Page 91 of Loving Netta Wilde

Doogie held the gate open for Priscilla and noticed for the first time that its hinges were loose. ‘I’ll sort that out for you next time I come.’

She patted his arm. ‘God bless you. You’re a good boy.’

He smiled to himself. It had been a long time since he’d been a boy, and even longer since he’d been blessed.

She opened the front door and made straight for the kitchen. ‘I’ll make us some tea.’

‘I can’t stay.’

‘You got somewhere to be?’

‘Yeah, I have actually. My friend’s coming over.’

‘Is she the one?’

Doogie frowned. ‘The one?’

‘The one who broke your heart.’

He leaned against a cupboard, winded. He’d said nothing to Priscilla about broken hearts, or Netta, or Claire. Or about Grace either. ‘She’s the mother of my daughter.’

‘Did I ask you that?’ Priscilla was giving him the steely stare now. She was sending him a message which basically translated meant cut the crap, I can see right through you.

‘No. She didn’t break my heart. I think I may have broken hers though.’

‘Them bad choices?’

He nodded, too ashamed to look at her. ‘Yes.’

‘And the woman who broke your heart, is she a friend as well?’

‘Yeah. I’m staying with her at the moment.’

‘You still have feelings for her?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘You got no one else back up in Scotland?’

‘Yeah, I’ve got someone. Her name’s Grace. She wants to get married.’

‘And what about you?’

Doogie shrugged. ‘Like I said, it’s complicated.’

Priscilla sent a puff of air shooting out through her lips. ‘You’re even more of a damn fool than I thought you were. No, it is not complicated. You either want this friend who broke your heart, or you want Grace. Or you want to be on your own. You make a choice. Just make it a good one that you can live with for the rest of your life.’

Doogie had spent the drive to Netta’s thinking about choices. Priscilla was right and it wasn’t really that complicated at all. It was just a matter of three simple choices. All he needed to do was decide which was the good one. The right one.

Merrie, Liza and Claire were in the garden. He couldn’t see Netta. Merrie jumped up and gave him a hug. ‘How’d it go with Priscilla?’

‘Good. She nearly ripped my head off for suggesting Samuel might have been a compartmentaliser, but I think she’d forgotten it by the time we reached hers.’

He caught Claire’s attention which wasn’t tricky since the mention of compartmentalising had attracted her interest. ‘Can I have a word?’

She went with him into the living room and folded her arms. ‘What?’ Maybe she thought he was going to have a go at her for pointing out his faults to Merrie.

‘This is going to sound stupid but go with it, okay?’

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