Free Do You Remember? by Mandy Baggot Page B

his heels as the two letter word hit him like a lethal dart. The light went out of his eyes, his shoulders fell and his hands sank to his sides. She swallowed. She shouldn’t have been so blunt. She shouldn’t have been deliberately cruel.
Had
she been deliberately cruel?
    And then in a matter of seconds, his demeanour altered. He lifted his head, jutted out his chin and met his green eyes with hers. He took a long breath and she watched his chest swell.
    ‘I do not believe you.’
    The way he said the words burned her. He was angry. His teeth were pressed tightly together, that full mouth stretched into a furious, thin line of discontent. The dark eyelashes were hanging over his eyes, questioning and accusing.
    His expression and the aura of resentment he was giving off was hurting her. She felt sick. She couldn’t bear it.
    ‘I need to go.’
    She did need to go but whether it was for Dominic’s benefit or her own was up for debate.
    ‘We will talk, Emma. We need to talk,’ he said.
    She closed her ears to it, shut off her mind. She tried to concentrate on the matter at hand which was getting into the car and getting away. She couldn’t go back there. She wouldn’t let him remind her of that time.
    She leapt into the driver’s seat and closed the door on him. Her breathing came out in short, rapid pants. Her hands shook as she sought the ignition.
    He placed his palm flat against the window. She jumped where she sat.
    ‘Please, Emma,’ he called from outside.
    She turned her head, let herself connect to those pools of green, looking at her with such emotion. She couldn’t look away. But she had to. With a trembling hand she started the engine. He withdrew his hand and she pulled the car away.
     

Chapter Fourteen
     
    The rest of the morning blurred. He wasn’t really present at the remainder of the training session. His mouth was working, giving out instructions and praise in equal measure. His body too was there, showing his pupils how to perform football skills. But his mind… Thoughts of Dominic moved around his head like a carriage on a Ferris wheel. Up and around, down, shaking and unstable.
    He couldn’t believe what Emma said. He
had
to be Dominic’s father. He just had to be. If he wasn’t, if she had been that close to someone else, it changed everything. It would tear up the precious memories. It would demolish all the feelings he clung to in his darkest moments. She’d whispered things to him; let him in on her innermost fears. Her grief, her jealousy, and all her insecurities. Or so he’d thought.
    He sucked down some water as the parents began to arrive to collect their children. Ally had come in with the clipboard and was ensuring no one left without being marked off. He looked at his watch. He should head home. Tonight was an important function for Finnerham. There was a charity auction he was going to be paraded at. But he couldn’t go without knowing about Dominic. Not only if he was better; but if he was his.
     
    ‘It’s making it hot and the bandage smells.’
    They were home. Two hours in accident and emergency was a record. Once, when Dominic was a baby, she’d been passed from nurse to nurse and spent almost five hours there. A wailing baby with a high temperature and not one person seemed to care. She’d been terrified. She was young and naïve; terrified that she had left it too long to get medical help for her son. Mike had driven them and then Marilyn had turned up. Perfumed, preened and wearing pearls. At one in the morning. The memory sent a shot of bile into her throat. She swallowed it down.
    ‘Mum! How long does it have to stay on?’ Dominic called.
    She came back into the room.
    ‘At least a week. You heard the doctor. And no football either.’
    She put another cushion behind Dominic’s back and lifted his injured leg onto the sofa. Just a bad sprain, nothing torn or broken they’d said.
    ‘Are you hot?’ She put the back of her hand on his forehead.
    ‘My