“Mum?” Charlie called out blearily from the bottom of the stairs. It was the following morning and Annie was sitting at the breakfast bar in her pajamas. “You’re not dressed.”
She looked up and smiled. “I’m not going into work today, love. I’m staying home with you instead.”
The look on her son’s face said it all. A bright smile lit up his features, causing Annie to smile, too.
“Really? You’re not going into the salon?”
“Nope.”
The salon was the last place she wanted to be today. Saturday was their busiest day, of course, but there was no point in her sitting in the office, stressing over things she couldn’t control. She’d done enough of that.
Besides, there was something else she needed to take care of.
“But you never take a day off,” Charlie continued, shocked.
“What? Should I change my mind and go to work instead?” she teased.
“No!” he shouted as he ran and threw his arms around her with a laugh. “No way!”
Again, Annie felt guilty because of all the long hours at the salon that had taken her away from Charlie, but there had been no other option.
She was the only one who was going to provide for him. In recent years she’d managed to carve out more time, but it would never quell the regret she felt for having been so absent in his life as a toddler while she tried to make a go of #GlamSquad.
He was the reason she’d worked so hard in the first place, and why she’d been so absolutely determined to see her (and Felicity’s) original plan through, despite her unexpected pregnancy.
“How about a nice walk after breakfast?” she suggested, kissing him on the cheek. “And then maybe a movie later?”
“In the day?” he questioned, wide-eyed. “But you never let me watch TV in the daytime.”
“Well, today is a new day,” Annie declared, as her phone dinged.
Her breath caught in her throat as she glanced at the screen alert to find a reply to the email she’d sent the day before had finally arrived.
Free to talk now if you like. What’s this about?
Followed by a number for her to call.
Annie’s heart thumped with both fear and shame as she realized she was really going to do this. She had to.
“Love, tell you what—I’ve just got to make a quick phone call. How about you chill out for a bit, maybe do some coloring, and then we’ll head out for our walk, OK?”
“Maybe some cartoons instead?” He grinned, ever the negotiator, and she distractedly smiled back, her emotions all over the place.
“Just for a little while. But then we go for a walk, OK? It’s a beautiful day out.”
He scurried off into the living room, pleased at the unexpected opportunity to watch TV.
For a few moments, Annie busied herself in the kitchen with tidying up, hoping that the run-of-the-mill activity might settle her shaking hands.
And when she was sure Charlie was settled in front of the TV and well out of earshot, she dialed the number.
“You told me once that if I ever needed anything for Charlie, that you would help. Well, I need that now...” Annie couldn’t believe how normal she sounded as she explained her situation, as if this was no big deal.
She hated, hated, lowering herself to this, the idea of being beholden to anyone.
It was possibly her lowest moment yet.
A deep sigh on the other end. “I understand, and I’m sorry but...the timing is not good.”
At this she began to shake with fury. As if this was something she could control!
Well, fuck that. And boo hoo.
“Are you serious? I never had the luxury of deciding when or if the timing was good. No, I was too busy trying to keep my head above water, trying to keep me and Charlie going when we had no one else. And now, the only time I ever ask you for help, you throw it back in my face?”
“I’m sorry. Truly, I’d love to do what I can to help, but like I said, it’s just a very bad time...”
She couldn’t believe how anyone could be so goddamn cool, so unaffected by her plight or her request.
“So after all your promises, and my keeping quiet all these years so you can maintain your sweet life, you’re telling me that you’re just going to turn your back on it all now—on your own son?”
Annie was so enraged she hung up the phone without even waiting for an answer. But she’d got her answer, hadn’t she? There would be no help forthcoming from Charlie’s father, despite his promises and so-called best intentions.
She was on her own. Same as always.
“Mum?” Her son reappeared in the kitchen doorway, concern written all over his small face. “Why are you crying?”
Was she? Annie didn’t even realize. She put a hand up to her face, finding that yes, she was indeed crying.
“It’s nothing, sweetheart. Someone just upset me, that’s all.”
“Who upset you? Someone on the phone? Who was it?”
“Just...something to do with work, pet. Nothing for you to worry about.”
“But I am worried. You look like Callum’s sister when she broke up with her boyfriend. She said she had a broken heart. You don’t have a broken heart, do you, Mum? Uncle Nick didn’t break up with you, did he?”
Nick? What the hell was he talking about?
She knew her single status was a curiosity to Charlie, especially when he was so involved with his childminder’s more traditional family, and knew it couldn’t be easy for him growing up without a dad when Gemma’s husband, Hugh, worked from home and thus was heavily involved in family life.
Annie vaguely remembered what it was like for her without parents before the O’Dohertys and she definitely remembered the void that had been left in her life when her father died when she was a teen.
Charlie had asked only once about his father, though, and Annie had told him the truth, because there was simply no reason not to.
“I met your father in Italy,” she’d explained. “I was on holiday there one summer with my friends.” She could still recall the melancholy in her own voice as she spoke.
“Was he nice?” Charlie asked simply. “What was he like?”
Annie sighed. “He was nice.”
“And what did he look like?”
“Tall and handsome with a smile very like yours.”
Charlie grinned happily, showing that same smile.
“Why isn’t he here now?” he asked innocently.
Annie tried to choose her words carefully. “The trip came to an end, and I came back here to Ireland. I never saw him again.”
“But didn’t you love him, the man from Italy?”
Annie took a deep breath.
“No,” she said. “I didn’t really know him well enough to love him,” she told him honestly. She brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead. “It doesn’t matter anyway. You and me—we’re happy together just the two of us, aren’t we? We don’t need anyone else.”
He had a look on his face that almost broke Annie’s heart in two. “I s’pose.”
The man from Italy...
Thinking about that memory now, she recalled his excitement about Kim’s launch invite yesterday and his insistence that he wanted to go.
Had he in his own little way managed to put two and two together?
“I’m sorry if somebody broke your heart, Mum,” Charlie said now, continuing to hug Annie’s legs, while she dried her eyes and moved to compose herself.
“Nobody broke my heart, love,” she reassured him truthfully.
Instead she was angry—seriously angry.
Annie moved to the countertop and snatched up the package that Kim had sent them.
Before now, the thought of going to Italy for the launch hadn’t seriously entered her mind.
But after that call, she just might do it. There was nothing to lose anymore.
Her life was about to go up in flames anyway.
No harm to escape from her troubles for a while. They’d still be there no matter what she did, even if the salon wasn’t, she thought ruefully.
She’d go to the bank on Monday with Nick and see if they could secure enough to at least keep them going for another while.
Either way, to hell with it. She’d go to Italy for a few days, and take Charlie with her—he’d jump at the opportunity for a rare all-expenses-paid break in the sun.
His very first holiday, and since she might never be able to take him on another...
Yes, why shouldn’t she go along to the launch at Villa Dolce Vita, Annie decided, and reunite with that summer’s old friends.
And foes.