‘I’m going out of my mind! What if she’s run away? I’ve been working so hard recent— Oh, thank goodness, she’s just come in. Look, I’ll call you back.’ He threw the phone down on to the table and ran over to me I was horrified to see it looked as though he’d been crying. I felt a wave of sickness surge into my throat. Oh no I’d told him I was going to Jazz’s and he’d found out I hadn’t gone there after all. I closed my eyes and prepared to be screamed at, but instead I felt Dad’s arms around me and I was scooped up in a massive bear hug. ‘Where have you been?’ he mumbled into my shoulder. ‘I, er, we went out for a walk,’ I said. Dad set me back down. ‘In the rain? Bertie, look at me,’ he said, lifting up my chin and staring directly into my eyes. ‘Tell me the truth.’ This was pants. I hated lying to Dad.
