But Anne sees what she’s read on paper. She sees me as a thief and ex-con. A woman who kept the fact that her mother had run off and abandoned her kids a secret.
Social Services doesn’t see the good in my reasons. They don’t care that I worked my arse off to keep a roof over Jesse’s head and to put food in his belly. That, every single day, I made sure he knew how much he was loved.
Social Services doesn’t care about any of that.
All they see is a liar. A thief. And a criminal.
All because of Jason.
But I’m not going to go there. Today is going to be a good day.
I’m not going to think about that piece of shit.
I’m going to get Jesse back.
I’m going to show Anne the real Daisy—the responsible, reliable Daisy, who loves her brother like he’s her own kid. He is my kid. And I will do anything for him.
The doorbell rings, and a tremor of nerves runs through me. Standing from the sofa, I smooth my trembling hands down my dress and walk to the front door.
Pulling open the door, I see a woman on the other side. Looks to be in her fifties. Plump. Shoulder-length curly black hair. Kind face.
“Anne?” I’ve spoken to Anne many times on the phone, but I have never actually met her in person.
“Yes. And you must be Daisy. You and Jesse have the exact same eye color. Lovely.” She smiles.
Jesse and I both have amber eyes with flecks of hazel in them. In certain lights, it looks almost gold. It’s a fairly unusual eye color, one that we inherited from our dad.
It’s one of the things that I actually like about myself.
“Come in.” I smile, stepping back to let her in.
I shut the door and lead her straight into the living room. She takes a seat on the sofa, putting her huge bag on the floor next to her. I take a seat in the armchair across from her.
“Lovely place you have here.”
“Would you like a tour?” I offer.
“Tea first, if that’s okay.” She smiles. “I haven’t had a cuppa since lunch, and I’m dying for one.”
Smiling, I reach over and pour tea in a cup. “Milk and sugar?”
“Just milk, please.”
I pour the milk in, stir with the teaspoon, and hand it over to her. I pour myself a coffee, adding milk.
“Help yourself to biscuits,” I tell her.
She sips her tea. “Oh, lovely cup of tea,” she tells me.
I’ve always been told I make good tea even though I never drink it myself. I don’t know what I do when it comes to making tea that makes it taste so good. I guess I just have the tea touch.
I smile and sip my own coffee.
She puts her cup down on the table and reaches into her bag, pulling out a green folder. It has Jesse’s name on the front.
My heart beats just that little bit faster.
“So, how have you been finding things since you got out?” Anne asks me.
“Really good.” I smile, putting my own cup down on the table. “It’s nice, not having to shower with twenty other women.” Oh God, did I actually just say that? “I mean, it’s fine. Like I never left. Of course, it was a little strange at first—you know, being free—but living with Cece has really helped. She’s such a rock for me. And starting my new job, of course, has helped.” Stop talking. Stop talking now.
“How is the job going?”
I’m so nervous that I’m actually starting to sweat.
“Really great.” Aside from my bipolar boss. “I’m really enjoying it.”
“You’re working at”—she pulls a sheet of paper from the folder and looks at it—“the Matis Estate, as a maid.”
“That’s right.” I clasp my hands together in my lap.
I don’t want to talk about my job. I want to talk about Jesse. But I need to let her take the lead here.
“I just had my first payday today actually.” I smile.
She lifts her kind eyes to mine. “That’s great, Daisy. I’m really pleased that things are coming together for you.”
“Me, too.” I smile, probably too enthusiastically, but I’m just feeling nervous and jittery.
“Can I ask…how is Jesse? I know, the last time we spoke—well, not the last time; the time before, when I was still in prison—you said he was doing well. Getting his grades back up.”
When I got put away, Jesse went off the rails for a while. He’d always been a good boy, a sweet boy, and done great in school. But he started acting up in school. Letting his grades slip.
He hadn’t acted up like that when dad died or when mum disappeared on us. But he did when I left.
That was hard to take, knowing what I had unwittingly let happen, how it had affected him so badly.
I know it was because I was all he had left.
“He’s still doing well. His grades are almost back up to where they were. His teachers are pleased with his progress. He recently started playing football. Him and some of the boys he lives with have a team. Tim Marshall, the head of the boys group home, is the coach. They’ve been competing in some local tournaments.”
“That’s so great. I would love to watch them play sometime.”
She doesn’t say anything to that, and her nonaction drops like rocks in my stomach.
There’s this awful pause…and it makes my eyes burn and my stomach sink lower.
“I’m not getting him back, am I?”
She looks me straight in the eyes. “It’s not a no, Daisy.”
“But it’s not a yes.”
“I can see how well you’re doing here. And how hard you’re trying to make a good life for yourself and Jesse. But you’ve only been out of prison for four days, and you’re out on parole. It would be irresponsible of me to put Jesse back in your care under the current circumstances. But that being said, we can reassess in six months and see where we’re at.”