3 Heads & a Tail (42 page)

“
Dav
id! This is too much information!
”

“
Sorry, I mean that she passed out on my bed. She was really drunk.
I offered her a beer, but s
he
wanted
a
cup of tea. I made one, but w
hen I got to my room she was
totally
out of it. Absolutely nothing happened –
at all
. And I think she only
let me kiss her that one
time
'
cos I caught her off guard. That
'
s the truth. I
'
m not her type.
She even told me.
”

“
So why did you tell me that you two were seeing each other?
”
asked Ben.

“
I dunno.
I was a shit,
I
'
m sorry. Like I said, I
'
ve been thinking
, a lot
.
Maybe
I said it because I
'
m
not
used to women not being interested
or I was being competitive
,
”
said David.
“
M
aybe it was my pride. Not sure.
But I
'
m sorry, mate.
”

“
That
'
s a crap thing to do
,
”
said Ben.

“
I know. I was acting a wanker
.
”

“
It sounds like.
But
,
what do yo
u mean about being competitive?
And
why are you telling me
now
?
”
asked Ben.

“
You dim
wit, I
'
m telling you
'
cos I know tha
t you like her... yeah... you!
I know you liked her when
she
moved in and I had a feeling that she liked you.
I
'
m used to all the girls
liking me, like that Kay
. So I gu
ess I was competing with you, sort of. I
'
m out of excuses for myself. I acted wrong
. I
'
ve been really selfish.
I
'
ve been treating you like crap. And I had to tell you now. I can
'
t change what I did, but I
'
m trying to make things right.
”

Ben was
stunned. So David knew? He thought he
'
d hidden
it
well. Would Josie know
, too? No, he hadn
'
t
given her
any
clue
s at all that he liked her, n
ot since they went to the pub. Why was
he so slow? David was so fast and he had
noticed more than Ben thought. He
'
d noticed what Ben had pushed to the back of his mind.

“
Ok
ay, y
ou win. I did like her. W
ell I guess I do like her
still
, b
ut I
'
m pretty sure she wouldn
'
t be interested. And
,
yeah
, I
do
sort of
want to
kill you
, but you just saved my dog
'
s life
,
so I
'
m
going to
have to let you off! I
'
m glad you realise you
'
ve been acting like an arse though. I was thinking of moving out.
”

“
Oh
,
”
mumbled
David, frowning.

“
Look
,
it
'
s
cool. I got over
Josie when I met
Ayla
. You
'
re quicker than me. I
'
m too slow with women.
But I
'
m g
lad you
'
re not her type! Ha!
”

“
Right
, you can laugh,
”
said David.
“
I was worried you
'
d be mad. And I
'
m
really
sorry about the
dog
business. I needed the money. I
owed a guy, b
ut it
'
s sorted now.
”

“
How
'
s it sorted?
”

“
He read the paper –
I
'
m a national hero!
”

Be
n laughed.

“
So
, are
we cool
now?
”
asked David.

“
Yeah, we
'
re cool.
I
'
ll just have to
wait until your leg heals to kill you
!
”

“
Come on H
op-along, we
'
re getting you out for some fresh air,
”
yelled Josie.
“
You haven
'
t been out of the house! You
'
re gonna stick to the settee!
”

“
Yeah, yeah,
”
called David from the lounge. He had been kipping on the sofa because it was just too awkward to try to get up to the hatch on
his
cr
utches. A couple of mornings he ha
d woken up to find Glen
watching
him. He figured they
'
d turned a corner – their dog/man relati
onship
was definitely improving
.
Glen no longer growled at him and
even let him pat him on the
head, b
ut there was still no hugging. There were limits
,
after all.

Ben grabbed the lead from the hook by the door and turned to call
Glen
, but he was already there, wagging his tail like it was going to spin off and smack someone in the head.

“
W
alkies?
”
asked Ben, and
the
tail
revved up
like
the
revolving blades on a helicopter.

“
Quit teasing
him
,
”
said Josie
, patting the dog
.
“
You can see
how much
he wants to go.
”

“
Mr Hot Date,
”
joked David, staggered
on his crutches
. There was a big bandage on his
thigh
, but it was getting much better. He didn
'
t grimace
as
much lately.

“
I thought Mr Hot Date was you!
”
laughed Josie.
“
What with that sexy police officer you
'
re
dating!
”

“
Well
,
you know how I like handcuffs!
”
joked David
, winking
.

“
God, I
'
d forg
otten about that,
”
said Josie.
“
How e
mbarrassing!
”

“
You were embarrassed? Imagine how I felt!
”

“
So, h
ow is our landlady?
”
asked Josie, between giggles
.

Ben grinned.

“
She
'
s fine,
”
said David.
“
But I told
her I have a regular girlfriend now,
or rather I
'
m
trying to make her regular. S
he visited me twice a day in the hospital.
Karen
'
s
amazing so
I
think
I best be a good boy. The landlady is
fine
about it.
”

“
Does her hu
sband know?
”
asked Josie. She
'
d
wanted to ask that question for a while
.

“
She doesn
'
t have one,
”
revealed
David.
“
She was married
once
, but she
'
s divorced
,
and he wasn
'
t a gre
at husband by the sound of it.
Her kids sound
nice though.
”

“
Oh,
so you weren
'
t the
evil
home wrecker that we thought!
”
said Ben.

“
Y
ou
all
thought she was married
?
Now
your reaction makes sense.
”

“
I thought you were getting free rent!
”
said Josie, laughing.

“
Nah,
”
replied
Da
vid.
“
I just got a discount!
Sorry!
A
nd she was interesting to talk to. She
'
s really
intelligent with l
ots of stories.
”

“
I don
'
t wanna know about the cowboy stuff!
”
laughed Josie.

“
I
'
m not telling you!
”

“
So, what
'
s
Karen
like
?
”
asked Ben
, seriously
.

David
'
s eyes lit up.
“
She
'
s great.
A regular girlfriend would be
a
new thing for me.
But
, like I told
you
in the hospital,
being shot in the leg gives you a whole new perspective on things. I
'
ve been doing a lot of thinking
about life and the way I
'
ve been
living it
.
”

“
Not too much I hope,
”
said
Josie
,
“
as it
might give you a headache.
”

“
Nah, but I realise I
'
ve been an arse lately.
”

Glen whined.

“
Someone
'
s getting impatient
,
”
said Ben
.
With that,
he
clicked the dog
'
s
lead
on
and all four of them left the house
.

The sun
blazed a stream of yellow across the windows
of
the houses
on the
opposite
side of the street
.
Birds tweeted from the trees, the air smelt fresh and t
he
colourful
flowers gleamed in the summer sun. Perfect, thought Josie
,
as they walked down the pavement.