Free The Marriage Mender by Linda Green Page A

little. I could tell Chris was trying very hard not to react.
    Josh looked down at the floor. ‘Sorry,’ he said.
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ I said. ‘It’s not a problem.’
    ‘Well, it obviously is for her,’ he replied, gesturing towards Matilda.
    ‘It’s just going to take time to adjust,’ I said. ‘For all of us.’
    Josh hesitated. ‘Look, I’ll go with you guys if it makes things easier. I’ll text Mum and let her know.’
    ‘No,’ I said. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
    Chris looked up at me sharply.
    ‘He’s made arrangements,’ I said. ‘It’s not fair to mess people around at such short notice.’
    I could see Chris itching to reply, could hear the words formulating in his head, fighting to escape through his mouth. He took a swig of tea, maybe to stop them, before turning to Matilda.
    ‘Tilda, you heard what your mum said. It’s too late to change things this year. But how about I let you have an extra turn on the hook-a-duck at the fair? How does that sound?’
    Matilda considered the offer. For a moment I wondered if she was going to try to negotiate two extra turns, but I think even she sensed that Chris was not in the mood.
    ‘OK,’ she said. ‘As long as you don’t complain if I pick two big fluffy things.’
    ‘Deal,’ said Chris, managing a smile as she high-fived him before skipping upstairs.
    ‘Take it out of my pocket money,’ said Josh.
    ‘What?’ asked Chris.
    ‘The money for her extra turn.’
    ‘Don’t be a daft bugger,’ said Chris. ‘It was my decision to offer her that.’
    ‘You mean bribe her?’smiled Josh.
    ‘Yeah, well, whatever. It’s not your fault, OK? None of this is your fault.’
    Josh nodded and went to pour himself some cereal.
    ‘Thanks,’ I whispered, stroking Chris’s arm.
    He shrugged and squeezed my hand. It was a long time before he let go.
    * * *
    Kelly didn’t look old enough to be married, let alone be on the verge of a divorce. She was what Barbara would have called ‘a slip of a girl’, fair hair scraped off her face and tied back with a scrunchie, dimples when she smiled. Only a fleeting smile, mind. Though that was understandable under the circumstances.
    Luke’s frame was massive next to hers. Broad shoulders and tall with it, his fair hair cropped short around his freckled face. His jaw set firm. He had the expression ofsomeone who has been told they have to choose between cutting off their right leg or their left. Things were clearly not good.
    I introduced myself and sat them down, told them how the sessions worked, asked if they had any questions before we began.
    ‘Do you mind if I keep my mobile on?’ asked Kelly. ‘Only Luke’s mam’s got the kids, and they are a bit of a handful. And in case there’s an emergency or whatever.’
    ‘That’s fine. I understand,’ I said.
    ‘Thanks,’ said Kelly.
    She shuffled uncomfortably. She looked like someone about to sit a GCSE maths exam.
    ‘Just remember, there are no right or wrong answers,’ I said. ‘We’re here to talk about how you’re both feeling, why you’re feeling that way and how we can work together to make things better.’
    Luke stared resolutely out of the window behind me.
    ‘OK, so perhaps we can start by talking about how you got together? Because I gather from my colleague’s notes that there are a few issues which have stemmed from that.’
    Kelly looked at Luke. He said nothing.
    She fiddled with a strand of loose hair before starting to talk. ‘Well, I were only, like, thirteen when we started seeing each other. He were in year eleven at school and I were in year nine. We didn’t tell anyone until the summer when Luke left school and started working on the building site. And then me mam flipped her lid.’
    ‘She didn’t approve?’
    ‘No. Cos of age difference, which were daft because her and me dad have got a bigger age difference than us. But she reckoned that were different cos she’d been seventeen when they’d started