Her sister took one look at her and said, ‘Right, it’s Rufus?’
‘What the hell, Gemma, how do you know?!’ Her words ricocheted off the marble floors. A few people stared.
Gemma grabbed her arm. ‘Know what?’ she hissed. ‘I don’t know anything. You look like shit, though. I just assumed.’
Scarlett realised she hadn’t brushed her hair or washed her face. She must look like Medusa on a bender. ‘Nice to see you, too.’
Gemma made a sourpuss face. ‘Yeah, well, it’s not a social call, right? Let’s go. There’s a coffee shop round the corner with downstairs seating. Nobody goes down there unless they have to.’ She looked Scarlett up and down. ‘You look like you have to.’
It took only a few seconds to tell Gemma what happened. That didn’t seem possible, but then her entire relationship had disintegrated in seconds, too.
‘Why aren’t you more upset?’
‘Do you think I got these eyes by not being upset, Gemm? I’m sick. I must have dehydrated myself crying last night.’ She searched her sister’s face. ‘I’m not overreacting to this, am I?’ She’d give anything for the answer to be yes.
Gemma didn’t answer right away. ‘If Jacob had done that he’d be in the hospital right now. No, they’d need dental records to identify his body. You definitely aren’t overreacting. Although… What do you actually know? I mean, concrete facts. Now’s not the time to jump to conclusions.’
‘You are not taking his side.’
‘No way! He’s a shit bag. He’s the longest-serving mayor of Shitsville, the twentieth generation crown prince of Shitistan. Darth Vader of the Shitstar.’ She smiled at their childhood game. They used to go on for hours like that when their parents pissed them off. ‘We know he’s guilty of saying her name,’ Gemma said. ‘But do you think there’s anything actually going on between them?’
Scarlett pushed away her tea. ‘He claims not, but he would, wouldn’t he? He says he’s relaxed around her, and that they were out last night, so when he was relaxed around me he accidentally said her name.’
‘Right, while having sex with you. Uh-huh. Do you believe him?’ She pushed Scarlett’s teacup back in front of her.
Scarlett pushed it away again. ‘You obviously don’t. I don’t know.’
She had known it was risky to tell Gemma. Epic grudge-holding Gemma. She might never forgive Rufus.
When she realised that that would only matter if Rufus stayed in their lives, she felt sick again.
‘All right, let me ask you another question,’ Gemma said. ‘Do you believe Shannon would do this?’
‘My gut says no,’ she answered right away. ‘Am I being naïve? I should trust my husband more than my friend, right? Not that I can trust anything.’
Gemma reached for her hand. ‘You will. You’ll just have to work everything out in your own mind first. Will you talk to Rufus?’
Scarlett shook her head. ‘I can’t right now. You’re right, I’ve got a lot to think about. This is all tangled up in everything else that’s going on. Thank you, Gemm.’
‘It’s what I’m here for.’ She rummaged in her bag till she found what she wanted. ‘Here. Just because you feel tragic doesn’t mean you have to look like a bag lady.’
Scarlett ran Gemma’s brush through her hair.
Much as she wanted to take a duvet day (or month), it wasn’t like she could ring in sick to her life. There were still the dog classes every day, her family to think about, her best friend to avoid...
She let the call go through to voicemail again, where it joined the messages from Rufus. Let him tell Shannon if he wanted to. She was on his mind all the time anyway.
Gemma was right. Scarlett didn’t know whether anything had happened between them. That didn’t stop the humiliation from pulsing through her every time she thought about her husband shouting her best friend’s name as he climaxed.
She needed to take a leaf from her own instruction manual. Distract, distract, distract.
Seeing Murphy’s tail semaphoring his excitement at the community centre door did bring a faint smile to her face. Work was exactly what she needed.
‘Sawasdee kaa!’ Max cried when he saw Krishna tucking her yoga mat into the batik print bag she always carried.
‘Namaste,’ she said back, pushing a curl of grey hair away from her face. ‘There’s an excellent energy in the room tonight!’ She namaste’d her way out through the throng of OAPs waiting to start the senior ladies’ bingo next door.
Maybe there was good energy, thought Scarlett, but the pong of enlightenment was beating it into submission. She opened all the windows. ‘What did you just say to Krishna?’ she asked Max.
‘Oh, that? It’s hello in Thai – from when I had a girlfriend from Bangkok. She taught me some phrases for when we went back to visit her family, but we broke up before I got to go.’
‘I’m sorry.’
He waved away her sympathy. ‘On the bright side I got to learn a new language!’
That man could put a positive spin on a dysentery epidemic. Sure I shit my pants, but I went down a belt notch!
‘Will Naomi meet you later?’ she asked Charlie when he and Barkley turned up. She’d managed to squeeze in a session with Hiccup between her weekday puppy classes, but it would be better for everyone if Naomi could do a session after Charlie and Max instead. Now that Scarlett had her nights free – possibly for the rest of her life – there was nothing stopping her from asking.
‘Yeah, she’ll pick me up,’ said Charlie. ‘Did you have a good class with Hiccup? Maybe there’s hope for the little terror yet.’
Scarlett was careful to stay neutral on the subject. Naomi’s jaw had clenched and unclenched throughout their session earlier in the week, no matter how much Scarlett tried getting her to relax. How that woman hadn’t yet ground her teeth down to nubs, Scarlett couldn’t imagine. She’d scrutinised her dog for the tiniest sign of progress and seemed devastated when Hiccup refused to listen… which was most of the time. Yet Scarlett did spy a few glimmers of hope in between the bared teeth and raised hackles. Maybe things weren’t as bad as Naomi feared. ‘Any more incidents with Hiccup at home?’ Scarlett asked.
He held up is arm to show her the angry furrow the dog’s teeth had ploughed into his skin. ‘I had the nerve to try getting into bed with my girlfriend. Don’t know what I was thinking.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t know what I am thinking. I want to ask Naomi to marry me.’
Max beamed. ‘No way, mate!’ He shoved Charlie’s shoulder and nearly knocked him over. ‘That’s pukka!’
‘Yeah, well, I’m not so sure how pukka it is. It’d be easier if it was her parents who hated me. At least she doesn’t live with them. And they don’t bite.’ He gently prodded Hiccup’s reminder that he wasn’t top dog in Naomi’s life.
‘Aw, that’ll work out, you’ll see. When’ll you do it? How? Where?’ Max leaned forward so as not to miss a single detail.
‘When the time’s right,’ said Charlie as he fidgeted. ‘I haven’t worked out any of the details, but I think I’ll know when.’
‘It doesn’t really matter where or when, mate, the important thing is that you found Naomi and she’s the One. You are so lucky. I’d give anything to be in your shoes. Are you excited?’
‘Nervous is more like it, but I know it’s what I want.’ He grinned. ‘I’ve never thought that before. It’s weird when you just know.’
Max practically swooned at the romance of it all.
‘I just have to get Hiccup on my side. How hard is that going to be?’
It seemed like a rhetorical question so Scarlett didn’t try to answer.
He wiped his face with his sweatshirt. ‘Sorry I’m so sweaty. We jogged here. Well, we walked a lot, too, but there was definitely some jogging.’
She gave Barkley’s ears a good fondling. ‘Fantastic! Was Barkley too distracted to jog all the way?’
‘Nah, it’s because I’m so unfit. I haven’t been able to exercise since
Mum died. Barkley was ace!’
‘Well done, mate.’ Max nudged his shoulder. ‘I think Murphy is doing better, too.’
They all watched Murphy as he strained at his lead to greet Barkley with a nose to the behind. Barkley looked perfectly happy to say hello from a distance.
‘This whole fitness thing is getting critical,’ Charlie said. ‘It’s now or never.’
Max nodded. ‘Don’t I know it? There’s not much longer to get my beach body ready.’
Scarlett’s beach body looked exactly like her sit-on-the-sofa body. But in a swimsuit.
‘Honestly, it’s more for health in my case,’ Charlie said. ‘I’ve got a month before my next doctor’s appointment.’
Something about the way he said it sounded serious.
‘They’ll do another ECG,’ he explained. ‘To monitor my heart. Not that there’s definitely anything wrong, but with my mum’s heart attack…’
‘I didn’t know that’s how she passed away,’ Max said. ‘She wasn’t that old?’
Charlie shook his head. ‘These things sometimes run in the family, apparently. Mum’s mum was only in her thirties when she went. Same way. So at least Mum got longer than that. There’s a chance I didn’t inherit the dicky heart, though I could have it on both sides for all I know.’
Scarlett remembered his mum’s circumstances. Charlie didn’t know who his father was.
‘So I really do need to get fit,’ he said. ‘Mum cleaned every day and that definitely kept her in good shape, so maybe it staved off the inevitable for a few years. I’ve got to work harder at it, though I have slimmed down a bit.’
‘I noticed, mate!’ Max said, sticking his thumbs up. ‘You’re looking good. If you ever want to jog together, I’d be up for that. I don’t run that much so I’m probably as unfit as you.’
Charlie and Scarlett both glanced from Max’s biceps to his powerful legs.
‘It would be good practice for the dogs as well,’ Scarlett said. ‘They’re getting to the point now where they should be able to put into practice everything you’ve been teaching them… We’ll have a little test today anyway. Think of it as a pop quiz to see how well they’re doing.’
‘I wish we’d studied more, Murph,’ Max said.
‘It’s nothing to worry about. Murphy will do his best. Now, Charlie, I’ve brought loads of toys that Barkley hasn’t seen before, so he’ll be extra curious about them. Let’s see how strong his self-control is.’
Both dogs strained at their leads as rubber toys bounced all over the floor. She often wondered whether the dogs enjoyed the training. They certainly got a lot of treats. Maybe that made up for having to work for them. ‘Max, I’d like you to let Murphy off the lead and keep him from humping. Charlie, let Barkley free too please.’
Both dogs bounded for the toys. ‘Barkley!’ Charlie cautioned.
Barkley’s rump hit the linoleum like it was drawn there by a magnet. He waited. Charlie waited. ‘Good boy, go on.’
He lunged for the squeaky mushroom, which Scarlett had nicked from the house. It was Ginger’s favourite. She was probably twitching back in Reading as it wheezed between Barkley’s jaws.
Then he spotted the hamburger. He loved hamburgers even more than mushrooms. He sat and looked at Charlie. ‘Go ahead.’
It took a few tries, but eventually he stuffed both toys in his mouth. Perhaps he hadn’t quite thought that through, though. He turned to Charlie with his wide-open mouth full of rubber.
‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ Charlie asked his dog. ‘Spit one out.’
He might have, if he hadn’t noticed the red fire hydrant.
‘How many toys do you think he can shove in there?’ Max wondered.
‘This is the dog who got an entire roast chicken in his mouth,’ Charlie reminded them.
Barkley’s golden ears flopped forward as he stood over the hydrant, staring as he tried to work round the laws of physics.
‘This is painful to watch,’ Charlie said. Barkley appeared to be trying to levitate the hydrant with his glare.
‘Call him over, Charlie, and get him to drop the toys so he can pick up the new one.’
‘Otherwise his brain might implode,’ said Max, who was watching Murphy play catch with himself. The setter tossed a squeaky toy into the air then missed it by a mile, slipping all over the lino in the process.
Scarlett’s grin widened. Aside from the pleasure of watching a dog being silly, Murphy was distracting himself. It looked like the training was actually starting to work. Between tosses he raced round in a victory lap with his tail tucked under. Snatch, throw, miss, race round. The more he ran the more high-spirited he became. She could hear him giving off throaty little growls as if the toys had dared to come alive to evade him. His tongue lolled as he raced faster and faster. Barkley watched him for a few seconds before sitting down to wait for the whirlwind to subside.
Uh oh.
‘Max, he may be getting a little overexcited. See if you can calm him down. Remember your techniques.’
But Murphy wasn’t interested in Max’s techniques. He dodged left and right when Max tried to catch him. Oh good, keep away from the human!
Scarlett noticed just as Murphy did that the door into the hallway was open. He cocked his head as someone shouted Bingo!
‘Max, get the door!’
It was too late. The dog shot into the hall, and straight into the senior ladies’ Bingo night. Scarlett didn’t need to hear the startled shouts to know what was happening in there.
They found Murphy straddling a grey-haired nan. ‘Murphy, no, bad dog!’ Max hauled his pet off the nana. ‘I am so sorry!’ he said, brushing off the soft blue arm of the woman’s cardigan, where Murphy had concentrated his attention.
‘Oh, that’s all right, young man,’ she said, adjusting her glasses where they’d slipped sideways. ‘I haven’t had that much attention in years!’ The rest of the table cracked up and Max joined in, but Scarlett could see his eyes glistening.
Barkley ambled up behind them with the hydrant between his teeth, wondering what he’d missed.
The mood was subdued back in their own room. Even Barkley seemed to lose interest in the squeaky toys. ‘He needs the snip,’ Max said, pulling his dog into an embrace as he sat beside him on the lino. ‘He can’t be trusted off the lead.’
Charlie patted Max’s shoulder. ‘I’m really sorry, buddy.’
Max sniffled into the silky red fur on Murphy’s shoulder. ‘I don’t want to do it to you.’
‘Do you think it might make you feel better to talk to a vet first,’ Scarlett wondered, ‘to find out what’s involved? It’s really a straightforward procedure. Murphy would be sedated and have painkillers. It won’t hurt him.’
‘How do you know?’ Max snapped. ‘How many times have you had your bollocks cut off? I’m– I’m sorry! I know you’re only trying to help and at least you gave him the chance to turn things around.’
She sat on the lino, too. Charlie joined them.
‘You know what would help?’ Max said, straightening up. ‘If you came with me when we go. You too, Charlie, would you?’
Scarlett nodded, rubbing Murphy’s ear. ‘Of course I will. You’ll schedule the procedure, then, and tell us when?’
‘I might have some questions first.’
‘Of course. Whatever you need to know.’
The dog lolled his head towards Scarlett and trained his big brown eyes on her. Then he caught her in the face with his tongue. That sweet, doomed dog kissed the judge who’d just condemned him.
Chapter 27
‘What are you doing here?’ Scarlett asked. How much more direct did she have to be for everyone to just leave her alone? She’d clearly ignored every single voice message for a week. If she didn’t want to talk on the phone, why on earth would she want to be trapped in her own house to do it in person?
The dogs were acting like they’d been reunited with the long-lost friend they’d never thought they’d see
again. But then they nearly wet themselves when they heard the tin opener before every meal.
‘I’m taking the dogs out.’
Handy excuse.
‘Scarlett, can’t we talk? I’m worried about you.’ Shannon’s face pleaded. ‘Rufus won’t see me either. He just rambles for hours on the phone and I can’t make any sense of it. What is going on with you two?’
All the uncertainty of the past week slapped her in the face. She could feel it, hot and stinging on her skin. She stuffed her paperback into her bag for the train journey later. ‘If you’ve talked to Rufus, then you must be up to speed on things. I’m late. I’ve got to run.’ She turned away before Shannon could see her tears.
‘I want to hear it from your side.’
Her side?! Let’s see. Her husband, who could barely get it up with her, had a screaming orgasm while thinking of her best friend. Yeah, right, that would feel great to admit… to her best friend. ‘I can’t. I’m meeting Gemma at the hospital for her scan.’
‘Scarlett, if you don’t want to talk to me, please at least tell me you’re talking to someone?’ Shannon’s voice wobbled. Guilt, maybe. ‘You shouldn’t go through something like this alone.’
‘I’m not alone. I do have other friends besides you. I’ve got to go now.’
She wasn’t ready to talk to Shannon yet.
She wasn’t angry with her, exactly. She was furious that it had happened, though. It might not be Shannon’s fault that Rufus conjured her up when he was naked, but now Scarlett had to spend the rest of her life wondering at what point Rufus started preferring his best friend to his wife.
Her emotions were all mixed up with events. She’d run in circles inside her head so many times that she no longer knew what she thought about any of it. The only thing left were her feelings.
Disbelief. Humiliation. Fury.
She definitely wasn’t ready to talk to Shannon.
Gemma had rung in the middle of breakfast with her request. ‘I really hate to ask you this, but Jacob’s had an emergency at the hospital and Mum and Dad are both working. Could you come with me to the hospital today?’
Love is a Four-Legged Word: The romantic comedy about canines, conception and fresh starts Page 22