The Good Neighbour

by Beth Miller

  ‘Seriously?’ Abe said. ‘You’d think it would be good exercise.’

  ‘I only meant a little go,’ Davey said.

  ‘Ah, let the kid, Dougie,’ Abe said, which needled Minette. Why should Abe make her the bad guy, when it wasn’t her rule? She wasn’t going to run the risk of being in the wrong again with Cath, like she was over the Aztec mask thing.

  ‘I’m sorry, Davey,’ she said. ‘Your mum was pretty clear about it. Is there something we can look up for you?’

  There was a long pause before Davey said, ‘No, it’s all right, thank you.’

  Abe suggested a game of cards, and both children were enthusiastic. He taught them to play rummy, and while they played Minette packed a small overnight bag. Then, heart thudding, she turned on her phone. There was a text from Liam – ‘Brilliant. I’ll be over later’ – and four answerphone messages. Could have been worse – she’d been expecting dozens. Three were from Andy. The first said he was sorry he’d freaked her out, he just wanted to explain that he hadn’t seen the kids since Ruby, or whatever she was called now, had left him in February, and just wanted to know they were OK. In the second message he said Ruby was an evil bitch who lied and cheated and he had the proof. Minette deleted that one before it had finished, and dreaded listening to the last one, but he was calmer again. He said he wouldn’t keep phoning her, he understood she was Ruby’s friend, he only wanted to be in his children’s lives and he’d be really grateful if she could just ask Ruby to let him see them. ‘I won’t ask for anything more, I promise.’

  The last message was from Gina, asking Minette to call her back. Minette did so, then instantly wished she hadn’t. She’d barely started to explain the situation when Gina started yelling.

  ‘Oh my fucking god please tell me you haven’t called her ex.’

  ‘Um, yes, well, I did ring him …’

  ‘And you hid your caller ID, didn’t you?’

  ‘Er, no, I don’t know how to do that.’

  ‘You stupid twat!’

  ‘Hey! Now, hang on a minute …’

  ‘He’s violent, did you know that?’ Gina’s voice rose into almost a screech. ‘He whacked Cath, he whacked those kids.’

  ‘I didn’t know that Gina, how could I? Cath’s not talked about it to me.’

  ‘Could you not have used your brain for five minutes and thought, maybe I should check what the sitch is with her husband before ringing him up and blabbing?’

  Minette’s famously good temper was being tested to the limit today. She tried not to lose it again, like she’d lost it with Abe earlier, but she had never been called a stupid twat before. ‘Don’t you dare talk to me like that. I’m looking after Cath’s children on my own, here. There was no one to ask. You weren’t answering your phone …’

  ‘I’m in fucking Sheffield!’ Gina screeched, as she might have said ‘Outer Mongolia’.

  ‘… and Cath is unconscious in hospital. I didn’t tell Andy anything.’

  ‘Please tell me you at least rang him from a mobile, not your fucking landline.’

  ‘I’m not going to speak to you at all, unless you stop swearing at me.’ Minette pressed ‘end’ – what a horrible day – and waited for Gina to ring back. When she did, seconds later, Minette said, ‘I mean it, Gina. I’ll turn off my phone if you don’t calm down.’

  ‘Sorry. It’s the last day of my holidays and we’ve been drinking all day. I’m just worried about Cath’s safety, that’s all. Sorry I came across a bit strong.’

  ‘Hmm.’

  ‘Please will you tell me what happened?’

  ‘I rang him on my mobile.’

  ‘That’s great. OK. That makes it harder for him to find out where you are.’

  ‘Well, surely he can’t find out at all?’

  ‘There are ways he can look up the phone number and find out who it’s registered to,’ Gina said.

  ‘Oh god, really? Will it tell him my address?’

  ‘Might do. It’ll be on your contract.’

  ‘But, hang on, if he can do that with my phone why can’t he do it with Cath’s? I know she speaks to him regularly, and Skypes with him.’

  ‘She doesn’t. I do all the liaison between them.’

  Minette wondered how much of what Cath had told her was true. ‘Actually, I don’t have a phone contract, I’m on pay-as-you-go.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Gina laughed. ‘Well, aren’t you the sweet little student. We could be OK. Unless you just told him where you lived anyway?’

  ‘No, of course I didn’t. As soon as he called Cath and the kids by different names I knew something was up so don’t worry, I didn’t give anything away.’

  ‘Don’t suppose Cath’s told you much about what happened in Harrogate.’

  ‘I didn’t even know she’d lived in Harrogate.’

  ‘She takes a long time to trust people. Not surprising, after what she’s been through.’

  ‘Well, sure. But as I’m meant to be looking after the children, it would be useful to know some of this stuff.’

  ‘Look, I’m back tomorrow morning. I’ll come straight down and take over with the kids. I need to be there in case Andy does manage to work out where she is.’

  Would Andy really turn up on Minette’s doorstep? ‘Should I be worried? Would he be, you know, violent?’

  ‘I don’t know. He might be. But he’s working in Dubrovnik right now, if I remember his schedule rightly. He can’t just drop everything and rush round to break down your door.’

  Minette didn’t feel greatly reassured. What a ridiculous thing she had inadvertently got caught up in. You make one phone call, suddenly it’s all violent men and crime scenes and Dubrovnik, a place name that always made her think of war even if it was peaceful now.

  ‘Don’t tell the kids anything, will you?’

  ‘No, Gina, I’m not completely stupid. Despite what you called me.’

  ‘Sorry. Hope you can forgive me. I’m famous for being rude when I’m plastered. I’ll see you tomorrow and apologise in person.’

  Minette hung up. It was gone six. She ought to get the children home and settled. She briefly outlined the conversation with Gina to Abe, who was amused rather than anxious, which made her feel better. ‘We’ll be OK, Dougie, I’ll put a kitchen knife under my pillow.’

  She kissed Tilly goodbye and took Cath’s kids next door. Davey let them in with his key, and Minette went round turning on lights. It was chilly in the house, despite the warm weather, but Davey, in a rare lapse of knowledge, wasn’t sure how to work the heating. ‘We haven’t turned it on yet,’ he said. Minette was surprised to hear that, because when they first moved in, 11 April – the date engraved on her heart as the day the Miltons left – it had been cold.

  ‘Mummy doesn’t want to spend money on silly bills,’ Lola said. ‘We’re saving up.’

  ‘Do you have set bedtimes?’ Minette wasn’t sure what older children did.

  ‘Lola goes to bed at seven, and I go at seven thirty and I read till eight.’

  ‘And sometimes,’ said Lola shyly, ‘we have hot chocolate.’

  ‘OK. Have you got the kind you’re allowed, the type you mix with water?’

  They went into the kitchen and Davey showed Minette where the hot chocolate was.

  ‘Oh! But this is the kind you need milk for.’

  Davey and Lola glanced at each other. Then Davey said, ‘Lola isn’t allergic to all milk.’

  ‘Really?’ said Minette, puzzled. She looked in the fridge. ‘But this is just ordinary semi-skimmed.’

  There was a piece of paper in Cath’s handwriting, stuck to the fridge with a heart-shaped magnet, detailing Lola’s allergies: symptoms, relative seriousness, other untried foods that might cause problems. It was quite terrifying.

  ‘I know where the epi-pen is,’ Lola said.

  ‘God, Lola, I don’t want to have to start using epi-pens and calling ambulances and god knows what.’

  ‘I’ll have hot chocolate,’ Davey
said, ‘and Lola can have juice.’

  ‘That’s a great idea,’ Minette said. ‘I’ll sort that, while you both get into your pyjamas. Then I can read you a story.’

  They seemed excited by the idea of the story, and Lola scampered upstairs to change. Maybe Cath didn’t get time to read to them much. Abe had read to Tilly every night of her life, from when she was a few days old, prompting a raised eyebrow from Julie. But Tilly clearly loved being read to now. Minette wanted to ask Davey if he could get changed on his own, though god knows what she’d do if he said no. But he wheeled himself into his room and reappeared a couple of minutes later, wearing Doctor Who pyjamas. While they were choosing books she texted Liam, telling him not to come after all. Now she was here, it didn’t seem right. She felt the urge to protect the children. God knows what horrible stuff they had experienced in their young lives.

  She settled onto the sofa, Lola next to her, Davey in his chair on her other side. It was lovely reading to older children, who laughed in all the right places, and even read some of the words along with her. It would be amazing when Tilly was a bit older. In just three years she would be the same age as Lola, whose warm hand rested on Minette’s shoulder as she craned to see the pictures. After a couple of stories, Lola asked for some more juice, and Minette took her cup into the kitchen for a refill. When she returned, Lola was full of suppressed giggles, and though Minette asked what was funny, Lola just shook her head. Minette supposed she wasn’t usually allowed two glasses of juice.

  At seven, Minette took Lola up and supervised her teeth-brushing. When Lola got into bed, she raised her face for a kiss. Feeling a bit awkward, Minette gave her a quick peck, but Lola’s arms went round her neck and she was pulled in for a proper hug. She was warm, and smelled almost milky, like a baby. Minette said, ‘If Mummy doesn’t come home tomorrow, I’ll take you both to see her, shall I?’

  ‘I don’t mind,’ Lola said, letting Minette go and putting her arms round her toy panda.

  Davey was waiting for Minette in the living room, a new book on his lap. He looked up at her with his familiar thoughtful expression. Minette felt sure there were some things he would like to tell her, and there was certainly a lot she’d like to ask him. But she reminded herself that, though he was old beyond his years, he was in fact only eight. She mustn’t treat him like a little adult.

  ‘I got this from school,’ he said, as he handed her the book. It was called Visiting My Daddy. Minette looked at Davey questioningly and he looked blankly back. OK, then. She started to read. The story was illustrated with photos of a little girl called Moira, whose parents had divorced. It was one of those ‘how to explain difficult issues to children’ books that Minette remembered from her own childhood. She recalled a book, perhaps even in the same series, about having to go to the opticians, which her parents had read to her after her initial visit to get glasses. In Davey’s book, Moira was sad because her daddy had moved away, and she and her brothers now lived only with their mother and a large number of pets. But by the end Moira had gone to stay with her dad – no new wife in the picture, Minette noted – and was all smiles.

  Minette didn’t know what to say. Things in Davey’s life were clearly pretty complicated. ‘Do you, uh, do you want to see your dad?’

  ‘Yes.’ The dark eyes held hers.

  ‘I’m sure you will soon.’

  ‘Mum doesn’t want us to.’

  ‘Oh. I’m sure she has good reasons.’

  Davey didn’t reply. Then Minette’s phone rang, and she saw that it was Cath. Or Cath’s number at least – maybe the nurse again? She sent Davey to the downstairs bathroom to do his teeth, and answered the call.

  ‘Cath?’

  ‘Yes. Just woke up about ten minutes ago.’

  ‘How you feeling?’

  ‘I’m all right, lass. How are the kids?’

  ‘They’re absolutely fine. I’m round your place with them. Lola’s in bed and …’

  ‘God, isn’t Gina there? The nurse said you were going to phone her.’

  ‘I did, but she’s in Sheffield. She’s coming back here tomorrow.’

  ‘Oh god, oh god, I thought she was back. They won’t let me out tonight.’ Cath sounded quite panicked.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll sleep here. I’ve already made up the spare bed.’

  ‘You can’t stay there, Minette.’

  ‘Course I can. It’s all sorted. Abe’s with Tilly.’

  ‘Davey and Lola will be perfectly all right on their own. Go home.’

  ‘What are you talking about? I can’t leave two small children in the house alone. I think it’s illegal. Anyway, I don’t want to! I’m really happy to be here. It’s not putting me out at all.’

  In a voice Minette barely recognised, Cath said, ‘I’m not talking about putting you out, Minette. I’m telling you, I don’t want you staying there.’

  What the hell was going on today? Minette took the phone away from her ear and stared at it, as though it was a live snake.

  ‘Hello? You still there?’

  ‘Yes, Cath, just about.’

  ‘Look. I’m going to ring Gina, see if she can get there tonight.’

  ‘You’re being bizarre. Even if she left Sheffield now and drove like the clappers, she wouldn’t get here till about midnight.’

  ‘That’s fine. I’ll get her to do that. Honestly, it’s all right. Please leave, you can leave.’

  Cath hung up, and Minette shook her head, breathless with disbelief. She went to say good night to Davey. He was lying under the duvet reading the Moira book to himself. She had no idea how he’d got himself out of the chair, which was parked next to the bed, but presumably he was an expert at this.

  ‘That was your mum. She, um, she seems to be feeling better.’

  ‘OK.’ Those dark eyes again! Minette searched for something neutral to say.

  ‘I like that.’ She pointed to a large US flag, which hung on the wall above Davey’s bed. ‘Have you been to America?’

  ‘No. We’ve got relatives there. I thought we were going there when we left Gina’s but we came here.’

  ‘Oh, well, maybe you’ll visit there some day. I’ve been to New York, I loved it.’

  ‘Have you got photos?’

  ‘Loads. I can show you them tomorrow if you like.’

  ‘Yes, thank you.’

  ‘Well, night then, love.’

  As she got to the door, Davey said, ‘You are staying here, aren’t you?’

  Minette wondered if he’d overheard her conversation with Cath.

  ‘Of course! I’ll be in your spare room. If you need me, can you get into the hall and shout up?’

  ‘Yes. Night.’

  She went upstairs to check on Lola, who was already asleep on her back, arms flung wide, the panda lying on her chest. Christ, Cath must have had a massive bump to the head to think that her children could be left alone at night! Minette heard her phone ringing in the kitchen and hurried down.

  ‘Minette, I’m very worried. I spoke to Gina and she said you’d rung Andy.’

  Christ. ‘Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do at the time.’

  ‘Gina doesn’t think he can trace your address. She’s really good at that stuff. So it looks like we’re safe, for now.’

  ‘Listen Cath, I’m sorry I rang him, but I had no idea that things were so bad between you.’

  ‘I know. I promise I’ll explain, when I get out of here. Anyway, Gina’s too sloshed to drive, so she’ll come tomorrow. But as I said before, there’s no need for you to stay.’ Cath’s voice was light, as if her tone would detract from the oddness of what she was saying. Minette realised how easily she always accepted Cath’s pronouncements, perhaps because of the confidence with which she delivered them. Even now, she had to fight all her natural instincts not to comply with an authoritative voice; she could almost hear herself saying, ‘Of course, Cath, I’ll leave them on their own if you say that’s OK.’

  Instead she answered, �
�And as I said before, I will of course stay.’

  There was a pause. ‘I don’t want you to, OK?’

  ‘I hear you, but I don’t think you’re quite in your right mind. No offence.’ Minette spoke calmly, as if to a child. ‘So I will spend the night, and we can talk tomorrow.’

  ‘Minette, please don’t make me order you to leave my house.’

  Minette laughed, it was so ridiculous. Who was this person? ‘How you going to do that, Cath?’ She added quickly, ‘You’re clearly concussed. Both kids are in bed and fine. Don’t worry about anything, Cath, OK? Get some sleep. Bye.’ Minette didn’t wait for an answer, just turned her phone off. She felt as though she’d stepped into a bizarre through-the-looking-glass world, where nothing was quite as it seemed.

  There was a knock on the front door. Fuck, what now? Suppose it was Andy? She peeped through the glass and saw it was Liam.

  ‘Didn’t you get my text?’ she said, opening the door.

  ‘Nice to see you, too. Can I come inside?’ He smiled at their private joke, but Minette didn’t smile back. She tapped on Davey’s door, not wanting him to worry, and said, ‘It’s just Liam from next door, come to see how we’re getting on.’

  ‘OK,’ Davey said.

  She followed Liam into the kitchen. ‘This is sexy, like having your boyfriend round while you’re babysitting,’ he said. ‘So, what’s happened to Cath, then?’

  ‘A bike accident. They said it wasn’t that bad, but I’m just off the phone to her and she was saying some pretty weird stuff.’

  ‘I knew cycling was bad for the health. Least we won’t have to pony up the sponsor money now.’

  ‘Is that really your first thought?’

  He held up his hands. ‘Joke!’

  ‘Hilarious. Anyway, I’m doing the triathlon too, remember.’

  ‘I remember.’ He put his arms round her and drew her in close. ‘I expect you look super-hot in your Lycra.’ He ran his hands round her waist, started trying to undo the button on her jeans. She pushed him away. ‘I’m not feeling it, Liam. I’m worried about Cath’s kids.’

  ‘Aw, they’re not going to say anything.’

  ‘I don’t mean that, I mean …’