The Girl in the Rug (16 page)

‘Ooh my stomach,’ groaned Simon from the other side of the
bed. ‘Tracy darling much as I love the fact that you are trying to be more
inventive in your cooking, I think the egg curry you made tonight was a step
too far.’

‘Ha,’ exclaimed Tracy indignantly, ‘well that didn’t seem to
stop you having three helpings of the curry and then an enormous slice of
treacle tart with custard, did it?’

Simon didn’t answer, just let out an enormous fart that had
Tracy flapping the duvet frantically, ‘Oh my god Simon that’s disgusting,’ she
laughed in spite of herself.

‘I can’t help it,’ said Simon pathetically, ‘you’ve given me
deli-belly.’

‘More like treacle tart trots,’ retorted Tracy giggling and
rubbing his tummy. ‘I tell you what though sweetheart, we have seriously got to
start on a healthy eating regime, my tummy is nearly as big as it was when I
was expecting Tilly, and although it pains me to say it so is yours… aaarrgh…no…NO
SIMON…no tickling you know I can’t bear it…ha ha ha…NO I said…’

‘Ok, ok there’s no need to get violent,’ Simon said rubbing
his arm where Tracy had thumped him. ‘Anyway,’ he went on lowering his voice to
a seductive whisper, ‘I’ll have you know that I am in perfect shape for a man
of my age,’ he turned and propped himself up on his elbow and started trailing
his fingertips slowly up and down Tracy’s arms and neck causing hot little
flutters of desire to course through her. She lay back with a contented sigh,
flinging her arms above her head, a flagrant invitation for him to continue and
soon all talk of diets and deli-bellies were replaced with gasps and moans of
pleasure, until sated and contented, they lay in each other’s arms and drifted
off to sleep.

Tracy woke from her cosy sleep to the sound of
voices…laughter, car doors slamming. She looked at the time on her phone…bloody
hell it was bloody two in the morning, who the hell was making all that noise?

Simon was gently snoring beside her, so she crept out of bed
as carefully as she could and made her way silently into three year old Zack’s
room which was at the back of the house. It seemed like the noises were coming
from the big house and she would have a good view of it from that window.

Sure enough the house was lit up like a Christmas tree; the
Robinson brothers were obviously doing some corporate entertaining. From her
position Tracy could see the house and the drive side on. Big, expensive,
highly polished cars were slowly being driven to the steps at the front of the
house and uniformed chauffeurs were rushing round to open doors for their
illustrious passengers. Tracy was captivated by the glamour of the whole thing
and soon her earlier irritation was replaced by good old fashioned nosiness.
Over the last week or so she had come to recognise the two Robinson brothers,
both were rather tall and thin, Freddy the elder of the two had receding sandy
coloured hair which he kept very short, whilst Gordon had a thick mane of dark
blond hair which must have been the envy of his brother. He was a much more
flamboyant character and reminded Tracy somewhat of a hero from a regency
romance, with his frilled shirts and tight trousers. Tracy could spot both of the
brothers from where she watched; shaking hands with their retreating
guests…there was a lot of back slapping and raucous drunken laughter as the
party ended.

It seemed a little odd to Tracy and a tad disappointing that
there were no women in their glamorous outfits to ogle at, but it soon became
obvious that this was a party for just the men. Very distinguished men at that,
Tracy had recognised quite a few of the faces of local councilmen and once
again the mayor had been in attendance. She had even spotted Tim, her new
neighbour which had made her giggle, obviously he’d wasted no time in getting
friendly with the Robinsons…she thought as she watched Carla’s new boss slap
Gordon on the back, as he too sauntered out to his waiting car.

‘What are you looking at?’ Simon whispered into her ear
making her nearly wet herself with shock.

‘Oh my god Simon!’ whispered Tracy furiously, ‘what are you
doing creeping up on me like that, I nearly died of fright!’

Well I could ask you the same thing…what the hell are you
looking at?’ he peered past her through the window. ‘Oh…now I get it…snooping
on the neighbours, Tracy Burton you should be ashamed of yourself…’

‘It’s not snooping,’ Tracy said hotly, ‘they were making
such a noise that I just wondered what was going on that’s all. Anyway you
should have seen who was on their guest list…most of Redbank’s ‘A’ listers if
I’m not mistaken…all very posh, you should see the cars…’

‘Back hander’s for elected councillors more like,’ said
Simon disapprovingly. ‘Robinson’s are obviously bidding for more public
building work…greasing a few palms to get the contract, it’s all so corrupt.’

‘Well they certainly know how to put on a good party…’ Tracy
said, ‘outside caterers too by the looks of things,’ she mused, watching as a
white van pulled up to the side door of the building, the door opened and a
little trail of children were ushered out to the waiting van. ‘What the hell
are those kids doing out so late,’ Tracy said shaking her head, ‘you’d think
their parents would get someone to watch them rather than bring them to work
with them…on a school night as well,’ she tutted.

Simon was watching the children as they climbed up into the
van, with the none too gentle help of a thuggish looking man who, once the
children were all on board, went over to where Freddy Robinson had come round
to meet him. They exchanged a few words and then Freddy handed something over
to the man, before turning his back on him abruptly and walking back into the
house. The man then went and opened up the back of the van again for a moment,
before climbing into the front and driving away.

‘I’m not sure about that,’ said Simon thoughtfully.

‘Humm…sorry what?’ Tracy whispered as she carefully smoothed
the quilt back over Zack as he slept on.

‘Those children…I don’t like the look of that. Why would
there be children at a corporate entertainment, I mean what could they possibly
be doing there?’

‘Oh well I assumed that they were the children of the staff,
or something like that,’ said Tracy sleepily. ‘They are probably using cheap
labour…you know, no questions asked type of thing and I expect that they had to
bring their kids with them…or maybe they use them to help out in the kitchen,’
Simon rolled his eyes at her, ‘well I don’t bloody know do I…anyway I need to
get back to sleep, Tilly will be up and about in a few hours, and my feet are
turning to ice…’

‘Well don’t think you’re warming them up on me my girl, I’m
not the one that decided to get up in the middle of the night am I?’

Tracy didn’t think anymore about what they had seen in the
night until she sat down for her cup of tea the next morning. Simon was right,
she thought, that had been very weird…she would be sure to mention it to Tim
and Louisa next time she saw them.

‘Oh god love what a nightmare, so they didn’t even go to the
meal?’ Helen asked Maggie as they started placing drinks onto a tray to carry
back over to the table.

‘Well actually they did come in the end,’ Maggie said with a
grimace. ‘Greg, the smug bastard, had a word with both the girls and they sort
of ‘made up’ but you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife, so it wasn’t
at all the lovely birthday dinner that I had planned.’ Maggie shook her head,
‘I don’t mind telling you Helen I am at my wits end…I just don’t know how to
deal with this nastiness.’

‘It’s so awful Maggs,’ Helen said sympathetically,
‘especially Dom and Jed being at each other’s throats…’

‘I know, that’s the worst…I just never thought that it would
ever happen, not in my family…oh hi Carla I didn’t see you arrive you must have
sneaked passed the bar. I got you a white wine sweetie, I hope that’s ok,’ said
Maggie as they arrived back at the table.

‘Mmm perfect, thanks Maggs,’ said Carla taking a big gulp of
her wine, ‘bloody hell I needed that,’ she said putting her coat on the back of
her chair and sitting down. ‘So what’s the latest girls…ooh Maggie how did the
birthday dinner go?’

‘Well apart from the death stares that Maylee and Jools were
throwing each other and the fact that Dom loudly disagreed with everything that
came out of Jed’s mouth…not bad I suppose. We got to meet little Jukie anyway…’

‘Oh yes what he like…cute as a button I bet,’ Helen said,
trying desperately to put a positive spin on things.

‘Oh he is definitely cute,’ said Maggie with a smile. ‘And,
as you would expect, dressed top to toe in designer gear, which Maylee priced
up for us by the way. She is so weird though Helen, it’s like once she gets
into a conversation she sort of zones out on what Juke is doing. For instance
he was rushing round the kitchen shrieking at the top of his voice as Greg was
chasing him, when he slipped and bumped his head as he fell…’

‘Oh bloody hell Maggie, I bet she was furious with Greg
wasn’t she,’ interrupted Tracy.

‘Well that’s what’s so strange, we all rushed over to make
sure he was alright, but Maylee didn’t even seem to have noticed that her son
was screaming the place down and had a large lump on his forehead, not even
breaking off the conversation she was having with Dom. It was only when Dom got
up and calmed Jukie down that she seemed at all interested, telling us all how
upset she was that her baby was hurt…like I said weird.’

‘Bloody hell that is strange,’ began Tracy, ‘I mean I may be
a bit over protective…’

‘No really…surely not,’ teased Carla, who had witnessed many
times Tracy’s panic at the slightest hurt that befell her two children.

‘Shut up Carla…I said I know I am a bit, but to not even
react if your child is crying…that’s not right is it?’

‘Well I think it’s a bit unnatural,’ went on Maggie, ‘but I
must tell you…Greg and I were in stitches once everyone had gone home. Maylee
for all her faults is a comedic gem…’ she broke off at the girls incredulous
stares. ‘Oh not intentionally darlings, but sometimes it is so hard to keep a
straight face, I mean we were talking about a trip that Greg and I had made up
to Yorkshire, when the boys were little…you know reminiscing about the things
we’d done, when Maylee pipes up, ‘Oh Domie that sounds lovely that does,’
Maggie mimicked in a high pitched voice, ‘maybe we should go there…once I’ve
got Jukie his passport of course.’ The girls burst out laughing as Maggie had
known they would and felt the tension in her chest ease a tiny bit.

‘How did the Mayoral picture unveiling go Helen…did he like
it?’ Carla asked.

‘Oh don’t talk to me about that,’ groaned Helen. ‘Talk about
stuffed shirts…and that bloody David Wesley is the worst of the lot of them. They
all a bunch of self congratulating, smug, pompous bastards.’

‘Bloody hell Helen, don’t hold back tell us what you really
think,’ said Carla laughing, ‘what did they do to get up your nose so badly?’

‘Oh I don’t know…it’s the patronising way that they talked
about my work I suppose, which I know is a bit diva-ish of me, but it’s like
they’re patting me on the head and telling me what a clever girl I am to be
drawing such nice pictures…now go away and play with your little Polish friend.
Oh and god forbid that I took Maya with me to the unveiling, despite the fact
that she is my wife and several of the councilmen had their wives with them…’
she stopped and took a breath.

‘Well no wonder you’re mad sweetheart,’ Maggie was the first
to speak, ‘but you know what, fuck ‘em, if they are too bigoted to recognise a
happy couple when they see it then more fool them. I bet half of them are
closet gays anyway, that’s why they’re so bitter I bet.’

‘I don’t know if it was because she was gay so much as the
fact that she is Polish, anyway she didn’t miss much, just some dried up old
canapés and cheap fizzy plonk…’

‘Oh I’ve just remembered another Mayleeism,’ butted in
Maggie laughing. ‘I had made some of those little duck thingys that I do, you
know the sweet chilli things? Well anyway I made some and I was handing them
round while we were waiting for the curry to arrive and she said ‘Oooh can
o’peas how posh, I ‘specially like those ones with the tritso on…you know that
tritso sausage, they’re my favourite’…I’m telling you the girl is comedy gold!’

All the girls laughed but it was obvious that Maggie was
struggling to keep it together; her family was her life. After the break-up of
her marriage all those years ago Maggie had made a happy home for her and her
sons and apart from the usual family spats, she had never had to deal with any
serious rows between the boys.

Carla spoke to her while Helen and Tracy were getting the
next round of drinks.

‘Why don’t you speak to Dom sweetheart,’ she began, ‘you and
him have always been so close.’ She held up her hand as Maggie would have
butted in, ‘I don’t mean to criticise Maylee, I know that wouldn’t work, but
just to let him know how upsetting all of this is for you. He loves you Maggie,
he wouldn’t want you to be hurt surely.’

Maggie looked at her with tears in her eyes, ‘I’m so scared
Carla…I don’t think it would matter to him that I’m upset…I don’t think it
would matter to him if he and I fell out, just as long as he did what Maylee
wanted. He’s not my Dom anymore…he’s changed, that’s why I can’t talk to him
about it.’

‘Well you need to talk to someone love, this is obviously
killing you…what about Duncan, what does he say?’

Maggie looked sheepish, ‘I am keeping my distance from
Duncan at the moment…’

‘What the fuck for?’ exclaimed Carla shocked, ‘I thought
after the thing with Kerry, you two were getting on ok. Bloody hell Maggs he
lived with you for a couple of months…what’s happened?’

This time Maggie did burst into tears. ‘He doesn’t want me
Carla…I finally find the man of my dreams and he doesn’t want me…’

Carla moved round the table so that she could put her arms
round her friend, ‘That can’t be right Maggie, I’ve seen the way he looks at
you…the man practically devours you with his eyes, and you two are so good
together…such a good team…’

‘Nnnoott annyyymooore,’ sobbed Maggie, ‘heee dooessntt
wwaannt meee arroouund…sniff sniff gulp…so I’m staying awaaayyy.’

By this time the other girls had come back and were both
suitably shocked at the state of their friend. Carla quickly explained what the
problem was.

‘My god Maggie Wendover,’ exclaimed Tracy, ‘you are such a
silly cow…the man loves the bones of you, any fool can see that!’

‘Oh I thought he did once...’ sniff…sniff, ‘but it’s obvious
now that I am just irritating him, so I have been avoiding him…but what with
the situation at home and everything…I just feeeel sooo lonleyyyy.’ Maggie
burst into tears again and all the girls crowded round her, each trying to give
her their love and support. So much so that they were causing a bit of a scene,
until inevitably Duncan, who was working in the bar this evening and had been
trying to stop himself looking over at Maggie’s table all night, noticed that
Maggie was upset. He told himself that it was none of his business…he argued
that the girls were with her and they would look after her, he decided
absolutely and finally that he was not going to interfere…just before he pushed
his way through the pub to where the girls were sitting.

‘Is everything ok?’ he asked…three pairs of angry eyes
looked up at him. Maggie kept her head lowered and didn’t speak.

‘Obviously not Duncan,’ said Carla fixing him with a death
stare, ‘but don’t you worry yourself, we’ll make sure she’s ok.’

Duncan gulped but stood his ground, ‘Maggie,’ he said
quietly, ‘What’s up love, can I help in anyway?’

Maggie raised her head and looked at him with eyes so full
of love and despair, that Duncan almost forgot that he was trying to be
honourable and let her go. His heart was screaming at him to pull her into his
arms, and kiss her until she had no doubt how much he loved her…but then common
sense (the stupid bastard) prevailed. Maggie held his gaze for a second and
then shook her head, ‘Don’t worry hun, it’s just family stuff you know…and the
girls are here so…’

‘Yes, why don’t you scurry back behind the bar Duncan,’
Tracy said curling her lip, ‘no one needs you here.’

Duncan looked at each of the girls, silently pleading with
them to understand, but apart from Helen who gave him a sad smile…they were
having none of it. He had hurt their friend and until he made it better he was
no friend of theirs.

He turned and walked slowly back to the bar, only to be
faced with an even more furious Martha, who was at her wits end with the pair
of them.

‘Who would have thought I would have raised such a fecking
idiot, I’ve met cabbages with more brains than the both of you so I have,’ she
said in disgust turning away from him.

Duncan tried to tell himself that he was doing the right
thing, the sensible thing…but then why was it hurting so many people if it was
the right thing. I mean Maggie had looked absolutely devastated a minute
ago…how was that right? Could it be possible that he was wrong about all of
this…maybe what she felt for him was strong enough to over look his messed up
face and body. He looked over to where she was sitting, chatting now with her
friends. She was simply gorgeous with her long chestnut hair, beautiful almond
eyes and full inviting mouth…she still didn’t look a day over forty, nowhere
near the fifty odd he knew her to be. Suddenly as if aware that he had been
staring at her, she looked over at him and gave him a little smile of regret…oh
god, even if there was a tiny chance he should go for it…shouldn’t he? But how
the hell was he ever going to convince her to give him another chance now…after
he’d been such a prat!

‘Don’t look now Maggie but he is still drooling over you,’
said Carla with a satisfied smirk. ‘I don’t care what you say, the man is
besotted and you are not the Maggie Wendover that we all know and love if you
don’t put up more of a fight!’

‘She’s not wrong girl,’ said Tracy, ‘you have been an
inspiration to desperate women everywhere …fuck ‘em and forget ‘em Wendover,
that’s what they call you. And now look at you, letting some Irish grizzly bear
get the better of you…buck up woman, if you want him, go get him!’

‘Oh alright then,’ said Maggie calmly, making them all laugh
and then let out a big cheer. Helen went and got them all more drinks and soon
the evening was restored to its former drunken hilarity.

‘Did I see you with Linda Connelly the other day Carla,
how’s she doing, I heard she was working as a reporter or something?’ Tracy
asked.

‘Oh she’s great,’ said Carla, ‘she was round at my house the
other night. Ted had been doing some investigating in his own time and she
wants me to follow up on it.’

‘Hmm how interesting, god you had to love him didn’t you…Ted
I mean, he was so terribly straight, and so dedicated to the job.’

‘I know,’ Carla said with a sad shake of the head, ‘It’s so
funny really seeing all his notes…all hand written, I felt quite tearful when I
first saw them, his handwriting was so familiar.’

‘What was he working on?’ asked Maggie, ‘are you going to
help…oh thanks Helen sweetheart,’ she broke off as Helen came back with the
drinks.

‘Martha’s in a terrible mood up there,’ Helen reported under
her breath, ‘if looks could kill, Duncan would be six feet under I’m telling
you.’

All the girls looked round to see, ‘Bloody hell, he looks
about as comfortable as a turkey sitting on a pile of Paxo, listening to
Christmas carols…tee hee, poor man deserves all he gets,’ giggled Tracy with
relish.

They all laughed at that and the evening went downhill from
there, until they all happily staggered into their respective homes a few hours
later.

Helen to a warm welcome from Maya, who had been sitting up
marking books and waiting for her to come home.

Tracy, to a warm welcome from Buster, who then ran straight
past her and outside, he desperately, needed a pee.

Carla, to a warm welcome from James, who didn’t seem to be
in the least bit bothered that she accidentally fell on top of him whilst
trying to get her knickers off in the dark.

And Maggie, to a warm cup of hot chocolate and a long night
working out her strategy for bringing Duncan to his knees.