'Til I Kissed You

by Pam Howes

  ***

  Eddie had been packing Katie and Dominic into the Jeep for the school run when a thought had occurred to him. He’d some running around to do this morning, but he could meet Livvy for lunch, before picking Roy up later for the viewings. He told the kids to fasten their seatbelts and dashed back into the house. Jane was drying her hair and Jess was still in bed. He quickly dialled Livvy’s number and, giving her no time to speak, told her of his intentions then hung up, frowning. Had he dialled the right number in his haste? It didn’t sound like Livvy saying bye. Ah well, never mind, he’d call in the shop anyway and see if she was free. He rushed back to the Jeep and set off on the school run, oblivious to the fact that he’d just spoken to Sammy.

  ***

  Following Sammy’s departure, Livvy tried to calm down. All this upset wouldn’t be good for the baby. She dreaded the day ahead. Sammy would be sure to tell Jane of her suspicions and then what? All hell would break loose. She’d have to warn Eddie at lunchtime and give him the opportunity to get his story straight before Jane confronted him. Poor Eddie, all he’d tried to do was help her and he’d got unwittingly caught up in the middle of the mess. If only she knew where Roy was staying, she would pluck up the courage to call him and tell him about the baby; after all it was his mess too. She looked at her watch, it was after nine and she would be late into work now. Sean wouldn’t be very pleased about that.

  ***

  Roy lay on his bed in his luxury hotel suite staring at the ornate ceiling. He was depressed and felt he had nothing to live for. He’d been awake ages and was showered and dressed. He’d drunk himself into a stupor last night, smoked the last of his dope and been violently sick in the bathroom.

  Earlier in the evening he’d toyed with the idea of calling Livvy then decided against it and phoned Sammy instead. She’d been polite, but cool, answering with a yes and a no as necessary.

  He swung his legs off the bed and decided to pay his parents a quick visit. No doubt his mother would give him earache when he told her he’d left Sammy, but he could probably weather that. He just needed to see a familiar face and who better than his own mum. She’d been devastated by Nick’s death and he knew that it was only right he explain to her what was going on before someone else told her.

  The phone rang as he was about to leave the room. It was Sammy, asking him to meet her later at Jasmine House. She needed to talk urgently, she said. He told her he had a couple of flats to view this afternoon and could they meet tonight instead. She agreed and said come after six. He wondered what she wanted to talk about that was so urgent. Maybe she wanted him back? But pigs might fly, he thought as he left his suite.

  ‘I’m just popping out. If anyone wants me I’ll be back around lunchtime,’ he informed one of the receptionists.

  ‘Okay Mr Cantello, we’ll see you later.’ The red haired girl smiled at him. As he left the desk he heard her say to her blonde colleague, ‘Bloody hell, he’s still a dish. I wouldn’t mind jumping his bones tonight!’

  ‘Sharon, he’ll hear you and then what will he think?’ the blonde replied with a nervous giggle.

  Roy smiled to himself. Girls were so forward today, not like when he was younger and you really had to be an expert in the art of chat up and persuasion. Not that he’d had much luck until Sammy and it had taken a few cracks of the whip before she’d finally succumbed to his charms.

  ‘Oh, Sammy, what have I done to us?’ He climbed into the car and put his head on the steering wheel.

  ***

  Livvy found herself making one mistake after another that morning. When a second customer complained about being short changed Sean put his hands on her shoulders and ordered her to take a break. She went willingly as he shook his head after her. She’d told him she’d overslept which was why she’d been late in. Every time the phone rung she expected it to be Jane and had managed to avoid answering it so far. She sat in the staffroom sipping a glass of water, wishing she’d never set eyes on Roy Cantello.

  Jon popped his head around the door moments later. ‘Want to talk, or would you rather be on your own? I’m due a break for ten minutes if you need an ear to bend.’

  She nodded, glad of his support.

  He sat down opposite her. ‘Fire away; you’ve been a nervous wreck all morning. Are you having second thoughts about the baby? Only you haven’t got very much time to change your mind. You’re almost too far gone now to get rid.’

  ‘I still want it,’ she said. ‘Sammy came to see me this morning. She guessed I’m pregnant. Your dad called me while she was at the flat and she overheard half the conversation, put two and two together and came up with five. Then he called back and she actually picked up the phone. He thought it was me and told her he’ll take me out for lunch so we can talk. She hung up without saying a word to him other than bye, so he won’t have realised it was her. But she went crazy with me. She thinks your dad’s the baby’s father.’

  ‘For fuck’s sake!’ Jon’s mouth fell open. ‘Why didn’t you tell her it was Roy’s? It can’t be Dad’s anyway. He’s had a vasectomy, Sammy must have forgotten. But if she says anything to Mum, she’ll realise he’s been in touch with you and all hell will break loose.’

  ‘I know and I feel awful. Eddie’s only trying to be supportive. I made up a tale that I’ve got a new boyfriend and that it’s his baby, but Sammy didn’t believe me. I couldn’t tell her it was Roy’s. She came round to warn me off him. She told me he’d moved out so that they could have some space. How could I drop a bombshell like that on her? I promised her if Roy gets in touch I’d send him away.’

  ‘I’m going to have to call Sammy and tell her not to say a word to Mum, if she hasn’t already.’ Jon rushed back into the shop, pushed past Sean, grabbed the phone and dialled the factory, muttering that it was an emergency. He got straight through to Sammy.

  ‘It’s Jon, is Mum there?’

  ‘No Jon, she’s on the factory floor talking to Ruby. What’s wrong, you sound agitated?’

  ‘Livvy just told me you called round this morning and you think the baby is Dad’s,’ he gabbled. ‘Dad had a vasectomy ages ago. Don’t tell Mum he’s helping Livvy, please. She’ll go ape-shit with him for keeping secrets.’

  ‘Jon, calm down, love. On the drive back to work I remembered about your dad’s vasectomy. I’ve already worked out why he’s helping Livvy. It’s because the baby’s Roy’s.’

  ‘Yes,’ Jon said. ‘It is.’

  ‘I knew it. I presume Roy knows she’s pregnant and wants nothing to do with it?’

  ‘No, he doesn’t have a clue.’

  ‘Really? So, Eddie’s offer of help is to protect Roy?’

  ‘Yes, he thought it best not to tell him if she wasn’t going ahead with the pregnancy, but she is. She’s too scared to tell Roy though.’

  ‘Right. I’ll tell him tonight. He’s a big boy, Jon, and an idiot, but he’s got to face up to his responsibilities. I’m not happy about all this, I can tell you, but to be honest I’m past caring and Livvy won’t be able to cope on her own without financial help. I take it there’s no one close, no family she can turn to?’

  ‘She has no one.’

  ‘Okay. Well, tell your dad when he collects her at lunchtime that I know about the baby and that Roy and I will take over the responsibility, and you’d better tell Livvy as well. I think I scared the life out of the poor kid this morning and she doesn’t need that in her condition. How far gone is she? I need to know for when I present his lordship with the facts later.’

  ‘Nearly four months,’ Jon replied. ‘Sammy, you’re being unbelievably calm about this.’

  ‘It’s the calm before the storm. I’m in shock, but I’m trying to think practically. Your mum’s on her way back into the office; I can hear her talking to my mother. Don’t worry, Jon, I won’t say a word. Bye, love.’

  Jon put the receiver down and looked at Sean who was shaking his head in disbelief.

  ‘Bejeezus! Is that right? Sammy thought it w
as Eddie’s kid. Fucking hell, talk about tangled webs!’

  Jon nodded. ‘I’d better tell Livvy that Sammy now realises the baby is Roy’s.’

  ‘Better than any bloody soap opera this.’ Sean grinned. ‘I tell you, Jon, since I started working with your mother back in the sixties I’ve never been short of entertainment where your family and their friends are concerned! But this little drama takes the biscuit.’

  Jon smiled wearily. ‘You’ve heard nothing yet. Dad told Jess the saga of himself, Mum and Angie yesterday.’

  ‘Oh, I know most of that one, I told you some of the tale myself. It caused quite a stir back then. But at the end of the day your dad’s one of the best, so he is. Never forget that, Jon.’

  ‘Thanks, Sean; he’s the best all right. That’s why I feel guilty about going to see Angie’s family tonight. It hurts him. He thinks they abandoned me because of him, but maybe it was because they felt it best to let sleeping dogs lie. I doubt Dad was very approachable at that time and it was Jane who brought me up. He was always on tour or doing something with The Raiders. Maybe Angie’s family felt they would be interfering or something. Anyway, let me go and tell Livvy that Roy is to be told about the baby.’

  Livvy took Jon’s news with a certain amount of relief. ‘Thank God for that. Although I know Roy will go crazy with me for getting into this mess in the first place.’

  ‘It takes two, Liv; you didn’t do it on your own.’

  ‘I know, but Roy specifically told me that he didn’t need this sort of complication in his life.’

  Jon put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. ‘Well, it’s too late for recriminations. You’ll both have to face up to it.’

  ***

  Over lunch, Livvy told Eddie the events of the morning.

  He shook his head and sighed. ‘Trust Sammy to get hold of the wrong end of the stick! Ah well, we’ll let her tell Roy. She knows him better than anyone, so she’ll approach it the way she thinks best.’ He looked at Livvy who was pushing her pasta around her plate. ‘Come on, Liv; eat up. You're feeding two now.’

  She smiled. ‘Thank you for everything; you’re a wonderful man. Jon and Jess are so lucky to have a father like you.’

  ‘And thank you.’ Eddie swallowed the lump in his throat. ‘Have you ever thought of trying to trace your natural parents, Livvy?’

  She nodded. ‘Occasionally, but I wouldn’t know where to start. All I know about them and my past is that I was born in Glasgow, my parents were called Gina and Peter and they were both sixteen. My adoptive grandmother knew Gina’s family. She told me that after the adoption they moved to Canada and Gina went with them. I presume she’s still there, I know nothing of Peter’s whereabouts. I just wish they’d kept me. What I went through was far worse than being brought up by penniless teenagers.’

  Eddie sighed, twiddling the stem of his wineglass. ‘There were so few options in those days. You either married the girl, as I did Angie, or the baby was given up for adoption. I’m sure they wouldn’t have parted with you willingly.’

  Livvy nodded. 'Maybe you’re right. I might think about trying to trace them after I’ve had my baby. I just feel I’ve enough on my plate to cope with at the moment.’

  Eddie signalled to the waiter for the bill and escorted Livvy back to work. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow, see how things are,’ he told her.

  ‘Thank you so much for your support, and thanks for lunch.’ She stood on tiptoe, kissed him lightly on the cheek and walked into the shop.

  Eddie smiled as he made his way back to the car. She was a lovely girl and he could fully understand why Roy had been smitten.

  ***

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  Roy told the receptionist he was expecting a visitor who could be sent straight up to his room. He flirted briefly with her and her colleague and then went on his way, mulling over the berating he’d received from his mother over lunch. His father had shown a bit more sympathy, but only after his mother left the room. Roy hadn’t dared argue back, if it made her feel better then so be it. She ranted and raved about what a good wife and mother Sammy is and what a lot she’d had to put up with during the early years of their marriage, when Roy was never around. How she didn’t deserve any of this, especially after losing Nick. She also said that if he didn’t go back to Sammy, and he took up with that young woman again, she would wash her hands of him once and for all!

  He’d tried to explain that Sammy didn’t want to live with him at the moment and that it was over between him and Livvy, but found it hard to get a word in edgeways and had wisely chosen to stay quiet. He was glad to escape back to the sanctuary of the hotel.

  The chambermaid had just finished cleaning his suite as he approached and he winked as she pushed her trolley up the corridor. Pity she wasn’t wearing a French Maid’s outfit like they wore in the Carry On films, Roy thought wistfully, checking out the drab grey uniform his particular chambermaid was wearing. Definitely a turn off in anybody’s books.

  ***

  ‘Can I help you, Sir?’

  ‘Roy Cantello’s room, please.’ Eddie smiled at the girl on reception whose eyes opened wide when she recognised him.

  ‘Err yes, room 125, up the stairs and to the left.’

  ‘Avril, Avril, come here quick,’ she whispered. She pointed after Eddie’s departing back. ‘It’s another one of the group that our mums like. He’s going up to Mr Cantello’s room.’

  Avril stared after Eddie’s departing back. ‘Was he good looking as well?’

  ‘I’ll say he was. You should have seen his big blue eyes. Bloody hell, they’ve aged much better than The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart.’

  ‘I’ll stay out on the desk for a while, see if they come down,’ Avril decided, shuffling bits of paper around in an effort to look busy.

  She didn’t have long to wait, within five minutes Roy and Eddie strolled through the reception area and smiled at the girls as they left the building. Avril and Sharon gazed after them with longing.

  ***

  Sharon grinned knowingly. ‘Perhaps Roy Cantello is on the look out for a new wife, we’ll have to wait and see. Play your cards right, girl, and you never know.’ She patted her hair into place as the phone rang and switched on her receptionist’s voice. ‘The Grand Hotel Westlow; you’re speaking to Sharon. How may I help you?’

  ***

  ‘Where’s the first flat?’ Eddie asked Roy as they pulled away from the hotel.

  ‘Just a couple of roads down from here; we could have walked.’

  ‘Oh, I can’t be bothered walking, I’ve just had lunch with L-err Jon and I’m full.’ Eddie stopped himself just in time. Shit, he knew he shouldn’t have had the wine; it had addled his brains. Still, pasta without a couple of glasses of red was unthinkable.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were going out for lunch? That’s twice this week you’ve been into town and not told me,’ Roy grumbled.

  ‘Sorry, mate. Jon wanted to discuss his mum and things. We can’t really talk at home because of Jane. I don’t like to bring the Angie subject up too often in front of her,’ Eddie lied.

  ‘Oh, right, fair enough. I had lunch with my folks,’ Roy said.

  ‘That was nice for you.’

  ‘Was it? I got a right ear bashing from my ma. She talks to me like I’m sixteen and still a kid.’

  ‘Well you are a kid, in her eyes anyway. My mother was always like that, bless her. She never thought I was capable of doing anything for myself, even though I was married and supporting a family at eighteen.’

  ‘Whoa, slow down,’ Roy said. ‘The first apartment block is to your left. Oh, I don’t like the look of these,’ he added, staring up at the soulless, three story brick and pebbledash building. ‘Looks like a prison without the bars.

  ‘It might be alright inside.’ Eddie got out of the car and looked around the car park. ‘There’s a couple of decent cars parked. The people who live here are probably okay. Anyway, you never bother with n
eighbours, so it wouldn't matter if the Adams Family lived next door. Let’s go take a look.’

  Roy nodded reluctantly. ‘The agent’s meeting us inside.’

  ***

  Roy pressed the intercom for flat number ten. ‘Mr Cantello to view,’ he informed the answering female voice.

  ‘Ah yes, please come up, Mr Cantello.’

  An open lift beckoned in the corner of the reception hall, but Eddie pushed Roy towards the staircase. ‘The exercise will do you good.’

  ‘This isn’t the sort of exercise I like,’ Roy protested. ‘The flat’s on the top floor.’

  ‘Well you’re not getting any other exercise at the moment, so move it.’

  A grey-haired woman answered the door. Her severe navy suit gaped wide across her ample bosom.

  ‘Mr Cantello, do come in.’ She smiled; displaying a row of teeth that Roy thought wouldn’t look amiss in Red Rum’s mouth. She shook him firmly by the hand.

  ‘This is my friend, Mr Mellor.’ Roy flinched and flexed his precious guitar playing fingers. God, the woman had a grip like a vice.

  ‘I’m Miss Osborne.’ She stood back in the narrow hallway as they struggled past her bulk. Once in the lounge she picked up a folder from the coffee table and handed it to Roy.

  ‘Here you go, Mr Cantello. You’ll find all details, regarding room dimensions, utilities, rental and maintenance charges and so on in there.’

  Roy took a quick look at the details. He’d already decided the flat wasn’t for him. ‘It’s too small,’ he muttered to Eddie. However, out of courtesy, he followed the woman round as she waxed lyrical about the wall-mounted electric fire with its glowing log effect and the neat, but boring, fitted kitchen with the built in appliances. The tiny white bathroom was cold and clinical. Not a patch on his luxury bathroom back home, where he and Sammy would lie each end of the Jacuzzi, legs entwined, glasses of chilled wine to hand.