a woman is being shown into the waiting room, and the nurse is pointing at me. I recognise Leticia’s mother.
‘I’ve got to go,’ I say quickly. ‘You’re sure Georgia’s okay?’
‘Yes,’ he says. ‘Anya—’
‘Okay, I’ll talk to you both when you get here.’