SARAH
Sam has a friend. It’s the glimmer of light she’s been praying for. She’s spent a lovely afternoon chatting to Zack’s mother, and in her new friend she’s found a sympathetic audience, eager to listen and help if she can. A wave of optimism sweeps through her as she envisions a future where Sam plays with his new friends while she and David talk with the parents; outings together over the weekends, picnics in the summer, visits to the zoo, the parks, museums.
“More tea?” Zack’s mother offers.
“Thank you, but no. It must be late; we should probably be going. It’s been lovely.” She glances at her watch: 6:30! David will be back from work any minute now. He’ll be worried to find them gone. “I’m so sorry.” She stands up. “I had no idea it was so late. Thank you so much for your hospitality.”
Sam drags his feet as they walk back. He’s doing it deliberately because he can see she’s in a hurry. When he stops to look in a shop window, she grabs his hand, pulling him along. “Come on, Sam. It’s late.”
The force of the resistance in his thin arm makes her gasp. She lets go. There’s no point fighting him, it will only make matters worse, so she pretends instead to look at the window display too. She knows it won’t take long for him to get bored and move on.
Two minutes later, he walks on, and this time she pretends they’re in no hurry at all.
When they enter the apartment, David is standing behind the door. “Where have you been?”
She feels Sam freeze by her side.
“Samuel made a friend at school. I met his mother and we had goûter together.”
She sees David let out his breath. “I was worried.”
Sarah touches his arm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice the time fly by.”
“No, I’m glad you had a nice time. What did you do?”
“We just drank tea and chatted.”
Sam slips away to his room.
“I’ll go and say hello to him properly,” David says.
Sarah follows him down the corridor to Sam’s room. When they knock and walk in, Sam looks up from his desk, quickly shoving a piece of purple paper into his drawer.
“Bonsoir, Samuel.” It looks like David’s pretending he hasn’t seen anything, but she can’t help wondering what was on that piece of paper. “Alors, c’était comment, l’école?” He strolls farther into the room.
Sam looks from David to Sarah and back again. “Okay,” he finally says.
“Bien, bien.” David is smiling. “C’est une bonne nouvelle. Je suis content.”
She leaves to prepare dinner. David follows her into the kitchen a few minutes later. “He seems happier now that he’s started school. I knew that being with children his own age would help.” He takes out two wineglasses, putting a dash of cassis in each before adding white wine. “So what’s this friend of his like?”
“Zack? He’s lovely, very polite and well brought up. His mother is charming too.”
“How do the boys communicate?”
“You know children. They always find a way.” She coughs to hide her unease at the white lie. She doesn’t want to see the disappointment on his face when she tells him Sam’s new friend is anglophone.
“Yes, of course.” He pauses. “It’s going to be all right, isn’t it, Sarah?”
She takes her glass, waiting for him to take his. They clink them together, looking each other in the eye, but she can’t answer his question. She’s still not sure that everything will be all right.
She takes a sip of her kir. “He’s hard to reach. Very hard. It feels like we have a high mountain to climb, and we’re not even sure what the view will be like from the top.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he will adapt. He’ll have no choice. But I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to love us.”