‘Zac shouldn’t have had such a long shower.’
‘Maybe if you’d got up earlier, you could have washed your hair before Zac hogged the bathroom.’
‘Why should I? It’s the weekend and if he hadn’t been so selfish—’
‘I wasn’t selfish.’
‘Stop it,’ said Olivia again.
‘I pay to live here,’ said Jade. ‘That’s more than he does.’
‘It’s a peppercorn rent,’ said Olivia. ‘It isn’t enough to give you special treatment.’
‘God, I hate this family.’
‘Then move out.’
Jade scowled at her mother. ‘Like that’s affordable around here.’
‘Then I suggest you shut up and put up,’ said Olivia as calmly as she could.
Jade stormed out of the kitchen.
‘I wish she would move out,’ said Zac. ‘I’m going to take Oscar out.’
‘What about lunch?’
‘I’m not hungry.’ He called the dog and crashed out of the house.
Olivia pulled a chair out from under the dining table and sank down onto it, feeling exhausted. Was it wrong to long for the day when she had an empty nest? More to the point, was it too early for a stiff drink?
*
Bex felt worse the next morning and had a real struggle to get the children off to school. When the bell went and the kids disappeared into their classrooms she sagged down onto a bench at the edge of the playground and shut her eyes, willing the feeling of nausea to go away. Finally she felt well enough to totter down the hill and let herself back into her house. She shut the door behind her, flopped onto the sofa and closed her eyes. She still hadn’t made her mind up about what she was going to do and her worry, about which course of action to take, really wasn’t helping her physical symptoms. Thank God she didn’t have to do anything this morning. She groaned and curled up. Just five minutes.
She woke with a start and a vile taste in her mouth over an hour later. She swung her legs off the sofa and headed into the kitchen to get a drink of water. As she passed the hall mirror she caught a glimpse of her reflection; yuck. She rinsed her mouth out and then went up to her bedroom. If she didn’t want more people asking awkward questions she needed to slap up. Ten minutes later and with foundation and blusher applied, she stared into her dressing-table mirror – a definite improvement. At least she could venture out without fear of frightening the horses.
She made a shopping list and went to the big supermarket in Cattebury to stock up after the weekend and where she also picked up a pregnancy testing kit at the pharmacy section – having first checked there wasn’t a soul about who could possibly recognise her – then she returned home. She unpacked the shopping and took the kit up to her en suite. She sat on the loo and read the instructions – it had been a while since she’d last done this.
Bugger – a solid blue line ran across the middle of the stick. Ninety-nine per cent accurate the packaging had boasted. Time was, Bex would have been delighted. She put the stick back in its box and went to the kitchen where she buried it at the bottom of the bin.
Feeling completely distracted and worried she carried on with mundane household tasks; putting the washing on, tidying up the boys’ toys from the bedroom floors, checking her emails. And as she worked she chewed over the implications and her options.
When the time came to go next door to start her shift at the pub she was no closer to an answer. She walked to the pub feeling slightly sick, not just from the ebbing morning sickness, but with dread. She would see Miles, knowing what she knew, hiding her news from him… Would she be able to dissemble, to lie?
She knocked on the front door of the pub. Belinda unlocked it and let her in.
‘Hi there, Glamour-puss. What’s with the slap?’
‘Oh, you know, I just felt like it. You get those days when you feel you want that lift, don’t you?’
‘Some days, when I look in the mirror, I see my mother staring back at me. In my head I am twenty-six, so to see this forty-year-old frump comes as a shock I can tell you!’
‘You’re not a frump.’
‘You don’t see me first thing.’
Bex took off her jacket and hung it on a peg before she grabbed a cloth from behind the bar and began polishing the tables and tidying up the beer mats.
‘And when you’ve done that if you could bottle up. I’m going to change the mild.’
Belinda went off to the cellar as Bex worked her way around the bar. By the time she’d finished Belinda had changed the barrel and had brought up two trays of mixers.
‘I’m going to leave you to it today – the dreaded VAT return beckons.’
Bex worked on getting the bar ready for opening time. Behind the kitchen door she could hear the sounds of Miles prepping for the lunch service. Part of her knew she ought to go and say hello but part of her couldn’t face it. What if he guessed she was hiding something from him? She’d always been a shit liar.
The door banged open and she jumped.
‘Morning, Bex,’ said Miles cheerfully. He checked the bar was empty except for the pair of them before he kissed her on the cheek.
‘Stop it,’ she protested.
‘Why? I’m sure Belinda knows I’ve spent a few nights at yours. Let’s face it, she’s only got to look out of her window first thing to see me sneaking off before your kids stir.’
‘Except, given that Belinda is rarely in bed before one most days, I doubt if she is up when you leave.’
‘Well… Maybe. But I don’t know why we’re keeping things a secret. Are you ashamed of me? Am I your guilty bit of rough?’ He gave Bex a lecherous grin.
‘Don’t be silly. It’s just…’
‘I know, Megan. And I completely get it. I do. So we’ll keep things quiet a bit longer.’
Bex glanced at the bar clock. ‘Time to open up. And yes, let’s not tell the world just yet.’
‘Indeed. Although, as we both know, keeping any sort of secret in a place like this is bloody difficult.’
Bex felt her face flare.
Chapter 21
Zac texted Megan… you going down the sk8 park
Got a rehearsal
Another 1
Yes
Forget it
He threw his phone onto the bed and sighed. He could go to the skatepark on his own and hang out, but the trouble was most of the kids down there were just that… kids. He’d look a bit of a sad loner if he was there on his own. But he didn’t want to stay in the house; he hated the place and, now his mum worked and Jade had got a job, it was lonely at home on his own.
He decided to take Oscar for a walk. He pottered down the stairs, got the lead off the hook on the back of the front door and Oscar, a dog with the hearing of a bat, was beside him in a moment.
Zac grinned down at the dog, sitting at his feet, tail wagging vigorously to and fro across the carpet leaving several clumps of black fur.
Zac clipped on the lead, made sure he had his keys in his pocket and a ball for Oscar and let himself out. With Oscar walking beautifully to heel, he trailed up the high street and past the shop windows now full of orange and black decorations, spiders and witches’ hats. Not so very long till Hallowe’en, he thought. And, on an even brighter note, half-term first. Zac continued on his way up the road and wound up near his old house. He crossed the street and stood at the end of the drive. He’d always assumed this was going to be the family’s forever home – not that trashy little box they’d wound up in. His mum had explained his dad had been ill but he still found it hard to forgive him for what he’d done to the family. He’d said as much to him mum once and had got a lecture about drugs, and what they would have done to them all if he’d carried on taking them, and how he and his dad were as bad as each other, and all addictions were evil... In a way he knew she was right but he still couldn’t help feeling resentful.
He walked on past the house to the field beyond it. He climbed over the gate and let Oscar off the le
ad before throwing the ball as hard as he could. Oscar zipped off across the tussocky grass like a high-speed train. The ball bounced awkwardly but with a leap and a twist Oscar caught it in his mouth and then hurtled back to Zac. Zac walked around the edge of the field, throwing the ball every now and again.
After about a hundred yards he came to a gap in the hawthorn and bramble hedge which allowed him to see into the garden of The Grange. Something large and white was lying on the grass at the back of the house. Zac stared. It looked like a flagpole – how very weird. Why on earth would anyone put a flagpole that big up in their garden? But then he noticed several huge blades lying behind the pole. Blooming heck – it was a wind turbine and a monstrous one at that. He reckoned his mum would have something to say about a turbine at a point in the town where everyone, pretty much, would be able to see it.
Eventually Oscar looked worn out and Zac’s arm was aching from throwing the ball so the pair plodded back through the town. When he got in he could hear someone moving about in the kitchen – unlikely to be Jade, he thought. Now she’d got a job she’d reverted to type and expected everyone else to wait on her hand and foot. Zac wondered if her ex-boyfriend had deliberately engineered Jade finding out about his infidelity to get rid of her. He wouldn’t have blamed him if he had. She was a royal pain to live with.
He walked into the kitchen and found his mum cooking supper.
‘Hi, Mum.’ He shrugged off his jacket and let Oscar off the lead before going to one of the cupboards and getting out the dog food. He tipped it into Oscar’s bowl and told the dog to sit. Patiently, Oscar sat in front of his bowl, drooling at his supper until Zac said ‘go’. Oscar fell on his meal as if he had been starved for a week.
‘You’ll never guess what I saw,’ said Zac.
‘What?’
‘They’re putting up a massive wind turbine at our old house.’
His mum stopped stirring the sauce she was making, put the wooden spoon down and turned. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Pretty certain – I saw a blooming great mast lying on the ground and what looked like three helicopter blades. What else could it be?’
‘How big?’
‘I don’t know, Mum. Funnily enough, I left my tape measure at home.’
‘Roughly.’
Zac shrugged. ‘Ten metres, maybe more. It was huge. Why?’
‘Because there are rules about this sort of thing – planning regulations.’
And Zac knew his mum knew about this stuff – what with being on the town council up till recently.
‘So you think they won’t be allowed to build it?’ he asked.
‘They might be. It depends. On the other hand, given the way Mrs Osborne has already hacked me off and the way she spoke to Heather Simmonds the other day, it would give me a lot of pleasure to find out that she is in breach of planning regulations and she can’t put it up.’
‘OK,’ said Zac, slowly. ‘I kinda wish I hadn’t told you. Not if it’s got her into trouble.’
‘I don’t think Mrs Osborne is the sort of woman who cares about trouble.’
‘And I thought you liked green stuff.’
‘I do, mostly.’
‘But you don’t like the new people in our house.’
‘No,’ admitted Olivia. ‘Apart from the fact she was horrible to the hotel staff she’s been horrid to Heather too. So, I really don’t.’
Zac returned to his bedroom and got on with his homework – or tried to. He’d just made a proper start on his science when Jade retuned from her job and started playing music. The bass thumped through the walls into his room clashing with the music Zac was listening to through his headphones. He leaned over his desk and thumped on the wall.
‘Cut it out, Jade.’
Expletives followed by a return thump was the response.
Zac threw his pen down and thundered down the stairs.
‘Mum, Mum, tell Jade to turn her music down. I can’t hear myself think.’
‘Hmm – and all those times I put up with your music.’
‘That was different. And I’m trying to work.’
‘OK.’ Olivia climbed the stairs and opened Jade’s door. Zac followed her and, over the music heard Jade yelling the words unreasonable, unfair, snitch and a few other less than complimentary words about her family followed by silence as the music was switched off and then, ‘I hate you all.’
Zac went into his room and shut the door but he could still hear the row going on in the next bedroom through the thin stud walls.
‘And another thing,’ said his mother, ‘I really don’t mind you doing your washing, really I don’t, but you could at least fill the machine up. Today I took out three T-shirts, a couple of pairs of pants and a skirt and I had a load of whites that could have been done at the same time.’
‘Oh, so you want me to do your washing, as well, now.’
‘That’s not what I said.’
‘Sounded like it to me.’
And so the row continued for another five minutes with Jade railing against the awfulness of home life and his mother trying to be reasonable until finally he heard the bedroom door open and slam shut and silence fell.
Tentatively Zac stuck his head out of his door and saw his mother go downstairs.
He followed her. ‘I didn’t mean to cause such trouble,’ he said quietly.
‘You didn’t. Not specifically. It’s been brewing for a while. The bottom line is this house is too small for four adults.’ Olivia sighed. ‘But we’re stuck with the situation, so we’ll just have to do what we can to rub along.’
‘Or Jade could move out.’
‘Don’t be silly, Zac, have you seen the rents around here? Jade couldn’t afford her own flat – not on what she earns.’ Olivia paused, her mouth agape. ‘Hang on a sec…’
‘What?’
‘Never mind. I might have an idea.’
Olivia picked up the phone and dialled Heather’s number from memory. What she had in mind mightn’t be a done deal – it all depended on all parties agreeing to her proposed solution. On the other hand, if it worked out…
‘Hello, the vicarage.’
‘Heather, hello… It’s Olivia here, is this a good time to call?’
‘Fine. What can I do for you?’
‘Look, you know you wanted to let out your spare room now and again; well, would you be prepared to rent it out on a slightly longer-term basis?’
‘I suppose. I might have to run it past Brian, to say nothing of the bishop. Why?’
‘Would you let it out to Jade?’
‘Jade? Yes, I suppose so. I mean, I don’t have any objection in principle but how long are we talking about and how much can she afford to pay in rent?’
‘That’s the thing, I can’t say how long – how long is a piece of string – and as for rent…? At the moment she pays me sixty quid a week for bed and board. Given that she doesn’t eat breakfast and she has lunch at work, the money probably more than covers the cost of having her around. But, to be honest, I’d rather have the spare room than the cash. I’ll be frank with you, Heather – if she stays here I might just kill her – or her, me. And I appreciate that sixty quid is a ridiculously low rent.’
‘No… no… I think I might suggest that if I feed her it might have to go up a bit but, even a couple of hundred quid extra a month would make all the difference. Truly.’
‘I haven’t even run this idea past Jade yet.’
‘She might be appalled at the idea of sharing a bathroom with the vicar,’ said Heather drily.
‘Yes, there’s that. And I think you and Brian ought to do some serious sums about what a realistic rent might be, given that your utility bills are bound to go up. And Jade might baulk at paying more. Her job isn’t the best paid on the planet.’
‘Welcome to my world,’ said Heather with a laugh. ‘You suggest it to Jade and come back to me with her reaction. I won’t be offended if it’s one of horror. I can’t think there would be many young
people who would think that moving into the vicarage would be cool.’
‘But she might find it a deal more attractive than living here with her family.’
‘Indeed. If Jade’s up for it, I’ll suggest a rent and we can then see if she thinks it’s reasonable. Does that sound like a plan?’
‘It does. And I shall keep everything crossed that it works out. I really, really, don’t want to wind up in Holloway on a murder charge.’
Chapter 22
On Tuesday morning, when she awoke, Bex felt worse than ever. She dragged herself out of bed and into her bathroom, retched for several minutes and then sat on the edge of her bath and wondered how she’d find the strength to get the kids’ breakfasts sorted and then do the school run. And Megan wasn’t stupid – she was bound to notice that all wasn’t well sooner rather than later. Which led to another train of thought: she was going to have to make a decision about her pregnancy and she still didn’t have a clue what was for the best. What she really wanted to do was confide in someone, but whom?
Her mother? No way. Her mother wasn’t going to accept for one second that an abortion might be an option.
Belinda? Hmmm… But Belinda probably knew how much Miles would want this baby so would encourage Bex to make his dream come true.
Olivia? Possibly. But she had enough on her plate and it mightn’t be fair.
Heather? No, she’d probably have set views too. Bex wanted someone who would look at the two possible choices dispassionately.
Someone she knew from the book club or the WI? But she didn’t know anyone well enough to burden them with this.
Amy? God, no, not unless she wanted the entire country to know what was going on.
Feeling weak and rough Bex went to wake up the kids before she put her own clothes on and crawled down to the kitchen to make tea and toast and lay the table. The kettle boiled and the toaster popped but Bex suddenly went off the idea of either. A few minutes later her boys thundered into the kitchen, grabbed their choice of cereal and began to shovel down milk and flakes as fast as they could. At least they were of an age when they rarely noticed anything that didn’t have a direct impact on their own lives.
The Bells of Little Woodford Page 16