Free The Well by Peter Labrow

arranged that two of her friends stay with her, but Sarah had either called her or sent a text every hour or so. Over the course of a couple of days, Jim had grown more annoyed – after all, if she couldn’t forget Becca for thirty minutes, then they weren’t really alone. The children are important , he had thought, but so is our relationship . They’d had a massive row, after which Sarah had accepted that perhaps she needed to give Becca a bit more space. That said, she had stood firm about one thing: she was a worrier by nature. OK, maybe she needed to cut loose a bit, but if Jim didn’t like her nature, then tough. At forty-three, she wasn’t going to change that much. Jim accepted that: one or two calls a day was fine, although he personally would still only call Matt once a day (or even every couple of days) at the most.
    This was their first weekend away alone since then. Jim knew that Sarah would be missing Becca, even though it was less than a day since they’d spoken.
    Jim got out of bed and kissed her on the forehead. “Why don’t you give Becca a quick call?”
    Sarah seemed relieved. “Should I?”
    “Why not? You know you’ll be thinking about it until you do.”
    Sarah looked at Jim, to see if he was annoyed. If he was, he wasn’t showing it. She gave him a kiss back. “OK. And you,” she said, picking up a towel and throwing it at him, “go get a shower.”
    While Jim showered, Sarah called Becca’s mobile – which went straight through to her voicemail. It was good to hear her daughter’s chirpy voice. “Hi, it’s Becca. Not here – so leave a message!”
    “Hi Becca,” said Sarah, “it’s Mum. Just calling to see if you’re OK. I’ll call again later. Love you.” She glanced at her watch; it was ten-forty.
    Sarah carried on getting ready until Jim came out of the shower, rubbing himself dry. Forty-six and in darned good shape , thought Sarah. “Did you speak to Becca?” he asked.
    “No. I just got her answer phone.”
    Jim glanced at the clock. “Well, it’s ten to eleven, Becca’s probably still in bed or, if she’s up, she’ll have gone swimming – and Matt will be in bed until way after twelve. We can call them later.”
    Sarah knew Jim was right.
    “OK. Now get dressed and let’s get out – let’s see if you can show a lady a good time when you’re out of bed.”

5
     
    Hannah finished brushing her short blonde hair. She placed her hairbrush back on the dressing table, which was a jumble of make-up and cheap jewellery.
    Although her phone had been silent for the last hour, she checked it again. There was still nothing from Becca.
    Hannah was still cross, but considerably calmer than she’d been last night. The more she thought about it, the more Becca’s silence nagged at her. While it was true that she’d seen progressively less of Becca for the last few months, Becca had never totally ignored her before.
    When she’d woken up, it had crossed Hannah’s mind that perhaps Becca’s phone was simply switched off or was charging, but as the morning had crawled by, she’d begun to doubt the idea. As with all teenagers, Becca and her phone were seldom separated. On top of that, she’d not been on the Internet last night or this morning.
    Ordinarily, Becca might have been out: she often went swimming on Saturday morning. But not this weekend, since she was grounded. (Now and again, Hannah had gone swimming with Becca – and while she enjoyed it, she wasn’t obsessed like her friend.)
    Until Jim and Matt moved in, Hannah and Becca had been good friends, in fact, in Hannah’s view, BFF – best friends forever. Hanging out with Nisha, Susie, Kate, Jessi and Elle was OK, but Hannah really missed Becca.
    Hannah’s phone chimed as a text message came in. She picked up her phone quickly, hoping that the message was from Becca. She sighed, disappointed. It was from Nisha.
    GOIN 2 TOWN 2DAY? BORED.
    Hannah tapped in a quick reply. CAN DO. WHEN?
    Almost instantly,