“Oakley?” Sarah called, the second we closed the front door. “Honey, how was it? Are you okay? We’ve been so worried.”
“I’m fine. It was fine. Sorry I made you worry, but everything was alright. I was with Cole.”
I smiled proudly. Everything was alright because she was with me.
“What’s that?” I asked, frowning and turning my head towards the source of the awful noise coming from upstairs.
“Jasper’s showering. He sings in the shower,” Sarah replied, shaking her head in discouragement. He was singing very loudly. I couldn’t make out every word, but I caught a few, moves and Jagger. Jasper was murdering a perfectly good song.
“What’s wrong?” Oakley’s asked. I spun around and saw her looking at her white-as-a ghost mum.
“It’s a visiting order from prison,” Sarah said. “Max wants to see me.”
Chapter Nine
Oakley
I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were tight. He wanted to see Mum. Why? Did he want to explain? Was there even an explanation for what he did? He was trying to talk his way out of it. If he could get Mum on his side… No, that wasn’t going to happen. She would never believe him.
My eyes wouldn’t focus properly. I was vaguely aware of Cole’s arm around my waist, holding me tight. If it wasn’t for him, I probably would have collapsed. What if she wanted to see him, too? They were married after all, and she must have things she wanted to say. She never got the chance to talk to him after he was arrested.
“Oakley?” Cole shouted, standing in front of me. He frowned, taking my face in his hands.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I desperately tried to think of something to say.
“Oakley? Are you alright?” Mum asked.
“I’m fine, Mum,” I muttered in reply.
“I’m not going. You know that, don’t you? I don’t ever want to see that man again.”
Mum pulled me away from Cole and into one of those hugs that made me feel like a little girl again. She held me tight and stroked my hair. She used to hug me like that if I’d had a bad dream or hurt myself. It made me feel safe and like nothing bad could happen to me. I stopped feeling completely safe like that from the age of five.
The night she found out she held me, and for the first time in eleven years I believed that eventually it would be okay. That night I felt like I got my mum back.
“Y-You can if you want. I understand if you do.”
This trip was about Mum and Jasper getting closure too, not just me.
“No, Oakley. The only time I want to lay eyes on him again is when he’s being carried away to rot in prison.”
I flinched at how much hate was in her voice.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“What’s going on?” Jasper’s demanded, thudding down the stairs, hair dripping.
“Max wants to see Sarah,” Cole explained, making Max sound like a dirty word.
I watched Jasper’s eyes tense and his jaw clench.
“What?” he growled, disbelievingly. His face turned red with anger.
Mum held her hand up.
“I’m not going, Jasper. Of course I’m not.”
“Good! Why can’t that sick bastard just fucking leave us alone?” Jasper paced the room, shaking his head. “What the hell does he want anyway?”
“I doesn’t matter. She’s not going,” Cole said, trying to calm Jasper’s temper.
“It does matter,” he countered. “What the hell is going through his sick mind? Does he think Mum would actually want to see him? What was he going to say to her, oh sorry for selling our daughter—”
I cringed and squeezed my eyes closed as if that would prevent me from hearing what Jasper was about to say.
“That’s enough, Jasper,” Mum snapped.
Don’t cry, don’t cry. I didn’t want to keep crying all the time. I wanted to be stronger than that.
Jasper groaned “Shit. I’m sorry, Oakley.”
“It’s fine.”
He looked like he wanted to say something else, but I wasn’t up for talking about it. I would speak to Mum once Jasper wasn’t around. He would get too angry.
“I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
Cole looked at me sceptically. He knew that I just wanted to get away. I was tired though. It had been a very long day.
“Call me if you need to talk,” Cole whispered in my ear and hugged me tight.
As soon as Cole left, I went to Lizzie’s room. She was staying at ‘someone’s’ house tonight, so I had the room to myself. I had a feeling Ali made her stay at a friend’s, knowing that I would just want some time alone. I also had a feeling that this someone was Lizzie’s boyfriend.
I laid on the futon and stared up at the ceiling, waiting to fall asleep. Thousands of thoughts were swirling around my head making it impossible to drift off. The scariest one was what if they get off? I knew Linda said there was too much evidence, but it wasn’t impossible for a guilty man to be found innocent.