Guilty Feet (20 page)

‘Dad,’ I said, interrupting his flow. ‘There’s something you ought to know.’

I told him that his estranged wife was pregnant. And, not content with pulling the mat from underneath his happiness, I also told him that Brian Dick was in love with her and in all probability would soon be taking his place in the family home.

And, because by the time I’d said all this it was half past eight, I couldn’t even hang around to see how he was going to deal with the news once the state of shock that I’d left him in finally wore off.

***

Dan didn’t know what to do. He’d been very keen to meet up with Sarah a few days ago, but he wasn’t nearly so certain about it now.

He had enough stuff going on in his life, what with Libby’s lies and Jo’s spiteful acts of revenge. Did he really want to complicate it further?

He’d just picked up her latest e-mail, and had been pleasantly surprised by it at first. But now he was feeling confused. He hadn’t slept very well, and although he’d started early on the book he was finding it hard to concentrate. He was working on some fatuous anecdote about one of the band members who’d once been in trouble with his headmaster for passing a rude poem around the school. It was about the worst dirt he could dig up on the lad, and he wondered—as he had many times before—what had happened to rock ‘n’ roll.

Between that and Sarah’s surprise invitation, his mind kept going back to the conversation he’d had with Aisling and Steve last night. Something about it was bothering him. And he knew it was useless. Until he spoke to Aisling again he wouldn’t get anything done.

He got up from his desk and for want of something better to do switched on the radio. Someone was doing a re-worked cover version of ‘Careless Whisper’, and with a jolt Dan suddenly realised that it was VantagePoint. How had he overlooked that? His publishers must have mentioned it to him, but he’d been so distracted of late that it hadn’t sunk home. It seemed especially strange, since it was one of his mother’s favourite songs—and a point of reference in one of those early e-mail exchanges with Sarah.

And that did it. It made up his mind there and then to go to Zoot and meet the woman who for some reason reminded him so much of Jo.

***

‘I’m glad you could make it,’ Nigel Leach said in a manner that would seem smarmy to most women but which Libby found quite flattering.

His hand lingered slightly too long as he shook hers, while his eyes scanned her face admiringly.

He’d called her at nine that morning and asked if he could see her as soon as possible. She’d been surprised to find that his office was open on a Saturday, but it had sounded so urgent that she’d agreed to go there immediately.

‘I’ve got good news for you,’ he said as she took the seat in front of his desk. This time he didn’t go around to his own chair, but sat on the edge of the desk, so close to her that their legs were almost touching.

‘I’ve been in negotiations with your former employers,’ he continued importantly, ‘and they have agreed to a settlement.’

‘So soon?’ she said, very surprised.

‘I imagine they want the matter dealt with as quickly as possible in order to avoid any adverse publicity.’ He looked very pleased with himself.

‘How much?’ Libby said, cutting to the chase.

He reached behind him and picked up a sheet of paper, then passed it to her. It was blank but for a figure written in blue ballpoint pen.

‘Ten grand?’

He nodded.

‘I hope you’re pleased.’

Darn right she was. She looked up at him and smiled. What a difference a day makes, she thought happily. Only yesterday she had lost a small fortune, but today things were definitely looking up. And in more ways than one, perhaps...

‘I didn’t expect that much,’ she said, batting her eyelids.

‘We do our best,’ he said smugly. ‘Of course there’s the little matter of my commission, but that still leaves you with a healthy sum.’

‘Indeed,’ agreed Libby, already wondering how she would spend the money. She would have to keep some aside for overheads, until she found a new job, but that still left a fair bit to play with.

‘How long before I get the money?’ she wanted to know. ‘A month or so.’

‘Excellent,’ she said, and handed the sheet of paper back to him.

He coughed. ‘I don’t usually do this,’ he said, ‘but I was wondering if you’d care to join me for a celebratory meal. This evening, perhaps?’

Libby was delighted that she hadn’t been imagining his interest in her, but although she was tempted there was still the matter of Dan to consider. She was making headway in the
good
-
friends
department, and she’d been planning to go round to see him tonight.

‘Would you mind if I rang you later?’ she said, hedging her bets. ‘I just need to see if I can get out of a prior arrangement,’ she added, because it wouldn’t do any harm to make it sound as if she was a woman in demand.

‘I look forward to it,’ he said, apparently taking it for granted that she would readily drop someone else for him.

***

I was tempted to tell Giovanna what was happening that morning. She just seemed so happy—happier even than my father had been. Until I’d spoilt everything, that is, and told him about Mum. But I couldn’t do it to her—a) because it wasn’t my business, and b) well, because I just didn’t want to spoil everything for her as well. She was going to find out soon enough. She might just as well have a single day of thinking that life was wonderful.

But it was hard to be normal with her, so, rather than get into conversations that might lead to lies, I invented a very sore throat that hurt so much it was hard to speak. And because she is such a nice woman she had a word with Dulcie, who agreed to stay on after lunch so that I could go home and rest.

And just to make things worse, just to add to my guilty conscience, she whacked six fifty-pound notes into my hand when I was leaving. I’d kept her informed about Pisus and she knew I would be starting there on Monday, that I didn’t need the job any longer, but I didn’t expect
that
. I hadn’t a clue how much she’d intended paying me, but three hundred quid was a lot more than I’d ever have guessed.

I wondered if it was some kind of reward for bringing my father into her life, and if so then I might just be taking money under false pretences. For all I knew he was back with my mother by now, having turned nasty on Brian Dick and demanded his rights as homeowner and husband. True, this wasn’t an image I could easily conjure up in my mind, but I’d given him a lot to be riled about.

I got in at three-thirty and found the flat tidy but deserted. I did a quick check in my wardrobe, and when I found my dad’s clothes were still hanging there I took it as a good sign. Trouble was, I so badly wanted things to be OK that I’d have taken a decapitated horse’s head in my bed as a good sign at that very moment. But it was enough for the time being, and, because I hadn’t slept too well the previous night, and because I knew I’d be late tonight, I climbed into my bed and went out like a light the moment my head hit the pillow.

I woke some time later to the sound of the telephone ringing, and my heart beat fast as I clutched the receiver.

‘Hello,’ I said in a frightened child-whisper as I waited for my mother to explode.

‘It’s me,’ Dad said, and I was glad of the lesser of two possible evils. But I still held my breath till he spoke.

‘It’s sorted,’ he said cheerily, and I wondered if he was drunk.

‘What’s sorted?’ I asked him cautiously.

‘Your mother’s not pregnant and Brian Dick isn’t moving in.

I was coming to gradually, but this still wasn’t making much sense. I decided to take one thing at a time.

‘What do you mean she’s not pregnant?’ I said, sitting up in the bed.

‘She was jumping the gun as usual—making assumptions. She had a test a few days ago and the results arrived this morning.’ I could detect a hint of a chuckle in his voice. ‘It turns out that she’s menopausal.’

Oh, God, I thought. That was probably a bigger blow to my mother than pregnancy. But it was a very great relief to me.

‘And the Dick?’ I said disrespectfully of my mother’s lover.

‘And the Dick,’ Dad repeated, ‘has changed his mind. Barbara got tough and told him she’d take him to the cleaners, so he’s gone home with his tail between his legs.’

It took a moment for that mixture of metaphors to sink into my brain, and then it occurred to me that it was Nicola’s toughness behind all this and not her mother’s. But I didn’t say anything. I was more interested in knowing where this left my parents’ marriage.

‘And you, Dad? What are
you
going to do?’

‘That’s the main purpose of this call,’ he said, cheerful as ever. ‘I just wanted you to know that I won’t be back at the flat tonight.’

Oh, dear, I thought. Poor Giovanna. She was so looking forward to seeing my father that evening, and I was annoyed with him now for not seeming to care.

‘Have you called Giovanna yet?’ I asked him stiffly.

‘Yes. I told her I was going to be a bit late and that I’d explain everything when I saw her.’

Now I really was confused.

‘I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘What about Mum?’

‘Your mother? I’m not sure what she’s doing. Drowning her sorrows, I wouldn’t wonder.’

I lifted the duvet and put my feet over the edge of the bed. I hadn’t even got around to undressing before I’d fallen asleep, and my pasta-sauce-smelling clothes were deeply crumpled.

‘I’m not sure what you mean,’ I said, then I had a bad thought. ‘You’re not thinking of two-timing Giovanna, are you?’ Which seemed a strange thing to say about the
other
woman.

‘Oh, I see what you mean now. I haven’t explained myself very well, have I?’

There was a slight pause, and while I waited for him to go on I moved to the window and shut the night out of my room.

‘I have no intention of going back home,’ he said. ‘It’s over with me and your mother and I’ve just made that abundantly clear. She wasn’t very happy about it, of course, but she could hardly make demands on me after what’s happened.’

Which was perfectly true. But I was still a bit stunned by my father’s self-assurance. He’d always been so under my mother’s thumb in the past—it was hard to take in that he was the one in control now. Had Giovanna done this for him after one single date?

This was going to take some getting my head around, but in the meantime something else needed an explanation.

‘What did you mean about not coming back to the flat tonight?’

‘I’m, erm, well—you know...staying with Giovanna.’

‘Oh,’ I said uncomfortably, ‘I see.’ I was a little shocked, as a matter of fact. He’d only been out with Giovanna once and—I dismissed the thought before my imagination ran away with me. One promiscuous parent was quite enough to deal with in any given week. Besides, I was beginning to feel annoyed with him. It was all very well, him being firm with my mother for once in his life, but it would be me who’d have to pick up the pieces. Then something else struck me.

‘Does Mum know about Giovanna?’

‘Not as such,’ he said sheepishly.

‘Don’t you think you should tell her?’ But even as I said it I wasn’t so sure about that. Once she found out who he was seeing it would be me, no doubt, who got the blame for introducing them to one another.

‘Not just yet,’ he said. ‘It’s quite a nice feeling, having the moral high ground for once in my life, and knowing your mother she’d only twist it all round and blame Giovanna for breaking up the marriage.’

Which no doubt was true, but I was still uneasy. If she found out from someone else it could blow up in our faces.

‘It’s a pity we couldn’t get her out of the way for a while,’ I said, thinking more of myself than him. I was dreading her ringing me up, demanding that I went to the house to listen to her pouring out all her sorrows.

I lay back down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling—and the idea suddenly came to me.

‘You’d better go,’ I said to my dad. ‘You don’t want to keep Giovanna waiting too long.’

‘OK,’ he said. ‘See you erm...tomorrow, then.’

‘Look, Dad,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘If I’m going to get used to all this it might be best if you stopped sounding quite so embarrassed about it. Because that makes me embarrassed as well.’

‘OK,’ he said, trying out unabashed boldness for size. ‘See you tomorrow, then.’

I got up, put the receiver back on its cradle and fetched my bag from the sitting room. I took out my address book and found my brother’s home number. I reckoned it must be about ten in the morning in California, and with a bit of luck I might just catch him in.

For once I wasn’t concerned about the cost of the call. If I could just persuade Matthew to invite our mother to stay with him for a while, it would be worth every penny...

***

Dan was on his way down to Aisling’s flat. He’d tried her earlier, but she and Steve were either out or involved in a marathon sexathon that had made them deaf to his knock at the door. He’d spoken to Libby since then. She’d been round to ask what he was doing tonight and he’d taken the opportunity to give her a piece of his mind. Or that had been the idea anyway.