Fucking hell.
The story of the padlocked gate was revealed. Whereas if my mother could have kept her knickers on, Jules may have had a friend for life, instead my dear mother flirted with Marj's son and eventually left with him. Leaving us with no mother, the gate between the gardens permanently locked, and a family feud that simmered for years. Marj blamed my family for the loss of her son, who never bothered getting in touch again once he'd gone off with his mistress.
“None of this is Vi's fault, Dad.”
He took a deep exhale. “You've got to understand. It was a shock. I'd better go and see her and apologise though.”
“It’s better if I go. Now cook some fresh breakfast up because I'm bringing her back.”
I walked across the garden to Vi's house. She was pale and shaken and drinking a cup of tea, Jules by her side. Both stared at me with confused gazes, eyes seeking answers. I took in the fact they were sitting on a mattress. It showed me how unsettled Vi was anyway. The last thing she needed was the drama of this morning.
“So what the fuck is going on with Dad?” asked Jules in her usual eloquent manner.
“Don't shoot the messenger, okay?” I put my hands up.
“Out with it, Miley.”
“Do you know your uncle well, Vi?”
“Which uncle?”
Of course, a girl could have more than one uncle.
“Your mother's brother?”
She shook her head. “Not seen him since I was a tiny kid, why?”
“Because our dad just revealed your uncle had an affair with, and left with, our mother. Seems the gate had other uses.”
Vi placed a hand over her mouth.
Jules reiterated my words while she tried to process them. “Vi's uncle is who Mum left with?”
“Yes. Hence Dad's overreaction to Vi.”
“So he saw me, found out who I was, and I brought it all back. Your dad must hate me.” Violet’s lip trembled.
“No. He doesn't. He's making more breakfast and wants you to come back. He wants to apologise. It’s just he was shocked.”
Vi looked at the floor. “I've only been here twenty-four hours, and I'm already wishing I never bought this house. The fairy tale of my childhood is becoming a nightmare of adulthood.”
Jules scratched the top of her head. “Fucking hell. It’s like one of the soaps.”
Vi perused Jules with a crease to her forehead. “You watch the soaps?”
“God, yeah. Every one of them. Emmerdale's my favourite. You?”
“I can't stand them. I'd have never thought you were a soap opera addict.”
“Am I not living up to the stereotype of my hair and tattoos? Do I need to tell you I like the film The Craft and visiting graveyards?” Jules shook her head.
“God, that's exactly what I'm doing. How small minded. Sorry, Jules.”
“I like soaps, The Good Place, and Taylor Swift. I also watch a lot of wildlife programmes as I fancy Chris Packham. Quite like an older man.”
“When you two have finished gossiping, can we go back to ours? I'm famished.”
Vi’s soft grey eyes fell on me. “I'm not coming back over today, Milo. You need family time. I'll see you later.”
“But my father wants to say sorry.”
“He has nothing to apologise to me for. My uncle ended his marriage. I understand his reaction; but it was a shock and I'm not ready to face him again today. I want to concentrate on getting my house sorted. I'll grab a breakfast bar and start on my increasingly long ‘to-do’ list.”
Vi gestured to Jules. “You'd better go back with your brother and get your family breakfast. Then make sure my house is in this week’s plans, because there's no way I'm sleeping anywhere but here tonight.”
Jules stood up and headed towards the door. “Catch you later, Rapunzel.”
“I'll be back shortly,” I told Vi.
She nodded but looked away. There might not be a physical gate between our houses now but a mental one had just closed.
When I returned, my brothers were in the dining room eating breakfast. The usual hum of a Saturday morning was non-existent though, so I gathered Dad had told them about our mother and Vi’s uncle.
“Has she ever tried to get in touch?” asked Silas. I think as the oldest, her departure hit him more than anyone.
“I’d have told you if she did. She’s still your mother no matter what she did. But, no. Not so much as a birthday card.” My father took a seat at the table. “I'll tell you what happened that night. There was nothing to make it stand out. No poetic moment. No regret of what she was leaving behind.”
For a moment, Dad's gaze wandered to the window and in the direction of Vi's. “He was in the car outside she told me. Can't say I knew what he even looked like. Seen him out of the window a time or two. Knew he had blonde hair. She told me all she'd ever known was being a mother. That she'd grown out of it. With Dan, she could be herself, just Alice. No-one making demands of her. I told her I'd never made demands, always wanted her to have time to herself, and she told me that was the problem. While you kids wore her out, I left her alone. To the point where I'd driven her into the arms of another man.”
He looked at us all. “She didn't take a damn bit of responsibility for herself or her actions that night. Didn’t acknowledge the hours I had to work to keep a roof over all our heads. How exhausted I was. No, it was my fault she had an affair because I'd not paid her enough attention, and her children’s fault for demanding her time. She told me a clean break was for the best. That you would be fine without her and she was happy for another woman to bring you up.”
My father broke down at that point. We watched as his shoulders sagged and his body shook.
We stayed quiet and finished our breakfasts. Cal got up and started clearing the table. Jules joined him.
Silas was the one who pulled us back together, ironically, the one who was stepping away from the business.
“Okay, guys. Eyes on the planner.”
The planner was a massive whiteboard fixed on the dining room wall. Every week we brainstormed the weeks jobs and wrote out an outline of each day. This way it could be erased and re-written as extra jobs came in or if events like bad weather threatened the whole plan. There was an office down at the yard, but we were just not that organised. Jobs got booked in via our mobiles.
Silas noted down all of our plans and said he'd take over my previous job. “I've not many fitness clients this week, but remember you owe me one.”
“Cheers, bro,” I told him. “I want to concentrate on Vi.”
“I'd like to think you mean Vi's house, but I have an awful feeling you do actually just plan to stare at Violet all week.” added Finn.
“I'm working through this week. Not taking tomorrow off. Need to get that girl a home. She's come out of a bad marriage and she's unsettled.”
My dad met my eyes. “I'll go talk to her. This morning won't have helped.”
“Nah, Dad, she'll come around. She needs to get settled. I'll sort it.”
“You do know you're not an actual knight in shining armour, don't you?” jeered Jules.
“Ah, you wait ‘til you meet the boy of your dreams, JuJu.”
“Do not ever fucking call me that childhood nickname again.”
“Can't wait to see Juliet Waite become a soppy wreck when she finds her Romeo.”
It's my own fault that I found myself covered in left over tomatoes from where Jules poured the remnants of her plate over my head.
Violet
I was glad when they'd left. I was more shaken by Josh Waite's unexpected venom than I'd let on. When he’d told me to get out, I’d wondered what the hell I'd done to him. For one nerve shattering moment I wondered if he knew about me and Jay. So I ran back here, to my place of safety. Yeah, right. With its holes and leaks. There wasn't even a bloody seat to sit on. Jules of course had no idea what had gone on in her dad's mind and so had tried to placate me with a cup of tea. I was glad Milo ca
me and collected her to go back home because I wanted a few hours by myself. It was time to crack on with making this house more habitable.
I drove down to the local animal sanctuary which kept second-hand furniture outside it. But before I looked at that I walked through to the kennels and talked to some of the animals awaiting adoption for a few minutes. It helped me calm down. There was the most gorgeous Brindle Staffy there. I read his info on the door. He was called Rocky.
“Hey there, Rocky. You don’t look all that settled in your surroundings either.” His head tilted to the side as his sad doggy eyes looked at me and my heart melted. I made a decision that when the house was no longer upside down, I’d come and see about taking him out for a walk and think about adopting him if he was still here. Feeling lighter in mood, I checked out the furniture stacked up. There was a small rectangular table that folded and four matching chairs. I'd have to return for two of the chairs, but they agreed to hold them for me. For now, the folded table and two chairs fitted in the back of the Ford Focus with the back seats down (how they'd been since I started my move). I paid a quid for a wine rack as I figured I'd need to drink in this house to survive, and ten pence each for around six mugs for the workmen who were going to be in and out of the house. I wished I'd measured the windows as they had quite a few pairs of curtains and then I remembered I'd got to return for the chairs anyway.
I popped back to the homeware store for a tin of white emulsion and a small tin of gloss. I added a roller and tray and bought a selection of small screwdrivers, a hammer, and some sandpaper and masking tape. Then it was a trip to the corner shop for a packet of breakfast bars and a bottle of Coke to keep me energised. When I got back to the house, Milo was hanging around, leaning against the door of his van.
I got out of my own car, feeling crowded by him and wanting to tell him to back off, yet he was doing me a favour helping me fix my home. I bit my tongue. “Sorry, Milo. Just went to get a few things.”
“It's fine. Are you okay?” He checked me like I was a precious antique that'd just had a knock.
“Fine and eager to get on. Hey, I know I said I'd help you with things, but is it okay if I spend today just trying to straighten the place up a bit?”
“As long as you keep the tea coming. Proper builder’s strength. Thick enough to stand a spoon up in, two sugars and plenty of milk.”
I pulled a face as it sounded foul. “Sugar's not good for you.”
He pointedly looked at the bottle of Coke in my hand.
“Oh shut up,” I told him, even though he'd not uttered a word.
I carried my breakfast bars, Coke, and cups into the house while Milo followed.
“So did your family get together go okay after this morning’s events?”
“Ish. My dad's a bit sensitive today and now we all know what happened it’s a bit strange. Silas was quiet. I think he still expected my mother to turn up at any moment and now he knows the exact circumstances of her going, it’s hit him a bit hard. Always been a sensitive soul that one.”
“And how do you feel?”
“Honestly?”
“Not much point in lying.”
“My feelings for her switched off a long time ago. She broke my heart. Ten-year-old boys idolise their mothers. She was always there for us, made life fun. Then she wasn't. Just like that. Gone. It was like she died, except for if she'd died, we'd have known she loved us and couldn't help it. Instead, we knew she'd left to make a life with another man and had chosen to leave us. We didn't feel good enough. We didn't feel we were good enough to love. That's how she made me feel anyway. That I wasn't worthy of her affections. I'm just pleased our dad was solid. Dependable. He had a broken heart, but we came first. Told us we were worth it and that our mum had just made a selfish choice in life. Then I began to hate her. Now I have no feelings about her at all. She's dead to me.”
“I'm sorry, Milo.”
“Shit happens. What are your folks like?”
I laughed. “My mother went to prison for stabbing my father four years ago.”
Milo's jaw dropped. “And I thought my mother was bad. Was it in self-defence?”
“No. She likes alcohol. Rather more than she ever liked having a daughter. Bit like you, my father brought me up. My mother was always disappearing and returning. If she saw me, half the time she dropped me off here at my nans. She was always fighting my dad. Would attack him while drunk and say she couldn't remember it when sober. Then she'd not drink for a bit, but it never lasted. A few years ago she grabbed the kitchen knife and narrowly missed an artery. I was with Jay so my dad moved to Norfolk. Wanted a fresh start and who could blame him? We're a right pair, aren't we?”
“We've got one decent parent each at least.”
“Yep, my dad’s amazing. Anyway, enough family history, Milo. What's the plan of attack?”
“Firstly, I’ve brought around new locks for the doors.”
“Oh that reminds me. I can’t find any keys for the window locks. Can you get me some?”
“Yeah, we’ll have spares back at the yard so not a problem. Then I thought I’d sort out your bedroom floor and living room ceiling. If that's okay with you?”
“That’s perfect, I was going to ask if you could start with the gaping ceiling hole. Will it complicate things that I’m having central heating?”
“Finn will need to lift floorboards for the central heating, but you can’t afford carpets anyway can you, so just paint or varnish it the best you can.”
“I’ll look around for a few cheap rugs.”
“Good thinking. Okay, I'll go make a start. I need to take some measurements first. Once I've done that, I'll get one of the lads to drop me off any joists, floorboards, or plasterboard I need. I’m going to start in the living room and repair the hole in the ceiling and then move upstairs and replace the floorboards. Now would be a good time to get that first cuppa on.”
“Yes, sir,” I saluted. “Well after your tea is made, I'm just going to pop and introduce myself to the neighbours and apologise for the noise in advance.”
“Always a good idea to keep the neighbours sweet.”
“That's what I was thinking.”
“Okay I'm off upstairs, Princess.” He sighed.
“What's the matter?”
“It’s always the same. A gorgeous woman but I'm only invited up to their bedroom for work.”
I laughed. “I’ll get the kettle on.”
With Milo busy and already making noise, I made my way round to the house that joined mine. A few moments after I knocked, the door opened to reveal a woman, who looked in her mid-twenties, with the most gorgeous mocha-coloured skin, mussed short hair, a toddler in her arms, and what looked like strawberry jam down her white tank.
“Yes?”
“Hi. I'm Vi and I just moved in next door yesterday.”
“Oh, hello.”
“I wanted to introduce myself and apologise for the noise, only the house turned out to not be habitable. Right now, there's a hole from my bedroom floor through to my living room ceiling.”
“I'm not surprised with that lot. I'm Becca. Come in a moment.” She beckoned me inside. “Excuse the mess. I blame it on Laurel, but really it’s largely that I need sleep and can't be bothered tidying up.”
I walked in and immediately felt jealous as I saw her lovely bright interior with its white painted walls. Yes, I could see pots in the sink and toys everywhere but at least it was a home.
“My husband Robert is still in bed,” she told me. “Lazy bastard.”
“Shit, I'm so sorry, my builders will wake him up. Let me go back and tell them to stop.”
She held up a hand. “Let them wake him up. We both work. Him five days and me three. Yet he gives himself a lie in. I'm up every morning with Laurel. I hope your builder accidentally breaks through the wall and hits Rob on the head with the hammer.”
I'm a little startled.
Becca sees my face and bursts out laughing. “Sorry, Vi. What
an introduction. It’s just I'm one of those people who well, tells it how it is. I love my husband dearly, but it wouldn't kill him to let me stay in bed once in a while. Now, would you like a drink? Though I might have to wash a cup before I can make you one.”
She placed her daughter in a playpen and gave her a doll.
“No thanks.” I told her. “I can’t stop. Too much to do in the nightmare of a house I've bought. I just wanted to let you know that if I make too much noise, come tell me or bang on the wall and I'll shut up.”
“Vi, seriously, as long as the workmen are done for say, seven? There's no problem here. Laurel gets me up at six. You can't possibly make as much noise as the tenants in the house before you anyway. They slept when they should have been awake and partied through the night.”
“I'm having to have a lot done to the house because they didn't treat it very nicely.”
“Oh and let me apologise in advance for any screeching Laurel does. She's at the terrible two stage and meltdowns are common. Mainly, I'm the one having the meltdown. So that's toddler tantrums, and mother meltdowns this side.”
I was warming to Becca already. Her refreshing honesty appealed.
“Right, I'd better be off. I need to say hi to my other neighbour and then start some DIY.”
“Oh, Quinn.” Becca said his name like she was tasting her most favourite dessert in a restaurant.
“Oi, behave yourself.” A just woken grunt came from the doorway as a man stepped through. I'd guess he was in his early thirties. He looked hungover but was no doubt just knackered. “Is there any coffee on, Bec? Hello, sweetheart.” He stroked his daughter’s cheek.
“This is our new neighbour Vi,” Becca explained. “Vi, this zombie is my husband Rob. Take your time in having kids because this walking dead routine comes and you can't even blame it on alcohol.”
“Hi, Vi?” he said my name with a question.
“Yes. Violet, but everyone calls me Vi. I was telling your wife I'm having some work done so there'll be a bit of noise.”
Rob shrugged. “I won't hear it over Laurel's tantrums and Bec's nagging.”
Waiting For Milo: THE WAITE FAMILY - BOOK ONE Page 5