Sugar Secrets…& Lies

by Mel Sparke

  “Ooh, I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that one!”

  “Sonja!” Kerry reproved her friend. “The point is, Ollie’s really worried about Cat. So what do you think we should do to help her? Do you think we maybe ought to go round and see her?”

  Sonja sobered up and looked thoughtful for a second. She still couldn’t bring herself to quite trust Cat’s motives in all this. God knows that girl had schemed and plotted plenty of times in the past! But Sonja had to admit to a reluctant soft spot for her irritating relation.

  Growing up in a pretty cool family, with pretty relaxed parents and plenty of everything, Sonja had always felt sorry for her attention-seeking younger cousin, who had to live with someone as prickly as her mum Sylvia and as difficult as her dad (before he upped and left). This was the reason Sonja had always let Cat tag along – out of pure sympathy for the stroppy minx, rather than for her often less-than-loveable character.

  And now, if Cat was seeing someone as ridiculously unsuitable as Nick, it didn’t come as a great surprise to Sonja. Neither of Cat’s parents had exactly been great role models of love for her to copy…

  “No – let’s see what my darling aunt’s got to say first,” said Sonja, walking out into the hall and flicking through her parents’ phone book for Sylvia’s work number. “She might find it easy to bully Cat, but I’m not frightened of her.”

  And so here they were – two friends about to help put right the suffering of another friend. Except Kerry couldn’t stand the tension any more and, as soon as she heard Sonja say, “Auntie Sylvia? Is that you?”, she fled upstairs and locked herself in the loo.

  After sloshing water noisily around the basin for a few minutes and pointlessly flushing the loo a couple of times, Kerry felt brave enough to open the bathroom door and gauge how the conversation was going. But instead of words – heated or otherwise – she was relieved to hear the dull ping! of the receiver dropping back into place.

  “Well? How did it go?” she asked tentatively, tiptoeing down the thickly carpeted stairs and bending to peek at Sonja through the banisters.

  Sonja sat on the chair by the phone table with an expression on her face that was hard to read.

  “Well?” Kerry repeated.

  “That was interesting,” Sonja said at last.

  “Uh-huh? How?” Kerry asked, taking up her previous position on the bottom steps.

  “It was a slightly different interpretation of events than Catrina’s…”

  “In what way?”

  “In that Sylvia says that Catrina’s the one who’s being the unreasonable bitch at home. And she’s also the one who’s refusing to talk.”

  “But why would she be like that?” asked Kerry, aghast. “Do you believe your aunt more than Cat?”

  “Well, I think I do, considering what else she had to say.”

  “Which was?”

  “Which was that she hasn’t banned Cat from seeing Nick – or any other boyfriend for that matter – mainly because Cat doesn’t have one.”

  “One what?” asked Kerry, by now completely thrown.

  “Boyfriend, stupid.”

  “What?”

  “No, wait, it gets better,” said Sonja, her voice dripping with irony. “It turns out that the only person with a new boyfriend in their house is Sylvia, and the one who’s flipping out with jealousy – is Cat.”

  CHAPTER 19

  THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING LIKE THE TRUTH

  “So Mrs Osgood wasn’t too chuffed, then?”

  “No,” said Sonja breathlessly, struggling to keep up with Kerry’s hurried pace. “I think the way she hung up on me at the end says it all, really.”

  Kerry grimaced – it was too awful! Any minute now, Ollie was about to lash out at Nick, who was more or less a mate as well as an uncle, and accuse him of having his wicked way with poor, defenceless Cat.

  That was a joke! Cat was about as defenceless as a viper…

  Kerry glanced at her watch. They might still manage to get round to the End before Nick ambled in. Hopefully, he had headed off for a pint with Bryan after closing up the record shop. That would give Sonja and Kerry plenty of time to let Ollie know the latest developments before things really blew up.

  And Nick would have been off sampling the delights of a drink or three in the Railway Tavern if he hadn’t got a date that night. Bryan, sitting alone at a sticky table by the window with his evening meal of a pint of Guinness and a cheese toastie, glanced up from his NME and absently watched Kerry and Sonja scurry into the End-of-the-Line café.

  Not that he knew which one was Kerry and which one was Sonja. In fact, one of them might be the one with that hippy name, Maya. He never managed to remember which girl was which in Ollie’s troupe of mates. Except for that Catrina … oh, yes, he knew which one she was. Bryan shuddered slightly and turned his attention back to the NME.

  Tripping up the single step into the café, Kerry and Sonja shoved the tinkling door open in unison and knew immediately that they were too late.

  “Stop denying it!” they heard Ollie yell.

  “Are you crazy!” Nick roared back. “What the hell has she told you?”

  Anna was serving a trayful of burgers and milkshakes to a loud crowd of thirteen-year-olds. Out of the corner of her eye, Kerry noticed that one of the squawking horde was Maya’s little sister, Sunny. Out on a school night? How had she managed that one? Kerry wondered, knowing how strict Maya’s parents were.

  But all that flashed through her mind in a split second. What occupied her more was the sound of shouting coming from the kitchen. Anna looked up at the two girls with concern in her eyes.

  “Go through,” she mouthed, nodding in the direction of the yelling.

  The girls flashed by her, past the counter and along the corridor to the Staff Only door.

  “That little bitch! What’s she playing at?” bellowed Nick.

  “Don’t you call her a bitch!” retaliated Ollie.

  Steam belching from a pot on the range behind Nick looked to Sonja and Kerry as if it was coming out of his ears. His face was pink and pinched enough with anger for that to be possible, but then Ollie’s was much the same. In fact Ollie and Nick appeared to be about half a kitchen and two more insults away from landing a punch on each other.

  Kerry felt a shiver of alarm to see her normally gentle boy acting so aggressively.

  “Yeah? Well, I can think of better words to use, but not in front of the ladies here,” Nick retorted, pointing to Sonja and Kerry. They’d never seen him this irate before. Laid-back was the only gear that Nick usually operated in.

  “Yeah? Hey, you’re a real tough guy aren’t you?” Ollie snarled.

  “That’s it! I’m going to get this sorted,” said Nick darkly, pushing up the sleeves of his leather jacket and storming out of the back door.

  “What does he mean?” Kerry’s voice wobbled.

  Ollie seemed oblivious to her words and spat a curse at the still-shuddering door.

  “0I, it’s not his fault,” Sonja broke in to his black mood. “Nick’s not seeing Cat – she made it all up.”

  “Are you crazy?” said Ollie, staring at her with disbelief. “Are you still coming out with that stuff?”

  “No, it’s true – Sonja found out from Cat’s mum!” Kerry backed her friend up quickly.

  “Kerry!” gasped Ollie, with a look of dismay and betrayal crossing his face.

  “Honestly, Ollie, it’s true!” Kerry crumpled under his distrusting gaze.

  “I’m telling you – she made it up!” Sonja persisted. “Nick isn’t guilty of… of mucking around with Cat!”

  “Of course, he’s guilty!” Ollie said with exasperation. “Otherwise, why would he be so worked up?”

  “I can tell you why,” said Anna, joining the others in the kitchen.

  “What do you mean?” asked Ollie, as Sonja and Kerry looked on in surprise. What did Anna have to do with any of this?

  “Hey, waitress, what abou
t a bit of service?” yelled a thirteen-year-old voice from the café beyond, accompanied by much finger-clicking and giggling.

  “Shut it!” Anna yelled uncharacteristically through the serving hatch. Chastened, the yeller did indeed shut it.

  “Now, you lot, go and get yourself a table. You too,” she said to Ollie, flapping him away with her apron. “I’ll be out in a second.”

  Like the thirteen-year-olds, Ollie, Sonja and Kerry did as they were told.

  The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony blasted out of the ancient jukebox. It was one of the few ‘new’ records that Nick allowed in his precious ‘50s find.

  Most of the vinyl in there was Nick’s decades-old choice – all reminders of his favourite bands and his days on the road.

  Anna pressed another couple of buttons – the music would give them some privacy to talk without being overheard – and walked over to join the others.

  “Hey, Miss, have you got any ketch—”

  In one smooth movement, Anna grabbed a bottle of tomato sauce off the counter and plonked it on the table in front of one of Sunny’s mates without breaking her stride.

  Ollie was sitting at the booth by the window with his face hidden in his hands. Kerry and Sonja sat on the other side of the table, gazing sympathetically at the top of his head.

  “Budge up,” said Anna, forcing Ollie out of his pained reverie. He budged up, leaving her plenty of room to sit down. “Sorry, I just had to get the last of that order out of the way.”

  “So, Anna… I’ve just fallen out with someone who’s not only my relative but my boss, and all in defence of someone who I thought was my friend,” said Ollie, managing a tired smile and looking more like his old self. “Got any light to shed on this mess?”

  “A bit,” shrugged Anna, “but I didn’t know the stuff about Catrina saying she was going out with Nick. That was news.”

  The other three looked at Anna quizzically. Apart from Ollie – who exchanged banter with her in the café when their shifts coincided – none of the others had had much of a conversation with her. And yet here she was, apparently about to unravel some of the tangle they’d found themselves in.

  “Well, I figured out all that from the screaming in the kitchen,” Anna explained, assuming their expressions were to do with how she’d cottoned on to Nick and Cat’s supposed relationship.

  Ollie winced and nodded, realising for the first time the volume of his slanging match with his uncle.

  “So what do you know?” asked Sonja, taking the initiative.

  Anna leant her crossed arms on the table and looked in particular at Ollie.

  “I know why Nick was so defensive and angry.”

  “Why?” said Ollie, mortified at how badly he’d goofed where his uncle was concerned.

  “The girlfriend he’s kept hidden away. I know who it is.”

  Anna felt three sets of eyes burning into her and spilled her secret…

  CHAPTER 20

  THE ALL-SEEING ANNA

  “Sylvia?!” croaked Sonja.

  “Sonja’s aunt?’.” gasped Kerry, staring first at Sonja’s shocked face then back at Anna.

  “Cat’s mum?!” Ollie gulped.

  “One and the same,” Anna nodded sagely. “Not that I know her. I only saw her once waiting in the car when Nick nipped in for his mobile phone.”

  Nobody felt capable of saying anything, so Anna carried on with her explanation.

  “I was up in the flat – I could see her out the window. She looked very… sophisticated. Not his type at all.”

  They all thought of the fluffy-haired rock chicks that Nick usually had on his arm. Then visualised Cat’s very together, terribly immaculate mother – who looked permanently ironed, from the tips of her super-smooth bob to the power suits she lived in. It didn’t add up. No wonder Nick hadn’t revealed – or been allowed to reveal – this particular dalliance.

  “Nick spoke to me about it the next day and swore me to secrecy,” Anna continued. “He said Cat’s mum was a real bit of class and he didn’t want to mess it up with her. And she didn’t want you—” she motioned towards Ollie “—or any of Cat’s friends knowing.”

  “Probably because she’d be really embarrassed at anyone finding out she’s dating the only man in Winstead who still thinks cowboy boots and thrash metal are in,” quipped Ollie, in spite of himself.

  “But how on earth did they meet?” Sonja wondered out loud. “I can’t see my aunt hanging out down at the Railway Tavern or any of the other dives Nick usually goes to.”

  “He told me that too. It was at that gym he’s been going to – the one up at the tennis club,” Anna explained.

  “So that’s why he’s kept up this exercise kick for so long!” said Ollie, as things became clearer. “There had to be a big incentive for him to keep going to the gym or he’d have been back to his old beer-belly swelling ways by now.”

  “But what does Cat’s mum see in him?” asked Kerry.

  “A bit of rough?” guessed Ollie.

  “I think opposites attract’ is the more PC way to say it,” smiled Anna.

  “Wait a minute – do you think Cat knew about her mum and Nick?” Sonja said suddenly.

  “Oh, yes – she did,” nodded Anna. “Nick said Cat’s mum had specifically told her not to go gossiping about her private life to all of you lot.”

  “What a nerve! What does Sylvia think we’re like?” gasped Sonja. “As if we’d be interested in her stupid love-life…”

  “Of course we would! What are we doing now?!” Ollie laughed. “I reckon Cat’s mum had the right idea!”

  “Whatever,” Anna smiled. “I just felt sorry for Nick. He obviously thought I’d spotted Cat’s mum and felt he had to take me into his confidence. I didn’t have the heart to say that I wouldn’t have known who she was if he hadn’t told me.”

  “Nick and Cat’s mum…” mused Kerry dazedly, then shook herself as a thought struck her. “But why did Cat make out that she was the one going out with Nick?”

  “To get attention?” suggested Anna. She didn’t know the ins and outs of this particular situation, but she’d observed everyone in the crowd for long enough to get a good handle on each of them. And Cat seemed to be a typical ‘Me! Me! Me!’ scene-stealer from where Anna stood.

  “But what’s the point in telling us – her mates – such a big lie just for attention?” asked Kerry. “We were bound to find out about it!”

  “I don’t think people who tell lies like this really think much about the consequences when they do it. As long as they’re getting a reaction, that’s what counts,” Anna shrugged. “It’s just Cat’s way of boosting her low self-esteem.”

  “Low self-esteem? She’s the biggest show-off in the world!” Sonja couldn’t help saying, although she knew, deep down, that there was truth in what Anna was saying.

  “It’s pretty common for people with the lowest self-esteem to cover it up with big talk and bluster.” Anna felt confident of her diagnosis of Cat’s behaviour. In an effort to sort out her own life, she’d read a lot about stuff like this. She could never resist buying self-help psychology books with her not-too-spectacular wages, and they weighed down the bookshelves in her bedsit upstairs.

  “But I still don’t get it,” Ollie shook his head.

  “Yeah, but think about it,” said Sonja, to whom everything was now starting to make sense. “Cat’s always been a flirt – and it’s not an excuse or anything – but it could be because her dad left her when she was young. It’s like she craves attention from men.”

  “So? What’s that got to do with her mum and Nick?” Ollie asked, struggling to understand.

  “Well, Cat and her mum have always been pretty competitive with each other, so she was always going to be jealous of someone finding her mum attractive and not her.”

  “‘Specially since she’s found out that her mum’s boyfriend is Nick,” Kerry added. “I mean, he’s like part of Cat’s world, isn’t he, with all of us hanging out he
re in the caff? It’s like her mum’s stolen something that belonged to her.”

  “Yeah, but while we’re sitting here feeling sorry for her all of a sudden, don’t forget what else Cat’s been up to lately,” Sonja threw in, glancing from Ollie to Kerry. “Like trying to break you two up.”

  “Aw, Sonja, I still don’t think—”

  “Ollie, you’ve got to trust me on this one,” Sonja insisted. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her. Ever since she realised that something might be going on with you two, she’s been all over you like a rash and made herself pretty busy filling Kerry’s head full of doubts.”

  “Look, I don’t know what’s been going on between all of you, but I do think you ought to try and help her out, if she’s a friend,” Anna butted in. “I mean, I don’t think she’s done all this to be bitchy. It sounds more like she’s just really messed up emotionally.”

  “You’re right,” said Ollie, wondering how Anna could work out more about the situation in one brief conversation than any of them had in all this time.

  “And if I were you,” said Anna to all three of them, “I’d go straight round to her place ‘cause I reckon she’ll be getting an earful from Nick right now.”

  Ollie, Sonja and Kerry stared at each other in alarm.

  “But it’ll take us at least half an hour to get round to Cat’s, even if we hurry!” Kerry pointed out.

  “Ollie, what’s Matt doing tonight?”

  Ollie stared at Sonja and couldn’t quite figure out for a second what that had to do with anything.

  “Nothing, as far as I know.”

  “Well, he lives closest to Cat and he’s got a car,” Sonja reasoned. “If we phone him, he could be there in a couple of minutes.”

  “What – Matt going to Catrina’s rescue? To defend her honour? That’s a laugh!” Ollie pointed out.

  “All that stuff is in the past, Ol!”

  “She’s not going to see it that way, though, Sonny. Matt, of all people, witnessing what a mess she’s made of things – it would be like a slap in the face!”

  “Some old failed romance with Matt is hardly going to be the main thing in her mind right now!” Sonja retorted.