Page 78 of Loving Netta Wilde

‘How?’ She had visions of him putting his head through it.

‘Threw a stone, I think. I was upstairs. I saw him tear the sweatshirt up though. I don’t think he was thinking straight. He was in a bad way.’

‘It’s Will’s. Was it genuine, d’you think? You never can tell with Colin.’

‘It was genuine. It wasn’t something you could put on.’

‘That bad then?’

‘Yeah.’

She carried on making the tea that she didn’t really need or want. ‘So, Clive’s lovely.’

‘Yeah, he’s okay.’

Okay? Yeah, right. Doogie the hard man was fooling no one. There was definitely a serious stepdad crush going on there. The big softie. ‘He’s nothing like your dad.’

‘No, he’s not.’ He ran his finger along the back of a chair, caught her watching him and stopped. ‘I really wasn’t here to get your permission. That’s not what this was about. I promise.’

‘Okay. Can we talk about it another time? When Colin’s not having a nervous breakdown.’

‘Sure. I just wanted you to know.’

She opened the door to let the dogs in from the garden. Spike loped in first. ‘Spike’s back.’

‘Yeah. I need to tell you something. There’s a chance, a slim chance, Betty might be having Spike’s babies.’

Netta closed her eyes and let out a long, weary sigh. ‘Oh you’re just full of fucking surprises, aren’t you?’

44

THERE WOULD ALWAYS BE LOOKS

Frank had wanted to rush over as soon as he saw Netta return with Liza, but he’d stopped himself. Doogie had everything under control, and he’d only be hanging around like a spare part.

He’d been out looking for Colin that morning when Liza’s message came through that he was back. He’d come straight home, expecting Colin to be there. But of course he wasn’t. Just as he’d been about to panic, Doogie was at the door. He’d left Colin with his stepdad. A doctor, apparently. When Frank heard what had happened, he was shocked. Colin must have been in an awful state. Probably for weeks. You didn’t just explode like that on a whim. At that moment, a small cloud of guilt had deposited itself in Frank’s psyche. He should have seen it coming. He should have been on the alert, but he’d been too busy with his own infantile jealousy. He’d been given one job, to look after Colin, and he’d failed miserably. He was one first class, self-absorbed dickhead.

Doogie’s mum and stepdad had left a while ago and Fred was scratching at the back door. Frank let him out, followed him into the garden, and carried on through to Netta’s kitchen. She was in there on her own.

‘How is he?’ he said.

‘Sparked out. Clive gave him something to help him sleep.’

‘I wanted to come over earlier, but I thought you’d a houseful already. I didn’t want to get in the way.’

She took his hand. ‘You’ll never be in the way. Don’t ever think you’ll be in the way.’

He was about to kiss her, but Liza was suddenly in the doorway, her face full of angst. She threw herself on him. He let go of Netta’s hand and put his arms around her. ‘It’s all right, darling girl. Everything’s going to be all right.’

‘I don’t know how it can be,’ she sobbed.

Doogie was next to come in. He stood behind Liza completing the circle around her.

‘We’re going to make it be,’ said Frank. ‘We’re going to put him back together. All of us.’

Doogie nodded. ‘We have to help him get back into his house, but he’s not strong enough for that yet. He needs building up. He needs to get his head straight.’

‘You’re both right,’ said Netta. ‘But we can’t do this on our own. We’ll have to call in the big guns.’

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