CHAPTER 13
He stashed the backpack in a corner of the garage behind a pile of empty boxes, making a mental note to collect it at the first opportunity and consign the contents to the nearest Lifeline bin.
The aroma of frying onions greeted him as he entered the house. Carlene was in the kitchen stirring something in the electric frypan. Reuben put his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.
‘That smells fantastic.’
She pulled away from him and swung around. Her mouth was tight. It jolted him back to the look on his mother’s face when she’d arrive home from a double cleaning shift at the hotel, to find that Reuben hadn’t done his homework or cleaned his room.
‘I don’t know what you were brought up to believe, but these days it’s supposed to be an equal sharing of the housework. And
