Page 20 of Loving Netta Wilde

‘The accountant? You’re kidding me, right?’

‘I wish I was.’ Was it her imagination or did he not look that surprised?

‘I don’t get it. If this Arianne doesn’t have any claim to the house, why doesn’t he do something about it?’ said Doogie.

They’d moved into the garden now. Spike was wandering around, marking everything with his scent. Frank’s dog, Fred, was watching through the French windows next door. Frank was out with friends from work, celebrating his last week in teaching. Colin was on another enforced allotment visit. Netta had a feeling neither would be happy when they got back. Well, she knew for a fact Colin would be extremely unhappy. Frank, she wasn’t so sure about. Officially, he and Doogie had never met. But that wasn’t really the case and because of that, she couldn’t work out his feelings towards Doogie. Before that roadtrip, she’d have said they were largely positive, but then she found out he’d stayed at the farm belonging to Doogie’s partner, Grace. The thing was, Frank had never mentioned being there. Neither had he mentioned that he and Doogie had crossed paths during the stay. Netta had worked it out and had confirmed it with Doogie, although she’d been a bit sneaky with her questions because Doogie had no idea who the man he’d been chatting with was. So Frank was keeping it secret, Doogie was in the dark, and she’d got to the point where she was becoming too embarrassed to mention it to either of them. But it didn’t really matter anymore because very soon, her ex-lover and her current lover were about to meet, and it was going to be very interesting watching their reactions.

Will and Belle appeared in the kitchen, then Liza was there too. There was some discussion and then Will and Belle came outside. Netta guessed the discussion was about her visitor. She stood up as they approached, feeling slightly apprehensive, and introduced everyone.

Will was all smiles. ‘Hi. I thought you looked familiar. I’ve seen you in some of Mum’s old photos.’

‘You’ve just finished at York, yeah?’ said Doogie.

‘Yeah. Just got to look for a job now.’ Will put his arm around Belle. ‘Belle was at Leeds. We’re trying to get jobs in the same town this time so we can live together.’

Doogie nodded. ‘Living apart from the people you love is hard.’

Netta wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, since it was coming from the man who’d lived apart from the people he loved by choice, but she wasn’t going to go there. ‘Well, you’re both welcome to live here for as long as you want. Speaking of which, Doogie’s staying for a while. And so is Spike.’

‘Is that Spike in Frank’s garden?’ said Belle. ‘He’s beautiful.’

Will laughed. ‘Another dog. The way things are going we’ll have more dogs than people around here.’

His laughter was cut short by Liza who was on her way and already talking: ‘Oh my God, you’re Doogie, aren’t you? I mean, hello. Is Merrie with you?’

‘Er no. She’ll be here in a few days.’ Doogie looked a bit startled. He probably hadn’t had this much young person interaction in years.

‘I’ll go call her. Amazing dog, by the way.’ She was back off into the house, soon to be followed by the other two.

Netta waited for them to disappear inside. ‘You did know my daughter and your daughter are friends, didn’t you?’

‘Yeah, yeah.’

‘Sorry. She can be a bit full on if you’re not used to it.’

He sat back down. ‘No, it’s fine. It’s just a bit of a shock.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘She’s just like you were at that age. Except for the hair colour. You were a lot darker, except when you had your Debbie Harry streaks.’

‘I suppose so. I forget. I don’t think I was so, you know, out there.’

‘Yeah, you were.’

‘Was I?’

He laughed. ‘Yeah, you were very out there.’

Netta thought about the pouty scowls and giggled. Yes, she probably was.

Fred came bouncing through the interconnecting garden gate and stopped in front of Spike. That could only mean someone was home next door. While the two dogs did a bit of macho sniffing of each other’s bits, Netta looked to see who had let him out. It was Frank. He ambled towards them, smiling. Then he spotted Doogie and his smile froze.

She decided the best way to tackle his rigidity was to adopt a casual, I know nothing, approach. ‘Frank, Doogie’s come to stay for a while.’

‘Oh, right. Good. Great. How are yer, Doogie? Good to finally meet you.’ His hand shot out, somewhat robotically, it had to be said.

Doogie scratched his head then shook Frank’s waiting hand. ‘Yeah, you too mate. You, too.’

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