Instant Family Read Free Page B

the
ground.
    "Hey!" He saved himself by grabbing the seat belt.
    "Sorry. What happened? Where were you?"
    Chloe slammed her own door. "We've been at the police station doing a deal so Seb doesn't go to jail," she said harshly. A wave of
tiredness hit her. "Any coffee going, Julian?"

    "I'll make it."
    Chloe stalked to the house with Julian and Seb following her in a
huddle, whispering together as they'd done all their lives. It had
never bothered her before, but now she spun around and in a burst of
fury yelled, "What are you two whispering about? You'd better not
be telling Julian stuff you didn't tell the police, Seb, or so help me
I-" She clamped her trembling lips into a tight line as her voice
shook uncontrollably.
    "Chloe," ventured Julian tentatively. "He's-"
    "Don't." She chopped her hand down. "Don't say anything. I've
had enough. I should let the police lock you up, Seb, the way that
man wants. You might learn something about being responsible."
    She registered Seb's pale, exhausted face and Julian's identical,
pale, shocked one in the brief moment before she turned on her heel
and charged up the steps and in through the open front door.
    Chloe slammed into her bedroom and flung herself onto the bed,
fighting the overwhelming rush of tears. Why did she have to deal with
this stuff? She couldn't cope with teenage boys. How could Seb do this
to her? Why? She jammed clenched fists into her eyes. A couple of
salty tears found their way down her cheeks and into her mouth.
    She'd failed. Failed to bring up the boys properly. All those people
who'd said she couldn't do it, she was too young, were right. Simone
would have another weapon in her armory. Chloe could hear her now.
"Katy should live with me. You can't cope with three." Or, "The boys
need a man in their lives. You should get married, Chloe."
    As if that would be her sole reason for marrying. A father for the
boys. She'd given up everything for the kids. Dropped out of Uni,
dropped out of her old carefree life to be a single parent. Sure, she'd
like a boyfriend, but how could she meet someone, and who would
want her, knowing he was to be surrogate father to a ready-made
teenage family? Including, as of today, a would-be criminal. Look at
the reaction of that staggeringly attractive man. He despised her.
    Chloe drew a deep, shuddering breath. The Simone issue wasn't
black-and-white. Nothing was. What Simone said, she said out of
love and a genuine desire to help, however impractical and ineffective. She'd been grieving too. She'd lost her only son.

    The bedroom door cracked open an inch.
    "Chloe?" Two blue eyes wide with alarm peeped timidly around the
door from under a fringe of flyaway brown hair. "What's happening?"
    Chloe patted the bed beside her. Katy darted across the room,
a slim, bony little figure in pink shorty pajamas, and snuggled next
to her.
    "Seb snuck out last night and went in a stolen car with some boys.
They were vandalizing people's property, and Seb got caught. The
police called me."
    Katy's eyes grew even wider. "Is he in jail?"
    "He's home. But he's in big trouble."
    "What will happen to him?"
    "I'm not sure. The man who caught him is very angry. I think
Seb..." Chloe bit her lip as tears threatened again. "I don't know,
Katy. We have to wait and see."
    Julian appeared in the doorway holding a mug. "I made coffee for
you, Chloe."
    "Thanks." She sat up. Julian placed the mug carefully on the bedside table, then sat on the end of the bed. Chloe took a long slurp.
The hot, sweet liquid hit her system with a revitalizing jolt.
    "Seb's in big trouble," announced Katy. "He might go to jail."
    "I know," said Julian. "But he won't go to jail."
    "He might."
    "You don't know anything." Julian's lip curled in disdain.
    "I know you shouldn't vandalize people's things and steal cars."
    "Shut up, Katy!" Julian cried.
    "Where's Seb?" asked Chloe.
    "Asleep."
    "I need a shower." Chloe slid off the bed. "I have to go to