Out of Step (27 page)

‘But is he all right?’

‘Well, he wouldn’t be in hospital if he wasn’t pretty poorly, would he? These last three days have been a nightmare. You have no idea!’

‘But… when did this begin?’

‘Oh, we came in on Thursday. I’ve had to stay here the
whole time. I haven’t even been able to get a change of clo –’

‘Thursday?
But, where’s Rosie?’

‘Oh, she’s all right. Don’t you worry.’

‘Don’t worry?
Why the hell didn’t you tell me this at once?’

‘I’m not going to speak to you at all if you’re going to bully me,’ Cassie said in a tiny voice. ‘You should be more considerate after all I’ve been through.’

‘Sod that!’ Rob cried furiously. ‘You’ve no right…’ He stopped himself with difficulty. ‘Where is he? I want to see him.’

‘Got to go,’ Cassie said. ‘The money’s running …’ The line went dead.

Rob dialled 192 for Boxcombe Hospital’s number, and finally got through to the ward and asked how Joshua Hayhoe was.

‘I’m his father,’ he said. ‘I’ve only just heard.’

‘Josh is fine,’ a cheerful nurse said, ‘much better. I expect he’ll be fit to go home in a day or so.’

‘So, is it glandular fever?’

‘Oh no, just acute tonsillitis. He does love his ice cream, doesn’t he?’

‘I’ll come in and see him,’ Rob decided.

‘That’s nice. We’ll see you soon, then.’

Rob put the receiver down with a flood of relief. ‘Bitch!’ he said. Then he went upstairs to tell Nell.

‘Where’ve you been?’ Anna asked. ‘I haven’t seen you for over a week.’

‘I had sickness and diarrhoea,’ Nell said. ‘So coming swimming wouldn’t have been very public-spirited of me.’

‘Oh, you got it too, did you? Apparently there’s a tummy bug going round Boxcombe, but luckily I haven’t caught it yet. Did Rob look after you?’ She leant against
the side of the swimming pool and pushed the hair out of her eyes.

‘Yes, he did,’ Nell paused beside her. ‘Well, at first, that is.’

‘Then he got fed up with it?’

‘Oh, no. Then Josh was in hospital, so he had to keep going to see him.’

‘Oh, and of course if it’s a contest, the kids always come first?’

‘Well, naturally.’ Nell hadn’t expected anything else, but felt obliged to defend him. ‘Rob was very upset. The Mad Cow’s been treating him abominably. She didn’t even tell him Josh was ill, and then when he wanted Rosie to come and stay with us, she told him she was at Mic’s but wouldn’t give him Mic’s new address. I don’t understand how she can be like that.’

‘Oh I do.’ Anna laughed shortly. ‘They just want to get their own back on us, any way they can.’

In your situation, yes, Nell thought. I can well understand that. But we’ve got two kinds of quasi-stepmother here, haven’t we – one like you, who’s stolen someone else’s husband: and the other like me, who’s simply stepped in to pick up the pieces. The two cases are not comparable. But she didn’t point this out to Anna.

‘Cassie seems to want to mess us about as much as possible,’ she said instead. ‘She’s got some crazy idea that I’m trying to suborn her children and take her place as their mother, when in fact nothing could be further from my mind! The upshot is that she won’t let them stay overnight at the cottage now, so Rob has to keep taking them home and collecting them again next morning. It’s a ridiculous waste of time and energy.’

‘Well, at least you get rid of them.’

‘Yes, but it’s so disruptive. They get no chance to settle in and adapt to us and to our different ways of doing things.’

‘I expect that’s the idea. Have you got to have them at Easter?’

‘For a week, yes.’

‘Paul’s having his too, on the houseboat after he’s been with me for a week on our own – bliss! – Erm … Elly’s probably told you she’s going back to London for a fortnight.’

Nell nodded.

‘It’s like bloody musical chairs. She’s not bad-looking, is she?’

‘You’ve met Elly?’

‘Only in passing when Paul was collecting the boys. Not for long enough to make an informed judgment.’ Anna pushed her hair back again, and held her hands on her head for a while. It looked like a deliberate gesture, to Nell, and then she realised why. On the third finger of her left hand was a thin gold wedding ring. Nell frowned.

‘Good, isn’t it?’ Anna said, smiling proudly and holding her hand out for Nell to examine.

‘Did Paul buy it for you?’

‘Yes, we went and chose it together. And then I simply had to wear it straight away. Didn’t see any point in waiting.’

‘But he isn’t divorced yet?’

‘No, but as soon as he is, we’re getting married. He proposed last week. That’s why I was so impatient to see you.’

‘But I thought…’ Nell hesitated. ‘Why?’

‘He wants to make sure of me,’ Anna said contentedly. ‘He’s always afraid I’ll go off with someone my own age. D’you know what he said?’

‘What?’

‘That I’m the sexiest woman he’s ever had!’

‘Congratulations,’ Nell said mechanically.

‘And he says he’s fed up with urban squalor, so he’s
going to move permanently to the country and live half his life on
Polypeptide
. He even talks of sailing round the world!’

‘But what about you?’

‘Oh, I’ll go too, of course. It’ll be the trip of a lifetime.’

‘No, I mean, what do you think about getting married? I thought you were dead against it.’

‘Whatever gave you that idea? I think it’s great.’

‘But I thought you said …’

‘It’s like this,’ Anna explained, ‘I’ve been discovering recently that I really need the status of marriage. If it were just him and me on our own, it would be fine the way it is, but the moment his boys are around, I seem to be demoted into being a kind of optional extra; you know what I mean – dependent upon their every whim. But when I’m his
wife
I’ll have equal call on him, won’t I, maybe even priority?’

‘Well, I doubt that …’ Nell began, but found she couldn’t go on. She felt sick, not food-poisoning sort of sick, but queasy and a little faint.

‘What’s the matter?’ Anna asked. ‘You look rather pale.’

‘I’m OK,’ Nell said. ‘It’s time I got out though.’

But as she stood under a warm shower shampooing her hair, she still felt odd, and wondered if this was perhaps what was meant by the phrase ‘sick with jealousy’.

‘I don’t understand Josh,’ Nell confided to Elly over the phone on 10th April. ‘We sang “Happy Birthday” to him and he got all embarrassed and cross as though we’d been getting at him or calling him names!’

‘Poor child,’ Elly said. ‘He must be very insecure.’

‘And he keeps on twitching his shoulders about. I don’t think he even realises he’s doing it.’

‘Nervous tic?’

‘Yes, I suppose so.’

‘What a shame. He’s obviously in a state. Have you got them for long?’

‘Just this week, but days only.’

‘Ah well,’ Elly said, ‘so it looks as though we’ll both be childless again next week. We must phone regularly and console each other.’

This is silly, Nell thought uncomfortably. Elly’s making me feel as though Anna of all people understands me better than she does, and she’s my oldest friend! ‘Mmm,’ she said.

‘So, what’s the gossip from the pool?’

‘Anna’s wearing a ring,’ Nell reported carefully.

‘A curtain ring? A makes-your-finger-green ring, or a proper one?’

‘Looked like gold to me, but it wasn’t an engagement ring.’ Nell wasn’t sure why she said that.

‘Ah well, that’s all right then. One doesn’t want to feel instantly replaceable, does one? Not that I really understand what Paul sees in her anyway. Tell me, Nell, what do you think is her big attraction?’

‘Well, she’s got nice auburn hair … but I gather it’s mostly sex.’

‘Oh that’s a relief,’ Elly said.

‘Why?’

‘I was afraid you were going to say brains!’

Nell laughed. ‘You sound good,’ she said. ‘Is life getting better?’

‘You could say so. Three things: one – both my boys have told me independently that they want to live with me, not Paul. Two – I’ve been promised some good freelance design work again, and three – Hat is firmly on my side; says Paul is acting just like his father did before their divorce. So I’ve got lots of support. I even feel quite sorry for Paul and whatshername.’

‘Why?’

‘Because if it’s just sex it won’t survive for long. I know
Paul. He’ll get jaded. He’s fine in short bursts, but he hasn’t got the stamina. That reminds me, have I ever told you my sure-fire way of telling whether a bloke’s good in bed or not – before you get there, that is?’

‘No, but I sense you’re about to.’

‘You want to look for a good belly laugh. Even if a man is quiet and shy, if he’s uninhibited when he laughs, then I guarantee he’ll be a performer!’

Nell was silent. Rob didn’t exactly guffaw, but she didn’t think that proved anything.

‘Nell? You still there?’

‘Yes, sorry, I was miles away.’

‘Anyway, time I went. Happy Easter and have fun with the little ones. Are you giving Josh a birthday party?’

‘Not this year. He’s fine, but Cassie doesn’t want him exposed to any germs.’
Thank goodness!

‘Oh, that’s a shame. Must go. See you in a week or so.’

‘Bye,’ Nell said.

‘Why can’t Mum and you and me and Rosie and Nell all live in the same house?’ Josh asked from the back of the Land Rover as Rob was driving him and Rosie to Bottom Cottage on the third morning of the Easter holiday. ‘It’d save all this travelling.’

Rob smiled wryly. ‘I don’t think that would work out,’ he said. ‘We wouldn’t all get on.’

‘But Rosie and me don’t get on anyway.’

‘Rosie and I,’ Rob corrected him.

‘Yeth we do!’

‘No we
don’t.’

‘OK, OK,’ Rob said, ‘that’s enough.’

‘What’s for lunch?’ Josh asked.

‘I’m not sure. Something delicious, I expect.’

‘Delithuth,’ Rosie said. ‘Delithuth, delithuth, delithuth, del… OW!’

‘Stop it, Josh,’ Rob said, without turning his head.

‘I’m bored.’

‘Well, after lunch you can help me plant potatoes. We could get some peas in too.’

‘An’ me, an’ me,’ Rosie insisted.

‘Yes of course, you too.’

Nell came to meet them at the door as they arrived. ‘Cassie rang,’ she said. She looked cross. ‘She told me to give you a message – although why she couldn’t have said it to your face while you were there I don’t know. Apparently she’s going to London for a few days. Mic isn’t working over Easter, so the children are to stay here, nights and all, until the sixteenth.’

‘Excellent!’ Rob said. ‘Good news. There you are then, Josh, less travelling at a stroke.’

Nell felt exhausted. Was it just having the children, or something more profound? She was glad the day was over, and ready for bed.

‘Well, that’s that,’ Rob said, coming downstairs. ‘They’ve both gone off soundly. I don’t know why Cassie has such trouble; they always sleep well enough here.’

‘Until six o’clock if we’re lucky, yes,’ Nell yawned.

‘I always used to wake at crack of dawn when I was their age,’ Rob said.

‘Is that supposed to be encouraging?’

‘Fancy a coffee?’

‘No thanks. I’ve gone right off it for some reason. Rob?’

‘Mmm?’

‘Where are you sleeping tonight?’

‘I don’t know. I hadn’t thought.’

‘Will you sleep with me?’

‘I thought you didn’t want the children to know?’

‘Well, now that your decree absolute’s arrived, I’ve changed my mind.’ It was something that Nell remembered Anna had said about status. It had touched a nerve, and now she found she wanted her relationship
with Rob to be properly acknowledged. She was determined not to feel like a bit on the side.

‘I don’t see why not,’ Rob said.

‘You don’t think it will upset them?’

‘Why should it? I’ll bribe Josh tomorrow with the promise of my grown-up bed. Then Rosie can sleep on the top bunk and they’ll both be happy.’

Next morning Nell was dragged unwillingly from the depths of sleep by Josh, bouncing on their bed and calling to his father.

‘Dad!
Dad!
Why are you in here? I want you to sleep in
my
room. Dad!
Dad!’
Nell looked blearily at the clock. It was only half-past five.

‘Go back to bed,’ she said to him. ‘It’s much too early.’

He ignored her and pulled the duvet off Rob, who sat up, blinking. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘You’re in the wrong bed!’ Josh accused him.

‘Well … things change,’ Rob said, gathering his wits with obvious difficulty.

‘But I don’t want them to!’

‘Look, Josh, you remember I used to sleep in the big bed with Mummy?’

‘Yes.’

‘Now I’ve decided to sleep in this bed with Nell.’

‘So … is Nell a mummy now?’

‘No,’ Nell said quickly. ‘Cassie is still your mum, but Daddy and I are… special friends.’

‘Cassie and I have decided we don’t want to be married to each other any more,’ Rob explained. ‘So we’ve got divorced.’

‘But we’ll all still look after you,’ Nell put in, feeling that this was too bald a statement, and sitting up as well. ‘It’s not your fault at all.’

‘So whose is it?’ Josh looked belligerent.

‘Mine and Cassie’s,’ Rob said. ‘We’re not nice to each other, in fact we make each other very unhappy, so it
seems sensible to live in different places.’

‘But if you sleep in her bed,’ Josh said, pointing scornfully at Nell, ‘and my mum has to sleep all by herself, it’s not fair!’

‘Cassie will probably find herself a new man soon,’ Nell said consolingly.

‘No she won’t!’
Josh cried passionately. He turned his back on Nell, sitting on Rob’s lap. ‘Why can’t you sleep in my room, then Rosie can sleep with her,’ he protested to his father. ‘I think men ought to be together and girls ought to be somewhere else.’

‘It doesn’t work like that when you’re grown up,’ Rob explained smiling. ‘Men and women like to be together.’

‘Well, I don’t like it.’

‘I’m sorry about that, Josh. Look, it’s far too early in the day to be having important conversations like this. I’ll take you back to bed, yes? And we can continue it when it’s proper morning.’