The School Run by Sophie King
Widower Nick is worried when his daughter is late home from school ...
At nearly eleven twenty, just when Nick had decided he would call the police, Mutley barked and he heard a key in the lock. Thank God! He felt sick with relief.
‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at?’ he demanded.
Julie, cheeks glowing, bounced in. ‘Sorry, Dad. I couldn’t get back until now. Hang on a minute.’ She turned round on the doorstep and waved at a car. Someone called, ‘Night, Julie,’ as they drove off. A girl’s voice.
‘Who was that?’
‘Jason. And some other friends. Can I have some of that?’
‘No, you can’t. You smell as though you’ve had a few already. Who was driving?’
She flopped down on the sofa and began to play with the TV remote control. ‘Jason, if you must know.’
Nick felt hot. Did men get menopausal too, or was it just parent paranoia? ‘I told you, Julie, you’re not to be driven by other teenagers. It’s a rule. I won’t have it.’
She rolled her eyes as she flicked through the channels. ‘Oh, give over, Dad. Anyway, if you really want to know, he wasn’t driving. I was.’
‘You were driving? That’s illegal.’
‘No, it’s not. We found some L-plates. Well, at the front, anyway. And I needed the practice. It’s not as though you give me enough. Now, please, I’m trying to watch Big Brother.’
Nick grabbed the remote. ‘How long has Jason been driving?’
‘Dad, give that back!’
‘Not until you tell me how long that boy has been driving.’
She rolled her eyes.
Nick could smell her breath from where he was standing. How many drinks had she had?
‘A whole year. That’s how long. Now, will you stop panicking? And give that back!’ She snatched the remote from him.
‘Then it is illegal,’ said Nick. ‘You have to have driven for three years before you can supervise a learner.’
‘How interesting.’
‘Julie.’ He sat down next to her on the sofa. ‘Look at me. You were lucky not be stopped by the police. Where did you go?’
‘Some bloke in Jason’s maths set. Jason needed to drop something off. Then we went to a bar. Chill out, Dad. It’s no big deal. I’m eighteen in six months and then I can do what I like. Mum was only my age when she met you.’
Her trump card. Juliana. Tomorrow. Two years. He ought to make allowances. ‘Let’s go to bed.’ He suddenly felt weary. ‘I’ll just walk Mutley.’
‘Let me kiss him before you go.’ Julie stumbled off the sofa and buried her face in the dog’s neck.
‘How many drinks did you have tonight, as a matter of interest?’
‘Three Bacardi and Cokes.’ She got up and turned up the television volume. ‘And before you ask, it was after I finished driving. Jason drove afterwards and he hadn’t had anything. Satisfied?’
‘I’m not happy about it,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s not a good week, I know, but it’s hard for me too.’
Her eyes softened. ‘I’m sorry, Dad.’ She leaned towards him and kissed his cheek softly, like her mother had at the beginning. ‘I just want to see the end of this. If I’m not here when you get back, I’ll have gone to bed.’ She was looking at the screen again.
Maybe, thought Nick, the driving and the drink and the television were her way of getting through tomorrow. Perhaps Amber was right: he should respect the way she was dealing with her loss. Everyone coped differently with bereavement.
He bent down to kiss her. She smelt of cigarettes. Only a few years ago, he thought sadly, it had been baby lotion.
About The School Run
‘The School Run’ is when, during morning rush hour, parents drive their children to the school gates. Sophie King’s much loved novel has been a bestseller twice, first in print and then digitally. It was chosen as one of Chick Lit Central’s favourite novels of 2012.
Meet Harriet, Pippa, Evie, Nick, Kitty and Martine as they battle the daily school run. Share their ups and downs during one life-changing week, as they face relationship dilemmas, family dramas, secrets and lies ... all leading to surprise events which cause their lives to collide.
Harriet doesn’t know whether she'll still have a marriage by the end of the week. But as she waits for her husband’s decision about their relationship, does Harriet have more choices of her own than she realised?
Pippa is waiting too ‒ for the results of medical tests that could bring devastating news about her health and future. But could it be Pippa’s own actions that threaten all she holds dear?
Evie is struggling with her high-pressure job on a magazine and dealing with two step-daughters who hate her. But when her husband disappears can she rise to her biggest challenge yet?
Widower Nick worries about his teenage daughter, Julie, as they approach the anniversary of her mother’s death. Can Nick keep his guilty secret about how she died?
School teacher Kitty needs a man. At least that’s what her friend Mandy tells her. Can she win Mandy’s bet to find one by the end of the week?
Martine is unhappy as the au pair for a famous TV couple. Will she find her escape with a married man?
Meanwhile, Betty watches on, determined to find the hit and run driver who killed her young son ...
Seven people living different lives, but their paths are destined to cross in ways they could never have imagined.
Meet Harriet, Pippa, Evie, Nick, Kitty and Martine as they battle the daily school run. Share their ups and downs during one life-changing week, as they face relationship dilemmas, family dramas, secrets and lies ... all leading to surprise events which cause their lives to collide.
Harriet doesn’t know whether she'll still have a marriage by the end of the week. But as she waits for her husband’s decision about their relationship, does Harriet have more choices of her own than she realised?
Pippa is waiting too ‒ for the results of medical tests that could bring devastating news about her health and future. But could it be Pippa’s own actions that threaten all she holds dear?
Evie is struggling with her high-pressure job on a magazine and dealing with two step-daughters who hate her. But when her husband disappears can she rise to her biggest challenge yet?
Widower Nick worries about his teenage daughter, Julie, as they approach the anniversary of her mother’s death. Can Nick keep his guilty secret about how she died?
School teacher Kitty needs a man. At least that’s what her friend Mandy tells her. Can she win Mandy’s bet to find one by the end of the week?
Martine is unhappy as the au pair for a famous TV couple. Will she find her escape with a married man?
Meanwhile, Betty watches on, determined to find the hit and run driver who killed her young son ...
Seven people living different lives, but their paths are destined to cross in ways they could never have imagined.
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