Calling All Neighbours (Calling All... Book 4)

by Tara Ford

Obviously.

  Dragging herself off the bed, she left the bedroom and tentatively went down the stairs. A clattering of pots and pans and the homely smell of cooking wafted out of the kitchen.

  “I’ve made your favourite,” said Joe, smiling apprehensively. “Spaghetti Bolognese – I was going to wake you in a minute.” Stirring the meat sauce, he seemed edgy as he moved the wooden spoon around the pan. “There’s wine in the fridge. Thought we could have a couple of drinks tonight.”

  Tiff sat down at the table without saying a word. She had mocked any attempts that Joe had made earlier to rectify the situation. She had to give him a chance to speak now, to explain, or to wheedle his way out of it.

  “Wine?” asked Joe, taking two glasses from a cupboard.

  Tiff nodded her head and watched as he took a bottle of fruity white wine from the fridge and poured two large glasses. Taking a large gulp from his glass, he carried the other one over and passed it to her. Bending over, he kissed her delicately on the forehead. “I’m sorry I’ve upset you, babe. I can explain everything. I know how it must have looked.”

  “OK,” whispered Tiff and took a long sip of her drink.

  “Let me get this dished up and then I’ll tell you.”

  Tiff was hungrier than she’d realised. With her favourite meal set down in front of her, alongside her preferred choice of wine, she couldn’t resist.

  The atmosphere was tense as Joe joined her at the table. He gulped half of his glass of wine down, then picked up his knife and fork. “Do you want me to tell you now or shall we eat this first?”

  “Eat this first,” Tiff echoed, before swilling her whole glass of wine down.

  Joe looked at her astonished. “Thirsty?”

  “A bit,” she replied.

  “I’ll bring the bottle over.” Jumping up, he hurried over to the fridge and grabbed the bottle. Then he returned and refilled Tiff’s glass straight away.

  “Thanks.” Almost instantly, the wine went to her head. She’d eaten hardly anything all day and she realised that the sooner she ate her dinner, the quicker it would lessen the effects of the wine. But the slightly numbing, tingly sensations in her head felt good. It was where she wanted to be right now.

  Placing his knife and fork on his empty plate, Joe picked up his wine and drained the glass. He poured another glass and set the bottle back in the centre of the table. “Right,” he said with strength in his voice. “Let me tell you what happened.”

  Tiff looked fixedly at him.

  “I’d only just got out of the shower when she knocked on the door.” He paused thoughtfully. “I ran downstairs in a towel, thinking it was Wayne at the door. He’d said he would give me his mobile number but we’d forgotten to exchange them.”

  Tiff nodded her head, while propping up her chin.

  Joe glanced nervously at her and then continued. “So, anyway. It was Georgie, not Wayne – obviously. She was in a bit of a flap. Her dog had gone under our broken fence and wouldn’t get out of our garden.”

  “You’re telling me that she was walking her dog around the back fields wearing just a bikini top?”

  “And shorts… and that top she had on.”

  “Well, yes – of course. Could hardly have called them shorts though. More like a wide G-string. And there was absolutely no point in wearing that top.”

  “Whatever. I don’t know what you women wear,” he replied, defensively. “And I don’t care. Anyway, she asked if she could get her dog from the garden – Tiff I knew you would be home from work soon so I said that I would get it.”

  “So why didn’t you?” Tiff jumped in.

  “She said that she would have to get him as he might attack me. What was I supposed to do? I told her to come on through.” Joe heaved a sigh. “I even apologised to her about having just got out of the shower.”

  “Oh, I bet she loved it.”

  “I don’t know or care about that.”

  “She’d hardly complain about getting a little eye-candy, would she?” Tiff’s top lip curled disdainfully for the second time today.

  “Like I said, I don’t know babe – and I don’t care.”

  “When I arrived home, it didn’t look to me like she was trying to get her dog out of the garden.” Tiff took another gulp of wine. “How long had she been here?”

  Joe raised his eyes to the ceiling as if he was calculating the length of time.

  “Why do you need to think about it? How long was she here? It’s a simple question.”

  “It must have only been about… twenty minutes?”

  “Twenty flaming minutes?” Tiff shrieked. “Twenty long minutes? What were you doing for twenty minutes Joe?”

  “Talking.”

  “Talking while you’re semi-naked and undoubtedly dripping wet?”

  Joe nodded his head hesitantly. “Yes, I’m sorry babe. I know how it looks.”

  “Well I’m relieved that you know how it looks. I’m sure you have no idea how it feels though.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “What the hell were you talking about for twenty minutes?”

  Shifting in his seat uncomfortably, Joe combed a hand through his hair. “I don’t know really – she was doing most of the talking.”

  “About what?”

  “You know, it was so trivial, I can’t even remember.” He averted his eyes and gazed down at the floor.

  “It wasn’t that long ago Joe – you must remember what she was talking about.” Tiff could feel the anger rising up through her body again. “Sounded like you were both having a right good laugh when I walked in.” Grabbing her glass from the table, she gulped the wine down quickly, hoping to ease some of the tension in her neck and shoulders. “So what was so bloody funny then?”

  Joe flicked his eyes up to the ceiling and rubbed three fingers across his lips as if in deep thought. “I think… err… I think it was about… err… oh yes, I know. She was telling me how she’d gone for a sunbathe over the back, by the river and err… I think she said she’d left her proper t-shirt there… or something like that. She was worried that I’d think she was a weird one, walking around in a see-through vest and a bikini top.”

  “And you said – of course not, I think it’s lovely.”

  “No, I didn’t. I felt a bit embarrassed actually. Laughed it off I guess.”

  Somehow, Tiff sensed that her beloved boyfriend wasn’t telling her the complete truth. His averted gaze, his lack of composure and the awkwardness in his speech were all tell-tale signs that he was finding the situation unusually difficult or he was hiding something.

  “I know what you’re thinking babe and you couldn’t be further from the truth. I do not fancy the women one little bit. Please believe me. I love you and only you.”

  “Sure you do,” Tiff replied sarcastically. “Not sure I’m getting the t-shirt thing though Joe. Why would she have two t-shirts with her? Think about it.”

  Joe shrugged his wide shoulders and peered down at the floor. “Don’t know babe. I don’t get it either.” He lifted his head and met her eye. “But I really don’t give a damn about her or her t-shirts. Can we drop this? I’ve told you the truth, I love you and that’s all that counts.”

  Chapter 13

  Today was shopping day. Today would also be snoop day. Tiff had to find out more about the woman next door – she couldn’t even bring herself to mention the woman’s name without a bitterness welling up in her mouth, waiting to be spat out.

  Having finished two bottles of wine by the end of the previous evening, Joe and Tiff had gone to bed together. They’d come to a bittersweet ending on the escapades of the ‘woman next door’ as Tiff had started to refer to her. And Tiff had still managed to keep quiet about the things she knew of the woman, even though she wanted to scream about it and tell Joe everything at times.

  Their lovemaking had been emotionally charged, uninhibited and frantic. Tiff had wanted to resist his drunken charms but her own inebriated state let him in. Although she
was still angry with him, with her – that woman, it was the best sex they’d ever had.

  Shuffling around the bedroom with a pounding head, Tiff gathered up fresh underwear, a pair of clean jeans and a pretty floral top. Most of her tops had floral patterns on them, she hated plain fabrics. Carrying her clothes to the bathroom, she went in and locked the door behind her. The bath was almost full with warm bubbly water and the moist air was filled with the calming scent of lavender. Time to relax and unwind from the anger that she felt was still buried deep inside her. Time to let go. She had to, otherwise Joe would get fed-up with her insecure ways. She might even lose him and that was inconceivable.

  “Morning.” Hayley stood at the front door looking radiant in a black and yellow checked, cotton coat, skinny black jeans and knee-high, flat, black boots. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes, definitely. Been looking forward to it. I haven’t been into town for ages.” Grabbing her handbag from the bottom stair, Tiff stepped out of the door and locked it behind her. An image of Joe flashed through her mind, sitting behind the reception desk at the leisure centre, looking bored and nursing a hangover. “I’d like to get some nice table mats today. We’ve got Joe’s parents coming for the day tomorrow, from Portsmouth. We’ve been using bits of cardboard as table mats but I’m sure we could go all-out for our guests.”

  Hayley giggled. “It’s hard when you’re just starting out. I can remember when we first moved into our house. We had cardboard boxes as tables.”

  “Really?” Tiff laughed. “So have we. Bedside tables to be precise.”

  “There you go. It happens to us all. Come on – lets hit the town. I’m sure we’ll find some amazing table mats for you.” Placing an arm over Tiff’s shoulder, Hayley ushered her down to the lay-by where her shiny deep-red supermini was parked.

  “I wondered who this belonged to. It’s gorgeous.”

  Hayley grinned. “It’s my little burgundy-baby. Jump in.”

  “Ever had any strange little notes placed under your wipers?”

  “Sorry?” Hayley frowned as she started the car.

  “I had a note pushed under my wipers a while back.”

  “What did it say?”

  Tiff peered across the green. “It was from someone on the close – don’t know who. Said I should keep myself to myself – not get involved in anything.”

  “Really?” Hayley peered at her incredulously. “Wonder who would have done that?”

  Tiff shrugged her shoulders. “No idea.” She let out a giggle. “Take it, it wasn’t you then.”

  “Definitely not.” Hayley began to pull out of the lay-by. “Probably that weirdo next door to me.”

  “Hmm… I did wonder if it might be him. I’ll ask him next time I see him.”

  “You do that.” Hayley nodded her head as she drove along Oakwood Road. “Bloody cheek, whoever it was.”

  The town was heaving with shoppers of every size, shape, religion and age. Once again, the weather was glorious and half way through the morning, both Tiff and Hayley had had to remove their coats. Darting in, out and around every shop along the precinct was hot work. Hayley had bought several clothing items from various places and dragged Tiff to all the upstairs household floors to look for a nice set of table mats but to no avail.

  “We’ll find the right ones. We’ll keep looking – but first, let me buy you lunch.”

  “No, I can’t let you do that,” said Tiff, surprised by Hayley’s generosity.

  “Yes you can. Come on, let’s go in here.” Grabbing hold of Tiff’s arm, Hayley pulled her into a quaint, little tearoom-style café.

  “This looks really nice. Haven’t been to one of these afternoon-tea places before,” whispered Tiff.

  “I love it here. Me and Georgie came here once, a couple of years ago. She wasn’t quite so keen, bless her, more like she hated it – said it reminded her of her tormented childhood, but I love it here.” Hayley’s tone of voice had a hint of sarcasm in it.

  “Sounds ominous – tormented childhood?”

  A young girl with two perfect French plaits through her brown hair ushered Hayley and Tiff to a small table-for-two, next to the window.

  “Thank you,” said Hayley, politely, as she pulled a chair out and sat down.

  The girl smiled sweetly, placed a dainty, stainless-steel table-number card holder on the table, along with a fresh posy of cut daffodils and brilliant red tulips and then walked away.

  “Ooh, tulips – my favourites,” said Tiff, stroking the vibrant petals.

  “Nice aren’t they. Prefer the daffs myself. I do like yellow.”

  “So do I,” Tiff exclaimed. “That’s my favourite colour.”

  “One of mine too,” Hayley raised her eyebrows and grinned. “We’re starting to sound like twins.”

  “As long as we don’t turn into terrible twins.” Tiff giggled and gazed at the vase of flowers, contentedly. Hayley was her new friend and she liked it.

  Hayley picked up two menus and passed one over to Tiff. “Here – if you fancy it, we could go for a deluxe afternoon tea. I highly recommend it.”

  “Thanks,” Tiff replied as she began to scan through the menu. “Yes, that sounds lovely.” She peered over the top of her menu card. “Could I pay half?”

  “No, absolutely not – my treat.” Hayley looked up and grinned. “There is a method to my madness however.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Why I’m offering to pay.”

  “Oh,” Tiff replied, a little unsure of what to say.

  “It’s so that you will owe me an afternoon tea and then we’ll have to come out and do it again sometime.”

  “Aah, I see,” said Tiff. “Yes of course, I’d love to. The food looks really nice – from what I can see over there.” She flicked her gaze across the room to two older women who were tucking into generous sized fresh cream and jam scones. “So…” she clasped her hands together and propped them under her chin, “you were saying… about Georgie. A terrible… or was it tormented childhood.”

  “Oh yes, she’s had a tough time, that girl. Poor thing.”

  “Oh dear – really?”

  Hayley was nodding her head as the young girl returned with a notebook in her hand. “Are you ready to order?” she asked with a wide smile.

  Hayley looked across at Tiff. “Yes please. We’d like two deluxe teas. Tiff, which sandwich and cake would you like?”

  As Hayley reeled off her choice of sandwich and cake, Tiff looked through the menu again.

  “Oh, I’d like a tuna-mayo and cucumber sandwich please, and… lemon drizzle cake.”

  The young girl scribbled quickly on her notepad. “Would you like ready salted or cheese and onion crisps?”

  Tiff glanced down at the menu again. “Oh gosh, we get crisps as well – I’ll have ready salted then please.”

  “Ready salted for me too,” echoed Hayley. “Thanks.”

  “It’s very kind of you to treat me like this. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.”

  “Don’t mention it. Like I said – you’ll have to owe me one.”

  Tiff nodded her head and smiled. “So, I know I keep going back to Georgie but I’m just interested. She is my neighbour after all. You said she err… had a tough time… when she was a kid.”

  “Yes – so she told me anyway.”

  “You don’t believe her?”

  “It’s not that I don’t believe her.” Hayley let out a sigh. “I do. It’s just that she tends to wallow in her own misery at times.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “She was physically and mentally abused by her father from the age of seven. She claims that her mum knew about it and allowed it to happen. Georgie has memories of her mum being there several times, as an onlooker, when she was severely beaten by her father or mentally stripped of her self-esteem and confidence”

  “God, that’s awful.” Tiff shuffled in her seat, uncomfortably. Perhaps she had been too harsh on the poor woman.

  Hayle
y shook her head disgustedly. “The thing that I can’t get my head around is – Georgie has forgiven them both.”

  Tiff stared at her new friend with a shocked expression on her face. “Did anyone else know about it? Did her parents get away with it?”

  “No, and yes, they did. This is where I struggle with it all a bit. For her to forgive her parents for what they did is completely beyond me. It would take me all day to tell you how bad it was. Georgie missed so much school when she was young, purely because she had to be hidden away until the cuts and bruises had vanished.”

  Tiff was stunned momentarily. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

  “I know, it’s terrible isn’t it?”

  Tiff shook her head disbelievingly. “Does she still see her parents?”

  “Yes – apparently so. I’ve never seen them myself – don’t think I want to.”

  “How could she forgive them?”

  Hayley let out a long sigh. “I don’t know but I feel so sorry for her. It’s almost pathetic.”

  “Pathetic?” Tiff stared questioningly.

  “She said that her parents were all she had when her husband and daughter left. She told me that she needed them – no matter what they’d done in the past.”

  “But what about her daughter? Surely she’s putting her own child at risk. Her parents are nothing more than child-beating monsters – both of them – if this is true. Sorry to sound so opinionated about it but I find that kind of thing absolutely terrible.”

  “I know. I do too. She doesn’t let her daughter see…” Hayley stopped abruptly as the young girl appeared, carrying a tray loaded with two pots of tea, two tiny milk jugs, two vintage-floral, porcelain teacups with matching saucers and a bowl of white and brown sugar lumps. “Thank you,” said Hayley, leaning back as the waitress placed the items on the table.

  “Ooh, this looks lovely.” Tiff smiled and politely moved her elbows from the table. “Thank you so much.”

  A moment later, the young girl returned with two three-tiered stands, decorated in the same vintage-floral pattern as the cups, loaded with sandwiches, crisps, cakes and scones. She placed two small matching plates on the table and said, ‘enjoy’ before she left.