by Kaylie Kay
‘But my clothes, Lucy,’ she said finally when she had finished.
‘I know, I know.’ Lucy shook her head as she held it in her hands. ‘I don’t have a lot, and I couldn’t afford to buy expensive clothes to impress them. I know it was unacceptable.’
Mrs Kennedy was still looking at her, and she couldn’t bear to see the hurt look in her eye. She had always been so nice to her, she didn’t deserve this.
‘I don’t know what happened,’ Lucy continued. She needed to make this better, for both of them. ‘It was all after my mum died. I wasn’t sleeping, wasn’t thinking straight. I think I’d gone a little bit mad.’
Mrs Kennedy nodded; she seemed to accept the explanation.
‘But I promise it is all over now. I’ve learnt my lesson.’ She looked at the pile of letters. ‘I got into debt trying to keep up with them, but they weren’t even real friends. If they knew I was only a cleaner, living in this flat, they would never have wanted to know me any more than they had done at school.’
Mrs Kennedy was nodding again, still leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. She looked as if she needed Lucy to make it all right, like she couldn’t deal with anything less than complete justification, and she hoped that she had given her enough. She had no more to offer, she had just laid out every grubby detail of what had happened, told her absolutely everything.
‘So,’ she said slowly, looking at the letters. ‘Is that why you took the jewellery?
‘Excuse me?’ Lucy wondered if she had heard right. What was she asking exactly?
‘The jewellery, Lucy.’ Mrs Kennedy was looking straight at her.
‘What jewellery?’ Lucy had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Yes, she had borrowed makeup and clothes, but accessorising the clothes was far beyond her humble abilities.
‘The diamond earrings and the ring that have gone missing, Lucy.’
She didn’t like the tone that her guest was using now, it was serious, accusing. Was she suggesting that she had taken jewellery to pay off her debts? Oh no, she may have gone a bit mad but she would NEVER steal anything, EVER.
‘I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about!’ Lucy said finally, trying to control the indignation in her voice. ‘I would never steal anything, from anyone!’
‘But Lucy you just told me that you are in debt, those diamonds would easily pay off a credit card bill or two.’
Oh, the nerve of it! Lucy could feel the hairs starting to stand up on the back of her neck. Yes, she had done wrong, and yes, she was sorry, but how dare she accuse her of stealing her jewellery!
‘I have worked for you for many years.’ Lucy was talking slowly now, lips pursed, needing to be taken seriously. ‘I have never, and would never steal anything from you or anyone else.’
‘Nobody else could have taken them, Lucy,’ Susan said, looking at her as if she was reasoning with a child. ‘It’s okay, I understand you weren’t yourself, and we can work something out about getting them back.’
‘How dare you.’ Lucy stood up, putting herself in the powerful position, looking down on this spoilt cow for once. ‘How dare you accuse me of stealing your things. I have never been anything but trustworthy and loyal, and I have just told you everything about my moment of madness, but I will not be accused of stealing!’
‘But, Lucy,’ Mrs Kennedy began.
‘No, get out of my home.’ She pointed her finger dramatically towards the door. ‘I’m no thief! I may not be perfect, but neither are you, and if you want to start throwing accusations around I could throw a few at you.’
Mrs Kennedy was still sitting down, mouth open, speechless throughout the outburst.
‘Leave my nephew alone, he has a family now, and doesn’t need the likes of you, with all your airs and graces leading him astray.’
There, it was said! Lucy stood firm with her hands on her hips, catching her breath.
‘I see,’ Mrs Kennedy said softly, standing up.
‘I’ll be in as usual tomorrow,’ Lucy added as her boss walked up the hall.
It was several minutes later that the adrenalin on which Lucy had obviously been running subsided. She had shocked herself at her own confidence. It could have gone so differently had she not accused her of stealing. She probably would have resigned, unable to work there now that her shameful actions had been uncovered. But no, why should she quit, she thought angrily, be without a job, because of the opinions of that stuck-up bitch. She had always thought she liked her, but now it was very clear that she looked down at her, thought of her as scum. Because only scum stole from others. No, she wasn’t going anywhere, she wasn’t being treated like that by someone who blatantly cheated on her husband, not that he was perfect either.
Chapter 65
‘I bought you something,’ Jeff declared as he walked into the kitchen carrying a large paper bag. Susan had been a million miles away, and gasped as she recognised the brand. She took it off him quickly, taking out its beautifully wrapped contents and laying it on the kitchen island. Tearing open the paper, she opened the box underneath, and pulled out the drawstring cloth bag. The smell of leather made her breathe in deeply as she revealed the bag that she had coveted for so long.
‘Oh, Jeff, you shouldn’t have,’ she said, although she didn’t really mean it.
‘I couldn’t bear to see how disappointed you were after Christmas.’ He was grinning at her, knowing that he had done well.
Susan put the bag down and flung her arms around Jeff’s neck. He had no idea what she had been through today, and he never would. There was no way that she could tell him about Lucy, because if he took it up with her, and he would, she was sure to tell him about Luke. So, she had spent the afternoon in reflection on herself, and now that this wonderful man stood here making possibly the worst day of her life wonderful she knew what she needed to do.
‘I love you, Jeff, you are my whole world,’ she said, staring into his eyes so that he knew how much she meant it.
‘And you are mine, my love,’ he grinned back, kissing her softly on the lips.
For all of her indiscretions, Susan had never for a moment thought that this wasn’t enough, that everything she had wasn’t perfect. No, she had always known that, but she had been stupid, self-absorbed and wrapped up in her own vanity. This man here though, he would love her when she got old, when she didn’t look quite as good. He didn’t have a nutty ex-wife or kids with someone else, nor was he sleeping with multiple other people. No, he was all hers, and he was enough. She looked over at the envelope on the kitchen side, just as Jeff saw it and picked it up.
‘What’s this?’ he asked, turning it over.
‘A passport form,’ she said coyly.
‘Has yours run out?’
‘Nope,’ she said, teasing him.
‘I’m confused,’ he said, though he was smiling, amused by her guessing game antics.
‘I thought it was time I changed my name at work,’ she said. ‘Susan Harrison doesn’t exist anymore, I am going to be one hundred per cent Susan Kennedy now, my love.’
‘Oh.’ He looked pleased, but the significance of it was clearly a little lost on him. He had always just accepted her explanation of it being too complicated to change the names in her passport and visas at the same time, unbothered by her having kept Harrison at work, not realising what that had truly meant. Well Susan Harrison was gone now, she had threatened Susan Kennedy’s perfect life and she couldn’t risk her causing any more damage.
Susan sat at the kitchen island and admired the new handbag. It could have been a cheap one, the price didn’t matter, but the fact that he had seen her disappointment and gone and got it was the loveliest gesture he had ever made. Now it didn’t matter about Janice having one, she had bought her own after all!
Susan applied a layer of her best cream, smoothing it into her body. She slipped into the lace negligee that she had never worn for Jeff before. If she was to succeed at being Susan Kennedy one hundred per cent, then s
he needed to put in the same efforts for her husband as Susan Harrison had done for her beaux. She slipped on her heels that made her legs look six feet long and nodded in approval at herself in the mirror.
‘Wow,’ said Jeff as she walked provocatively past him, sitting himself up in anticipation.
Susan watched Jeff sleep with a serene smile on her face. Yes, this could work, he could be enough for her. She slipped out of the bed and walked silently to her dresser, sitting down on the stool. The light from the lamp reflected off her long earrings, and she released their clasps, putting them back into their box. Pulling open the drawer she put the small box in, stopping in her tracks as she went to close it. There at the back was a small green box, the small green box. She took it out and opened it, confirming what she suspected. Inside were the missing earrings. A few moments later she found the ring too, her hand shaking as she put it back.
They hadn’t been there this morning when she had taken the earrings out, she was sure of it. Which meant Lucy had had little or no chance to put them back. She felt nauseous, disgusted at herself for accusing her loyal employee, no wonder she had been so upset!
So then who?
It could only have been Sophia, she realised. She remembered her own curiosity as a child, being drawn to sparkly things like a magpie. Perhaps she was just frightened of getting into trouble, had never meant to keep them so long. She’d probably been showing them off to her friends on Instagram! Yes, that was it, Susan was sure that she had finally reached the right conclusion. She was annoyed of course, that whole ugly scene with Lucy could have been avoided, but when she pictured her daughter’s sweet face she couldn’t be mad. No, she would let it go, they were back now, and she couldn’t face another showdown, whoever it was with.
As she lay in the bed trying to get to sleep Susan felt anxious about the next day. She would have to apologise to Lucy, and she hoped that Lucy would accept her apology considering how much the accusation had obviously upset her. Anyway, it wasn’t as if she was completely blameless, it was her own weird behaviour that had started all of this, she reasoned lamely.
Susan reached over to the bedside table and picked up her phone; if she texted Lucy now then it was done, hopefully for good. Laying it back down a minute later she took a moment to take in the true enormity of the problem; that Lucy could ruin her life at the drop of a hat if she was ever so inclined. She felt the weight of the grey cloud that hung over her, but maybe that was karma, something she was going to have to live with for the things that she had done.
Chapter 66
Jeff lay next to his wife, pretending to be asleep. Everything had gone well, and he hoped that he had dodged the bullet this time. He wondered if he would ever be able to get out of this awful mess that he found himself in. Janice had him over a barrel and she was upping her demands all of the time.
It had just been a moment of madness two years ago, a one-night stand after a boozy office party. Yes, he found her attractive, any man would, but he would never have crossed the line if she hadn’t used all of her womanly powers on him. He had been helpless to resist her and, in his defence, Susan was showing him little interest at the time, always mentioning his thickening waistline. Janice had made him feel that she wanted him, that he was a catch.
That should have been the end of it though, he had been wracked with guilt and had told her that it could never happen again. But no, Janice wanted more, and if he couldn’t give her more on an emotional level then he would have to buy her silence. Not only was he now paying the rent on her apartment, but she expected gifts too. He had practically had to beg her for the jewellery back. He was annoyed at his own stupidity, thinking that Susan wouldn’t notice a few small things gone, she had so much after all, and he really thought that he was taking things which she never wore. He should have just bought Janice some jewellery, it was a clumsy move.
Then there was Paris, she had insisted on coming, even when he had said that Susan was too, that hadn’t even deterred her. The bag, the bag that nearly cost him his marriage, just another of her endless demands. If he protested she always gave him the other option, leave Susan and be with her properly, and for him that was no option at all.
Once, he had tried to call her bluff and told her that it was all finished. She had actually come to his home, played with his children, and shown him that he wasn’t getting rid of her that easily, in case he had any doubts. If only he had known that Lucy was in the kitchen when he had argued with her in the hall. She had never said anything, but he knew that she knew, it was in her face whenever she looked at him.
He wracked his brains, trying to find the answer, trying to work out how to end it all. Maybe he should just tell Susan, get it out in the open and hope she forgave him? No, he couldn’t risk it, couldn’t risk losing her.
A grey cloud had hung over him all of this time, but he had learnt to live with it, the consequence of his actions, the karma that he deserved for what he had done.
Chapter 67
Lucy walked boldly through the back door the next morning. Mrs Kennedy had messaged her last night and apologised for her false accusations. She had accepted the apology, but she would never forget how she had made her feel. Nevertheless, a pay rise was on the cards, and a job was a job.
‘Good morning, Lucy,’ said Mr Kennedy in that sickly nice tone he had used on her ever since she had heard him arguing with that tart. She nodded at him, that would do. He grabbed his jacket and left the room, as he always did now when their paths crossed.
‘Oh, good morning, Lucy.’ Mrs Kennedy walked in, all smiles, as if yesterday had never happened. Lucy nodded at her too; she wasn’t ready for small talk or falseness. She cleared the empty bowls from the breakfast table and carried them over to the sink. Looking out of the window she could see the blue skies in the distance, and marvelled at how the weather could be so dramatically different in the same small area. Looking straight up she could see the huge grey cloud that was hanging right over this house, and the irony wasn’t lost on her. Despite them not finding out about each other’s indiscretions, she was quite sure that the Kennedys would be living under their own grey clouds for a very long time to come. Karma was a bitch.
Acknowledgements
When I wrote book one in The Osprey Series, Because She Could, it was just a hobby, something to do in my hotel room on my layovers. It amused my friends, whose characters were exaggerated in it, and my fellow crew who could relate so well to the protagonist and her job as a flight attendant.
Never did I foresee that it would be the first book in a series, and that just six months later I would be releasing Under Grey Clouds. For that I thank every single person who sent me a message to say they enjoyed my debut novel, or a photo of them reading it across the world, and for the numerous kind comments that I read over and over every time I doubt myself. My friends, my family, my colleagues; the kind people who read through this one before I finalised it. Also, the amazing people I have discovered along the way who have turned it from my humble manuscript to the book on the shelf that it is now.
So here I am now starting book three, and my journey continues, thank you to everyone who has been with me along the way so far. Please keep sending me the messages and the photos!
Love always
Kaylie xxx
And Finally…
If you have enjoyed Under Grey Clouds, I would be eternally grateful if you could take a minute to leave a review, they are so important to us writers!
Like the main characters in The Osprey Series, I want nothing more than for my books to travel, so please send me your photos of you reading them! Check out my Instagram account @kayliekaywritesbooks or my Facebook page Novels by Kaylie Kay for their journeys so far.
You can stay up to date with future releases in the series and contact me at:
www.kayliekaywrites.com
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