by Mel Sherratt
Before she had time to respond, Emily had answered the call.
‘Daddy! When are you coming home? I miss you. Yes, I’m being a good girl. I’m always a good girl. No, Mummy’s been asleep. I’ll give it to her.’
Emily ran over to the settee and gave Kelly the phone.
‘Hello, babe. How’re you doing?’
‘I’m okay,’ said Kelly. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m bearing up. Life isn’t easy in here, but I’ll cope. Are you missing me?’
‘Yeah, of course.’ She wasn’t entirely sure that was true.
‘Ah, but I’ll be back soon enough.’
Emily came rushing over to Kelly’s side. ‘Can I speak to Daddy again?’ she asked loudly.
‘Wait a minute, Em.’ Kelly needed some questions answered first. ‘Scott, have you decided what you’re going do when you get out yet?’
‘But I want to speak to Daddy.’ Emily pulled on her arm.
‘Wait a minute. Have you thought –?’
‘Let me speak to Daddy!’
‘Put her back on,’ said Scott.
Kelly handed the phone to her daughter with a sigh. Every time she mentioned going on the straight and narrow when Scott was released, he changed the subject.
Emily put down the phone a minute later. ‘Daddy had to go but he loves us lots and lots.’
Kelly lay back on the settee again and exhaled noisily. The word ‘love’ didn’t always have the desired effect anymore.
Josie was in bed when she heard Stewart come back around eleven. Her mind in turmoil, with every creak of the stairs her heart skipped a beat. She held her breath as he quietly pushed open the bedroom door. Feigning sleep while he stood in front of her, he finally left. Josie blew out the breath she’d been holding. Minutes later, she heard him settle down in the spare room. At least he hadn’t disturbed her.
She struggled to find sleep, switching the bedside lamp on as the still of the room got to her. Her head was pounding but she didn’t want to fetch any more painkillers for fear of waking Stewart. Instead she lay alone, thinking alone, feeling alone, and questioning how long had she been feeling that way. Things couldn’t go on like this.
The following morning, she sat at the kitchen table waiting for Stewart to come downstairs. Lying awake, she’d had time to make a lot of decisions. She knew he’d want to explain his actions, but she didn’t care about him. It was about time she started to live life for herself. She was no one’s slave. It was her own fault for allowing him to dominate her. In the forefront of her mind was Charlotte Hatfield; she couldn’t let that happen to her.
When he came into the kitchen, Stewart’s eyes widened in disbelief when he surveyed the damage he’d caused with one punch. The bruising around her eyes had darkened overnight and the cut on her nose from his ring was more visible as she turned her head towards him.
Stewart took a step closer. ‘I’m sorry. I –’
Josie raised a hand and he stopped. ‘I don’t want to hear your excuses, your apologies or even your despicable lies. Right now, I want you to understand that I don’t forgive you for what you’ve done.’
‘I know. I –’
‘Don’t interrupt me!’ Josie flinched, her swollen face making it painful for her to talk. ‘I’m not the same Josie as I was this time yesterday. You’ve made me realise a few things and one of them is that you’ve had your own way for far too long. It stops right now.’
Stewart frowned. ‘It… it won’t happen again. You’ve got to believe me.’
‘You’re damn right it won’t happen again.’ Even from where she was sitting, Josie could see beads of sweat forming on Stewart’s furrowed brow. With shaking hands, she picked up her mug of coffee. ‘I want you to leave.’
‘You can’t be serious! I’ve said I’m sorry. What more –’
‘Sorry isn’t enough after the mess you’ve made of me. Look at me!’ She pointed to her face. ‘I can’t live with a bully and I certainly can’t live with a man who punched me.’
Stewart ran a hand through his hair before taking a step nearer. ‘But I swear I won’t do it again.’
‘I know you won’t because you won’t be here.’
‘You can’t chuck me out! Where will I go?’
Josie had thought about this, but had come to one conclusion. ‘I don’t care,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to see you here again.’
There was silence in the room for a few seconds as her words sunk in. Then Stewart shook his head.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m not leaving.’
Josie pushed herself up to her feet. She’d thought he’d react like this, try to talk her down into submission. But before she crumpled, she needed to let him know that she wasn’t going to be a pushover this time. ‘Then I’m going to ring the police,’ she said. ‘Maybe they can make you –’
‘Wait!’ Stewart touched her arm as she moved past him. He stared at her before his eyes narrowed. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’
‘I’m deadly serious,’ she told him. ‘Gullible Josie has gone forever. It’s either the police or you leave – it’s your choice.’
Stewart was silent for a few seconds in thought. ‘Okay, I’ll go for now – give you some time to yourself. I’ll find someone at work who’ll put me up for a few nights, then we can talk things through again.’
Josie nodded. If she could get him out of the house, then she could decide when she wanted to talk.
It wasn’t until he left twenty minutes later with a few of his clothes packed into a holdall that she let her façade slip. Her shoulders dropped with relief that she’d had the courage to do what she’d set out to do, but inside she was breaking.
Was she strong enough to see this through?
As Kelly clocked on at the factory that night, she met Sally in the canteen for a drink before their shift began. It was something they’d quickly got into a routine of doing.
A guy called Robbie was doing his best to sing. He wasn’t called Rob: Kelly had been informed by Sally when she’d started. It had to be Robbie because he thought he looked exactly like the real version. It had taken a while before Kelly realised that Sally was being serious (the real Robbie Williams had nothing to worry about). Tonight, this Robbie was giving them a rendition of Angels, even though no one had asked him to.
Phil, one of the packers, covered his ears with his hands and grimaced. ‘Jesus, Robbie, you sound like a whale. A whale in pain.’
Robbie threw him a smirk. ‘That’s not what the ladies tell me.’
‘Where do you pick them up? At the deaf club?’
Everyone laughed.
‘Maybe you’re ‘Misunderstood’, Robbie,’ said another fella Kelly vaguely recognised.
Some of the lads whooped.
‘Wow,’ said Phil. ‘Mummy’s boy’s up on Robbie Williams’ music. I’m stunned. Not many people remember that song from his greatest hits CD.’
‘Mummy’s boy’ threw a screwed up crisp packet at him.
Everyone continued to banter until the clock approached four. Kelly slipped on her overall and sat down at her bench.
‘Guess what I found out about little miss perfect, here?’ Leah said, as she rushed in, late again. She pointed to Kelly. ‘I know your secret now. Your fella’s been sent down for thieving.’
Sally sighed loudly as she reached for a mug. ‘Tell us something we don’t know. That isn’t a secret.’
‘I didn’t know!’ Leah glared at Kelly. ‘Anyway, what have you got to say about it?’
‘There’s nothing to say,’ Kelly replied. ‘He planned a break-in, he got caught and now he’s doing his time.’
Leah folded her arms across her chest. ‘He’s a psycho. I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth.’
The usually quiet Julia snorted. ‘That’s rich, coming from you – you look like a horse, Leah. Are you sure that you didn’t tell yourself?’
As some of the other workers began to laugh, Leah reached over the belt, purposeful
ly knocking over a whole batch of mugs.
‘Oi!’ Kelly cried out. ‘It’s taken me ages to do those, you bitch!’
Leah’s hand covered her mouth but it didn’t hide the smirk. ‘Oh dear, I am sorry. It was an accident.’
‘No, you did it on purpose.’ Sally dropped to the floor to help Kelly pick up the damaged pieces.
‘We’ll help you to catch up again,’ Julia told Kelly. She stared at Leah. ‘We’ll all help.’
Leah folded her arms. ‘Don’t count on it.’
‘It won’t matter much anyway.’ Sally threw the pieces she’d collected into the bin. ‘Kelly’s only been here five minutes and she’s far quicker than you anyway.’
‘No, she’s not!’
‘And we don’t have to make excuses up because she’s never late.’
Kelly began to feel as though she was invisible. ‘Come on, now,’ she said. ‘Let’s not argue.’
‘Who gave you permission to speak?’ Leah barked.
Sally slammed down the bin lid. ‘Why don’t you shut up for once, Leah? What’s the matter? Is your reputation as gossip queen faltering? Grow up or move down the line. You’re boring us.’
‘Thanks, Sal,’ said Kelly, ‘but I can hold my own.’ She stared back angrily at the woman with the red hair who loathed her so much. ‘I do think it’s time you backed off, though. I’m getting sick and tired of your comments. You’re no better than me. We’re both in the same position – single mums doing the best we can for our kids. And at least I know where Emily’s father is.’
Leah’s face reddened by the second. ‘Ooh, get you,’ she managed to mutter. She didn’t speak for the rest of their shift.
‘Thank god that’s over,’ Kelly said as she left the building with Sally afterwards. ‘I can’t take much more of Leah’s bitchy comments. If she carries on, I’ll end up chinning her.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Sally answered. ‘She’s backing down. Leah can’t do much without an audience and even Julia isn’t taking any notice of her now. You probably think I’m talking garbage but Leah’s okay once you get to know her.’
Kelly smirked.
‘It’s true. For some reason you got off to a bad start. She’ll come –’
A car beeped its horn and pulled up alongside them. Kelly smiled when she saw it was Jay.
‘Need a lift?’ he offered.
‘Ooh, yes ta. See you tomorrow, Sal.’
‘Things going well?’ he asked as he pulled away from the kerb.
Kelly nodded. ‘Getting better, I suppose.’
On the main road, Kelly spotted Leah sitting alone at the bus stop. Theatrically, she waved as they drove past. Leah’s face was a picture.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Before Scott came out of prison, Kelly wanted to treat Jay to lunch for being so good to her over the past few weeks. That weekend, he drove them to a pub out in the country. Emily had been excited all morning because he’d told her it had a ball pit and a bouncy castle. Kelly knew there would be lots of children for her to play with, too. Once there, she and Jay hardly saw her, although they clearly heard her every now and then.
‘I think I should have had more to eat before necking that wine,’ Kelly said, taking another sip of her drink regardless of feeling a little tipsy. ‘I’m such a lightweight. Two glasses of red and I’m under the table.’
‘Got any room left for pudding?’ Jay asked, as he grabbed for the dessert menu.
‘Not even a tiny space.’ She rubbed her stomach. ‘Oh, go on then. I might just manage a banana split.’
‘Care to share?’
‘No! Get your own.’ Playfully, Kelly poked him in the shoulder. ‘Anyway, have what you want. You always pay for everything so it’s my treat today.’
‘But I don’t mind –’
‘What’s the use of working if I don’t get to spend any of it on luxuries? And Scott will be back soon so I won’t have chance to thank you if I don’t do it now.’
‘Do you still miss him, Kel?’ Jay questioned.
‘Course I do!’ Kelly lowered hers eyes, afraid of revealing her ever changing feelings for Scott. ‘But you’ve been a massive help too.’
‘Kel, I –’
‘Mummy!’ Emily shouted as she ran towards them. She stopped at the table and took a quick slurp of her drink through a straw. ‘I’ve been hiding in the balls! Did you see me?’
‘Yes,’ Kelly fibbed. ‘I bet the other children didn’t though.’
‘I’m going to hide again.’
‘Urgh,’ Jay shuddered as she ran back. ‘Can you imagine what’s inside that ball pit? I mean, underneath – jelly and custard, splodges of cream off the cakes, fizzy pop …’
‘Bits of fish fingers.’ Kelly giggled, then grabbed Jay’s hand. ‘Thanks.’ She leant on the table with her elbow. ‘I wouldn’t have survived without your help – even though I didn’t want your help at first.’
‘I remember only too well! You were nasty to me no matter what I did.’
‘I wasn’t that bad!’ Kelly protested.
‘You were, but that’s what mates are for. Look Kelly, are you sure that you want –’
‘Whoops!’ Kelly’s elbow slipped off the table and she fell forward. ‘What is it with me and lunchtime drinking?’
Jay sighed. He glanced over to where Emily was climbing a ladder ready to dive into the balls again. Then he looked at his watch. ‘Jesus, have you seen the time? We’ll have to go soon, Kel.’
‘I suppose you’re off to check up on your other woman, aren’t you?’
Jay laughed. ‘Me? I haven’t got time for another woman.’
‘You must have someone special in your life, though. I wonder what she thinks of all the time you spend with me and Em.’ Kelly pointed an unsteady finger at him. ‘You are a true… true friend. Scott should be vey – vey proud of you.’
In her inebriated state, Kelly didn’t realise that Jay’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Surprisingly, but true to his word, Stewart stayed away from Josie. After a week on her own, she started to get over the initial shock of what had happened. Although the swelling around her nose had gone down in days, the black and blue of the bruising could still be seen. Her emotions had taken a battering too.
Stewart had sent her a few text messages, to which she’d responded with as few words as were appropriate. He’d even rung once, on Friday evening, to see if she would see him yet, but she’d told him it was too soon to start talking. She needed to be clear about what she planned to do next and she was nowhere near that stage yet.
By the time she went back to work, she was all thought out. More so, she needed to catch up with her case notes. It was hard for anyone not to have heard about Charlotte Hatfield over the past week. She’d been local front page news for two nights, her story told in bold, graphic details. Josie had been annoyed to be away from the office at such an important time. She wanted to make sure that all the paperwork was filled out correctly, that every t was crossed and every i was dotted, in case the statement was used as evidence in a court case. She wanted to be sure they’d nail Charlotte’s partner for it. After the damage Nathan had caused, he deserved no more than to rot in a ten-by-eight cell. However, reporting to work the next day looking the way she had wouldn’t have been ideal.
Charlotte’s children had been collected by their grandparents and ferried back to Leeds while Charlotte had spent two days in intensive care. She was now – thankfully – on the road to recovery. It never failed to amaze Josie how much a human body could cope with in difficult situations. Her mind flipped back to her mum’s last days. Brenda had hung on for what seemed like forever until her body, unable to take in food, slowly deteriorated and her heart stopped.
Arriving at the office, she boxed up her feelings and headed in. The first thing that greeted her was the report of another burglary.
‘What’s up?’ Debbie asked as she passed over a mug of coffee.
‘Mrs Lattimer’s been robbed over
the weekend,’ Josie told her. ‘Remember, we visited a couple of weeks ago?’
‘Yes, she was really nice to me.’ Debbie shook her head in disbelief. ‘Is she okay?’
‘I’m not sure. We only get the basics on the call-out logs. That’s five now in the past couple of months. I’ll have to pop in and see her.’
Debbie sighed. ‘It makes it more personal when you know the tenant involved, doesn’t it?’
‘Yes.’ Josie grabbed her keys and slipped her mobile phone into her coat pocket. ‘It took her family and me ages to get her to move there in the first place. She didn’t think she’d cope but she’s been much more independent since. This will set her back big style. I’ll have to pop round this morning, see if I can catch her in.’
‘Send her my love,’ Debbie shouted as she marched away. ‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do.’
After trying her best to console Mrs Lattimer, Josie caught up with some paperwork before heading out again after her lunch. Her first visit was to Clarence Avenue. Rather than enjoying a mug of coffee with Kelly in her tidy, clean living room, she was crawling around the floor while baby Reece kicked his legs infuriatingly next to her. Josie was trying to make him laugh by waving a yellow rabbit in front of his face and then pressing it to his nose. He was niggling: Amy was heating some food for him.
‘Has he been like this all morning?’ Josie shouted through the open kitchen door, waiting for another loud yell as Reece took another breather. His angry little face was beginning to represent the colour of sun-ripened tomatoes.
Before Amy had time to reply, Josie’s mobile started to ring. She rummaged around in her pockets until she found it. It was Craig from the office, wanting to know if she would get Irene’s card on her way back. It was Irene’s fiftieth birthday at the weekend and they’d had a bit of a collection. Although Irene wasn’t particularly liked, it was astounding how much of a conscience people had when a collection went around the office. They’d collected quite a sum for her.
Josie disconnected the call, feeling herself shivering in the small room. Amy had reappeared with Reece’s gooey delight and settled him onto her knee.