by Sue Welfare
‘Can you just drop me off at my house?’
He nodded. ‘Sure, not a problem. But are you certain you don’t want something to eat first, or at least have a cup of coffee? Get yourself together.’ He grinned; there was no hint of pressure in his voice. ‘Wash your face, fix your make-up? Girl stuff, you know, those things that men don’t know about?’
Kate scowled at him. Of course he was right, if she went straight home looking like this Maggie would be even more worried than she was now.
‘You’re way too clever for your own good. I’m sorry about this,’ she began, avoiding an answer until her sluggish brain had had time to work its way through the possibilities. ‘I don’t normally behave like some mad woman let out of the attic on a day trip.’
He waved the words away. ‘Don’t worry, it’s quite exciting really.’
She glared at him but he didn’t seem to mind in the least.
‘My house is just up here on the left.’ They couldn’t have driven more than a mile or so. Andrew pointed through the windscreen to a large detached flint faced house set back off the strip of common land that edged the narrow road down to the river.
‘So which is it to be? Lunch, coffee, or would you prefer to go straight home?’ He leant back to survey her.
Kate reddened as his eyes picked their way through the wreckage. She hesitated for a few seconds longer and then said with a confidence that she didn’t really feel, ‘Actually a coffee might be a good idea.’
‘And a sandwich?’
Kate smiled; there was something quite attractive about his gentle persistence. ‘Okay, fine, and a sandwich.’
She needed something to soak up the alcohol. ‘But I can’t stay very long and don’t ask me any difficult questions.’
‘Goes without saying,’ he said, jumping down out of the jeep.
‘So how was the drive up?’ Maggie asked Joe.
‘Fine.’
‘And how was the traffic?’
‘Fine.’
Maggie looked her son-in-law up and down. Joe didn’t look or sound very fine at all. They were in the kitchen drinking tea, it was almost three o’clock, and they had just about run out of things to say and niceties to exchange. The air was so thick you’d have needed a chainsaw to cut it.
Maggie surreptitiously glanced up at the clock above the cooker, wondering where the hell Kate had got to, whilst trying not to let the thought or her growing anxiety show on her face. What if Kate had invited the vet back for coffee? Kate hadn’t actually told Maggie she was going out with Andrew but it had to be him she’d gone out with because, surely to God, no one in their right mind would volunteer to have lunch with Julie Hicks?
Kate would see Joe’s car in the drive, wouldn’t she? Or would she? What if he had parked somewhere else, out on the road, and she didn’t see it and just sailed straight in.
Maggie blushed in anticipation. She was almost certain she had already asked Joe about the journey as he came in. He had been there the best part of an hour and this was their second pot of tea, although Maggie was taking it steady. It took her way too long to get to the loo these days to risk drinking gallons.
‘Did you park in the yard?’ she tried.
He grunted in a disinterested way, leaving Maggie none the wiser.
‘Did I tell you I was planning to redesign the garden later this year?’ she said cheerily, nodding towards the terrace. ‘I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, I’ve been sitting out there to try and get an idea of what might work.’
‘Right,’ said Joe, who was staring out through the French windows although it was quite obvious his thoughts were focused elsewhere.
Maggie’s too. It was like pushing water uphill. She glanced back at the clock, willing the hands to stop. When she had heard the back door opening earlier Maggie had assumed it was Kate coming home, or possibly Liz or someone from the bookshop had dropped in. Joe hadn’t even entered her mind. She had been so stunned when he stuck his head round the door that she had let out a little shriek, which she had hastily tried to disguise as a cough.
‘Well, hello. How are you? Come in,’ she’d managed. ‘Nice to see you, this is a surprise –’
‘Where’s Kate?’ he asked. It seemed that Joe had decided to dispense with the social graces.
‘She’s nipped out to lunch with a friend, but she shouldn’t be very long. I didn’t expect to see you Joe. How are things going?’
Joe wasn’t telling.
‘I suppose Kate’s told you all about it?’ he said. It was impossible to miss the intense emotion in his voice.
At that point Maggie had been tempted to pretend that she did know, to pull a face, lift that eyebrow implying that of course she had heard it all, knew it all and held an open opinion. But in fact, faced with Joe, who was quite obviously in a foul mood, Maggie had shaken her head and said, ‘Actually, Joe, Kate hasn’t said a word to me about anything. I know that she’s very upset about something but that’s as far as we’ve got. You know what she’s like, she’s always played her cards close to her chest. Kate likes to sort things out for herself.’
Joe looked at her squarely as if trying to decide whether Maggie was telling the truth or not and then grunted. ‘Right, so have you got any idea where she is or how long she’s going to be?’
Maggie had made a noncommittal noise, and then, looking at her cast, Joe had asked, almost grudgingly, ‘So how are you?’
‘Fine.’
Which was as big a lie as Joe’s answers. Maggie’s foot throbbed so much that the pulse echoed in her ears and was making her feel sick. Her other hip and leg ached from bearing the load when she was on crutches, and lying down with her foot up on a pile of cushions was beginning to drive her totally and utterly bats. She felt sore and sad and sorry for herself. She needed Joe there like she needed a hole in the head. That and the fact she missed Guy and was worried about Kate didn’t help one little bit.
‘Would you like some tea?’ she enquired, pleasantly.
Joe nodded, and they had gone into the kitchen where Joe had made it, but only after he had watched Maggie struggling with the potentially dangerous combination of kettle, teapot and crutches.
Although that seemed an awfully long while ago now.
Maggie eased her leg up into a marginally more comfortable position. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Joe. She had always seen what it was that attracted Kate to him. When Kate first brought Joe home he had been a good-looking, sexy, moody boy with a mop of floppy brown hair, pushed casually back off his face. Gone now of course, the hair, and his mood had hardened up to into something less attractive, sullen, the corners of his thin lips turned down making him look sulky and hard done by and permanently disappointed.
‘So Joe,’ Maggie said, ‘are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ She made a real effort to ensure her tone was reasonable rather than confrontational. ‘I’m worried about both of you.’ She was also tired of repeating herself and trying to come up with cunning questions.
He reddened a little and after a few seconds’ deliberation waved the words away. ‘It’s just one of those things, Maggie, just a bit of a hiccup. Kate’s – well, Kate’s being Kate, overreacting, getting herself in a state about nothing. We’ve got things that we need to sort out. Nothing that can’t be worked out with a bit of time, but she won’t talk to me about it. How the hell are you supposed to sort things out if you won’t talk about them? You know how it is.’
Frustrated, Maggie didn’t let her gaze drop and despite the fact that Joe still looked and sounded annoyed, he wriggled uncomfortably. Maggie hoped that if she held her nerve and pushed just a little bit more then Joe would crack and spill the beans. ‘No, Joe, I don’t know how it is or I wouldn’t be asking,’ she said, ensuring her tone stayed even and measured. No point startling him. ‘And I feel I ought to know. Kate is my daughter and you are my son-in-law – I’m interested and I care about you both.’
‘Well,’ Joe said, after an uneasy pause, �
�the thing is –’
Maggie leant closer and then they both heard the front door open and footsteps tip-tapping across the hall. Both of them froze. Maggie sighed, foiled again, and when she was so close as well. She and Joe looked up as the kitchen door swung open to reveal Kate.
‘Hello, Joe, what are you doing here? Did you bring the boys with you?’ She sounded brisk and businesslike as if she had been preparing her speech outside. She pulled off her fleece gilet and dropped it on to one of the chairs, apparently unconcerned and totally at ease; she didn’t fool Maggie for an instant.
Joe glared at her. ‘Where the hell have you been? I thought you were meant to be here looking after Maggie.’
‘And I thought you were meant to be home nights looking after the boys,’ Kate snapped straight back, dropping her bag alongside her jacket. Despite the fighting talk, Maggie thought Kate looked extremely uneasy as if she had been caught with her hand in the biscuit tin, but Joe appeared oblivious. ‘And anyway, I have been looking after her, but Mum’s not bedridden, Joe. She doesn’t need me to be sitting within arms’ reach all day. It would drive us both mad. I just popped out to lunch. Mum didn’t mind, did you?’
So far she had managed to avoid Joe’s eyes and answering his question. Not bad, thought Maggie, finishing off the dregs of her Earl Grey.
‘How’s it been?’ she asked, grazing Maggie’s cheek with a kiss. She smelt of booze and panic. ‘Is there any tea left in that pot or would you like me to make a fresh one?’
‘It’s gone three o’clock,’ snapped Joe, as if Maggie wasn’t there. Kate swung round to face him. ‘I can tell the time, Joe.’ She felt sick, the brandy chopping back and forth, diluted by two cups of very strong coffee and two rounds of cheese and tomato sandwiches.
‘Maggie’s been here all on her own.’
‘So you just said. What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be working.’
‘This seems to be the only way to get you on your own long enough to have a conversation. I’ve tried ringing and talking to you since you got here,’ he added darkly.
‘I’ve already told you, Joe, I’ve got nothing to say to you. I need time. I need to think.’
‘What do you need to think about for God’s sake?’
Kate stared at him; how could he not know that she had done nothing but think since she had found him in the kitchen with Chrissie.
‘It was nothing,’ he continued, red with frustration. ‘I’ve already told you that. I don’t know why you’re making such a big thing about it, Kate. It’s done, over, finished.’
Kate couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and she certainly wasn’t going to let Joe off the hook that easily. ‘Really? So where were you last night and what’s happening to the boys while you’re up here? Chrissie keeping an eye on them, is she?’
Joe’s expression hardened up. ‘No. I’ve asked my Mum to have them tonight.’
‘What, all night?’
He nodded.
‘So you can spend another night out on the tiles once you’ve left here? I don’t assume that you were planning to stay, were you?’ Kate’s tone was icy cold and venomous.
‘What if I was?’
‘I wouldn’t have you staying here even you asked me, Joe.’
Maggie looked from face to face and, as their eyes met, Kate decided that there was nothing left but the truth. Having watched the fallout, Maggie deserved to know what was going on. With her eyes firmly fixed on Joe’s, Kate said very slowly, as if it was important to enunciate every syllable, ‘Joe and Chrissie are having an affair.’
Maggie gasped in genuine disbelief. It wasn’t at all what she had expected. An affair maybe, by either one of them, but not this. Chrissie and Kate were best friends; it was like spilling blood on sacred ground.
‘Chrissie? I don’t believe it,’ she said incredulously, understanding now why Kate couldn’t bear to talk about it. Even once removed, the weight of betrayal felt like a rock pressing down on her chest.
On the other side of the kitchen, Joe went from red to ashen with sheer fury.’ Was having an affair – no, no not even was. I told you, Kate, it was never an affair. But that’s half the trouble, isn’t it? We always have to have your side of things, don’t we? Always your version of the truth. I screwed her a few times, that’s all.’ He swung round to face Maggie, as if appealing to the umpire. ‘Chrissie and I are not having an affair.’
‘What would you call it then?’ Kate snapped. ‘You keep waving it away, the pair of you, trivialising something that isn’t trivial. Making out as if it was nothing. You don’t even respect Chrissie or yourself enough to call it what it is. You slept with her in my bed, for God’s sake, and you’ve been doing it for years, haven’t you?’
Maggie gasped again.
Joe was on his feet now. ‘I thought we could talk this through like adults.’
‘Really,’ said Kate.
‘I thought we could sort it out.’
Kate turned very slowly towards him. ‘Well, we can’t. Not at the moment. Maybe not at all. Go home, Joe,’ she said in a low voice, a voice that bubbled with a dark deep ice cold rage.
‘Look, let’s not have a scene,’ he pleaded. ‘I’ve driven miles to have this conversation, the very least you can do is hear me out.’
Kate glared at him. ‘You could have saved yourself the trip. I’ve got nothing to say to you that I haven’t already and I don’t want to hear any of the things you’ve got to say.’
For a moment Maggie wondered if Kate had pushed him too far. Joe tensed, his fists clenched, and then shook his head and turned away.
‘For Christ’s sake. I thought you were bigger than this, Kate.’
Kate stared at him in amazement. ‘Bigger? What do you mean bigger? Big enough to just turn the other cheek and pretend nothing’s happened? Did you expect me to do that thing that politicians’ wives do when their husband’s been caught under some red-hot blonde? Make some excuse for the way you’ve behaved, draw a veil over it? Stand by you? I’ve always stood by you, Joe, always, and look where it’s got me.’
‘Oh that’s it, here we go again,’ he said, throwing his hands up in the air. ‘St Katherine the bloody Martyr, the one who worked while those around her squandered away their time and talent.’
Kate stepped back as if Joe had slapped her. ‘You bastard. I’ve always been there for you –’
‘Not this week,’ Joe bawled, heading out towards the door.
‘But this week it’s not about you or me, it’s about my mum.’
‘Oh really,’ said Joe. ‘It doesn’t look like it from where I’m standing. You’re so concerned about her welfare that you sod off out for lunch with somebody else and leave her here to manage all on her own.’
Maggie watched powerless as Kate and Joe headed out into the hall, the surprise and disbelief lingering around her like a wraith.
Kate stood for a second or two in the cool shadows of the hall trying hard to regain her composure, her heart pounding out a rock and roll rhythm in her chest. She felt sick and dizzy. Joe was the last person on earth she had expected to see at Maggie’s. As Andrew had dropped her off she had seen his car parked in the driveway and broken out into a cold sweat.
‘About your car –’ Andrew was saying, as Kate scrambled to collect her jacket and handbag. She began to tremble.
‘I’ll sort it out later, it’s not important,’ she said, feeling her colour rising furiously, while all the time her mind was working overtime. What if Joe was sitting over there watching her, what if he happened to be looking out of the window right now? What if, what if … In the driver’s seat, Andrew was still talking.
‘Sorry?’ she said.
‘I said I’ll nip back later if you like and drive you down to the pub to collect it.’
‘Right. No, it’s all right – I’ll, I’ll call a cab once I get in.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Andrew caught hold of her arm. ‘Are you okay? You seem really u
pset. What’s the matter? Do you want me to come in with you?’
Kate tried to focus on his face. She thought for a moment that he was going to kiss her goodbye and then knew with ice cold certainty, as Andrew leaned closer, that that was exactly what he had in mind. Kate sprang out of the car like a cat out of an airing cupboard.
‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ she said, and scurried across the road, aware that he was watching her and aware too that he might not be the only one.
God, what on earth had she done? What was she going to do?
‘I’ll ring you later,’ Andrew called after her.
‘I’ll ring you later,’ Joe said, as Kate reached the front door a footstep or two behind him. He looked exhausted and in the uneasy silence Kate was torn between sadness, exasperation and anger.
‘Joe?’ she said miserably, feeling her eyes fill up with tears, but instead of turning towards her or replying, Joe’s attention shifted out through the open doorway towards something in the yard.
‘Hi, is Kate there?’
Kate stiffened as she recognised Andrew’s voice.
Joe stepped out into the sunshine. ‘She might be, it depends who wants to know.’
Kate was after him in a whisper.
‘Ah, there you are,’ Andrew said brightly.
‘Who the fuck is this?’ hissed Joe to Kate, as he looked Andrew up and down.
It was hardly the most appropriate moment for cocktail party introductions. Kate toyed with the idea of telling Joe that it wasn’t important except that would probably only make things worse and also of telling Andrew to run away while he still could. As she glanced back inside Kate caught a glimpse of Maggie hopping towards the door and felt a sudden rush of panic. She needed to get whatever it was over quickly before Maggie got involved.
‘Andrew, this is my husband, Joe; Joe, this is, this is – Andrew, Andrew Taylor, he’s a vet.’
‘What the fuck do you want a vet for?’
Andrew’s open and warm expression closed down to something more guarded and formal.
‘Hi, Joe. Kate and I are old friends,’ he lied, extending a hand pleasantly. ‘If this is a bad time?’ He held Kate’s gaze. ‘I was a bit concerned about you. Would you like me to go? I can always come back later if it’s more convenient?’