Time To Play by KA Richardson (best book club books of all time TXT) 📗

get her to trust him when he didn’t do the same? Breathing deeply, he opted for the direct approach.

‘You’re right. I don’t open up easily. I find it so hard to talk about it that I just block it all out and try to forget. But I never really forget, it’s always hovering at the edge of my mind. I was on the dive team in Edinburgh. Everything was going great. I had the job I wanted, the girl I loved.

‘I’d booked a RIB from a hire place, took her out on the Forth despite her not really liking water. Champagne, nibbles, and the diamond ring in my pocket. I was building up the courage when the rain came – and I’m not talking a squall – massive heavy streaks of rain that stabbed like needles.

‘The engine stalled, and I stood to try to get it to work again. I rocked the RIB, and I didn’t hear the splash over the rain. When I got the engine running a couple of seconds later, Tina just wasn’t in the RIB any more. I dived in, cried her name every time I came up for air, but – I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t save her. All my training and I couldn’t—’ Ali broke off, tears filling his eyes.

‘I was pulled out by a fisherman half an hour later. I still hadn’t found her. She washed up a few miles upstream a few days later. I never should have taken her out.’

Marlo looked stricken. ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Ali. I didn’t know, I shouldn’t have pushed. But it wasn’t your fault. Tina chose to go out on the river with you. You couldn’t have known what would happen. I’m really sorry.’

Ali took in a shaky breath – it had been so long since he’d let himself remember. It was almost like he was there again. He could smell the salt in the air, feel the sting of the rain, and he could see Tina in front of him, her brown hair blowing in the wind. Giving himself a mental shake, he said, ‘It was a long time ago. Kinda felt good telling someone about her, I guess. She’s been inside so long. I won’t push, Marlo. If you don’t want to tell me it’s OK.’

‘It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just, I’ve never told anyone before. It’s too horrible.’

She took a deep breath and followed his lead. ‘You know about my mum, right? Well, being an uneducated, rough four-year-old wasn’t something that was appealing to adopters. I was pushed from foster care to group home more times than I can remember when I was young. Anyway, when I was ten, I was placed with a lady called Ann. She seemed OK, helped me with my homework and made sure I was fed. I’d been there three weeks when her boyfriend, Chris, came home from the oil rigs. It was my eleventh birthday, and for the first time I allowed myself to get a little excited, thought maybe I might get a present or a cake. Other kids got all that, but I never had a birthday cake, not once.

‘Chris creeped me out. He had greasy hair and breath that smelt like stale fags. I didn’t want to go anywhere near him, but Ann pushed me onto his knee and told me to sit there while she went and made tea. At first it was OK, he just stroked my leg, but then his hand went under my dressing gown. I didn’t know what to do. When Ann came back in, I thought he’d stop, but he didn’t. He touched me, and I started crying. I ran to the bathroom and threw up.’

Marlo paused, lost in her thoughts for a moment.

‘I was so afraid he would come for me when I fell asleep that I forced myself to stay awake until I heard them go to bed. And I lit the candle – Chris said I wasn’t allowed to put lights on, so Ann had given me a candle in case I got scared. I crept downstairs, and I remember stopping on each stair to make sure they didn’t wake up. I didn’t want him to follow me, so I took the keys off the hall table.’

Marlo’s voice dropped to a whisper.

‘I crept out of the back door. I realised after I’d got outside that I’d left the candle in the kitchen. It was so dark outside. I was petrified of the dark anyway and I didn’t know what to do. So, I hid in the shed. I didn’t even realise anything was wrong until I saw the orange glow in the kitchen and smelt the smoke coming from inside. I tried to go inside, to shout for Ann, but the fire was too hot. And then I heard them screaming. They couldn’t get out. I’d taken the front door keys and they couldn’t get the door open. I could hear banging, like they were throwing something, and Ann was screaming and screaming. The firemen found me in the shed once the fire was out. Chris had told them that Ann must have left the candle on in the kitchen. He knew though. I think he thought I did it on purpose. They sent me back to the home the next day. I didn’t get any more foster parents after that.’

Ali had been silent throughout, but his blood was boiling. How the hell did that sort of thing still go on? He could picture Marlo in his head, sweet and innocent and so happy to be getting presents and cake, only to have something so horrific happen. He had no doubt that if she hadn’t run to the shed, Chris would have come into her room and hurt her even more.

‘You know that wasn’t your fault, Marlo. The candle was an accident. What kind