Guess Who I Pulled Last Night? (20 page)

Bets gave up, and shaking her head, re-joined everyone else,
already getting ready for the next game.

“Well, is she coming back in?” Tom asked.

“Maybe, when it's finished in ten minutes.” Bets picked up
her wine and took a large swig.

“Perhaps Kerplunk will change her mind.” Kathleen tottered
away in the new fluffy, pink slippers that Tom had given to her as a joke, but
unfortunately, she loved.

“Ooh, that’s bound to change her mind,” Ken sighed, not
un-sarcastically.  “I’m going to see a man about a dog.”  He wandered
off through the patio doors for his usual alfresco wee.

“Oh God,” sighed Tom.  “I didn’t realise that she liked
this bloke that much.  A furtive snog wasn’t it?”  He took a drink
from his can and shrugged his shoulders.

“You know Charlotte. A furtive snog can mean everything to
her; she’s a romantic through and through.”

“Hmm, maybe.  At least, he hasn’t dropped dead on her,
now that is something to cry about.”  Tom’s smile was sympathetic as he
looked at Bets.

Bets grinned back and threw a cushion at him.  “You are
such an agony aunt aren’t you?”

“I know I’m all heart.  Seriously, though, I haven’t
seen her like this since Grant, and look what a dick head he was?”

“Well whatever, she’s obviously cut up about it, and we
should try to help her get through it.”  Bet’s brow furrowed.  “She’s
always there for everyone else don’t forget.”

Tom stood up and catching hold of Bet’s hand pulled her
up.  “You’re right, come on let’s make her some coffee and rescue her from
Mum before she decides to watch 'Gone with the Wind' or 'Dirty Dancing' again.”

Meanwhile, Kerry and Kelvin were washing up the supper
dishes while everyone else sat in the living room chatting.  Michael, who
had been helping Kelvin, had mysteriously disappeared and sent Kerry in as a
reserve.

“How did your work’s do go then?”  Kerry was careful
not to look at him so that he couldn’t see the jealousy in her eyes.

“Oh okay, I left about ten o'clock. I just wasn’t in the
mood, and Beth was getting a lift with Richard, so I didn’t need to
stay.”  Kelvin passed her another plate to dry.

“Beth?  Is that the girl whom you told me about?”

“Yeah, she’s going out with Richard, actually they are moving
in together next week. She's a nice girl.”

The rest of the house seemed silent. All Kerry could hear
was her heart hammering inside her chest; surely, Kelvin must hear it too; it
was so loud?  She licked her lips nervously, aware that the next answer she
got could mean the end to her marriage.

“Kelvin, please will you come home?  I’m going to see
the doctor and get some help I don’t want to be like this, I just…”

“Ssh, it doesn’t matter you don’t have to tell me
anything.”  He still didn’t touch her, or look at her, but Kerry could
tell by his voice that his face was kind.

“I do have to tell you, you’re my husband, and I love you.”

Now he turned towards her.  “I know you do and I love
you,” he said, “but I need you to feel better first before we decide anything. 
Look, I think that Esme should be with you, so how about you take her home, and
I’ll stay with Russ for a few weeks, he has offered and I can’t stay with your
mum for much longer.”  He dried his hands with the tea towel in Kerry’s
hands, the most contact they’d had for a long time.

“If that’s what you want,” Kerry replied, “but I need you to
know that I haven’t felt right for months, sort of sad and lonely and
frightened.”

“Frightened, frightened of what?” he asked incredulously.

“I don’t know,” Kerry answered honestly.  “Maybe about
getting old, or of having the huge responsibility of being a wife and a
mother.  I don’t know, all I know is I couldn’t cope.  When I was
going out all the time it was, as though I didn’t have all those things to
worry about.  I felt young and I'm ashamed to say; I forgot that I had a
husband and a baby; I felt nineteen again.  I suppose it sounds stupid to
you. It should do because it sounds stupid to me now, but at the time it was
important to me.”

Suddenly, Kelvin put a finger under her chin.  “Hey
come on,” he whispered.  “The main thing is you want to put things right
now.  I know I’ve been a shit this last couple of weeks, but I’ve been
frightened too,  I was frightened this was it, and we weren’t going to
make it, but that doesn’t mean I think we should rush things.  You need to
be absolutely certain that you want us to work, and not get back together just
because it’s what’s safest for you.  I promise you I will be there for you
whatever, but just not at home, not until you are properly ready, okay?” 
He didn’t kiss her, but pulled her to him, folding his arms around her, while
she sobbed silently into his chest.

It was New Year’s Eve, and Kerry was on her way to Amanda’s
party, alone.  She had been hoping that Kelvin would go with her, since
Christmas Day they’d been getting on a good deal better, talking a lot about
the future and how they were going to put things right, then this morning happened. 
Kerry and Esme had gone over to see Kelvin at her mum’s house as Kelvin had
arranged to stay with Russell and his wife for a while, and was moving out on
Tuesday.  Kerry thought that she would have one last go at persuading him
to come home.  When she arrived, Sheila informed her daughter that Kelvin
was in his room packing the few belongings that he had with him.  Kerry
left Esme with Sheila and moved slowly upstairs to Kelvin’s room.

She knocked at the door hesitantly, waiting outside until
she heard a muffled ‘come in’.  Kelvin was attempting to fold a shirt, the
collar of which was tucked beneath his chin while he struggled to get the arms
together.  Kerry smiled at his endeavours.

“Here give it to me, I’ll do it.”  She took the shirt
from him.

“Oh thanks, are you okay then?” Kelvin asked, pecking her on
the cheek, in a friendly way; however, Kerry was even grateful for that.

“Hmm, but why are you packing now, I thought that you were
going on Tuesday?”  She asked placing the shirt in the suitcase with all
his other clothes.

“Didn’t your mum tell you?  I’m going today.” 
Kelvin moved away and started to collect his things from the dressing table,
slotting them down the sides of his case.

“But you can’t its New Year’s Eve,” protested Kerry
anxiously.  “Why don’t you come home instead, why stay at Russell’s when
you have a home of your own to go to?”

Kelvin didn’t look at her.  “Kerry, we talked about
this on Christmas Day. You have to be sure.”

“I am,” she whispered.  “That’s why I’m here.”

Kelvin shook his head.  “I’m sorry, but you hurt me,
and I need to be sure too.  You almost threw our marriage away, and I
can’t risk coming home, and you doing it all over again.  Don’t say you
won’t, because until you get some help, you don’t know that.  See the
doctor and we’ll talk about it once more; I’m not coming back to be a
baby-sitter for you when you start to feel the need to be young once
again."”  Sadness was now creeping into Kelvin’s voice.

His words were like a slap on the face to Kerry; his words
on Christmas Day were obviously empty ones to appease her.

“So you didn’t mean what you said on Christmas Day then;
that you understood how I felt?”  Kerry thought aloud.  “You don’t
want to be there for me, and you didn’t believe me when I said that I loved you
and wanted to put things right.”  Her tone was quiet and measured. 
She gently placed a hand on his arm even though she wanted to shake him and
make him go home with her.

“Of course I meant it, and I do believe you, but you’ve got
to understand my position in all this.”

Kerry dropped her hand.  “What, the baby-sitter
position.  I told you that I hadn’t been out for ages.”  She sighed
deeply and turned to face the window.  “You hurt me too Kelvin. You left
so quickly, you didn’t even try to work things out.”  She now flopped down
onto the bed, pushing Kelvin’s suitcase further along to make room for them
both.

Kelvin sat beside her.  “It’s not just about going out
Kerry,” he said quietly, “it’s everything else, the shouting, the spending
money and worse of all the bloody interminable silences.  We used to talk
about everything, but the last few months, there was either no conversation or
shouting.”  Kelvin gently took her hand in his.  “I did mean what I
said on Christmas Day, I really did.  I will be there for you; whatever it
takes to make you happy again we’ll do it together, but let’s take it
slowly.  I’ll come over in the evenings and at weekends, but not for good,
not just yet.”

Kerry looked up at him, tears welling from her eyes. 
“Don’t you love me anymore, is that it?” He smiled kindly at her but didn’t
answer, simply stroking the side of her face with his cool palm. Kerry sighed
heavily, desperate for an answer, but not wanting to force the words she didn’t
want to hear.  “What are we going to do Kelvin?”

Tears slid down Kelvin’s face as he thought about Kerry’s
question.  What were they going to do, now they both realised they didn’t
have the perfect marriage, a realisation that frightened him?  He knew it
would be so easy to go back, but he was too afraid of getting hurt again.

They sat down a while in silence, Kelvin stroking Kerry’s
hand with his, until Sheila tapped upon the door as Esme wanted to see her
Daddy.  As Kelvin took Esme from Sheila’s arms, she glanced at her
daughter and could see that her plan to get Kelvin home had not worked.

“Be patient love,” she whispered to Kerry as she placed an
arm around her shoulder.  “If you two are meant to be together you will
be.”

“I hope so Mum, I really do,” sighed Kerry, rubbing her
throbbing temples.

They had spent a couple more hours with each other, chatting
and playing with Esme, until it was time for Kerry to go home.  As she
gathered Esme’s toys Kelvin suggested that he took her for the evening,
enabling Kerry to go to Amanda’s party.

“But don’t you want to come to?”  Kerry asked, silently
hoping that he would.

“No, I’m quite happy to spend the evening with my little
girl”

“Okay, thanks that would be great,” she replied, anxious not
to push him. “What about Russell, will he be fine with having Esme to stay?”

“He’s away; he’s taken Clare and Ben to Clare’s family in
Yorkshire for New Year, so he won’t even know.”

“If you are sure, but you’ll be alone on New Year’s Eve.”

“Believe me, it’s preferable to an evening at the Social
Club with your mum and your Auntie Beryl and Uncle Vince, as much as I love
them.”

Kerry laughed and had to agree with him.  They hugged
and kissed lightly on the cheek, not the lips, agreeing that Kelvin would call
later for some more clothes for Esme.

Kerry was now on her way to Amanda and Dave’s party, not
really sure that she was up to it, as they could be quite raucous, plus there
would be people there whom she only ever saw at New Year, who wanted to know
where Kelvin was.  Kelvin called for Esme’s clothes, but he’d forgotten
her favourite Teddy Bear, Edward; Kerry was now on her way to drop it off.

Kerry pulled up in the road at the side of Russell’s end
house, smiling as she remembered the party here that had got her and Kelvin
together.  She picked up Edward and made her way to the drive.  Just
as she was walking past the sparse hedge, she caught a movement out of the
corner of her eye through the lounge patio window.  Looking through the
bushes, she saw Kelvin closing the curtains at them, then suddenly behind him,
she saw her; a blonde girl sat cross-legged on the sofa, drinking from a wine
glass.  Kerry stopped and blinked thinking that maybe she was seeing
things, but the girl was still there.  Kerry’s legs began to spasm
uncontrollably, as did her hands, dropping Edward to the ground she suddenly
wanted to retch, or scream, or both, but she did neither, she stood silently
staring at the now closed curtains, wondering what was going on behind
them.  Her breaths became shallower and faster, the lack of air sending
her head spinning.  She slid to the ground before she fell down, leaning
against the low garden wall, not caring that she was sat in a patch of
ice.  Kerry lowered her head between her knees, and slowly her breathing
got back to normal. She reached across to rescue Edward from the cold, hard
pavement and clutched him to her chest. She felt sick again and this time she
was, as she leaned over to the side.  When she had finished Kerry wiped
her mouth on the back of her hand and pulled herself upright, all the time
hanging on to Edward.  Holding on to the street sign to steady herself,
and breathing deeply and evenly now she took the few steps back to her
car.  Not looking at the house just staring straight ahead.  She got
in, placed Edward on the seat next to her and started the engine and slowly she
drove home, forgetting altogether that she should have been going to a party.

It was eight o’clock and over at Amanda and Dave’s house the
party was in full swing, even Charlotte was enjoying herself.  After the
miserable Christmas Day, spent wallowing in self-pity, she had decided to get
her head sorted.  Bets was right, so he’d kissed her, and she found him
attractive, but he’d never promised her anything. He hadn’t even asked to see
her again.  She was going to put it down to too much booze and take it for
what it was; a Christmas kiss, one hell of a Christmas kiss, but that was all
it was.

“Bets, have you heard from Kerry?” Charlotte asked, a frown
furrowing her brow.  “I’ve tried her mobile and the house but am getting
no reply from either.  I would have thought that she would be here by
now.”  Her voice got louder as the music became almost deafening.

“No,” Bets shouted, shaking her head.  “I’ve heard
nothing since early this evening.  She called to say that she would be
here for about 7 o’clock, as she was going to call and see Kelvin to drop
Esme’s Teddy Bear off.  Maybe they have decided to spend the evening
together.”  A smile spread across Bet’s lips, and was mirrored in
Charlotte’s face.

“God, I hope so.  Anyway, who is the young man that’s
accompanying you this evening?”  Charlotte nodded towards a tall blond
leaning against the kitchen wall.

“It’s Si, one of the models from Tom’s fashion show.  I
honestly didn’t think that he would come, you know, not his scene.”  Bets
took a swig from the bottle in her hand and then put her mouth to Charlotte’s
ear.  “In fact, I wish he hadn’t, I thought that I was ready, but I’m
not.  I just keep wishing that he was Stuart, plus he’s boring as hell…oh
hiya Si, Si this is Charlotte, Tom’s sister, Charlotte Si.”

Charlotte held her hand out to Si, who took it grudgingly.

“Hi,” he muttered, without looking at her.  “Bets when
are we going? I’ve been invited to another party in Manchester, how do you
fancy it?”

“I don’t,” said Bets sharply.  “You’ve had too much to
drink anyway to get there, and a taxi will cost you a fortune, so it looks like
you are here to stay mate.”

Si pouted like a small child.  “But I really wanted to
go,” he wailed.

“Tough!”  Bets said curtly, turning her head away.

Charlotte, embarrassed at Bets obvious dislike of her guest,
smiled at Si and tried to placate him.  “It gets quite a riot later in the
night, lots of singing and dancing.  You may enjoy it.”

“Whatever you say,” he grumbled, turning to survey the
room.  “Who’s that over there?” he asked, nodding at a blonde girl perched
upon the edge of the sofa.

Bets and Charlotte almost choked on their drinks as they saw
who Si was talking about.  “Naomi,” replied Bets, once she had composed
herself.  “You’ll like her, go and talk to her.”  Dutifully, Si
shuffled across the wooden floor to plonk himself next to Naomi.

“Don’t you think that you should have told him that she was
cautioned for stalking her ex- boyfriend?” Charlotte asked, watching Si and
Naomi's animated conversation. 

“Nah!” they cried in unison and walked through to the
kitchen.

“Ah well, another dream lover gone,” Bets sighed, taking two
bottles from the makeshift bar and passing one to Charlotte.  “Talking of
which, you seem better tonight.”

“Hmm, I think I am.  I’m just mad at myself for falling
for his Irish blarney.  I should have carried on hating him.”

Bets eyes widened in astonishment.  “That’s crap. You
never hated him; you fancied him right from the start.  You just hated
that he didn’t fall over himself to be nice to you, despite every effort to
make him jealous.”

“I didn’t try to make him jealous,” cried Charlotte
incredulously.

“Err, so what was the engagement ring all about then? 
Surely, it was to make him jealous?”

“No!  You know why I did that, it was about Grant and
not wanting him to know that I was still single.”

“Oh yes,” Bets giggled over the top of her bottle. 
“You’re right; you didn’t fancy him at all, and you didn’t want him so badly it
hurt.”

“You don’t know that, you never saw us together.” 
Charlotte pushed a fistful of peanuts into her mouth indignantly.

“Just the way you talked about him and Gwen told me it was
in the cards.”  As soon as the words came out of her mouth Bets realised
that she had probably got poor Gwen into trouble.

“When?”  Charlotte screamed.

“Oh, erm, when I rang one day last week.  Another
drink?” she asked, changing the subject and making a quick getaway.

After an hour of dancing and drinking, both Bets and
Charlotte were feeling happier and more relaxed than they had for a long
time.  They were taking a breather when a rather drunk neighbour, from
across the road, pushed them to one side.

“Scuse gals, I’ve gotta gerra beer if that’s okay wiv
you.”  The quite short, very fat, drunk man was now dribbling profusely,
as his eyes came directly level with Charlotte’s cleavage.  “Can I say
what bootiful bweasts you haf dear?”  He swayed precariously as he stepped
back to look at Charlotte, up and down.

“You can say it mate, but I think I’d have to kill you
afterwards.”  She smiled sarcastically at him.

“I’ll just get my beer then.”  He picked up his can and
tried to bow to them both, but the heavy girth and excess of alcohol made him
lose his balance.  He crashed onto the floor and rolled under the table.

Bets knelt beside him, poking him with her bottle to ensure
that he was still breathing.  “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeth madam I ham.”

“Good,” she cried and pushed him further under the table
with the toe of her boot.

“Oh well,” laughed Charlotte, tears forming in her happy
eyes.  “At least he’ll leave us alone now.”