Page 64 of Marley
“How could you? How fucking could you?”she screamed, still fighting to get away from Maca and my brother.
“That’s enough, Georgia.”My dad shouted, but it didn’t slow her down.
Georgia must’ve been all of seven stone soaking wet, but the anger that propelled her forward scared the crap out of me. Bailey and Maca struggled to hold onto her.
My dad looked at my sister like she’d finally lost the plot and in that moment, I knew she wasn’t far from it. The last time I’d seen her that angry was when she’d ripped a handful of Haley Whites hair out at a concert we did at the back of a pub about five or six years ago.
“Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” My dad asked again.
“Did you know? Were you part of it?” G turned her anger towards my dad, but I knew that he was clueless as to what had happened.
“No.” My mum shouted in his defence.
“Part of what, George? I ain’t got a Scooby what you’re on about, love.”
“Did you keep Sean’s calls and letters hidden away from me? Did you pack them all in a box and send them back to him with a note, supposedly from me, saying ‘Do not contact me again?’” Georgia took in a few shaky breaths. She wiped her tears and her nose on the back of her hand and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she better not let mum catch her doing that.
“Did you tell everyone that I’d been to Marley’s, and that I tried to smash my way in? Did you? Or was it just your lying, deceitful, spiteful wife?” George spat out.
“Bern?” My dad stares wide-eyed at my mum, as shocked as the rest of us at what he was hearing.
“It wasn’t like that.” My mum finally looked up at my sister. “At first I wanted you to get back with him ... I wanted the two of you back together. But you were so broken, George, and you needed time. I couldn’t let you talk to him. Whatever you may think now, you just weren’t strong enough. And in the beginning, you refused point blank to have anything to do with him anyway.”
Len topped up the glasses of everyone that was drinking bourbon. George took Maca’s glass from him and downed the contents.
“I’m your mum, George, it’s my job to keep you safe.” She had a pleading edge to her voice. She wanted my sister to try and see things from her point of view. I knew my sister well enough to know that she wouldn’t.Icouldn’t, so why would she?
“You’d only sent a few letters when I decided to let you talk to her on the phone. I was gonna wait until you were back on tour. I thought the distance would keep her safe.” She told Maca.
Her shoulders sagged and she closed her eyes for a long moment, shaking her head no.
“Then one day, while George was at school doing the last of her exams, a girl knocks on the door. I had no idea who she was.” She said it like she was ashamed, like she should’ve known who the girl was, before looking down into her lap again. The whole room was silent as we watched my mum stare at her perfectly manicured nails.
“Anyway, it was you she wanted to talk to, George. She said that she needed you to know that Sean had been two-timing you for years with her. She claimed that he had only stayed with you because he was worried about being kicked out of the band if it ever came out, but now that the band was making it big, he’d planned on leaving you anyway and thattheywere going to make a new life together.”
Maca was shaking his head ... I was shaking my head.
“Na, no way,” Len said.
“What girl? Who was she?” Maca questioned my mum.
“Sean.” My mum said his name, using a sort of exasperated tone. The way she used to say our names when she was about done with our bad behaviour. I found it a bit condescending. Maca wasn’t a kid. He was a grown arsed bloke who’d been treated like shit, by her.
“You’d just broken my daughter’s heart into a million pieces. You weren’t exactly my favourite person at that time. I didn’t ... I just believed what she told me. I didn’t check her story out with Marley, Len, or Jimmie because I was scared of causing trouble with the band. Everything was just taking off for you, so I simply stayed quiet.”
Jimmie looked at me, her eyes wide. ‘No way,’ she mouthed while shaking her head, but I didn’t know what it was she was getting at.
“You seemed to be getting a little better at handling the break up, George, and I didn’t want Sean’s letters setting you back, so I set up a post office box and had all your post delivered there. I thought that they’d stop coming eventually, or at least slow down, but they didn’t. They just kept coming; letters, cards, parcels.”
“That’s because I fucking loved her. I missed her. I’ve never stopped, not for a single moment.” Maca snaps out at her. She just looks back down into her lap again.
Georgia appears to be in a trance, oblivious now to what’s being said.
“In the end, I packed everything into a box and sent it all back to Sean with a note, supposedly from you, George, saying please don’t contact me again.”
Georgia’s eyes slowly looked up to meet my mums, and I thought for a moment that she was gonna launch herself at her again. Her stare was hard, angry, and cold. I felt more than a little guilty that I didn’t actually feel bad that she was looking at her that way.
“I didn’t hear from the girl again until you boys converted the old warehouse and moved in together.”
