Page 41 of Loving Netta Wilde

‘Well this time I mean it. And tell him I don’t appreciate him threatening me on my own doorstep either, and nor does Byron.’

‘Don’t you meanhisown doorstep?’ said Netta.

‘No, I do not. Leave the chutney, Byron. We’re going.’

They watched Arianne storm off, dragging Byron behind her. Netta rubbed Will’s arm. ‘You put the wind up them with that legal speak. Well done you.’

‘It was all bluff. I mean, I’m not actually a lawyer. Just someone who’s studied law.’

‘I think you got away with it. It was very good of you to stand up for your dad like that.’

‘I don’t like to see people taken advantage of. I don’t buy that domestic abuse line either. I guess you do though?’

‘I don’t know. I want to think he’s changed but, you know.’

‘I get it, and I understand why you think it’s a possibility. But from what I saw when I was living there, I’d say it’s more likely to be the other way round. And I’ve seen Dad a couple of times this week from a distance. He looks terrible. Can you imagine him threatening Arianne and that guy?’

Of course, it had been a good while since Will had spent any time with Colin and Arianne so he could be mistaken, but Netta remembered Liza had said pretty much the same thing. Perhaps there was something in it. ‘Not really. But something has justoccurred to me. I wonder if he went there on Tuesday night. That’s when he got his black eye, according to Grandad’s friend, Ursula.’

‘You think Byron might have hit him? Do you believe in karma?’

‘No. Do you?’

‘Nah. Although, I guess some people might think Dad deserves it.’

A few names immediately sprung to mind. Not hers though. ‘No one deserves to be treated like that. Not even your dad.’

When Neil came to take over, Will went into town to meet Belle and do some shopping for their impending holiday. Netta took a slightly circuitous route home via Colin’s road and a brief stop outside his house. It had been just over two weeks since she’d been here last, and she was curious to see if anything had changed. The only obvious difference were some purple voile curtains covering the lounge windows. Colin would be horrified if he saw them. Perhaps he already had.

Frank pulled up in his car just as she arrived home. They hadn’t spoken since Thursday evening. Not even a message had crossed between them. That wasn’t normal.

He took some tins of paint from the boot of his car. She took a food shop out of hers. They met in the middle of both cars.

‘You’re decorating again,’ she said, unable to think of anything better.

‘Yep. The small bedroom this time. Working my way up to the bigger rooms.’

‘Good plan.’ She wanted to invite him in for coffee or even to invite herself over to his but for once in the entire time she’d known him, there was a barrier that she didn’t know how to cross. It might have helped if she knew what the barrier was orwhy it was there, but she could only speculate on both of those things because the barrier wasn’t hers. It was his.

‘I’d better get these in.’ He smiled but it wasn’t Frank’s smile. Someone had snatched her Frank away and left this silly, proud idiot in his place.

‘Are you coming over to dinner tonight?’

‘I thought I’d stay in with Colin. Got to do my bit to help with his recovery.’

‘Right. Okay. See you tomorrow morning then.’

‘Sure.’

She let herself into her empty house and put her shopping away. Then she poured a glass of chilled wine, put her feet up in the garden with her phone and started a ranting message trail with her old friend Claire. She would have called her, but she didn’t want to be overheard by whoever was in Frank’s house.

Her message rant concluded, and her wine finished, she fetched herself another glass and put her feet back up. If Frank wanted to be an arse, let him be one. She had better things to do than worry about him. She was a woman with options. All kinds of options. According to Will anyway.

25

TWO OLD DRUNKS

Frank knew he was behaving like a first-class eejit, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Last night, he’d vowed to sort out this ridiculous mess with Netta. On Wednesday night, he’d been angry that she could accuse him of so many things in the space of a few sentences. Truth was that he was still annoyed, but it had gone too far. People were beginning to notice. Liza, in her own inimitable way, had asked him yesterday what was up. Naturally, he didn’t tell her but it did make him realise it was time to grow up, take the moral high ground and all that. Although that last bit didn’t sound particularly grown up, now that he thought about it.

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