a bad mother. True to his usual form, Simon had flown into a rage when she’d told him she planned to start work in the store, accusing her of abandoning the boys. Much as she hated the thought of doing anything that would please him, it was so, so tempting to throw in the job.
‘It’s going OK, is it?’ Ruby persisted. ‘At the store?’
Daisy gave a smile. ‘Oh yes. Great.’
Ruby studied her daughter’s face; she suspected that Daisy was lying, probably to spare her feelings, to avoid worrying her when she had enough on her plate as it was.
I’m so lucky that I’ve found Daisy again. That she’s here with me, she thought. All the pain she had been through over the years, all the anguish, was softened by Daisy’s presence. Her relationship with Daisy, after almost three decades apart, had fallen almost easily into a comfortable, loving mode. But her relationship with Kit was never going to be so simple.
Ruby heaved a sudden sigh.
‘What?’ asked Daisy, watching her mother curiously.
‘I was thinking about your brother,’ said Ruby.
‘Well, he won’t be at the funeral, that’s for sure. He hated Tito!’ Daisy snorted. ‘And you don’t have to go either. Not if you really don’t want to.’
But Ruby knew that was not true. She did have to be there. Because of Bella, Tito’s mother. And because of the phone call.
Blood will flow.
What could Bella have meant by that? Was it a threat? Or a warning? Ruby shuddered to think of that voice on the phone, trembling yet full of determination.
She had no choice. She had to find out what Bella was talking about.
‘Honey, wake up! Wake up!’ squealed a voice in Kit’s ear.
‘Wha…?’ he groaned, deep in a dream where a woman jangling with gold smiled at him with flirtatious sea-green eyes.
An alarm was going off. Someone was shaking his shoulder.
Ah shit no. Lemme sleep. Let me go back to her…
‘Wake UP!’ shouted the female voice, shaking him harder.
Kit opened his eyes. A shadowed face was leaning over him, hair tickling his face. For a moment he thought it was her. But then he realized it wasn’t. Felt the numb deadness crush him again. ‘What the fuck…?’ he mumbled.
‘It’s ten o’clock. You said not to let you sleep past ten, remember?’ said the girl, sounding annoyed.
Kit came properly awake. No, this wasn’t Gilda. It was… damn. Couldn’t remember her name. His head ached, he’d drunk too much last night and fallen into bed with her, one of the hostesses maybe? One of the dancers? Who knew? Who cared? He’d been in a club, drinking. Which club, he didn’t know. His mouth was parched and sour, his eyes gritty.
