Louise Bentley is a feisty, wild, 'let's-go-to-Capri-for-the-weekend-yeah?' kind of girl. She spends her days working at a party-planning company. Oh, and she never wants kids. Ever.
Ben Langford is a studious, quiet, 'I'm-busy-reading' sort of man...
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Ben burst through the front door of the school.
Panicked thoughts chased each other through his brain. Could Hugh be hurt? But, no; Headmistress Davies would have said on the phone. Maybe he had lice again, Ben reasoned. Or maybe Hugh had shouted at a teacher — although that would be very out of character.
He jogged through the corridor, passing glass display cases packed with medals and posters advertising an upcoming school disco. It was only when he reached the Headmistress's office that he finally slowed.
And then froze.
Hugh was sitting in a chair, cradling his knapsack in his lap. His right hand was wrapped in a bloodied white bandage, and there was a black bruise forming over his left eye. Louise was pacing the office. She was dressed in a pink blouse, blue jeans, and scuffed ballet flats, which were wearing a path in the carpet.
Louise caught his eye.
"Ben," she said.
There was relief in her voice. Ben couldn't stop his body from reacting instinctively, swelling with a fierce desire to protect her, to hurt whoever had made her feel this way. The force of it was so overwhelming that it frightened him.
"What happened?" Ben demanded.
"Ah, Mr. Langford." The headmistress shuffled some papers. "Take a seat, please."
The elderly woman was sitting at her desk, wearing a ruby brooch and a pair of cat-eye glasses. Pink streaked her hair. Ben tried to catch Hugh's eye as he sat, but his nephew was staring resolutely at an elephant paperweight, as if he could magically make it grow bigger and carry him away on its back.
"So," Davies said.
She steepled her fingers. Ben copied the movement.
"So," he said.
She seemed nice, Ben thought vaguely, but he was prepared to go full lawyer on her ass if he had to. Even if he was a tax lawyer. People never knew the difference.
Davies cleared her throat. "I'm afraid to say that Hugh instigated a fight with another student. As a result, I've no choice but to suspend him for the rest of the week."
Ben blinked. She might as well have said that the sky was made of marzipan, and the government had hidden microchips in all the pistachios at Tesco. Louise must have felt the same because she laughed.
"Hugh," Louise repeated. "This boy here." She gestured to her nephew. "You're telling me that he got into a fight?"
The headmistress's voice was patient. "I'm telling you that he started one."
Ben and Louise exchanged a look.
"No," Ben said. "That's not possible."
Vienna, absolutely, Ben thought; she was a terror. But Hugh? He'd cried yesterday because his imaginary friend Wally had left on holiday to Paris (Ben personally thought it rather rude of Wally to leave on such short notice, but fair enough — he wished that he could be in France eating croissants, too).
