Love's Foolish Punch

by S M Mala

  ‘You ‘eard her,’ added Arthur, squaring up to Jamie. ‘Me did boxin’ when me was a boy. I could take ya on, son.’

  ‘I’ve not come here to fight. I’ve come to speak to someone I hurt.’

  ‘That trips off your tongue as if it’s an everyday occurrence.’ Molly breathed in deeply. ‘Tell Squirrel what you have to say and he can tell me.’

  Grabbing her bag, she walked out of the office and into the sleet and rain.

  Jamie was the last thing she needed.

  ‘I came back after a week because I missed you!’ he shouted out. ‘I wanted to come and see you but I knew you’d be angry. I didn’t know what to say. Molly, are you listening?’

  ‘No!’ she angrily replied, getting sleet in her mouth.

  ‘I thought you were using me to get at Bill. I mean, what’s that about? I didn’t know he had connections and then… I got scared!’

  Molly turned and faced Jamie, whose hair was now wet.

  ‘Scared of what? Of me? You rode the lie for too long and would have gladly dumped me regardless, so keep your pack of lies.’

  ‘I’ve been upset.’

  ‘Typical of you! I don’t care!’

  ‘I should’ve told you where I really live, but by then, I moved into the flat and thought it was a good thing.’

  ‘Just in case I tried to track you down after the 31st of Jan?’ she asked sarcastically. ‘Wanted to make sure the bunny boiler didn’t come and find you?’

  ‘You’re like a punching bunny my mum got me for Christmas when I was a kid, but even cuter.’

  ‘You!’ she said, seeing he was playing with her. ‘Don’t try and say sweet nothings when I know it’s out of your vocabulary. I’m more like the bunny you skinned alive to save your own arse. Oh, and Bill knew about your stupid plan with Chloe but let it ride.’

  ‘I know.’ He closed his eyes, and she watched the sleet slap his face. ‘He told me.’

  ‘And the money wasn’t Chloe, it was Bill’s.’

  ‘So he said.’

  ‘And-.’

  ‘Why didn’t you take the money? You need it for the scaffolding and new roof.’

  ‘It felt dirty, that’s why. Pretty much how I felt when I realised what you were up to.’

  Jamie shook his head from side to side, biting his lip.

  ‘And I’ll pay for it out of my other set of dirty money I got when I was sacked. Nikos said I could do some extra shifts. I’ve got the voice over work, and the show goes into production in May. Don’t worry about me, it’s not as if you genuinely ever did.’

  ‘Give it a rest, Molly! I fucked up, and I want to make it better!’

  She pushed him, so he fell back onto the wet pavement seeing his stunned expression.

  ‘Remember you pushed me away? How does it feel to know someone can cast you aside? So you give it a rest!’

  ‘Molly!’

  She marched off down the road, half wanting to turn around to see if he was all right then she heard him shout,

  ‘I’m not giving up on you! Do you hear me?’

  ‘What’s going on with you and Jamie?’

  Molly was stood in her peanut brittle outfit, freezing her nuts off, if she had any. Squirrel was quizzing her for the umpteenth time. ‘Are you deaf?’

  ‘I’m sick and tired of people asking me that,’ she said, handing some unappealing free samples out. ‘He lied to me. End of.’

  ‘End of what?’

  ‘Look, he’s your friend. I never met him before in all the years you’ve apparently known each other, and now I have. I don’t like him.’

  ‘Funny that,’ he said, pulling his collar up as the wind whipped around the shopping centre doors. ‘I remember around Christmas you certainly looked like you did.’

  ‘Acting. The classes paid off,’ she snootily replied. ‘I don’t want to talk about Jamie!’

  ‘He told me,’ he said, sidling up to her and looking down. ‘He was supposed to take you on holiday. Is that true?’

  Wanting to shut her cousin up, she glared back.

  ‘He thought he could use me like a prostitute.’ Molly tried not to smile at the horror on Squirrel’s face. ‘Jamie wanted to put it in places in my body that was truly horrifying and he wanted Bill to watch.’

  The lie was good.

  Squirrel was about to make a call as she put her hand out to stop him.

  ‘I was joking, but the intention was there,’ she said, watching him frown. ‘He let me down and I let myself down. Now I have to move on.’

  ‘With Sam Price?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Talking of marriage?’

  ‘He can talk but I won’t listen.’

  ‘Do you want me to have a word? You know what I mean, warn him off?’

  ‘He doesn’t want to marry me, but he has done something that involves me and I don’t know what.’

  ‘Do you think he took pictures of you naked, all those years ago?’ Squirrel said, then shuddered. ‘Or pictures with Bert doing inappropriate things.’

  ‘Leave my puppet out of it!’

  ‘Molly, do you need to tell me something?’

  ‘Yes, tell Jamie to keep away from me and don’t tell my parents about Sam. I’ll sort this out and then see where we go to next.’

  ‘It’s three weeks on Saturday until the April Fools’ fundraiser. Are you still going to turn up considering it’s your idea?’ He then shrugged. ‘Jamie was asking.’

  She tugged at her costume, feeling a little hot but decided to ignore the comment.

  ‘He asked me to ask you if you could meet up,’ Squirrel whispered, now looking concerned. ‘I think my friend wants to speak to you.’

  Molly shook her head from side to side.

  ‘I’m not silly you know,’ he said, looking over his shoulder. ‘I know you had a kiss and a cuddle!’

  Still she wouldn’t say anything and handed out free hard peanut brittle to the people walking past.

  ‘It’s good with hot chocolate,’ she said enthusiastically to an old couple. ‘Full of protein and nutrients. Also, good for chopping up onions and scraping ice off your windows.’

  ‘Really, love?’ the woman said, looking at the package.

  ‘Keep one in your purse to ward off would be attackers, that’s what I do.’

  ‘Molly!’ Squirrel huffed, taking the samples out of her hand. ‘You need to promote the product!’

  ‘I’m sick of the peanut brittle costume. Why can’t I do something else?’

  ‘Soon you’ll be working with Bill Dyer and getting famous again,’ smiled Squirrel, patting the top of her costume which was a foot higher than her head. ‘But in the meantime, you have to pay the bills and the money for the roof. Are you sure you don’t want me to lend it to you?’

  ‘Keep that money, I don’t want it.’

  ‘And what about meeting Jamie?’

  ‘Same thing applies.’

  ‘It has got to be a mistake.’

  Molly had just received a phone call from the company who did the building work. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘The bill has been settled,’ Brian said, the owner of the contractors. ‘Everything’s paid.’

  ‘But I was in the process of transferring the money from my savings account and-.’ She hesitated. ‘When was this done?’

  ‘Bank transfer done about a few weeks ago. I thought it was strange you left a message saying the money was coming this week. Any other geezer would have taken it and ran!’ He laughed out loudly. ‘We have some snagging work to do and I got your email about-.’

  ‘Brian, where did the money come from?’

  ‘Let me see.’

  There was clicking and tapping of a computer from the other end of the phone as she continued to walk towards the drama school on Thursday afternoon.

  The kids were gathering in the reception area as she waited for Brian’s response.

  ‘Here it is,’ he said eventually. ‘It came from a company called ‘Cohen Limited Holdin
gs’.’

  Molly froze.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Most certainly am, Molly. ‘Cohen Limited Holdings’ is the name it says here.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  She hung up.

  Grabbing her phone, she was about to call Jamie then realised her shouting at him wouldn’t look good. She’d leave that for later. As she walked in, Hero was looking at his tablet then looking at her.

  She knew he was up to something.

  ‘Molly!’ shouted out Henrietta from behind reception. ‘Your visitor’s upstairs.’

  ‘What visitor?’

  ‘The-.’ Next thing, Henrietta was drowning in parents wanting to buy costumes and tickets for the summer show.

  ‘Molly?’ Charlie asked, following her to the room.

  ‘Hello there,’ she said, looking down at him. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Is it true?’

  ‘Is what true?’

  But it was when she flung open the door, Molly did a double take.

  Jamie was sitting on a chair.

  Her mouth dropped open.

  ‘Isn’t he your fiancé?’ asked Charlie accusingly. ‘The one you broke up with?’

  She felt his little sweaty hand hold her palm.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked angrily, marching up to Jamie with Charlie by her side. ‘Who let you in?’

  ‘I said I wanted to see how you held the class before I let me nephew attend,’ he said, standing up, smiling sweetly at her.

  ‘You haven’t got a nephew.’

  ‘Niece.’

  ‘Jamie!’

  ‘You won’t talk to me,’ he whispered then looked down at Charlie. ‘Unless you’re telling me that he’s my replacement.’

  ‘Leave her alone,’ Charlie said menacingly which made Jamie smile.

  ‘You’re very cute, I’ll give you that,’ he said before looking at Molly. ‘So is she.’

  Shaking her head, she walked off and didn’t know what to do. She’d have to tell Henrietta to evict him from the class, but the then others came rushing in.

  They suddenly stopped, eyeing her with great suspicion. It was the girls whose eyes were bright and eager.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she asked, feeling Charlie squeeze her hand tightly.

  ‘It’s because of him,’ whispered Charlie.

  ‘What? Jamie?’ She turned to look at him eyeing up her backside.

  ‘No, the other one.’

  ‘What other one?’ Jamie asked then she saw Hero’s smug grin.

  ‘She’s been two-timing you,’ said Hero, handing over his tablet to Jamie, whose smile was wiped off his face.

  He was reading something then looked at her and back down again.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ she asked, walking towards them.

  ‘They say you’re going to marry Sam Price,’ said Charlie, now squeezing the dear life out of her hand. ‘You’re getting back together.’

  ‘Are you?’ Jamie asked, and she realised he looked genuinely shocked. ‘You and Sam?’

  ‘No!’ she snapped. ‘Can we start the lesson and give that here!’

  She grabbed the tablet and let go of Charlie’s hand, standing to the side. Her mouth dropped open when she realised there was a picture of her and Sam in the bar, a few weeks back. The headline said on the nasty gossip website, ‘Sam Price rekindles love with his ex-fiery exotic red top.’

  ‘Red top!’ she exclaimed. ‘How dare they! I bet he bloody well set this up! I told him we had to go somewhere discreet.’

  ‘Let me see!’ Jamie grabbed it out of her hand, and she looked at him reading the text.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she whispered, watching the kids examining them. ‘How did you make Henrietta let you in?’

  ‘You won’t speak to me, so I had no other choice,’ he said, still reading it and flicking through the pages before turning to look at her. ‘You went to meet him? How did the photographer know?’

  ‘Don’t ask me.’

  ‘I bet it was set up.’

  ‘You and him have something in common then,’ she replied, flashing him a dirty look.

  She removed the tablet from his hand and gave it back to Hero.

  ‘My dad says that Sam Price has bad publicity heading his way,’ the kid said, taking the tablet and looking at the pictures. ‘He said his people, that’s Sam’s, are trying to cover for it.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘Drunks,’ whispered Charlie, nodding. ‘My mum says famous people take lots of drunks.’

  ‘You mean drugs, don’t you?’ laughed out Hero.

  ‘No I don’t!’

  ‘It doesn’t matter because, from the best of my knowledge, he did neither.’

  ‘He’s such a bad actor, maybe he had to resort to both to make him better,’ laughed Jamie as she shook her head when the kids laughed at his joke. ‘But did you see his last film? What a crock of-,’

  ‘Now focus on the lesson and less on me or Sam,’ she sharply interrupted, taking a deep breath. ‘Let’s do some breathing exercises.’

  She began but was met with curious glares from all of them including Jamie. Eventually, they did what they were told.

  All the while, she could only think that Jamie was in close proximity, and he hadn’t said much. He sat with a frown then a smirk as he watched the children follow her lead. Now she was making them improvise as a shopkeeper and customer.

  ‘Prada? Can’t these kids just shop in John Lewis?’ Jamie laughed, standing next to her. She felt his hand touch her back, making her pull away. ‘Molly?’

  ‘Don’t do this now,’ she whispered. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’

  ‘You hit me then pushed me over last time I saw you.’

  ‘And I hope it hurts.’

  ‘It hurt my feelings.’

  ‘Why should I care? You didn’t, when you hurt mine or pushed me into the side of the wall. You didn’t even bother to check I was all right. Just ran off with your middle-aged lover to probably bang each other’s brains out, because you were so clever!’ The hazel brown eyes seemed very hurt. ‘Don’t give me that puppy dog stare! I’d get you put down at the nearest vet.’

  ‘That’s not nice.’

  ‘Neither are you.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Charlie asked, walking up to them and leaving his acting partner rolling around on the floor. ‘Are you going to marry Sam Price?’

  ‘Are you?’ Jamie asked, turning to her. ‘Did you use me so you could get him back?’

  ‘Why would you want to marry Sam Price when you can marry me?’ asked Charlie, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

  ‘That’s a good point,’ she laughed then patted his head. ‘Carry on with what you’ve been doing, okay?’

  She then grabbed Jamie’s arm and walked him towards the corner, where they were out of earshot.

  ‘Why did you pay my bill?’ she asked and he went instantly red. ‘You had no right.’

  ‘I owed you.’

  ‘You owe me nothing!’ she hissed. ‘I don’t want you in my life as I figured out what sort of man you are.’

  ‘Which is what?’ he asked challengingly. ‘Come on! Enlighten me.’

  ‘A user.’

  ‘I didn’t use you.’

  ‘That’s not what Chloe said.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have listened to what she had to say.’

  ‘At least she said something!’ Molly replied, gritting her teeth hard. ‘You should go.’ She glanced up at him then looked at the kids. One pair seemed like they were going to get into a fight. ‘I’m working.’

  ‘I’m not proud of what I did and I hated leaving you, especially when you were crying on the ground. I felt sick,’ he said quietly. ‘But, like I said, I was upset and confused.’

  Biting her lips, she knew he was trying to tell her it was a lie that got out of hand, but, deep down, she didn’t want to hear it.

  ‘There’s no explanation needed,’ she whispered, avoid
ing eye contact. ‘It was a job and I got caught up in it. We had a nice time, and it’s all over now. You don’t have to try and make me feel better. I accept it for what it is.’

  ‘Which is what?’

  ‘A big fat lie,’ Molly said, looking up at him and forcing a smile, only to see his confused eyes stare back. ‘If I were thinking straight, I’d have realised it was stupid but I’m a fool like that.’

  ‘I see,’ he replied, glancing down at his feet. ‘None of it was real?’

  ‘Stop it!’ she said, seeing the two kids starting to push and shove each other. ‘It’s acting not boxing!’ Breaking up a fight between the two young girls, she noticed the door was closing.

  Jamie had gone.

  Something plummeted hard in her gut because she had a funny feeling she wouldn’t see him again for a long time.

  And it hurt.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  Sam was on her doorstep the following Monday evening, looking around to see if anyone was behind him.

  ‘Can I come in?’ he asked. Before she could answer, Sam had walked into the living room. ‘Are you alone?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Molly followed him as he closed the blinds in the living room then walked to the kitchen, helping himself to wine from the fridge.

  ‘I didn’t invite you, did I?’ she asked, seeing he wasn’t the smooth, smart man from a few weeks ago.

  This was the Sam she first knew.

  Dishevelled and looking flushed.

  He darted a glance at her.

  ‘Why haven’t you returned my calls?’ he said, finishing off the wine and pouring another glass. ‘I thought the least you could do was explain why you walked out of the bar the other week.’

  The man was drunk.

  ‘On April Fools’ Day, both our lives are going to be ruined,’ he said, shaking his head furiously. ‘And I blame you!’

  ‘Excuse me!’

  ‘If you had only spoken to me before Christmas, we could have stopped this.’

  ‘Stopped what?’

  ‘That bloody book by Tommy fucking Halo!’

  Molly marched up to him and took the glass out of his hand.

  ‘I didn’t invite you and I certainly don’t want you in my home. Whatever dirt he has got on you, I hope it’s good!’ she said, knocking back the wine. ‘And what was that all about in the bar? Fawning over me as if you cared! Then, funnily enough, we get papped, and it’s on a dodgy website.’