Page 21 of Loving Netta Wilde

14

USURPED BY THE NEMESIS AND HIS DOG

Shit and double shit. This was the stuff of nightmares. Frank’s worst nightmares. Doogie Chambers was here and Frank, like an idiot of the highest order, was pretending this was the only time they’d met. But what else was he supposed to do? He hadn’t told Netta yet that his road trip had taken him to the place where Doogie lived. He should have told her at the time, but it had been too excruciating to admit that he’d been so low in confidence he’d taken to stalking her ex-lover. Although it wasn’t really stalking. It hadn’t even been his idea to go there. His brother and cousin had suggested it because it was a great location. They were unaware of its significance and Frank had just gone along with it. He’d planned to tell Netta when he was feeling so good about himself that he could shake off the shame, and he’d been so close. Just another couple of weeks and he’d have got there. But then Colin Grey happened, Doogie Chambers had come back to haunt him, and Netta was going to find out from someone else. Because Frank was sure Doogie recognised him. He just wasn’t saying so. Yet.

His face was beginning to ache from all the smiling. It was funny how it didn’t hurt so much when you actually meant it. ‘Right, well, I’ve some stuff to do. I’ll leave you two to catch up.’

‘Okay. Will you be over later for dinner?’ said Netta.

‘Not sure yet. We had a big lunch.’ For some reason Frank’s hand had taken to patting his stomach. ‘Can I let you know?’

Netta’s lovely forehead wrinkled. ‘Sure. I’ll speak to you later then.’

‘Yeah. For sure. Well, I’ll be… Good to meet you, Doogie.’ Had he already said that? He thought he probably had. What an eejit. He extricated himself with as much dignity as he could dredge up, which wasn’t much.

Fred took another sniff at Doogie’s dog, Spike, but he was batted out of the way by Betty. He let out a surprised yelp and sloped away with Frank. Back inside the house, they caught each other’s eye. Fred’s crestfallen expression said it all. They’d been usurped.

Frank gave the dog’s ear a scratch. ‘Don’t let it get to you, fella.’ He reminded himself that he was new man Frank now and maybe he should take his own advice. ‘Will we go for a walk and a pint?’

Fred’s head immediately took on a more jaunty stance. He’d said the magic word. Walk, not pint. The pint was for Frank’s benefit. They set off for the park, neither of them looking back. After chasing a few sticks, Fred seemed to have recovered his joie de vivre. Frank might have done so too if something hadn’t just occurred to him. Doogie had brought his dog with him. That must mean he wasn’t rushing back up to Scotland any time soon.

A long walk and a couple of pints at his favourite pub, the Hope and Anchor, had sorted him. Frank suspected that the beer had played a large part in the sorting. Tomorrow, he’d probably findthat the feeling of being sorted was an elastic one. In the days to come, there was every possibility it would be stretched to the point of snapping. But for today he was back to being new man Frank, embracing whatever life threw at him. So what if the man he suspected was the love of Netta’s life was staying with her? So what if her other ex, Colin Grey, that snake of a man, was living with him? Frank was chilled. Netta loved him. She’d told him that numerous times. And yes, Colin might be a sneaky, slimy, manipulative bastard, but Frank could handle him.

He checked the time. Colin would probably be back by now. Arthur had been taking him to the allotment regularly. Frank didn’t know if it was helping Colin, but it did have the advantage of tiring him out. He’d been here five days and every night, as soon as he finished his dinner, he was away up to bed. That suited Frank. Most days he was over at Netta’s but on the occasions he was in his own home, he didn’t want to share his space with a person like that. Although to be fair, Frank hadn’t seen much evidence of anything other than a man who’d lost everything, including his self-respect. The bruising had cleared up though. Netta mentioned that Colin had tripped on the stairs or something which seemed an odd thing for a reasonably healthy and fit man to do, unless he was plastered. Anyway, Frank had seen him in his underpants the other day and the bruises were pretty much gone. It had been a rainy allotment day and Colin had slipped in some mud. As soon as he got in he took off he stripped down to his underpants in the hall, so’s not to make a mess and Frank was treated to the almost-full body experience. It wasn’t the prettiest sight. But then, who was he to talk?

The strangest thing about Colin was his lack of interest in painting. From what Frank knew about him, he was always the one for spouting on about how important his art was to him. Admittedly, that information had mostly come from Netta witha bit thrown in from Liza, but you’d have thought that he would have, at least once, picked up a brush and had a dabble. It wasn’t as if the offer to use the studio hadn’t been made several times over, but it was like the room was a no-go zone. Not once, to Frank’s knowledge, had Colin entered it.

He unclipped Fred’s lead as they walked down his path. Once inside, he listened for signs of life, but the house sounded empty. He called out Colin’s name. Nothing. Frank checked his messages. Netta had sent him one earlier saying they were having a barbecue, if he was interested. He’d sent back some lame excuse about being busy and giving her and Doogie some time together. She hadn’t replied. He was beginning to think he’d upset her again.

From the kitchen window, he could see the barbecue was in full flow. Doogie Chambers was in the middle of it all, lapping up the attention.

He heard the front door open and close. Colin walked in from the hall. ‘I thought you’d be next door.’

Frank turned to walk away. ‘It’s been a long day. I fancied a night off.’

‘Looks like you’re missing out on a party.’ Colin peered through the window. ‘Is that?—?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh for fuck’s sake.’ Colin turned, pushed past him, and went back out through the front door.

15

COLIN, THE MAN WITH A PLAN

For fuck’s sake. Colin was at the limit of his endurance here. The limit! And now this. Doogie Chambers! Doogie fucking Chambers. She was rubbing his nose in it, the bitch. The absolute, out-and-out bitch. His arms pumped. His heart pumped. Everything about him was pumped. Colin was one pumping, throbbing mass of indignation, stomping down the street at near Olympian speed. He had nowhere to go but he couldn’t have stayed there watching them having fun at his expense. If he had a car, he’d just get in it and drive, but there was no car, because Arianne had stolen that too. So there was nothing else to do but walk. He could have taken a bus, but Colin didn’t do buses. He had his limits.

Before long he found he’d arrived at the allotments. He didn’t know why he’d ended up here. It wasn’t exactly a place of comfort, more one of daily endurance. And for what? In the vain hope his daughter might acknowledge his effort? She had not. In the even vainer hope that his son might recognise how much he’d been humbled? He had not. No one had made the slightest effort to say anything positive, except for Clyde, and that wasonly that his digging had improved. Still, he was here now, and someone had left the gate unlocked.

The place was nearly empty. Just a few diehards left. Everyone else had gone home for their dinner. Colin kept his head down and followed the path towards the thicket hedge. He shouldn’t be here really. Not without Arthur, his geriatric minder.

‘Back so soon?’

Colin looked up and saw the woman who’d come to get Arthur on that first day. What was her name now? Ursula, that was it. ‘Can’t keep away.’ He said it with a little laugh, keeping it light-hearted so she didn’t guess he was here without permission, and kept walking before she asked where Arthur was.

Once he got through the hedge, he relaxed a little. They hadn’t cut it back yet so he was invisible on this side. They’d left the chairs outside the shed earlier. He took one of them, his body still jittery with the shock of seeing Doogie Chambers, the man who’d ruined his life.

The first ever time Netta had spoken to Colin, he couldn’t believe his luck. He’d been a nerdy accountancy student then and she’d been the girl all the guys wanted, the kind that floated around campus unaware that half the male population of Manchester University were having fantasies about her. When he saw her at a party, he already knew more than he should about her but he hadn’t even registered on her scale. She was too much in love, really madly in love, with the one and only Doogie Chambers. As luck would have it, she’d had a big bust up with him that night and, even though he knew she looked down on him, Colin grabbed his chance and clung to it by his fingernails. Her friends hated him, her parents hated him, but he didn’t care, because he loved Netta Wilde so much, nothing else mattered.

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