Beautiful Broken Things(Beautiful Broken Things #1)(29)

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Does she know I’m here?’ I asked, just to check.

‘She’s asleep,’ Sarah said. ‘And I don’t really want to wake her up. It’s been a tough couple of days.’

I hesitated, then reached out my hand to touch the cards. ‘Was it . . . ?’ I let the sentence linger.

‘You saw the card?’ Sarah sighed and came over, reaching straight for the daughter card. ‘Quite something, isn’t it?’ She looked angry, and she was shaking her head. ‘I’d have ripped it up before she saw it, if I’d got to it first.’

She turned the card over in her hands, exhaled again and put it back. ‘She took it hard,’ she said quietly. ‘I think she’d got her hopes up for more than this.’

‘Was there any present?’ I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

‘Yes,’ Sarah said, her expression grim. ‘A bank transfer.’

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Well, that’s something.’

‘Yes,’ Sarah said. ‘It’s something.’ She paused, looking at me. Then, gently, she asked, ‘What did your parents give you for your sixteenth?’

I thought about the comically oversized card shaped like a cupcake, my beloved laptop, the silver bracelet, the whole bunch of new clothes. My mother had stuck a photo of me as a baby in the card and written underneath: ‘16 years of joy!’

After a silence, Sarah reached for the gift bag I realized I was still holding. ‘I’ll tell her you came by as soon as she wakes up.’

‘I could come right back if she wants me to,’ I heard myself say.

A smile spread across her face. ‘You’re very sweet.’

‘I just want to make it better,’ I said, feeling helpless.

Sarah didn’t reply. She didn’t need to. I knew what she was thinking, because I was thinking it too. It looped in my head as I walked back home.

You can’t.

Later that evening, my laptop pinged. Suzanne Watts has tagged you in a post.

I clicked on the notification and a photo of the sunflower filled my screen. It was sitting on her bedside cabinet, beside the elephant toy. She’d written: ‘Sunshine in a pot. Thank you SO much, Caddy.’

Not long after, my phone lit up with a text.

19.33: Thank you thank you thank you xxxx

19.35: You are welcome! xxx

19.36: Means the world. Can’t even tell you x

19.37: :) Happy birthday!

19.38: Haha, thanks. Happier now :)





After school on Thursday, Mum picked me up and we went to the supermarket together. I was in the haircare aisle, trying to find the most expensive shampoo for coloured hair I could get away with, when I felt a pair of cool hands sweep around my face and settle over my eyes.

I jumped about a foot in the air, dropping the John Frieda bottle I was holding and letting out a noise that was somewhere been a shriek and a laugh. Trying to regain my composure, I picked up the shampoo and stood to face my attacker.

‘Sorry.’ Suzanne was laughing, almost doubled over with it. ‘Oh my God, Caddy, I didn’t think you’d react like that.’

My heart was still racing, but I was laughing too, the two of us in pieces in the middle of the aisle. An old woman with nothing but washing-up liquid and a pineapple in her basket eyed us warily.

‘You can’t sneak up behind someone in a supermarket,’ I said between gasps. ‘What did you think would happen?’

When we’d calmed down, she reached for the bottle I was holding and looked at it. ‘You should go for the honey one,’ she said. ‘This is for platinum blondes. Yours is warmer.’ She turned to the rows of bottles and located the one she was looking for, holding it out to me.

I was so happy to see her.

‘This might be a stupid question, but what are you doing here?’ I asked, taking the bottle and tucking it under my arm.

‘Shopping. Obvs. Sarah’s here somewhere. Are you here with your parents?’

As she said this my mother came around the corner, pushing the trolley in front of her. When she saw me, she let out a tut of annoyance and came to a stop next to me. ‘There you are. Didn’t I ask you to get lemons?’

‘I’ll get them in a minute,’ I said, wondering for a second why she was ignoring Suzanne, before realizing they’d never actually met. ‘Mum, this is Suzanne.’

Mum’s face lit up, which was embarrassing. ‘Oh! Hello!’ She reached out her hand and Suzanne shook it, looking surprised but polite. ‘I’m Carol.’

Sarah walked past the entrance to the aisle at that moment, then did a double take and turned her trolley towards us.

‘Hello, Caddy!’ she said enthusiastically as she approached. ‘What a lovely surprise.’

It took barely a minute for Mum and Sarah to turn their enthusiasm on to each other, shaking hands and introducing themselves while Suzanne and I inched closer together in bemused solidarity.

‘Isn’t it weird how happy they both were to see each of us?’ she muttered to me. ‘Sarah never looks as happy to see me as she did to see you.’

Even if this was true, they both seemed to forget about us, barely noticing as we sidled off to wander the aisles together. Trust my mother to strike up a friendship among the shampoo bottles.