Page 53 of Loving Netta Wilde

The old woman sat back in her chair and folded her arms. She was waiting. Doogie knew what she was waiting for and even though he didn’t want to, he found himself giving it to her. ‘He had another family. He lived with them. Me and my mum had to fit in around it, until she decided she’d had enough.’

‘And you felt left out?’

‘I suppose so, when I was a kid. I don’t really think about it now.’

‘That so. Well you’re lucky it hasn’t affected you. It’s hard for a boy to grow up without a father. It’s hard for girls as well, but boys need a man around.’

‘Only if he’s the right kind of man.’ Doogie was thinking about Arthur Wilde and his stepdad, Clive. They were the right kind of men. It wasn’t that his dad was a bad man. He paid his taxes, never broke the law and tried to behave like a real father, but he had too many conflicts. Conflicts lead to casualties. And the casualties always seemed to be on Doogie and his mum’s side. They were always the ones having to drop everything because Nevin Chambers had turned up without notice, having found an hour to squeeze them in between his other commitments. Doogie was always the one who had to go to his dad’s other house and mix with his other family, even though they teased him for being too white and even though his dad’s wife hated his guts.

Mrs Sweeting swilled the tea around in her cup and watched it slopping from one side to the other. ‘Them people at the allotment, they all think Samuel was the right kind of man.’

‘Wasn’t he?’

She put the cup down. ‘Let me tell you about Samuel. Not their Samuel, my Samuel. He was a waste of space. We had four children. Three girls and a boy. You’d think being a father to thatmany kids would keep a man occupied, wouldn’t you? But not Samuel. He had another family as well, and he preferred their company to ours.’

‘He had another family?’

She clucked her tongue. ‘Not that kind of family. Them friends of his at the allotment, they were his family. He spent every spare minute with them. His precious vegetables meant more to him than his own children. You know, he’d bring home a few peppers and tomatoes and put them on the table like he was God on the sixth day. Never mind that his son was smoking pot and his daughters were tekking up with unsuitable men. All he cared about was the allotment association. And that woman.’

‘Woman?’ Doogie already had a fairly good idea which woman she was referring to but he asked anyway.

‘Ur-su-la. I told him, you think me an idiot, you think me can’t see the way your eyes light up at the mention of her name? She was welcome to him. Let him waste her time. Mine was already full-time tekken up with keeping my kids out of trouble.’

‘Are they all right then, your kids?’

‘You could say that, but no thanks to Mr Samuel Sweeting. The pastor sorted my boy out. He’s an estate agent now in Milton Keynes. He visits me every month and cuts the hedge. You’ve saved him a job. The two oldest girls are divorced and the youngest never married. They’re very intolerant in that regard. I suppose that was one thing Samuel did for them.’ She threw the last of her cold tea into the flower border. ‘You’d better carry on, Doogie.’

He picked up the shears. ‘Yeah. Thanks for the tea and biscuits, Mrs Sweeting.’

She nodded. ‘You can call me Priscilla.’

She was warming to him. The thought made him smile. ‘Priscilla.’

‘You do remind me of him a bit.’ She held his eye for a minute then snatched up the plate. ‘But I won’t hold it against you.’

‘Did you read the letter?’ he said, as she started to head back into the house.

She stopped but didn’t turn back to him. ‘Not yet. Me probably won’t bother.’

30

THIS IS HOW IT WOULD HAVE BEEN

Netta was in the lounge, on the phone to Claire. ‘The thing is, I’m not really sure why Doogie’s here. Has he said anything to you?’

‘I haven’t spoken to him. I’ve tried, but he’s ignoring my calls. I could pump Merrie for information, but it doesn’t seem fair,’ said Claire.

Netta moved the phone a bit further away from her ear. They’d been talking for over half an hour, and it was starting to feel sweaty and clammy. ‘No, it wouldn’t be right. I’m going to have to ask him myself at some point. Not that I haven’t already, but he keeps giving me that rubbish about fancying a change.’

‘Have you tried his mum?’

‘I don’t know her number and I haven’t spoken to her for years. Not since our uni days. It would be a bit weird if I called her up to check whether her son was lying to me or not.’

‘True. I don’t really know her either, thanks to Doogie and his secrets. The poor woman didn’t know she had a granddaughter until he finally decided to step up and become a proper dad.’

‘Anyway, she’s on holiday which is why he’s staying with me.’

‘Really? She called Merrie last night. Must have been from wherever she’s staying. Actually, thinking about it, I mightintroduce myself next time I’m up there. Now that she’s playing a part in my daughter’s life, we should get to know each other better.’

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