Page 2 of Loving Netta Wilde

‘Is this really something you want to do?’ he said, once she’d spilled the details.

‘No it isn’t, but I feel like I’d be letting Liza down if I said no. It’ll only be for a few days. A week at the most, I expect. I might have to spend more time over yours though. Sorry.’

‘There are some benefits to him being here then?’ He kissed her cheek, his clammy skin leaving a damp patch.

Netta wiped the side of her face. ‘Eww, sweaty. Right, I’d better go and fetch him.’

‘Just think of the good all this sweating’s doing me,’ he said, his eyes all sparkly and smiley. ‘Do you want me to come over when you get back?’

‘Yes please. He’ll be slightly less unpleasant if you’re around.’ She noticed Liza waiting on the front step. Hopefully she hadn’t heard anything. Liza knew what Colin was like, so there was no need to worry on that count, but Netta didn’t want her to hear she’d only agreed to this for her sake. Mind you, her daughter wasn’t stupid, she’d probably already worked that out.

They were in the car and on their way before Liza said: ‘I know this is going to be really hard for you, Mum. I don’t suppose it helps but I’m like, really dreading it.’ Maybe she had heard then.

‘It does help. Thank you, darling. We’ll get through it if we stick together.’

‘Is that code for, if we don’t let him manipulate us?’

‘And we’ve got Frank next door. We can always escape to his if it gets too much,’ she said, ignoring Liza’s question.

‘Frank’s so sweet.’

Sweet? Netta could think of many positive words to describe him but sweet wasn’t one of them. Anyway, surely there was anage limit for that? Frank was sixty-one. He must have crossed the threshold by now. Although, in Liza’s eyes, he’d be in the old man category which probably meant he was back in the requalification zone when it came to sweetness.

Liza pulled out her phone and started swiping and tapping. ‘Just letting Dad know we’re nearly there. Do you think you and Frank will get married sometime?’

Netta shot her a glance and almost missed the changing lights. She slammed her foot on the brake and they both jerked backwards in the sudden stop. ‘I have no idea. It’s not something we talk about. Or even think about.’ Well, she didn’t. She couldn’t speak for Frank.

‘Really? We talk about it sometimes.’

‘We? Who’s we?’

‘Me and Will. We think Frank would be a good step-dad. I mean he kind of is already, anyway. Kelly thinks so too.’

‘You’ve talked to Kelly about it?’

‘It comes up.’

Kelly, Netta’s self-proclaimed daughter-from-another-mother and one-time housemate was off travelling the world at the moment. It would appear that didn’t stop her from registering her views on Netta and Frank’s relationship status.

‘I’d have thought you’d have more interesting things to talk about.’

‘We do but, you know, there’s a lull occasionally.’

‘I see. Well, thanks for that. Nice to know we’re here for you whenever there’s a lull.’

The traffic was fairly quiet, and they reached Moseley in reasonable time. ‘Almost at the scene of the crime. Brace yourself,’ said Netta in an attempt to keep their spirits up. But it was in vain: the good humour was already draining from them as they turned into Colin’s road. By the time they reached his house, it was completely gone.

‘Oh my God!’ If Liza had looked shocked earlier on, it was nothing to the way she looked now. Not that Netta could blame her. Because, in the middle of his drive, Colin Grey was sitting on top of an upturned suitcase, surrounded by an assortment of bags and boxes, looking very, very sorry for himself.

2

AN UNWELCOME RESCUE

If this wasn’t the worst day of Colin’s life, he didn’t know what was. Actually, there had been a worse day, but it was a long time ago and he hardly thought about it these days. Not unless he was in the mood for thinking about what ifs and what might have been. Right now, the only what ifs he was interested in was what if he hadn’t complained about Arianne’s cooking last night, what if he hadn’t decided to avoid speaking to her this morning, and what if he hadn’t walked into the village for a decent breakfast rather than that bloody gruel she insisted they punish themselves with? Because if he hadn’t done all or even one of those things, he might not be finding himself locked out of his own house. His own house mind you, not her house, because when did she ever contribute anything except her increasingly lacklustre charm? Similarly, he might not be finding himself sitting on a suitcase, like some fucking vagrant, for all the world to see. Thank Christ Adam and Jude, next door, were on holiday because Colin did not know how he was going to explain this one away. Of all Arianne’s deranged outbursts, this had to be the maddest.

And now, as if things couldn’t get any more horrendous, his ex-wife was here. The woman who, he knew for a fact, despised him and the ground he walked on, was taking him in. That was an extremely bitter pill to swallow. Not just for him but for her too. She must have agreed to it for Liza’s sake. She certainly wouldn’t have done it for his. He hadn’t exactly been turning cartwheels himself at the proposition, but Liza had pushed him into it, and he was too tired to do anything other than sit on this suitcase and wait for someone to rescue him. He just wished it wasn’t Netta Wilde coming to the rescue.

Netta’s car pulled up in front of him. She stayed behind the wheel, but Liza was straight out, looking every inch her mother’s daughter. ‘Is she inside?’

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