‘Are you sure you don’t want to come stay with us?’ Andy offers while idly flicking through the local newspaper that lies on the worktop. He pushes it away and looks up, striking a casual pose by putting his hands in his pockets and leaning back with a half smile on his face ‘Or have you got parties planned while they’re away...or something a bit more....er...one on one?’

‘No I haven’t.’ Leonie glowers at him ‘And I’m fine on my own, so stop treating me like a baby.’

‘I’m not... me and Beth wanted to make sure that’s all. You know the invite’s always there, you’ve only got to say...anytime, not just when Mum and Dad aren’t here. Change of scenery sort of thing’

‘I don’t need a change of scenery’

‘Fine, I won’t ask again’ he throws his hands up, admitting defeat. ‘I told Mum I’d check on you and I am. She was worried, said you were in a funny mood before they went and I can see what she means. You taken your pills?’

‘For your information, I don’t have to take them now’ she snaps, squeezing between him and the table to get to the refrigerator.

‘Don’t you think you might need to go back on them for a little while? You’re a bit strung out’

‘I am not strung out!’ the door slams shut and she swings round with the handle of a carton of milk looped over her fingers.

‘Doesn’t sound much like it either’

’I am allowed to be in a bad mood you know, it doesn’t mean I’m going to do something stupid’ Leonie slops milk into a mug and slides it towards him, a trail of spilled coffee smeared in its wake. ‘You know where the sugar is’

‘Thanks’ Andy mutters sarcastically and tears a sheet of kitchen paper from the roll to mop the spill and dry the bottom of the mug. ‘It’s only that she cares, you know. She worries, likes to keep an eye on you without coming over as though she’s on the lookout all the time’

‘It’s not me she wants to keep an eye on!’ The rack of the dishwasher clatters back into place, her breakfast crockery loaded.

‘Meaning?’

‘Nothing.’ Her jaw sets rigidly as she tidies around the sink area.

‘This the same nothing that’s got you ratty?’ He sips from his mug, eyeing her while he crosses the room to stand next to her. ‘Come on, Lenny, you can tell me. I won’t say anything. Mum pissed you off?’

‘No, she hasn’t!’ she carries on cleaning, wiping the worktops down and purposely moving anti-clockwise away from him.

‘Dad, then?’ he turns and leans against the sink unit, watching her progress and waiting for her eventual arrival at the other side of him.

‘Will you just drink your coffee and go? I’m fine, okay?’ she dawdles over putting the sugar and coffee jar back in the cupboard and squirts a jet of cleaner on the laminate where they stood, rubbing furiously at a nonexistent stain.

‘You know you’re not supposed to bottle things up’

‘I don’t bottle things up. I go and see Mrs. Applewhite and we talk, alright?’

‘I know you do, Mum told me...and she said what a difference it’d made...but you haven’t talked to her about whatever’s bothering you now, have you?’

‘I can’t... I don’t want to talk about everything! She’s nice but there are some things I don’t really want her to know’

‘Then go and talk to somebody else. What about your counsellor?’

‘What about her? She’s bloody useless. That’s why I go and see Liz; she doesn’t ask stupid questions, she just listens and tells me what she thinks, she doesn’t make me feel stupid for not having the right answers.’

‘Anything I can help with?’

Leonie sighs and walks past him again to rinse the cloth at the tap and put the cleaner back under the sink.  ‘No, you can’t. ‘

‘Would you rather talk to Beth?’ Andy asks carefully. ‘You know...another woman?’

‘It’s nothing like that’ she scoffs ‘’Women’s problems’ I’d see a doctor about’

‘Oh...right’ he flushes and looks down at the floor. ‘I wondered...you know....if....’

‘I’m not pregnant, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’d have to have a boyfriend first!’

‘Then what....’ he leaves the question unasked and shrugs, concentrating on drinking his coffee.

‘It’s family stuff and that’s all I’m saying’ Leonie says reluctantly when he shows no sign of leaving.

‘I’ve done something?’ He watches an exasperated frown flicker over her face. ‘But that only leaves Dad’ he grins ‘So what’s he done that’s so bad?’ he asks and opens the dishwasher to put his mug in.

‘He’s cheating on Mum!’ Leonie blurts out, her face contorted by a mixture rage and hurt. ‘He’s whisked her off on this so called second honeymoon and she’s thinking he’s the dog’s bollocks when all the time he’s having it off with somebody else!’

‘Dad?’ Andy laughs out loud ‘Dad’s having an affair? Do me a favour’

‘I saw him! All smiles and slobbering all over her, I nearly threw up it was so pathetic!’

‘You sure it was him?’

‘I can recognise my own father, I’m not that dim. It was him’

‘I don’t believe it, not Dad. Dad wouldn’t have an affair, why would he?’

‘For the same reason any man would, they’d screw anything if they thought they could get away with it’

‘That’s a bit unfair’ he protests ‘If the noises coming from their bedroom were anything to go by when I was still at home, he’s not going short’

‘Don’t be so crude’ Leonie glares at him and looks away.

‘I was only saying! Where was this, where did you see him, if it was him?’

‘It was definitely Dad!’

‘Okay, fair enough. What are you going to do?’

‘She was gross’ Leonie ignores him and folds her arms, her face thunderous ‘really gross, all tight clothes and false eyelashes. Mum’s a lot prettier...but I don’t suppose that matters, he’s hardly going to be bothered what she looks like, is he? Nibbling her ear and slobbering down her neck, it was disgusting’

‘Where was this?’

‘In town!’ her voice rises ‘Right in the middle of town, I was walking past a shop and I saw them in there, all over each other like there was nobody watching! Anybody could’ve seen them’

‘So he wasn’t trying to hide anything’ Andy scratches his head ‘that’s something, I suppose’

‘Don’t you try and make excuses for him, I know what I saw’

‘So.....’ he repeats his earlier question ‘What are you going to do, tell Mum?’

‘I can’t Leonie bites her lip, her eyes filling ‘She’d be devastated, I wouldn't know how to tell her’

‘You want me to try and talk to Dad, find out what’s going on?’

‘You wouldn’t....hit him or anything, would you?’

‘Can’t promise you that, Len.’ Andy’s face grows serious, the muscles of his jaw tightening. ‘If he admits to playing away from home, I won’t be able to just stand there and take it. I’ll lose my rag. I’ll flatten him. If he hurts Mum, I’ll flatten him’

‘Then don’t say anything’ Leonie pleads and plucks at the sleeve of his jacket. ‘Don’t do it if you’re going to lose your temper. It’s not worth it, upsetting everybody and then nobody will be talking to each other, it’d be awful’

‘I can’t leave it now you’ve told me’

‘Can’t you just watch him, see where he goes?’

He laughs dryly ‘Yeah, right, I’ll book myself on the same flights when he goes off scouting for business. A) I can’t afford it and B) I think he might cotton on.’

‘I don’t mean when he goes abroad, she must be local because I saw them in town. I meant when he works late and things like that’

‘He does work late, he works late and I work late, we both have to when something needs doing. It’s mostly the sleeves rolled up getting dirty, no chance for the other sort, we work together ....and I’m not having any sort of affair, we don’t cover for each other’

‘Not all the time?’

Andy looks at her strangely ‘Oh...see what you mean...no, sometimes I go home and leave him to it.’  He pushes a hand through his hair, puffing his cheeks and exhaling a rush of air. ‘I’ll sort something....I won’t get mad at him, promise...but I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on. I can ask around while he’s not there. If you know, someone else is bound to know something.’ He puts one arm around her shoulder and pulls her into him ‘So stop worrying, yeah?’

‘I can’t help it, poor Mum’

Hill House, Boundary Road

Chapter Forty-three

Rose Cottage, Albans Lane

‘ Hartley’s have got Father Christmas’s grotto open next week, Jessie says with a hopeful glance at George ‘I noticed when I was in town’ 

‘Oh’ he grunts, his eyes glued to the television. ‘Yer went last year’

‘That doesn’t mean to say ...’

‘I’m not takin’ yer again an’ that’s a certain sure fact. Showed me up good an’ proper when yer went afore’ he points the remote control at the set and increases the volume.

Jessie returns to her knitting ‘You knew what I’d be like’ she mumbles, her head down and watching as her index finger flicks wool around the needle and more stitches are made

‘Yer what?’ he lowers the volume, holding the remote with his finger on the button to increase it again as soon as he hears her answer.

‘I said you knew what I’d be like’ she does not look up.

‘Yus, an’ I should a knowed better’ he sets the remote on the cushion beside him and folds his arms over his stomach to better concentrate on the programme, his legs stretched out and his feet crossing at the ankle as though to bring an end to the interruption.

‘Have you got anything planned?’ Jessie ventures when the advertisements sound loud and George rustles the newspaper to check he has the right channel for what he planned to watch next for his afternoon’s entertainment.

‘Nope’

‘Nothing?’ she says, laying her knitting down and getting up to stir the fire with the poker before setting another log in the glowing red embers of the one before.  ‘No special treat?’

‘We ain’t goin’ t’see no Father Christmas an’ that’s an end on it’

‘Any thoughts on what we’re going to do for Christmas Day?’ she lays the poker on the hearth, hiding her disappointment in a cheerful enquiry.

‘Jus’ the two on us, I reckon’ he says, pushing his reading glasses back to where they were perched on top of his head and unwrapping a fruit drop from the tin in the pocket of his cardigan. ‘Rowena’s off to ‘is mother’s this year.’ The sweet rattles from cheek to cheek between his dentures. ‘You want ‘un?’ he slurps, offering her the tin.

Jessie shakes her head and sits down again. ‘It’s early yet, somebody will invite us; they always do’

‘You can forget Graham’s lot if you mean t’go ‘head wi’that dang fool notion a yours...an’ the others might take umbrage an’ all! Very likely get passed over all the bloomin’ way round’

‘I knew you’d have to bring that up again. It’s every flipping chance you get, isn’t it?’

George says nothing, sucking noisily.

‘Isn’t it?’

He shrugs ‘Better get used to it, this is ‘ow it’ll be, jus’ you an’ me.’ His reply is matter of fact and succinct as he settles back in his chair as the theme tune begins for the next programme. ‘One thing ‘bout it...’ he says, musing with a contrived smile of satisfaction ‘Save spendin’ a lot on presents’

Jessie stabs both needles through the ball of wool and throws her knitting behind her as she stands up and stalks from the room.