Page 58 of Loving Netta Wilde

‘Oh, she told you that, did she?’

Liza snorted. ‘Of course not. We kind of guessed though. Is it Doogie?’

‘No.’

‘Dad then? Something’s making you weird.’

‘You think I’m being weird?’

‘Er, yes!’

‘I don’t think I’m being weird.’ He was about to say it’s everyone else but one look at her face changed his mind.

‘Frank, in what way do you think your behaviour is normal? Wait. Oh my God, you don’t even know you’re doing it, do you? You have so got to look at yourself in the mirror right now. And I thought my dad was in denial. I’ll be over around eleven. Maybe use the time to think about it, yeah?’

Frank’s lips clamped together. He was aware that his brow probably looked like a newly ploughed field. So far this morning, he’d been called a dick and a weirdo in denial. And apparently, he needed to think about what he’d done. Quite a day of it, considering it wasn’t even eight-thirty.

33

GO, TEAM NETTA

Frank liked to jump in the shower straight after a run, but Colin had beaten him to it. It was yet another annoyance to add to his tally of annoyances that morning. He went up to his bedroom and did some stretches while he waited. Colin was still in the bathroom when he’d finished stretching, so he stripped down to his shorts and checked himself out in the mirror. Not that he was vain or anything but since starting this healthy lifestyle, he liked to keep track of the size of his paunch on a regular basis. It was definitely slimming down. When he’d been staying at Grace’s farm on that Scottish trip, he’d been painting on the beach when he saw Doogie out running. The sight of him moving like a gazelle across the sand had been enough to blast Frank’s confidence to pieces. Next to Doogie Chambers, he’d felt like one seriously fat old fuck. He still had a way to go before he was properly fit, but he was on the right path now. He’d liked to have said standing next to Doogie no longer made him feel like an inferior species, but he wasn’t quite there yet.

At last, Colin vacated the bathroom. Frank grabbed a clean towel and zipped in. He muttered a curse when he saw the empty shampoo bottle. Fucking Colin got through shampoo likenobody’s business. What the hell did he do with it? He went to the back of the cabinet for his secret stash of the special stuff he kept for when Netta stayed over and felt a twinge of regret stabbing his heart. He thought of last night, those gorgeous eyes of hers flashing at him, blue like a summer’s midnight and so angry, and wondered if she’d ever stay over again.

Colin was making coffee and toast. Frank poured some granola into a bowl, went to the fridge and did another silent curse when he pulled out the milk. That too was nearly all gone.

Colin gave him a guilty look. ‘I’ll go to the shops this morning and top up on supplies.’

‘Aren’t you supposed to be at the allotment?’

‘No, not today. Arthur has something on. I may go later on my own.’

‘Liza’s coming over around eleven to finish your portrait.’

Colin nodded.

‘You were late last night.’

‘Keeping tabs on me?’

‘No. I happened to be awake.’

‘Don’t worry I was staying out of trouble.’ The petulance of the man. You’d think he was fifteen not fifty-something. It would have come as no great surprise if he’d stormed off to his bedroom in a strop. As it was, he slugged down the coffee and made himself another one with the last of the milk.

Frank bit his tongue, picked up his breakfast and went outside to eat it in the sunshine before any more grievances could be added to the tally.

You might know the other bane of his current life was out there. Over in Netta’s garden, Doogie was walking up and down, talking on the phone, a cup of something hot in his other hand. Probably coffee. Doogie Chambers was making coffeewith Frank’s machine. The machine that Netta had bought specifically for him. There you go then. More fresh outrage. He just couldn’t get away from it.

Doogie finished his call and stood for a few minutes, staring into space. Then he walked up to Frank and sat down next to him. Frank noted he hadn’t asked if it was okay to do so. That tally was getting pretty long now.

‘You know, we should be working together.’ Doogie put his mug down on the table.

Frank couldn’t resist a sneaky look. As he suspected, it was coffee. Fecking cheek of the man. ‘In what respect?’

‘To get shot of that wanker. You do want to get rid of him, don’t you? I know I do.’

Colin let out a loud cough. ‘I’m only in here. I can actually hear you.’

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