Page 49 of Six Steps to Happiness
“Sorry?”
“You heard me.”
Nick opened his mouth to speak, but Ronnie wouldn’t let him.
“And if you ever step inside my house again, in fact, if you so much as look at Charlie, or me… Let’s say, up until now, you’ve only had a taste of what I’m capable of.”
Nick let out a burst of mock laughter. “So, you’re threatening us, are you?”
Ronnie glared in response, a steely determination in her eyes. “Like I said, get out.”
Nick sneered. “I was going anyway.”
Ronnie scoffed as he turned to leave. She knew his scorn was an act of bravado, that underneath it all, the man was a coward. Were he not, he wouldn’t have left their marriage in the way he had. He’d have gone before he’d found another woman to climb into bed with.
“Oh,” Nick said, before disappearing down the hall altogether. “Seeing as this is your house, you’ll have no problem covering its running costs as of today, will you? Enjoy your evening.”
Ronnie couldn’t believe he still thought he had the upper hand. As if she’d be silent for the sake of a few pounds every month. She didn’t care about his money; she’d manage without it. She’d have to.
She crouched down to give Charlie a hug, his adorable expression enough to make her heart melt. His tail wagged, letting Ronnie know that everything was well in his world again, enough to make Ronnie give him another embrace.
Rising to her feet, Ronnie felt a compulsion to purge herself of her ex-husband and his new woman once and for all, and she knew exactly how to do it. But with Bea, Willow and Jack due round, she couldn’t just disappear. She headed for a kitchen drawer, pulling out a notepad and pen.Sorry, she wrote, at the same time checking the kitchen clock. She put the pen back down, realising she didn’t need to leave a note. She could be there and back before her recital guests arrived.
“You stay here, boy,” she said to the dog and grabbing her car keys, made her way outside.
36
Ronnie’s car began to putter. “Please,” she said to the vehicle. “Don’t let me down now.” With not far to go before she reached the viaduct, Ronnie knew she’d pushed its engine to the limits. Instead of getting it to the garage, she’d ignored its problems and driven the car anyway, something she was beginning to regret. The vehicle emitted a final cough, before cutting out completely. “No,” Ronnie said, using the last of its momentum to steer it to the side of the road. “Don’t do this to me.”
With the car at a standstill, she switched off the ignition, waited a few seconds, then turned the key again. The engine spluttered, doing its best to turn over. However, it refused to start, forcing Ronnie to repeat the procedure over and over until in the end there was nothing. She slumped forward, letting her head drop onto the steering wheel. Out of all the times her car could have broken down, why did it have to be then?
Ronnie straightened herself back up and snatching the keys from the ignition barrel, got out of the car. “You’ll simply have to walk the rest of the way.” She kicked the vehicle’s front wheel and, refusing to even think about the cost involved, imagined the hassle she’d have to go through getting it towed to a garage.
Setting off up the road, Ronnie almost tripped. She cursed under her breath as she looked down at her kitten heels, wishing she’d swapped them for something more suited to the countryside before leaving the house. With no choice but to carry them, she slipped them off as an oncoming car slowed in its approach. Its driver gawped at her, clearly wondering why a barefoot woman in a posh frock was traipsing around in the middle of nowhere. Ronnie gave him an acerbic smile as he passed, tempted to put her tongue out at the man. “Not curious enough to stop and ask if I need assistance,” she said as, just like him, she continued on her way.
She took in the fields of sheep as she walked, admired the limestone rocks dotted around and breathed in the fresh air. Marching along, it felt good to get away from Holme Lea Avenue for a while, if a little strange for not having Charlie by her side. She wondered why she hadn’t thought to bring him with her. No doubt he could have done with some time out as well after Nick’s outburst.
Finally, with its twenty-four arches and magnificent stonework, the viaduct came into view, standing proud against the landscape. Ronnie picked up pace as she turned off the road and onto the gravel path that led towards it, soon forced to hobble, thanks to the jagged stones and pebbles pressing into the soles of her feet.
“You really didn’t think this through,” she told herself as she scrambled up the grass banking until she, at last, reached the old rail track. She began following the ancient train line that made its way across the hundred-and-fifty-year-old bridge, only coming to a stop once she’d reached the viaduct’s halfway point. She cautiously approached the wall that kept her from falling the thirty-two meters it would take to hit the ground, taking a deep breath, ready to soak up the long-distance view.
Standing there in the quiet, Ronnie felt a sense of freedom. She looked first left and then right, pleased to see there wasn’t another living soul around. She smiled, knowing she could say what she wanted, in the way that she wanted, and equally as important, without judgement. She could curse and scream and holler to her heart’s content and every word would be carried away on the wind. No-one would know.
She felt a breeze around her ears as she reflected on what had led her to that bridge, knowing she wasn’t there simply because of Nick’s latest tantrum, but because of everything that had happened in the months prior.
Thoughts about Nick’s relationship with Gaye swarmed around Ronnie’s head. She still couldn’t understand why they refused to start over somewhere new and she pictured them as they mocked her, the abandoned wife, for wanting them to. She felt her resentment rise as she considered the way Nick deemed he had a right to barge into number six whenever he felt like it, insulting not only her, but Charlie, thanks to the yellow Lab’s sweet disfigured face. Whatever Nick thought of Ronnie, that dog, her loving faithful friend, didn’t deserve any of it.
Ronnie felt equally annoyed with herself and readily contemplated her own actions.Operation Poltergeistmight have seemed like her last hope, but she had to admit how daft she’d been for coming up with the idea, let alone for thinking she’d get away with it. It was childish and because of it, she’d hurt the two people she cared about most in the world, Willow and Bea. Not that she was letting the two of them off scot-free.
Instead of talking to her about their concerns, they’d sulked and felt sorry for themselves. They’d more or less ignored Ronnie those last couple of weeks, which they had to know would hurt her as much as she’d hurt them. An image of Mr Wright popped into her head, and Ronnie’s stomach turned at the thought of his moist lips and sinister smile.Poor Mrs Wright, Ronnie thought. Why did the woman stay with that man?
As she tried to get her head around everything that had happened since Nick had left, Ronnie felt her anger simmer then boil. Feeling the urge to get it all out, she climbed onto the wall in front of her and, oblivious to the drop, unmindful of her fear of heights, began screaming into the void. She shouted profanities at Nick and Gaye, for their affair, for the man her ex had turned into, and their refusal to do the decent thing. Ronnie cursed her elderly neighbour for being a blackmailer and a pervert, for thinking Ronnie was a soft touch who could be manipulated. She swore at herself for not being the bigger woman and for not dealing with things better. Even Pete the hairdresser got a blaspheme for transforming her into Rod Stewart, as did the two teenagers who’d turned her into an overnight Internet sensation. Ronnie spewed out her frustrations over everything and everyone, at the same time wondering how she’d survived intact, a question that only made her scream some more.
Ronnie felt purging herself of such rage liberating; she felt euphoric as if the real world around her didn’t exist. She continued to shout and swear as she threw her arms high into the air and turned her gaze skyward. She paused, suddenly silent, her eyes narrowing as she found herself staring at a helicopter hovering directly above.
“Ronnie!” a voice shouted from somewhere to her right.
She let her arms drop, before turning to see who was calling her. “Jack?” she said, confused. “What are you doing here?” She looked behind him and, spotting a handful of uniformed police officers, wondered what was going on.
