Page 76 of Loving Netta Wilde

‘It was.’

‘She does that to you.’

This time he grinned. ‘She so fucking does. What did you burn of hers then?’

Colin picked up his tea. A tear plopped into it. Ridiculous bloody emotions. ‘Nothing. What I did was much worse.’

‘I know.’

‘You broke my heart, the two of you.’

‘You broke mine twice. The first time she chose you and the second when she went back to you, so it looks like we’re even. Although technically, I guess you owe me one.’

Oh. Colin had never thought about it like that. He’d only ever looked at it from his side. ‘Have you come to take her away?’

There was that grin again. The one that told him he was an idiot and a wanker. ‘She doesn’t want me, Colin. She doesn’t want you either, so don’t be getting ideas. It’s Frank she loves now.’

‘Frank’s a nice guy.’

‘Yeah. Bastard.’ He caught Colin’s eye and winked.

‘No, I think that might be me actually. I think I’m a bastard.’

Chambers stood up. ‘Finish the tea. You need to take a shower and clean your teeth. You look and smell like shit. Then you need to get some rest. When you’re better, we’re gonna make a plan.’

‘To do what?’

‘To sort out your existential crisis.’

The whole of Colin’s body sighed. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. Chambers was his mortal enemy, not his saviour. He wanted to cry again. ‘Why are you being so kind?’

Chambers shrugged. ‘Because even bastards deserve to be pitied sometimes.’

43

THE SERIOUS STEPDAD CRUSH

Netta was at the foodbank, helping out in the job club they’d set up not long after she’d first started volunteering here. Back then, she used to give interview advice, but it had been so long since she’d had one of those sorts of jobs that she was out of touch. These days, she left that to the volunteers who came in from her old firm and she stuck to form filling and helping people find the right outfits to borrow for their interviews.

She was just finishing off taking someone’s details when Neil signalled to her that she was needed. She let someone else take over and went over to see what the problem was.

‘Liza’s here,’ he said. ‘She’s upset. Fliss has taken her over to a quiet room in the church.’

She speed-walked over to the church that the foodbank was attached to, cursing herself for putting off that heart to heart talk she’d been meaning to have. What kind of a crap mother was she?

The door to the quiet room had been left open and she could see Liza and Fliss, the vicar’s wife, talking. Liza looked like she’d been crying. Netta crouched down by her side. ‘What’s happened?’

‘It’s Dad. I’ve had it with him. I’m just so fucking angry.’ She gave Fliss a sheepish look. ‘Sorry for swearing in church.’

Fliss assured her it wasn’t a problem and left them alone. Netta sat down in the vacated chair and held her daughter’s hand. ‘He’s turned up then?’

Liza nodded. ‘He looks so bad. I think he’s been sleeping rough and drinking. We had a fight. He was being his usual self and not taking responsibility for his actions, and I just lost it. I ripped him apart. I told him Will despised him and I hated him, and he was evil and a shit dad.’

‘Oh my poor sweet girl, it’s okay.’

Liza sniffed back a sob. ‘The thing is though, Mum. He looked really, really upset when I left him. But I was just so mad.’

‘He’ll be all right. We’ll sort it.’

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