‘I’m so sorry I’m late.’ I greet Glen with a smile but Rebecca gets up and gives me both a hug and a peck on the cheek.
‘We missed you last night. Are you feeling okay darling, you look awfully pale?’
‘I’ve had a headache all morning. I’ve taken some tablets and I’m feeling a lot better. I’ll be fine after this lunch I think.’ I indicate the glorious spread of quiche, various salads including Waldorf and potato, jacket potatoes, nachos, salsa and large bowl of chicken and bacon pasta, plus some garlic bread. I sit beside my family and tuck in.
Afterwards we walk through to the garden. The Lawler’s have a stable door that leads out to the patio through the kitchen. I love this door. For some reason, even though we didn’t have one, it reminds me of childhood. I like the idea that you can open it halfway and lean on it to chat to folks. Niall’s parents have a fat black cat called Tristan who must be around eighteen now. He is laid out on the patio looking like a comma, toasting his belly in the sunshine. Tristan is so pampered that when I bring him a tin of cat food he thinks that’s a delicacy and laps it up, finding his usual salmon to be completely beneath him now. Later he’ll come brushing around my legs and wonder why the tin lady hasn’t brought his treat.
The patio consists of square grey flagstones that extend from the outside of the kitchen door, all the way to the end of the living room where there are patio doors. We go to sit out on their furniture, a green rectangular glass table with six canvas chairs. Joe spots a new football lying on the tennis court sized garden and he’s off. Glen comes out of the house carrying a glass jug containing what I guess to be Pimms, judging by the fruit in the bottom. In his early sixties, his dad is similarly built to Niall; a tall, handsome man with wavy hair that has faded from blonde to grey. He has the same crinkly eyes when he laughs and I can tell by looking at him what Niall will look like in twenty years’ time. I’m wondering if I can face a Pimms, when he pours and hands me one anyway.
‘Kill or cure, Lauren. I reckon my Pimms Punch will put you straight.’
‘Or on your back,’ announces Rebecca coming out of the house with a tray of strawberry jellies, to which I know will have been added some rose wine as they’re her ‘house special.’ Niall’s mum is around the same height as me, five foot six, with short brown hair (topped up by the local hairdresser). She favours smart but casual, and is wearing some beige cotton trousers and a three-quarter sleeve silk top. Her reading-come-sunglasses are perched on top of her head.
We all take a seat around the table. I face out towards Joe so I can enjoy watching him run around the space, kicking his ball with abandon.
‘Grandad, come and play.’
‘That’s my sit down finished already,’ Glen says with obvious pleasure. He heads off to join Joe.
‘Actually, I think I’ll join them, looks like fun.’ Niall is away too, and then there’s just myself and his mum sitting at the table.
I lift my spoon and taste a bit of the strawberry jelly. It is refreshing and delicious, and I tell his mum this.
‘Oh it takes no doing Lauren. It’s one of those recipes that looks good and tastes nice, but only takes about five minutes of prep. I just can’t be bothered with cooking these days.’
‘Yes, well, make sure to pass me your mushroom soup recipe if you’ve stopped making it, because I can’t live without that.’
Rebecca takes a sip of her Pimms, considering me over the top of the rim.
‘So what’s going on Lauren? Niall and Joe arrive without you and he says you’re having trouble with some old school friend. Then you turn up today looking like, if you don’t mind me saying so, hell.’
‘It’s complicated,’ I reply. ‘I wouldn’t know where to start.’
‘Well,’ she leans over and puts her hand across mine. ‘I won’t pry but I want you to know that I’m here for you Lauren, if you need me. You’ve become the daughter I never had. I know you had a difficult childhood, and I just wanted to tell you that if you need a mature opinion or a chat, I’m always on the end of a phone.’
My eyes fill with tears. I’ve known Rebecca a long time now and she has always been motherly towards me, insisting on hugs and cheek kisses. I have always held her at a distance, being scared of letting a ‘mother’ figure into my life, for fear of being abandoned by another one. Now I look into her soft grey eyes and wonder why I’ve never let her in before. I need this person in my life right now. I put my other hand over hers, making a gesture of intimacy towards her that I never have before. Her hand initially jumps as I touch it but then she smiles at me. ‘I’m scared,’ I tell her, like it’s bedtime and the monsters are hiding in my wardrobe.
I tell her all about Bettina, my history with her from school, how she’s been hanging around Niall, the eBay business, the scraped car, the note, her telling Niall that Seb was flirting with me, Danny’s warning.
‘Oh Lauren. I really think you should phone the police.’
‘That’s what I want to talk to Niall about. He doesn’t know about my business and the story behind the keyed car yet. I’ve been thinking the same myself. I thought I’d maybe look into if I can get an injunction or something. I’m just a bit nervous that I don’t have any proof.’
‘She’s obviously been playing a very clever game. Well I know it’s not going to help now, but when school breaks up you are more than welcome to come here for a week or two to have a break from everything.’
‘I think we’d like that very much,’ I say. I breathe in the fresh air. ‘I love it here, it’s so peaceful.’
‘Not when the farmers plough the fields it’s not, and getting stuck behind tractors on your way to the shops isn’t a barrel of laughs.’
I raise my eyebrows at her.
She smiles. ‘Okay, I admit it is lovely around here. We are very lucky. I do wish I could see my grandson more though. There’s a hospital here, you know?’
I laugh. ‘Very tactfully put. Look, I can’t think of anything right now with what’s going on, but I promise to consider it in the future okay?’ I mean what I say.
She tops up my glass. ‘Cheers to that.’
We spend another hour or so companionably chatting about this and that. She fills me in on village life, her local yoga class that I’d love, and the village festival they are putting on in the next week or so. It brings to mind the summer fair and for a moment, clouds threaten to challenge the sunshine for my soul.
‘I’ve bought Joe a new Lego set, for after our evening meal,’ says Rebecca. ‘It should keep him busy for an hour or so, and then I’ll help him run a bath. He loves our rolltop. There’s a really pleasant walk around the village, and the Dog and Duck has a decent real ale selection. I think you and Niall would enjoy it tonight.’
‘Thank you.’ She’s giving me the opportunity to catch Niall up with recent events on our own and I am extremely grateful to her for it. I feel my eyes threaten to spill over again, so I pick up the jelly glasses and carry them into the kitchen. I look out of the kitchen window, at Rebecca relaxed in her chair, looking out over the men and at them laughing and joking around. They’re tormenting Joe with piggy in the middle and I wish I could stay here forever, wrapped warm and cosy like in an electric blanket. The other life, the hard life seems far away and surreal, and I wish I could toss it away like garbage and start anew here. I go to get my overnight case from the car and begin to spend time unpacking, feeling for the first time in a long time, as if I can relax.
Chapter 16
After a dinner of thick vegetable soup with an array of different breads; followed by pork, stuffing and apple sauce sandwiches, Niall and I head out for a walk. It’s still humid outside, the perfect temperature for a stroll and we meander around the village lanes, where quite often the pavement completely disappears and you have to keep a close watch for cars and cyclists. On the way to the pub we chat about how lovely the area is, and how spoilt Joe gets at his Grandma and Granddad’s house. Inane stuff, as we
are both aware we need a major chat and beer is required. The Dog and Duck is a small village pub, very spit and sawdust with brass plates on the walls and a landlord and landlady that have been there for years. Although we don’t come here very often, Gary the Landlord, a robust, balding red cheeked man, who looks like he samples quite a few of his own wares, gives Niall’s hand a firm shake as we approach the bar.
‘Well you’re definitely not the milkman’s. I swear you’re morphing into your dad, Niall, and you, Lauren, are looking as gorgeous as ever.’ He lifts my hand and kisses it.
Thinking of the pasty and sallow face I arrived with, and doubting much has changed, I smile at the charmer. After how I felt this morning I can’t believe I’m going to have yet more alcohol, but as I walked into the bar and smelled the real ale my mouth watered, so I ask for a half of Theakston’s Old Peculiar, a drink I used to have long ago when Niall and I were first dating. We get ourselves a seat in a little nook that has a good window overlooking a little stream and flowered area. I take a sip of my drink, it’s thick and treacly and I smack my lips after.
‘Okay, well update time,’ I tell him. I take a deep breath. ‘Firstly, I know you won’t be impressed with me, so I apologise right now for what I’m about to say, but things have been really difficult and I didn’t want to get into it all yesterday with the car and going to your mothers.’
‘Get on with it because I’m sure what I’m imagining is far worse than what you’ve done.’
‘Right. Well, yesterday morning I went on my eBay account and it had been ruined with negative feedback from four different buyers, including two so-called business leads I’d had, so it would appear I’ve been set up.’
‘Lauren, are you sure you haven’t done something to upset someone, because this is getting disturbing.’
‘Well, yes actually, I have. Bettina, but it was a long time ago, anyway, let me finish.’
He nods.
‘So I contacted eBay, but I’m not sure what will happen with that. If they make me refund them I’ll lose two hundred pounds.’
Niall huffs. ‘That’ll go nicely with the four hundred excess on the car.’
‘Anyway, I went over to her house to ask her to stop it and leave us alone. She denied it all, as expected, and then when I said we should just avoid each other, she told me she had a date with Seb. You know, the same Seb she told you was mad about me? Well he’s so obsessed with me he’s asked Bettina out.’
‘Are you joking?’
‘Nope.’
He takes a gulp of beer. ‘This is getting weirder. I’m starting to feel I’m on some wind-up TV programme.’
‘Right, well anyway, last night I didn’t go to see Bettina to sort things out. She said she was going away with Tyler, but with what happened after I’m not so sure I believe her. I phoned Seb, cos I had his number from the fair, and I told him about what she’d been saying. He was really shocked and said he didn’t think he wanted to date her now. I said that was up to him and I hung up. I had a really bad headache so I went to bed early, and when I woke up the car had been keyed. I reckon she’d heard from Seb and did it.’
‘I’m not very happy that you lied to stay at home and phoned that man.’
‘I think we have more to worry about at the moment, Niall. What are we going to do?’
‘I don’t know.’ I can see his tongue poking around the side of his cheek. ‘Maybe we need to ring the police?’
‘I wondered about an injunction.’
‘I don’t feel we’ve proof enough for that. I’ll tell you what, for a start, I’ll get a security camera fitted on the house. They’re quite cheap now on the internet. If there’s any more damage to the house we’ll have surveillance footage.’
‘That’s a great idea.’
‘Well hopefully that’ll deter vandalism, and if she turns up at the house we’ll have evidence for the courts to get an injunction, so I definitely think that’s the place to start. You’ll have to find some way of avoiding her in the schoolyard. There’s only three weeks of term left so just get Joe to meet you at the bottom of the drive or something so you don’t have to stand near her.’
I smile to myself at Niall’s male solution planning in evidence.
‘With eBay, I’d contact them and let them know what’s happened, and that you seem to have been targeted maliciously. Hopefully with your meticulous feedback record they’ll wipe the slate clean.’
‘I hope so, I love my little business.’
‘Now, without sounding like a jealous prick, no more talking to that Seb.’
I nod. ‘Message received and understood. I shouldn’t need to now anyway and by the way, he’s leaving so he’s not going to be around.’
‘Leaving? Good. Well, I think that’s all we can do for now, isn’t it? I’ll ring a garage on Monday and ask how much it is to get the keying covered on the car. I really don’t want to put another claim in on the insurance or we’ll lose our no claims bonus.’
‘That’s another expense then.’
‘Yes, fate has decided we shouldn’t have any money just now.’
‘Fate or some spiteful cow.’
‘Well she didn’t blame me for reversing into her car, so we’ll have to let her off that one.’
‘Just that one.’
I let Niall have another pint and I have a still mineral water to help me hydrate. We consider sitting outside but the midges are hanging around the water and the moths around the lights, so we stay in the nook. We go back to normal conversation and it feels so nice here, to be away from everything and have this time alone with my husband. We need more of this sort of time, ‘date nights’, I’ve read it called in magazines. If we lived nearer to Niall’s parents we’d have regular sitters.
‘I’ve been thinking that I quite like it around here Niall. Would you consider moving out here with Joe?’
‘Now where’s that idea come from?’ he says. ‘You know I moved to the city to escape the quiet country upbringing I had. It can be a bit remote living in the sticks.’
‘I think it’s lovely, and it’s away from the city fumes. It’d be so much better for Joe. Perhaps we could be nearer to Stafford town centre anyway. It doesn’t have to be here, just near enough to see your parents more often.’
‘I didn’t have you pegged as a lover of my parents, Lauren, you normally try and avoid visiting them.’
‘I know,’ I giggle. ‘I’ve realised today that I’ve resented your mum trying to be a mother to me. I felt like she couldn’t bridge the gap of hurt I feel when parents get mentioned. What if I got close to her and something happened and she hated me? I couldn’t go through that again.’
‘My mother’s not like that, Lauren. She’s really maternal.’
‘I guess she’d have to be with four of you.’
‘I don’t know, we were quite a handful. One thing I do know is that Mum took to you as soon as she saw you, the swan who thought she was an ugly duckling.’
‘Yes, well today she made me feel like the swan, and I feel like I’ve made a breakthrough, that maybe I can feel loved by others, if I can trust them first.’
‘You’ve no idea how happy that makes me feel to hear that. You can’t let what your parents did to you torture you forever. You must be a good egg if I’ve stuck with you, being the golden child that I am.’
It’s Niall’s way of saying he loves me, and I grab hold of his hand. ‘Shall we walk home now and snog on street corners and in doorways like teenagers?’
‘Lead the way,’ he says, downing the last of his pint.
We arrive home, Glen lets us in and we walk through to the living room, a spacious room painted beige with a traditional style brown leather suite and a brass fire with cream marble surround. I can’t work out what’s different and then it hits me. I look at Rebecca. ‘Oh, I didn’t bring flowers.’ Usually these would have pride of place in the centre of the mantle shelf within five minutes of my arrival.
>
‘Don’t you be worrying about that Lauren; you’ve enough fetching and carrying after these two. I know they turned up without you last night, but I bet I know who packed.’
I grin as Niall pouts. ‘I’d been working hard all day mum.’
‘Of course, my darling boy, you provide for your family and that’s an amazing thing.’ She winks at me behind his back.
After a long game of Trivial Pursuit we head off to bed. I am by now absolutely shattered, and I’m aware that Niall is still in the en-suite as I feel myself drift off to sleep.
Morning starts with an array of breakfast cereals, sliced fresh bread, croissants and jam, and we are told in no uncertain terms by Rebecca that we are staying for Sunday lunch, and that she’s bought an extra-large chicken and a gammon joint. I’m pleased to hear this as I’m in no rush to head back. After breakfast Niall, Joe and I go to our room to shower. Niall takes Joe in to supervise his, and I put my phone on to check for messages, having switched it off the night before. After a minute or so it starts beeping; I have seventeen message notifications. I open them in turn. They are all from an unknown number.
‘Enjoy what time you have left with your husband.’
‘You are a selfish bitch.’
‘It won’t be long now.’
‘Tick tock.’
They go on, all warning in tone. I feel an icy chill up my spine and I tremble. I head to the bathroom. ‘Niall, do you have a moment?’
He comes out of the bathroom drying his hands on a towel. ‘What’s up love? I’m just making sure Joe actually washes himself.’
I show him my phone.
‘Right, that’s it; as soon as we’re home I’m ringing the police. They can come round tonight. If they can trace that phone we can find out who’s behind it. In the meantime, turn it off.’
‘I’ll text Monique first cos I forgot to tell her we were going away.’ I type a quick text that we’re at Niall’s mums and that I hope she’s free for a coffee tomorrow as usual. I soon get a reply.
Underneath Page 16