“Smells beautiful, Mum.” Sally approached her mother and planted a light kiss on her cheek. “Can I do anything to help?”

“What the…” her father’s thunderous voice made them both turn in his direction.

“Don’t start, Dad, please?”

Her mother gasped and grabbed her arm. “How the heck did that happen? Did someone object to you arresting them?”

Damn! Why hadn’t she prepared a tale like that on the way over here?

Sally shied away from her father’s stare.

“What in God’s name?” Sally’s father pressed in spite of her plea.

She shook her head. “I’m okay, Dad.”

“There’s no fooling me, child. You should know that by now.”

Sally pulled away from her mother and sat down at the kitchen table. Her mother turned off the gas beneath the pot on the stove then pulled out the chair next to her. She clasped Sally’s hand in her own. “What is it, love? What aren’t you telling us?”

Sally’s gaze went over her mother’s head and locked with her father’s. His face had darkened, resembling a threatening storm cloud, but there was a glimmer of a kind smile lurking in his eyes. He knows!

He raised an eyebrow. “Your mother asked you a question, Sally. Kindly do her the courtesy of answering it.”

She knew when her father spoke in that off-tone of his there was no hiding place. Such places had been absent during her childhood, too.

Her mother turned sharply to look at her father. “Don’t speak to her like that, Chris. Show some compassion in your old age.”

Sally squeezed her mother’s hand. “It’s okay, Mum. Dad’s right. I shouldn’t keep this from you. I should have told you what he was like before.”

“You’re not making any sense, love.”

“Hush, Janine. Let her speak.”

Sally flinched at her father’s unexpected harsh words. “This didn’t occur during working hours, Mum. This happened last night at my flat.” Sally’s father sat down on the other side of her and grabbed her free hand. All of a sudden, a tsunami of emotions overwhelmed her. Her voice cracked when she continued, “It was Darryl.”

Her mother’s free hand clutched at her chest while her other squeezed Sally’s hard. “No. He wouldn’t.”

“Yes, he would,” her father stated. “This has been going on for years, hasn’t it, love?”

Sally couldn’t bear to look her father or her mother in the eyes.

“What? Is that right, Sally? Look at me, child.” Sally’s mother placed a finger under her chin and forced Sally to look at her.

“Yes, Mum. I’ve always hidden it from the pair of you. I didn’t want to shatter the illusion you had of him.”

“Ha! I had no illusions other than that he was a charmer who enjoyed cheating on you,” her father said.

“Why on Earth didn’t you tell me you had doubts about him, Chris? I always thought the pair of you got on well together.”

“I tolerated him for Sally’s sake. You know that old saying about keeping your enemy closer, well, that’s what I was doing with him. I was waiting for the day he physically hurt you in a place we could all see, and now that day has come, nothing would please me more than to teach that shitbag a lesson or two about how to treat women. Damn! Why didn’t you just come out and tell us this was going on, Sally? I’ve had to suppress the desire to thump him for years, but I couldn’t do it while you still loved him.”

“I appreciate that, Dad. I really do. All you need to know is that we’re finished now. You know what cowards men who abuse women are. Once the truth is out in the open, they rarely stick around to face the consequences.”

“Okay, I understand what you’re saying, but surely the divorce put an end to any contact between you, didn’t it?” her father asked.

“Yes, or so I thought. He turned up drunk at the flat last night. Rather than disturb the neighbours, I foolishly let him in. It wasn’t until I asked him to leave that he lashed out.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed. “What else did he do, love?”

Sally sat back in her chair, releasing her hands from her parents’ grasp, and stared at the table. She heard her father curse under his breath and scrape his chair back, almost tipping it over in his haste to reach his car keys hanging up on the rack. Sally glanced up in a panic and silently pleaded with her mother to stop him.

“Sit down, Chris. I refuse to let you go after that piece of filth. He’s not worth it.”

“It’ll make me feel a darn sight better.” He placed his hands on the worktop, extended his arms, and bowed his head.

Sally left her seat and walked across the room. She threw an arm around his shoulder and gently rested her head against his. “Please, Dad. Don’t make this worse than it is. I’m fine.”

He swallowed hard. “You don’t look fine. I can’t let him get away with this. You can’t let him get away with this. That’s it—you should press charges against him for assault.”

Sally stepped away from him and shook her head. “I can’t do that, Dad. I wouldn’t be able to go into work every day knowing that people were whispering behind my back, treating me like a victim.”

“Is that all you care about? What people will say?”

“It’s an impossible situation, granted, but I’m asking you to abide by my wishes and not to jump in feet first only to regret your actions later. He’ll get what’s coming to him in due course.”

“I’m shocked. Shocked that you would let a… man like that roam the streets in the knowledge that he could attack another woman, or even kill someone. How could you let that happen, Sally?”

“Don’t try and make me feel guilty, Dad. I know him. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

He twisted out of her grasp and stared at her, a deep frown creasing his brow. “Are you insane? Who understands what goes on in a twisted, perverted mind like that? Certainly not you. Otherwise, you would have left the bastard years ago.”

“Now, Chris, don’t go getting all worked up. Remember what the doctor said about keeping your stress levels to a bare minimum.”

Tears of guilt filled Sally’s eyes. “I’m sorry. Please, Dad, I’d rather just forget about things, if it’s all right with you. If you’d rather I didn’t stay here, just say, and I’ll find a hotel somewhere for a few days.”

“That’s nonsense, Sally. Of course we want you to stay.” Her mother left the table and joined them. “Stop it, Chris! I will not allow you to drive my daughter away in her hour of need. Do you hear me? She’s a grown woman who can fend for herself. We need to take a step back and let her deal with the situation to the best of her abilities.”

Sally gathered her parents in her arms and kissed each of them on the cheek. “No one could wish for greater parents. Thank you.”

During dinner, her father was very quiet, and he continuously clenched and unclenched his fist. Sally sensed then that she hadn’t heard the last of this conversation, at least where he was concerned.

* * *

Scott observed the couple’s shenanigans all evening from his vantage point at the bar. The girl was feisty, just the way he liked them. She obviously had no intention of letting her boyfriend ignore her all night. He had already picked up that the guy would much rather spend time with his mates than the pretty brunette sitting beside him.

“Are you listening to me, John?” The girl’s voice suddenly rose, not for the first time that evening.

“Don’t I always?”

“No! You don’t.” She punched the top of his arm, shoved her handbag under her arm, and ran out of the pub.

Scott’s brain worked through the gears. He downed the last third of his pint as he watched the man approach the bar and high-five his four mates standing there. “Barman, another round of drinks here. We’re celebrating.”

The barman nodded and poured five pints of lager, which he placed on the bar in front of the group. John raised his glass in a toast. “To freedom, boys. Sup up, and we’ll move on to the nightclub to pick up another unsuspecting victim or two.”