Summer at Tiffany's by Karen Swan Read Free Book Online Page B

about. ‘It’s probably better not to take Velvet in there. All the machines bleeping, you know . . .’
    â€˜Oh yes. Good thinking.’ Suzy squeezed her daughter tightly to her, sniffing her hair and savouring the feel of her skin against her own. ‘If I can’t get out—’
    â€˜I can be here anytime you need. Just say the word. We can be here in fifteen minutes.’
    â€˜You’re an angel.’
    â€˜No. Just your friend.’ Cassie smiled, wishing she could see Henry, but she knew he wouldn’t want to be called away without good reason.
    She watched as Suzy walked back into the unit and the nurse closed the glass door on her with a resolute click. Cassie waited for a few minutes, wondering if Henry might come out to see her when Suzy reappeared, but not a single curtain flickered and eventually – Velvet growing restless in her arms – she had to turn and walk away.

Chapter Four
    â€˜Come on. Pick up. Pick up,’ Cassie murmured to herself, chewing on her thumbnail as she paced Suzy’s narrow dog-leg hallway, one ear still straining for the diminishing chunters behind the nursery door. The lights on the baby monitor in the kitchen were a soothing green now, at least, indicating sleep wasn’t far away.
    â€˜â€™Allo? Cass?’ Anouk’s refined Parisian accent was so delicate, yet husky, it almost came with its own scent – a blend of amber, jasmine and musk. ‘How are you?’
    â€˜Nook—’
    â€˜What has happened?’ Anouk asked, quick as a flash. With old friends, one syllable was enough.
    â€˜It’s Arch,’ Cassie said, one hand clutching at her throat, as though she was trying to squeeze the words out – or keep them in. ‘He had a heart attack yesterday.’
    There was a shocked pause.
    â€˜But he is OK, yes?’
    â€˜He seems to be stable, at the moment.’
    There was another long, stunned silence. And then: ‘Yesterday, you say?’
    Cassie picked up on the rebuke immediately. ‘I’m sorry. There was so much going on it was impossible to call. Suzy was in pieces and I had to look after Velvet. Henry only came back last night to sleep, and he’s still with Suzy at the hospital now.’ She swallowed, the words almost a slur as a silent tear slid down her cheek.
    â€˜What can I do? I can be there in a few hours.’
    â€˜No, no. I honestly don’t think there’s anything you can do over here. Not yet, anyway. Hattie’s due any minute to take Velvet, and until Arch is discharged . . . they’re only letting family stay.’
    She was still smarting from the bitter blow that engagement to the patient’s wife’s brother wasn’t a strong enough bond to admit her to the CCU’s inner sanctum. Hospitals didn’t care about bonds that were thicker than blood, friendships that had spanned their lifetimes; fact was fact and she wasn’t family. Not yet.
    â€˜I just wanted you to know, that’s all.’
    â€˜Have you told Kelly?’
    â€˜Not yet. I’ll wait till it’s a decent hour over there.’
    â€˜She would want to be woken for this, Cass.’
    â€˜I know, but what would it achieve? It’s not like she can do anything from there.’
    â€˜No.’
    Neither of them said anything for a few beats. They didn’t need to.
    â€˜How is Henry?’
    â€˜Not great.’
    â€˜No. I bet . . .’
    There was another pause.
    â€˜Guillaume?’
    They were the same words but it was a different question. Guillaume wasn’t tied in to this tragedy like Henry. He wasn’t struggling to keep it together. The words, framed around him, amounted to a nicety, an automatic social more that meant nothing in the circumstances. Anouk, as though recognizing this, paused before replying and Cassie could just picture her friend dragging slowly on her cigarette. ‘Fine.’ Anouk’s voice had