Second Time Around Read Free Page B

her through the day?” Halley asked him with concern.
    “How can you say something so ridiculous?” Alec returned crossly. “I’ll have you know that I give Mrs Rice an allowance to buy nutritious food to put in the school lunches that she brings over for Em.”
    “You’d better increase that allowance. All Em gets every day is a jam sandwich and an apple,” Halley retorted.
    “I don’t know where you got that idea from. Mrs Rice gets paid sufficiently to provide something far more substantial than that. She is dedicated to my daughter,” Alec replied, affronted.
    Halley snorted.
    “And just what is that sound supposed to mean?” he demanded.
    “Your dedicated Mrs Rice can’t be bothered to collect Em half the time. I don’t mind bringing her home with us but it would be easier on me if Mrs Rice would let me know in advance. My car is currently parked outside the school because I didn’t have a spare booster seat for Em to use,” Halley told him testily.
    “What are you doing taking my daughter home?” Alec asked with alarm. “You’re not authorised.”
    “Yes I am,” Halley interjected. “Mrs Rice turned up here with a permission form so that I could collect Em from school a few weeks ago. She told me she had a doctor’s appointment and wasn’t sure she would be back in time. I wouldn’t have agreed to help her out if I’d known her ‘appointments’ would increase in frequency though… Actually I would have,” she said, changing her mind. “Em spends all her time here after school anyway. She only leaves when Mrs Rice summons her back shortly before you arrive home.”
    Alec couldn’t believe what she was telling him.
    “You’re exaggerating,” he said testily.
    “No, I’m not,” Halley contradicted. She plucked the empty bottle from Cassie’s mouth then placed the baby over her shoulder and started gingerly patting her back. “As much as I don’t want to put Em on the spot I suggest you ask her. Otherwise if you want proof I suggest you get home unexpectedly early tomorrow and you can see for yourself where your daughter spends her time.”
    As she spoke Cassie’s face started turning red then Halley felt a familiar vibration on the arm she was using to support the baby.
    “Now if you excuse me, I have a nappy to change,” she said then closed the door on his face.
    Alec found himself staring at the door for a few moments before he realised what she had done. The gall of the woman! He couldn’t believe the stuff she had made up… and to shut the door on his face! She was incredibly rude.
    Alec allowed the screen door to slap shut then stalked back to his house. He’d ask Em what was going on then he would be back. He was paying Mrs Rice a small fortune for Em’s lunches in addition to the hours she minded Em. He even gave the woman extra for mileage on her car.
    With all that money going her way Mrs Rice had a big incentive to dote on his daughter, and she did, he assured himself. When he came home she was usually reading Em a story or they were in the middle of a board game which she would reluctantly leave for next time.
    By the time he opened his own front door he realised he didn’t even know what his neighbour’s name was. Whatever it was, he’d make her eat her words.
    Five minutes later Alec found himself heading back to Halley’s door feeling contrite and embarrassed. Em had not only backed up everything his neighbour had said but she had added that Mrs Rice only started reading to her once she saw his car in the driveway, opening to a page in the book at random. Any board games they ‘played’ were likewise set up at the last moment and counters placed where they fell.
    Alec considered himself astute and it was a blow to his ego to have discovered that a pensioner had been taking him for a ride. He owed his neighbour an apology and at least an offer of payment for all those hours she had been minding Em.
    As he marched up her side of their shared driveway to