The Good Neighbour (19 page)

Cath’s running shoes felt as though they were full of cement, and it was one of the hottest days of the year so far, with a heavy blue sky and squinting bright sunlight. But she managed the full 5K without stopping, along the seafront and back. It was slow, but it was there. Sweat pouring off her, she walked straight into one of the touristy Brighton rock shops, and rewarded herself with a can of Coke.

So, she was ready. Good work, Cathykins. She could run five kilometres, swim thirty lengths, and she could even cycle 20K, though she was glad she didn’t have to go near the bike till the actual day. Still, every cloud and all that: her tweets and blog about the bike accident had done wonders for sponsor pledges. She was up to more than £8,000 now. The most recent press release she’d written – ‘Plucky mum vows to compete despite crash’ – was coming out in the local paper today and should generate another wave of pledges.

Julia at Duchenne Together had rung to see how Cath was doing. She said, laughing, admiring almost, ‘Every triathlete needs a gimmick,’ then hastened to add that she obviously didn’t advocate being knocked off your bike. Bit literal, was Julia. But bless her, she’d linked Cath’s blog to the Duchenne Together Facebook page, which had thousands of friends who’d all shared it with their thousands of friends, plenty of whom had clicked to pledge.

When she walked down Sisley Street, Cath glanced at Minette’s house, expecting to see her and Tilly out on the bench in the sunshine, but there was no one there. Cath showered and made a sandwich. She was almost looking forward to hearing what Minette had to say; however bad, it would be a relief after the last three frustrating days. Gina hadn’t been able to find out anything about the night Minette stayed over. Davey had completely clammed up, the little whatsit, and Lola, as usual, knew sweet Fanny Adams. Cath didn’t trust Davey not to have done something daft. He was so keen to see his dad, he might forget their golden rule. Suppose Minette had let him talk to Andy on the phone? Cath’s head ached at the thought of it. She just had to find out if anything had happened, and try and win Minette back round. Or, failing that, decide what to do.

Cath hoped she hadn’t pushed Minette too far when she’d spoken to her from hospital. Hopefully she would understand that she’d been concussed, and not in her right mind. She remembered her saying as much at the time.

She’d tried again to ask Davey about it this morning. He wheeled himself into the kitchen, wearing his school uniform, a book in his hand. He went over to the cupboard where the cereal was kept, but Cath stood in front of it.

‘Before you get settled, I need to talk to you.’

He pushed himself over to the table, and opened his book.

‘Davey, can you put that away?’

He moved the book slightly out of reach, but she could see that he was still trying to read it. She snatched it up and put it in the bin.

‘Hey! That’s a school book,’ he said.

‘Tough.’

He treated her to his sceptical Andy face. She’d retrieve the book later but there was no need to tell him that. ‘Focus on me, please, Davey. The other night, did you remember our golden rule? What is it?’

‘Don’t tell anyone more than they need to know,’ he intoned.

‘That’s right. So, what did you tell Minette? Anything she didn’t need to know?’

He didn’t say anything.

‘Just tell me what happened, from the moment Minette collected you from school.’

‘Don’t remember.’

Stubborn little swine. ‘Davey, you
will
remember if,’ she searched round for something that was important to him, ‘if you want to have breakfast.’ She hated threatening, but honestly, it was blood out of a stone.

Davey glanced at the cupboard. He was always starving in the mornings. He took a deep breath. ‘Mrs Wallis stayed with me when you didn’t come. Then Minette came and I showed her the way to Busy Tigers. At Tilly’s house, me and Lola and Tilly had pasta and watched CBeebies and played rummy with Abe.’

‘Very good.’ Cath opened the cupboard so Davey could see the cereal. She moved the Shreddies, his favourite, to the front. ‘Then when did you go to our house?’

‘After tea. We had stories, then went to bed.’

‘Absolutely nothing else to tell me, Davey?’

‘Oh. The man next door came round.’

‘Abe?’

‘No, the other one.’

Oh, did he now? ‘Did you talk to him?’

‘I was already in bed.’

Cath could work out the rest of that herself. She took down the Shreddies. ‘OK. And then the next morning?’

‘I woke up at six thirty-three. Minette gave us breakfast,’ he said, looking meaningfully at the cereal, ‘then we took Lola to Busy Tigers, then Minette took me to school. Gina collected me. Then you came home.’

Cath saw she wouldn’t get any more. She had to hope that Davey was telling the truth. She kissed him and poured out a large bowl of cereal, which he started eating before she’d even put the milk in.

Now the kids were at school and Minette was fifteen minutes late. She said she’d be here at ten thirty. Every minute that passed made Cath feel more agitated. She unloaded the dishwasher, put the kettle on, and was just wondering if she ought to text again when there was a knock at the door. Minette was alone, looking flustered. ‘Sorry I’m late.’

‘Hey, don’t worry! Lovely to see you.’ Cath kissed Minette’s cheek. Minette let her but didn’t move towards her, or reciprocate. ‘Where’s my Tilly?’

‘Home with Abe.’

‘Well, I’m honoured you’re using precious child-free time to come see me.’

‘Mmm.’

This was going to take a bit of work. ‘Cup of tea?’

‘No, thanks.’

‘Or water? I need some. Rehydrating after my run.’

‘You’re still doing the triathlon?’

‘Of course! I’ve raised loads of money, local businesses are sponsoring me. I’m all over the Duchenne Together website. It’s not that bad anyway, I’m just a bit bruised.’

‘What happened?’

They sat at the kitchen table, opposite each other in their usual seats.

‘Someone in a parked car opened their door on me and I just came straight off the bike.’

Minette winced.

‘It might have been so much worse. I could have been run over but the car coming along stopped in time.’

‘Were you unconscious?’

‘Must have been. I remember turning into the London Road, then I don’t remember anything till I woke up in hospital.’ Cath wasn’t going to tell Minette – or anyone – how much more she could remember. She launched into her prepared speech. ‘I was so grateful to you for looking after the kids on Monday.’

‘Yeah?’ Minette laughed, shakily. ‘You could have fooled me.’

‘You’re angry with me. I’m so sorry.’

‘Are you surprised, Cath? You were so weird about the whole thing, and rude, actually.’

Oh, was I, actually?

‘The thing is, I was concussed,’ Cath said. ‘The nurse was cross with me for talking to you. I wasn’t supposed to ring anyone.’

‘Well, I wish you hadn’t. You really upset me. And Gina was just as bad.’

‘She’s a bull in a china shop sometimes.’

‘You both are.’

Minette wasn’t being quite as politely restrained as Cath had expected. Well, good for her. ‘I’m really sorry, Minette.’

Minette took a deep breath, before starting what Cath recognised as her own prepared speech. ‘You know, Cath, I thought I was doing you a favour by picking up the kids. And you clearly expected that I would, because you’d put my name down as a contact.’

‘I had to give two names, and we’d only just moved here and I didn’t know many people.’

‘Don’t you think you ought to have mentioned it? It came as a complete surprise.’

Cath leaned across the table and put her hand on Minette’s arm. ‘You’re right, I should have. It just slipped my mind. I know I keep saying I’m sorry, but I am. And another thing I’m sorry about is not giving you more background about me and Andy, before you got an ear-bashing from Gina. Can I tell you now? Being honest with you is the least I can do to make it up to you.’

Minette sat back in her chair and folded her arms. ‘Go on.’

Cath marshalled her thoughts, working out the best way to start. Well, the beginning, of course. ‘Gina and me go way back, you know. We were at school together in Eastbourne. I lived with her and her parents for a few years, after my mum died. Gina got married young, she didn’t pick well. This was years ago, I was in Birmingham and I didn’t see her that often. Then one time I dropped in unexpectedly and couldn’t believe the state of her. Bruises everywhere. Broken arm. Gave me all that walked-into-a-door crap, and I got her out of there, it weren’t pretty, but she got out. That man she married, well he’s dead now and he’s definitely not in the upstairs department, if you know what I mean.’

‘I’m sorry for Gina. But you were telling me about Andy?’

‘Sure I can’t do you a drink? I’m going to have one.’

‘No, thanks.’

Cath put the kettle on. ‘Gee and me, we made a pact that we would never stay with a man who laid a finger on us. And we’ve stuck to it. Well, she’s never been with another bastard, ’scuse my language. Not saying I like her boyfriends cos I don’t, usually. Ryan for instance, he …’

She thought she heard Minette sigh, and she moved on quickly. ‘Anyway, Andy and me had a good marriage, I thought. I’m skipping a lot here. I never thought he was the violent type, not at all. Then one night, back in, where we lived then, Troubletown …’

‘Harrogate?’

‘Yes. We had a massive row and he walloped me.’ Cath’s face darkened, thinking of it. ‘Have you ever been hit?’

‘No.’ Minette looked concerned, for the first time.

‘You can’t imagine what it’s like. The shock. No way as I saw it coming. One minute this man is your other half, you’re a team. The next you’re on the floor, your face hurts like buggery and he’s standing there, you don’t even recognise him.’

The kettle clicked and she stood up, poured water into a mug.

‘Actually, please could I have a cup, Cath?’

‘Of course.’ Thank god for that.

‘Gina told me he hit the children.’ Minette said it fast, like she wanted it out of her mouth.

Cath hesitated, weighing up how much to tell Minette. She’d spoken to Andy, after all, and who knew what he had said. She put the mugs down on the table. ‘He did love those kids very much.’

‘I sense a but.’

‘But Davey heard us fighting, came in, tried to stop us, got in the middle, and he got hit too.’ It was the truth, after all. Cath had hardly ever spoken about this, apart from to Gina, and briefly in an email to Verna. It was good to say it, hear the words out loud.

Minette looked like she might cry. ‘That’s just terrible. Poor, poor Davey.’

‘Next morning Andy had to go away for work, and while he was gone I took the kids, we came down south and stayed with Gee for a while. Some friends got out the furniture I needed, like Davey’s bed and that. Finally Andy sent through some money and we put the deposit down on this place.’

‘So you aren’t in contact with him anymore? Skyping him every week, that’s not true?’

‘No.’ Cath stared at her hands. ‘I shouldn’t have told you that. I was embarrassed. I haven’t spoken to him since we left. He pays the mortgage but he sends the money to Gina.’

‘And you’ve all changed your names?’

‘Andy told you a lot, didn’t he? What else did he say?’

‘I don’t know what to think, Cath. Half of what I thought I knew about you turns out not to be true, including your name. Your real name’s Ruby, isn’t it?’

‘Please don’t take it personally.’ Cath felt on the verge of tears. ‘I just don’t tell anyone what’s gone on with Andy. I’ve been so ashamed about it.’

‘You shouldn’t be ashamed if he was violent.’

‘I am, though, lovie. Everyone thought we were great together, that we had a perfect family. Even though we all know that there’s no such thing. All families have their secrets.’ She didn’t look at Minette when she said this. ‘Davey’s too young to understand any of this. I know that if I left him for five minutes with the internet he’d track Andy down, and he’d come after us. I have to lock the computer in my room.’

Minette remembered seeing the laptop when she’d gone into the room. She wanted to ask about the freezer, but didn’t want Cath to know she’d been in there. She asked instead, ‘So is that why he can’t use computers? It’s not anything to do with his muscular dystrophy?’

Cath shook her head, no.

Minette exhaled. ‘Heavens, Cath, this is a tangled web. You really ought to explain some of this to Davey.’

‘But you can’t tell a kid not to love his dad, can you? Even if that dad is bad for him.’

Minette sipped her tea. ‘Cath, there’s one more thing I need to talk to you about.’

‘Sounds ominous.’ Cath smiled, her heart pounding. Here it came.

‘When I was looking after the children, I saw Davey walking.’

‘Oh yes, well of course, he can walk a tiny bit. You know that, right? If he has to get out of his wheelchair and into a chair that’s not right next to it, he can do a few steps.’ Cath wasn’t entirely unprepared for this. From the moment Minette had insisted on staying over, Cath knew there was the possibility of her seeing things she wouldn’t understand. She felt the familiar groundswell of anxiety begin, making her breathless, and she told it to lie down.
Not now
. But she knew you couldn’t make anxiety go away just by wishing it. Gina’s mum understood that. She suffered a little from anxiety herself.

‘This didn’t seem like a few steps. It looked like proper walking.’

Slow down the breaths, Fay used to say. Make sure you exhale all the air. That’s it. That’s what I do to get my breathing back. Then I tell myself, I’ll deal with this in just a minute. Hold it in till I’m on my own, in a safe place, then I let the feelings come out. That way, I don’t say or do anything I might regret.

Cath forced herself to slow down her out-breath. ‘Well, Minette, it wasn’t proper walking. He has muscular dystrophy. He was wobbly on his feet, wasn’t he?’

‘Yes, but …’

‘In a year or so he won’t even be able to do those couple of steps.’

‘Cath, he said …’