Free The Broken by Tamar Cohen

boring into him as she waited impatiently for his response. Well, not so much a response as a confirmation.
    At least it was preferable to listening to her waxing lyrical about Dan and how wonderful he was. The guy had practically been canonized over the course of the last few days. If Josh ever tried to remind her of the little matter of Dan cheating on her, she dismissed it with hardly a second thought. ‘A moment of weakness’ was how she’d decided to classify it. ‘He was flattered. She was available. Oldest story in the book. Course I’ll make him get tested for every STD under the sun before I take him back, but it’d be crazy to throw away a fantastic marriage, with all that history, just because of some little slut who couldn’t keep her knickers on.’
    Josh would squirm with discomfort when she talked like this, glancing towards the doorway to make sure it was free of small figures with large flapping ears.
    A series of loud bleeps announced the arrival of a text message. Josh glanced at his phone, which sat on the coffee table between him and Sasha, aware that her eyes too were fixed on it. Both of them knew it was Dan, texting to see if Sasha was still there. This was the pattern they’d fallen into, with Dan resolutely refusing to talk to Sasha until their Dan-imposed ‘breathing time’ was up. He’d already threatened to move out to an undisclosed address if Sasha accidentally-on-purpose happened to be there when he got home.
    ‘We need to give each other this time,’ he stressed. ‘We owe it to each other.’
    ‘Well?’ Sasha wanted to know.
    ‘He says he’s going to be home around eleven.’
    ‘Because he thinks that’s too late for September to be out during the week. Silly man. He knows she doesn’t need a lot of sleep. She’s not that sort of child.’
    ‘Yes, but Lily does,’ broke in Hannah, much to Josh’s relief.
    Sasha frowned. ‘I do think it might be good for Lily not to be quite so regimented,’ she said. ‘Otherwise how is she ever going to learn to cope with change? She’s such a nervous little thing as it is.’
    Josh opened his mouth to speak, but Hannah glared at him and instead he counted to ten in his head, waiting for his irritation to subside.
    Only after Sasha had left did Josh give vent to his annoyance.
    ‘Just what was she implying by that “nervous little thing” comment?’ he asked, when Hannah finally surfaced from getting a completely shattered Lily to bed.
    ‘Take no notice. She’s just overwrought. She’s not thinking about what she’s saying.’
    ‘Yes, but that’s no excuse for—’
    The doorbell cut short what he had been about to say.
    ‘I thought Dan had a key?’ Josh said.
    ‘He must have lost it. Or maybe he’s just being discreet in case we’re making mad passionate love on the living-room table.’
    ‘Chance would be a fine thing.’
    An awkward pause.
    Hannah went to the door and Josh listened for Dan’s sing-song ‘I’m ho-ome.’ He was surprised to hear just Hannah, sounding fraught.
    ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ she was saying. This was followed by an indistinct murmur of voices. Then, ‘OK, OK, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea.’
    She reappeared in the doorway with a shape slumped over her shoulder. A September-shaped shape.
    ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ groaned Josh.
    Hannah raised her eyebrows warningly at him over the top of her charge, who was wrapped in a duvet and clearly pretending to be asleep, with just one slightly raised eyelid giving her away.
    ‘September, poppet, I’m just going to pop you down on our bed so you can have a nice sleep,’ said Hannah.
    ‘Wanna go Lily’s room.’ The little girl’s voice was loud, but her eyes stayed firmly shut.
    ‘No, sweetie. Lily is asleep. You snuggle up in Auntie Hannah and Uncle Josh’s bed. There’s a good girl.’
    ‘I want my mummy!’
    ‘September, honey . . .’
    ‘I WANT MY MUMMY!’
    Hannah locked eyes with Josh