Chapter 5

When we got to the hospital, I called my solicitor.

Julian arrived a short while later.

"Hannah's been transferred," he said. "They won't be in the same school again."

"Mm."

"Pearl." His voice was careful now. "You're upset. I understand. But you can't just—"

"I'm not upset." I looked at him. "I'm finished."

He went quiet for a moment.

"I know why we divorced the first time. And I know I was wrong about a lot of things then."

"I'm glad you know."

"I was angry, and I let that anger blind me. I should have tried to find you. I wanted you to come to me, and you never did, and I told myself—"

"Julian." I said his name gently. "Do you remember when Lily had appendicitis?"

He went still.

"You remember what happened?"

"I couldn't reach you," I said. "I was down to my last forty pounds. Lily needed surgery, and I was at the hospital front desk trying to work out what to do. I had nothing." I looked at him steadily. "So I went to the Ashford Technologies building. I waited outside for over an hour."

Julian's expression had gone rigid.

"The security team came out eventually. They said you'd told them personally that you never wanted to see me again."

He made a sound like someone had taken the air out of him.

"I never—" His voice cracked. "I never said that. I would never—"

"Maybe you did, maybe you didn't." I kept my voice level. "It doesn't matter now."

"It does matter—" His hands were shaking. "Pearl, I have to know what happened. I have to—"

"What matters to me," I said, "is that Lily nearly didn't have her surgery. A doctor covered it out of his own pocket. Her father was in the city the entire time."

Silence.

"You couldn't get to us that day. And you didn't look for us after. And this time isn't different enough."

Julian's jaw worked. He looked like someone trying to hold himself together and not quite managing.

"Remarrying you," I said, "was a mistake. I can see that now. Not because of what you did. But because nothing here has actually changed. Not for Lily. Not for me."

He stood there, very still.

"Julian." I picked up my bag. "Let me go."