Page 50 of Loving Netta Wilde

‘In a park. On my way back to Netta’s.’

‘How’s it going with Liza’s dad and everything?’

‘Sort of okay, I think. Julie and Clive were asking about you this morning.’

‘I’ll message them later. I’ll be there in a few days, so I’ll see you all then.’

‘You haven’t told your mum I’m here, have you?’

‘No. Oh shit, she’s coming. I better go. Laters.’

Doogie caught a glimpse of Claire in the background, seconds before Merrie cut the call but she probably didn’t see him. He didn’t like asking Merrie to keep secrets from her, but he knew Claire too well. If she found out he was here, she’d go apeshit.

The thing about Claire was that she was very loyal and protective towards the people she loved. She’d been Netta’s friend before she’d been his. They’d only really become close after she’d fallen out with Netta over Colin the Wanker. For a couple of years they were more than friends, but it wasn’t until they’d agreed to split and had a final shag for old times’ sake that they accidentally made a baby together. It was around the same time that Netta had turned up in Manchester again. He hadn’tknown he was about to become a father until after Netta had walked out on him. He hadn’t known that he almost became a father for the second time until years later when Claire and Netta reconnected. So now the two women were best mates again and Claire’s protection radar was on high alert. She also knew everything about him and Netta. So, if it came out that he was here, along with the wanker and Frank she’d be on his case for making a bad situation worse.

With bad situations still on his mind, he called Grace. She answered quickly. That was good. ‘I’m in the middle of something, what is it?’ Okay that wasn’t so good.

‘Nothing. Just realised we hadn’t spoken for a while.’

‘Uh huh, and?’

‘How are you?’

‘Busy. Too busy for small talk. Are you still in Birmingham?’

‘Yeah. Merrie’s coming up later in the week.’

‘And is that the only reason you’re still there?’

‘No.’

‘Don’t call me unless it’s to say you’re coming home. Then we can talk.’

On the way back to Netta’s, Doogie had a message alert on his phone. He was hoping it was from Grace, although he knew that was pretty much an impossibility after their call. If Grace was mad at you, she was mad at you until you gave her a reason to stop, and saying he wasn’t coming back wasn’t the reason she was waiting for. He’d always liked that about her, that certainty. He’d never had it, which is probably why he managed to fuck up every relationship he’d ever had. You’d have thought he’d have learned by now, but here he was, still making the same old mistakes.

He pulled up at Netta’s and checked his phone. As he’d guessed, it wasn’t from Grace. It was from Merrie:

Mum knows. Netta already told her.

Shit, of course she did. What kind of a dickhead was he not to realise Netta would have been speaking to her? He tapped out a message back:

How angry is she, on a scale of one to ten?

I’d say twenty. I tried to explain why you were there but you know what she’s like.

Netta’s dad pulled up behind him. Doogie still found it strange calling him Arthur. He’d always been Mr Wilde when he’d visited before. He’d only been a kid back then though. If things had worked out with him and Netta, they’d have eventually progressed to the stage where it was natural to call him Arthur. Maybe they’d be so far along the scale of familiarity that he might even be calling him Dad. That would have been the stuff of his dreams at one time. Except none of that happened, thanks to his own stupidity. And now Doogie was back here, trying to behave like there hadn’t been a gap of more than thirty years since the days when he thought Mr Wilde was probably the best dad in the world, and trying to act like he didn’t still hold the man in awe.

Doogie and Arthur got out of their cars at the same time. Colin the Wanker took longer to drag his arse off Arthur’s passenger seat. He smiled at Doogie. For some reason, he seemed to have got it into his head that they were friends. Doogie didn’t return the smile but that didn’t stop the wanker from talking to him: ‘I’ve been up at the allotment. Done a bit more digging.’

‘Right.’

‘Yeah, it’s really starting to take shape now.’ The wanker looked down at the ground.

‘Great.’ Doogie turned to Arthur. ‘I can’t come tomorrow. I’ve got something on.’

Colin the Wanker looked like he wasn’t too unhappy about that. ‘Is it work?’

‘Not exactly.’ Now it was Doogie’s turn to look away, except he was more for looking over a person’s shoulder than shoegazing.

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