CHAPTER ONE
âTHATâS it, there.â
Cait looked up at the grim and forbidding exterior of the halls of residence and her heart sank. Oh, lord. Her baby was going to be living here in this dismal grey pile, hemmed in by endless buildings and concrete and dirt and viceâ
âLook, Mum, thereâs a parking place, by that Mercedes.â
So there was. What an unfortunate contrast. She zipped her modest old banger across the road into the space just ahead of another car, triggering a blast on the horn and wild gestures the meaning of which she could only guess at.
She resisted the urge to gesture back, and reversed neatly into place behind the Mercedes. âOK. I wonder if weâve got enough money to feed the meter and keep it quiet for an hour or so?â
âIt wonât take that long,â Milly said naïvely. âIâve only got a few things.â
Cait glanced in the rear-view mirror at the teetering pile of essentials Milly had simply had to bring with her, and sighed. A few things? In her dreams.
She fed the meterâcopiouslyâand then they had to run the gauntlet of the security system to gain access to the entrance hall. Milly went up to the porter behind his desk in the porterâs lodge and smiled a little uncertainly. âHi. Iâm Emily Cooper. Iâve got a room here this year?â
âSure. Cooperâhere it is. Hereâs your swipe card, your room key, information about the phone system, rules of the hallâ¦â
He handed over a sheaf of papers, rattled off some instructions and dropped the key in Millyâs outstretched hand. âGive me a shout if you need any help.â
âRight, letâs go and have a look,â Cait said. âWeâll bring in your things in a minute.â She summoned up an encouraging smile, and Milly smiled back, her face a little tight and pale.
To be fair, it was probably pale because of all the wild partying and farewells that had been going on for the past few days, but Cait knew she was also apprehensive.
It was a huge step in her life, and one Cait had no personal experience of to fall back on in her encouragement. She couldnât give her the âdonât do this and youâll enjoy that and try the otherâ sort of talk she might have been able to under other circumstances, because sheâd never made it to university, despite her ambition to read Law. Instead sheâd been struggling to raise Emily and keep a roof over their heads.
Not that sheâd ever been as clever as her brilliant and multi-talented daughter. Still, sheâd done her best for her, kept her nose to the grindstone and been there for her for the last eighteen years.
And now it was time to let go.
Oh, help.
âIt looks quite decent,â Milly said slowly, as if she was trying to convince herself. âAt least the paintâs new.â
On old and crumbling walls, Cait thought with a return of her maternal panic. Oh, yipes. She dredged up a smile. âHereâs your room! Look, itâs handy for the kitchen. Thatâll be nice.â
âNot when everyoneâs making tea in the middle of the night,â Milly said pragmatically and shoved her key in the lock.
The door swung open to reveal a fairly small and barren room. Although like the corridor outside it had been recently decorated, still it seemed bare and forbidding, and Caitâs heart sank. There was a bed, a chair, a battered old desk with some wonky shelves over it, a wardrobe in the corner and that was it. Home from home it was not, even though their home was far from luxurious. Poor baby.
âWell, at least itâs clean, and the carpetâs new, by the look of it,â she said with false cheer. âWhatâs the bed like?â
Milly bounced experimentally. âOK. Bit soft.â She stood up and looked out of the window into an inner courtyard, and her face fell. What a dismal view, Cait thought. The bins. Oh, lord.
âAt least you wonât have the traffic noise from the street,â she said bracingly, and Milly made a small noise that might have been agreement. âCome on, letâs get your things and you can unpack and put everything out on the shelves. Itâll look a lot better then.â
Milly made the same noncommittal noise, and with an inward sigh Cait followed her back out to the car. They brought in the cases first, bumping and banging on their legs and the walls of the corridor, and as they struggled up the stairs to the second floor, they had to pause to let two people pass.