Leo feels a quiet strength begin to build, somewhere between the rough water and the storm raging overhead. He grabs the searchlight from between Ffion’s feet and switches it on, sweeping it across the water. Ffion’s doing whatever it takes to get her daughter back, and Leo can’t let her down. Then, once Seren is safe, he’ll do whatever it takes to get his own kid back.
Fifty-One
New Year’s Eve
Seren
Wear the dress.
Seren’s stomach gives a little flip as she looks at the message again. This is it. She’s been wondering if it’s all been in her head: thinking he might fancy her, evennoticeher in that way. She even wanted to ask him, like some stupid kid:Do you like me? Is something happening between us?
Wear the dressis her answer.
She’s giddy with excitement as she gets ready. She washed her hair this morning and straightened out the frizz before using the irons to tease each section into soft, loose waves that ripple over her shoulders. Now, she smudges her eyes with golds and browns, coats her lashes with mascara, and shapes her brows the way she’s learned online. With every layer of makeup, she looks older. By the time she’s finished, she feels nothing like Seren Morgan. She’s glad of it, because right at the back of her mind, a tiny warning is trying to make itself heard. She pushes it away. She’s sixteen. She could leave school. Get married. Drive a moped.
Have sex.
Seren’s eyes are wide in the mirror. She isn’t going to have sex. She doesn’t want to—not yet. But she knows she could. She knows she’s reached that age where she has power over men, and the feeling is intoxicating.
Wear the dress.
She’s wearing it. It has long sleeves and a neck so high, the dress appears boring—chaste, even—until you see how short it is. If the fabric were loose, it would be impossible to wear without showing her knickers, but it clings to her bum like a swimsuit, skimming her buttocks and coming to a stop just above her thigh gap. It is an amazing dress, and Seren is a queen in it.
“You look lovely,” Elen says. She takes in the black leggings Seren is currently wearing between her Doc Marten boots and her dress. The boots will stay on; the leggings will not. “Although I wish you wouldn’t wear so much makeup.”
Seren has not yet put on the bloodred lipstick she bought especially for tonight.
“Have fun with Efa and Siân.”
Seren’s heart is thumping as she gives Elen a hug and says, “Blwyddyn Newydd Dda,” because Mam will be at Angharad’s at midnight, where there’s no reception. Mam made Seren promise not to go to The Shore. She says she’s heard there’s a bunch of idiots planning to crash the party, and she’s worried there’ll be trouble, but Seren knows that’s not the problem. Angharad let slip to Mam that Seren’s been hanging out with Caleb, and Mam must know about his police record, because she’s been funny about it ever since.
“He’s older than you,” she said to Seren. “He’s a bad influence.”
If only she knew. Mam and Ffion have no idea that Seren hasn’t seen Efa and Siân outside school for months and that her pocket money comes not from babysitting but from helping Rhys with his fan mail.
Eventually, Mam will find out that Seren went to the party. She might even hear it tonight, through her network of spies, the way she found out that time Seren bunked off school to go shopping in Wrexham. Seren will deal with that if it happens; for now, she’s living in the moment.
She’s at the lake when she sees Huw, a smart shirt poking out from beneath his coat. He takes in her outfit. “Off to the party? Me too.”
“You’re shitting me.” Everyone in the village knows Huw’s raging with The Shore over money they owe him.
“Does your mam know you talk like that?” Huw tosses a key in the air, then catches it with the same hand. “Come on. I’ll give you a lift.”
Huw’s boat is fast and powerful, leaping across the surface of the lake. Seren ducks behind the shelter of the curved windshield, the hood of her coat pulled up to protect her hair.
“Caleb, is it?” Huw shouts.
Seren shrugs, points to her ear, and pretends she can’t hear him. Wind whips at their faces.
“—with Rhys, I hear.”
Seren reddens. What did Huw say? But then she catches something aboutworkingandbloody fan mail, and she breathes out.
“Saving for uni,” she shouts back.
They’re within spitting distance of The Shore now, and he pushes in the throttle so the engine’s just turning over. The sudden silence is almost painful. “You want to be careful around that man,” Huw says. He hands her the mooring rope, and she stands on the edge of the boat, one hand on the windshield. Glad of the excuse to look away. “He’ll fuck you over soon as look at you, that one.”
As soon as they’re close enough, Seren jumps lightly onto the dock and ties up the boat. “Thanks for the lift!” she says, running to the ladder and leaving Huw behind.