The Family Friend by C. MacDonald (love story novels in english txt) 📕

don’t care how she’s looking after him. She’s worked with babies for years, I’m sure what she’s doing with him is much better than me. But he’s rejecting my milk.’

‘Oh, babe, that’s horrible.’

‘The only thing I ever felt like I was doing right was breastfeeding him and now he won’t, and it’s because of what she’s done.’ Imogen keeps saying something that sounds like ‘more’ so Caz goes behind the swing and begins pushing her higher. Meanwhile, Bobby clings to the swing’s restraint, concern etched into his brows.

‘You sound a bit –’ Caz hesitates, unable to look at Erin.

‘A bit what?’

‘Na, listen, forget it. It’s not on, you’re right.’

‘What do I sound, Caz?’

Caz winces, sucks air through her teeth. ‘You sound a bit paranoid, which I totally get, you know? If I had some prick taking pictures of me, I’d be paranoid too, but Amanda, I just don’t understand why you’d think she’s trying to turn Bobby against you.’

‘She hasn’t got a family, there’s some old flame back home who seems to be messing her around, she’s spent her life working with children, she obviously likes them, she’s of a certain age and she doesn’t have them. Women in that sort of situation have done much more “mental” things.’

Caz sighs, turns away from the swings and walks towards the chain-link fence that divides the playground from a mini-golf course that’s been allowed to overgrow into disrepair. Erin huffs out a dragon-puff of condensation in the air. She thought Caz would side with her, but she’s seen the pictures, she’s seen images of Erin looking like she can’t stand her own child. In her trial by social media, even her best friend has chosen to believe the photographic evidence. Erin glances all around her at the thought of the troll, feeling like prey searching the landscape for a predator. After being accused of paranoia the thought of telling Caz she thought she was being followed a couple of days ago has rescinded firmly from Erin’s mind.

Bobby begins to cough. It’s horrible hearing the phlegm on his tiny lungs. She picks him up out of the swing and wraps the collar of his coat tighter around his neck. Raf said he was up a lot in the night and she can see it in the rawness in his eyes. Stanley tumbles off the roundabout in the far corner and Erin watches Caz turn quickly and efficiently, grabbing Imogen out of the swing as she hurries across to attend to her boy. She rights him, gives him a cuddle and he runs off towards the slide with Imogen waddling behind him. Caz sits on a bench and pats the space next to her.

‘I’m sorry, babe,’ Caz says as Erin sits down next to her, Bobby perched on her knee. ‘I’ve got about eight followers, no idea what it must be like for you. But have you tried talking to Amanda about it.’

‘Raf’s so angry still, I think if I start throwing accusations about … I don’t know.’

‘We had a coffee last week, after Joy’s.’ Joy’s is a gym and singing class run at a soft-play centre in town. Erin looks up at Caz, remembering the overheard conversation Amanda, Sophie and her friends were having and trying to suppress the feeling that Amanda and Caz were engaged in a similar form of latte-laced betrayal. ‘I asked her why she decided to come here in the winter. She told me she’d been struggling back home. Felt stuck with her life. She’s estranged from her family and has this horrible stepdad who’s trying to get back into her life. I didn’t want to pry but it felt like she’d seen some shit, you know? She said that when her and Raf were friends, it was the last time she was happy really. Sad.’ Erin clenches her jaw, nods. Is the stepdad the man she’s talked about as some sort of on–off boyfriend? That would certainly explain how guarded she’s been whenever Erin’s prodded for details. Bobby’s turned to her and is giving her the shy smile that he’s now wheeling out more often and Erin can’t help but be heartened by it. ‘Sounds like she’s been struggling on her own for a long time,’ Caz says. ‘I don’t know, maybe she’s just so delighted to be part of a normal family. She’s overstepped the mark, for sure, but maybe she’s just trying too hard to make you all like her. I’ve got a mate who’s a singer in a wedding band and she absolutely swears by that Manuka stuff for colds and coughs and that.’

‘She tell you about how she found us?’ Caz shakes her head. ‘She saw a painting in one of my “stories” which she recognised from Raf’s dad’s house from when they were kids.’

‘No, she didn’t mention it.’

‘She said “Mercury was in retrograde” and thought it was a sign. You heard of that, Mercury in retrograde?’

‘People blame it when everything’s going tits up.’

‘I’ve never put that painting in any of my stories.’ Erin looks at Caz, challenging. Caz keeps her eyes on Stanley who’s trying to drag Imogen up a small hill towards the baby slide.

‘That right?’ Caz crosses her arms.

‘I hate it. It’s in a dark corner of the room.’

‘The pink one with the person in the cloak?’

‘I’ve actively edited it out of posts before. So how did she see it?’ Caz looks at her Casio watch. Imogen can’t make it up the hill and Caz stands as if she’s about to go and help her but she doesn’t move. ‘How did she find us if she’s never seen the picture, Caz?’

‘I don’t know, Ez, I don’t know. Look, I’m sorry about what someone’s doing to you with these pictures. It’s fucking foul. Maybe you can take a break from the “Gram” for a bit, let the whole thing settle down.’ Erin’s phone buzzes in her pocket in retaliation and she stands up as if to defend its honour.

‘If you two are