The Astonishing Return of Norah Wells by Virginia Macgregor Page B

need to drive, that the bus was fine – that she didn’t need to go long distances.
    â€˜They came back to me. The things you taught me,’ Norah says.
    He nods silently.
    â€˜I don’t think I could steer this thing, though.’ She looks around at the dimensions of the Chevrolet.
    â€˜You’d get used to it,’ Adam says.
    â€˜I guess so.’ She shifts in her seat and then turns to look at him. ‘Did you find my note?’
    He’d been gearing himself up for this conversation all day, and still he doesn’t feel ready for it. Especially not without Fay there beside him.
    â€˜Adam?’
    â€˜Yeah. I got your note.’
    Please don’t try to find me.
That’s what it had said.
    â€˜So you weren’t worried —’
    â€˜Not worried?’
    She tugs at her seatbelt. ‘You didn’t think that something had happened to me, like Ella did?’
    â€˜Your note didn’t stop me worrying, Norah.’
    In his darker moments he’d thought that maybe Ella was right, that they should get the police involved. He’d imagined a car pulling up alongside Norah, a man grabbing her small body off the pavement and bundling her into the boot. She was so easy to lift: as small and light as a sparrow.
    â€˜So why didn’t you come after me?’
    â€˜You told me not to, Norah. I followed your instructions. Why didn’t I come after you? Don’t you get it, Norah? I was scared. What if I found you? What then? I couldn’t face it, standing there while you told me what a loser I was, how you’d fallen out of love with me, that you didn’t want me any more. The note was one thing, but to hear it from your lips…’
    â€˜I never stopped loving you, Adam.’
    â€˜Don’t —’
    â€˜I just want you to know that I didn’t leave because I stopped caring —’
    â€˜We’ll talk about this later.’
    He felt like he was talking to Ella. Stamping his authority.
Be firm
, that’s what Fay had taught him.
Sound like you mean it and she’ll go along with it.
    Except that had never worked, had it? Ella had seen through him, just as Norah sees through him now.
    She turns away from him and stares out through the windscreen. ‘So Sai’s Ella’s boyfriend?’
    He nods.
    â€˜You’re not happy about it?’
    â€˜She’s too young for him.’
    Sai was the first guy Ella had ever shown any interest in, and at first he’d been glad. He and Fay wanted her to behave more like a teenage girl, to stop focusing so much on Willa – and on her campaign to find Norah.
It would be good for her to fall in love
, Fay had said as they lay in bed one night. That was before Ella started slipping at school, smoking, getting angry with everyone.
    â€˜And he’s not right for her.’
    â€˜It’s normal, to cling on to your daughter.’
    He grips the steering wheel harder. How dare she give him advice.
    â€˜It’s not that. He’s bad news.’ Adam says.
    Norah lets out a small laugh. ‘Bad news? That’s what Fay used to say about you.’
    Fay. Had there really been a time when they couldn’t bear to be in the same room? When the only thing they had in common was their love for Norah?
    They’d only touched on the subject a few times. Their old relationship.
I always loved you, stupid,
Fay had said once. He hadn’t understood.
    â€˜Fay was right,’ Adam says.
    â€˜You seem to get on better with her – with Fay,’ Norah says.
    He gulps, his throat dry. So Fay’s right, Norah hasn’t worked it out yet.
    â€˜Yes. We get on better.’
    â€˜I’m glad. I mean, I’m grateful that she’s been here for you and the girls.’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Willa calls her Mummy.’
    So she’s got that bit of the picture.
    â€˜You don’t correct her?’ Norah goes on, her voice