FORTY
They ate a quiet supper, the girls tired after school and playgroup. Samantha put them to bed, read to Amy whilst Steve did the same with Bea.
“Who is that man who is always here, Daddy?”
Steve, about to turn a page of Roald Dahl’s Matilda, stopped and shook his head, the sadness rolling over him in waves. “You mean the big man?”
“Yes. He was here after you went back to work in the car. He came and mummy was crying.”
“Was she?”
“Who is he?”
“A friend, darling.”
“But he was holding Mummy in the kitchen and when I came in, Mummy got angry and sent me up to my room. April Morrison told me her mummy and daddy had a friend, and her daddy went away to live with him. Will Mummy go away and live with this one?”
Steve put the back of his hand into his eye and sniffed. “Bea, you mustn
