Tough Love (19 page)

‘Give me strength,' Jodie muttered.

‘What's up wi' you?' Brian asked, switching to accusatory-psycho mode.

‘Nothing's up with me, Brian. I just hope to God that one day, very soon, I won't have to hear “Down at the Old Bull and Bush” again.'

‘You know what's up wi' young uns like you, these days?'

‘We're not as pissed as you?'

‘Oi, mouth! I could have you sacked,' Brian said, pushing his big red head across the bar in Jodie's direction.

Jodie took the empty pint glass from him. ‘Yeah, you've got a lot of sway round these parts.'

‘I bloody have!' Brian said, jumping up off his stool. ‘Too right. Where's Val?'

Jodie looked at her watch. It was a quarter past two. ‘She's not back till four, so you'll have to wait for her to sack me then.' By which time you'll be on your back under a table and will have forgotten this conversation, she thought.

‘Val knows a good tune when she hears one, not like you, you bloody upstart. “We're on the one road, singing the one song, we're on the road to God knows where …”' He was off again.

‘Hear, hear to that,' Jodie said wryly.

‘See? You liked that one,' Brian said, breaking off briefly, then launching into another.

Jodie popped his glass into the dishwasher and looked round the bar. There was an old couple in the corner. He was hunched over a pint of mild and a Sudoku book and she was sipping a Gold Label and staring into space. If that's me in fifty years' time, Jodie thought, then someone please shoot me.

She wiped down the bar as Brian continued to sing. When the door opened, she glanced up to see which exciting daytime clientele were darkening her doors. It was Leanne. ‘Save me!' Jodie shouted.

Brian stopped singing and Leanne laughed. ‘Well, as you mention saving you …'

‘What?' Jodie threw down the cloth. ‘Tell me!'

‘Victoria wants to meet you.'

Jodie's jaw hit the drip trays. ‘Oh, my God! Get me out of here!' she squealed. She was so excited that she vaulted the bar and flung her arms round her sister.

‘Bloody hell! Chill your boots!' Brian said, but Jodie continued to scream with excitement.

Leanne hugged her back. When Jodie pulled away from her, Brian was leering at them. ‘Now, that's what I'm talking about!' he said, as if he was impersonating Sammy Davis Jr. ‘Bit of hot girl-on-girl action.'

‘Right!' Jodie said, in stand-in landlady mode. ‘You, out.'

Brian was about to protest but then, seeing she meant business, thought better of it. He lurched off his stool and headed for the door. ‘I'm going to tell Val,' he said.

‘Oh, boo-hoo!' Jodie sneered as he huffed his way out. ‘Come on, then – tell me what'll happen,' she squeaked to Leanne, as the door closed behind him.

‘Well, we'll go to London and you can meet the page-three people and they'll get some professional shots of you done. If they like what they see they'll give you a page-three slot. Then they have to attract public interest so they might pit you against two other girls and do one of those daft high-street-honey things. I think that would work in your favour. You've got a great personality.'

‘You mean I'm mouthy?' Jodie asked.

‘Call it what you want. Anyway, I can't wait for them to see you. I think they'll snap you up.'

Jodie was thrilled to the marrow. She didn't usually have good luck – she didn't usually have any luck. She worked in the crappy Beacon, lived with her wayward mother and generally just got on with it. Things like this didn't happen to people like her.

‘My only advice is to be polite to everyone, no matter what. No one likes a diva.'

‘Oh, yeah, and I'm
such
a diva,' Jodie said sarcastically.

‘I'll book the train tickets. Will you be able to get time off work?'

Jodie arched an eyebrow. ‘No, probably not. I'll have to stay here and look after George and Mildred in the corner. Duh! I'll be there with bloody knobs on.'

‘Great,' Leanne said. ‘I'll call later when I've arranged times.' She gave Jodie a quick kiss and disappeared.

Jodie's world had changed totally, but the Sudoku man was still ignoring his staring-into-space wife – Jodie wanted to go over and push her to find out if she was stuffed. She peered out of the window. There weren't hordes of marauding punters battling their way up the hill to the Beacon. She could pop to the loo for five minutes.

The toilets at the Beacon were a real treat. Years
ago Val had stopped bothering about the graffiti and, strangely, this had led to some interesting, thoughtful reflections rather than the usual ‘Baz was 'ere, 04'. Jodie gazed into the mirror. Her nose always seemed out of proportion to the rest of her face. She turned sideways and ran a hand over her non-existent stomach, then ran into a cubicle and stuffed her fingers down her throat. She threw up her breakfast, which, as ever, had been an apple.

Jodie threw up every day. And she never ate more than twelve hundred calories in twenty-four hours. But some days she found herself throwing up more than others and she knew that today would be one of them. When she did it, she felt elated. It was the one small thing in her life that she had firmly under her control.

She turned back to the mirror, stuck out her belly and stroked it. Once more, she thought, and went back into the toilet. She shoved her fingers down her throat, but this time nothing happened. Jodie was empty. She felt pleased with herself. She washed her hands and went back to the bar. She knew she wouldn't make herself sick for ever. One day she'd start eating healthily, she was sure, but she didn't have time for all that at the moment.

She often made herself little promises about not throwing up and becoming healthy one day. That way she didn't have to acknowledge the shame that crept in after the elation every time she did it.

*

Leanne had finished work and was sitting on a park bench as Kia fed the ducks. Suddenly she realised that Tony was walking towards her. She waved awkwardly. She knew he was nervous. He had seen Kia only briefly at Markie's wedding and had told Leanne he wanted to make a really good impression on her little girl.

‘Kia, come here, darling,' Leanne said. ‘I've got a friend I'd like you to meet.' The little girl left the ducks and climbed on the bench beside her.

‘Hi,' Tony said, sitting down with them.

‘This is Tony.'

‘Hi, Tony,' Kia said.

‘Hi, Kia. How are you?'

‘I'm good. I'm feeding the ducks.'

‘Want some help?' Tony asked.

‘Have you brought any bread?' Kia asked.

Tony produced a plastic bag from his back pocket. ‘Never go anywhere without it.'

‘Good. Because birds really like it and people forget that sometimes,' Kia told him.

‘Bird woman of Alcatraz.' Leanne laughed.

‘What does that mean?' Kia asked.

‘It means you know a lot about birds,' Tony said.

‘Come on, Tony,' Kia said, ‘and I'll show you what to do.'

Tony winked at Leanne and walked with Kia to
the water's edge. He crouched so that he was at the same height as Kia, then began to rip pieces off a stale loaf and throw them into the water. When all of his bread and Kia's was gone, they came back to Leanne.

‘He's good at feeding ducks, Mummy.'

‘Is he?' Leanne ruffled her daughter's hair. ‘Well, that's good. Shall we go and get an ice-cream?'

‘Yeeees!'

Leanne and Tony stood up and the three set off for the ice-cream van, Kia running ahead.

‘She's a sweet little girl,' Tony remarked.

‘She is,' Leanne agreed. Since Lisa Leighton had reared her not-so-ugly head, Leanne had thought more about Jay and the role he didn't play in his daughter's life. It wasn't that she wanted him there. It was just that he was always in the papers or on the TV. There was no escape from him. Most women who were foolish enough to fall for a married man's chat and end up pregnant didn't have to face him on a weekly basis once they had decided never to see him again, but Jay was everywhere.

Over the past few weeks Leanne had wondered whether it was a good idea to introduce Kia to Tony. She knew how aware Kia was that other people had a daddy and she didn't, but she didn't want Tony to become a father figure to her only for him to disappear out of her life as quickly as he had entered it.
But she and Tony had been getting on so well that she had run out of reasons not to let him meet her. And from the early signs she was glad now that she had. It would do Kia good to see her mum with a man. She was too used to having Leanne to herself.

Tony approached the ice-cream van and put out his hand for Kia to hold. She took it. Leanne was amazed – her daughter was usually standoffish with new people. All those don't-talk-to-strangers lectures had made an impact on her, but she was relaxed with Tony.

‘What do you fancy, Kia?' he asked.

‘Strawberry ice-cream, please.'

Tony ordered three then handed one to Kia, one to Leanne, keeping the last for himself. ‘Want some raspberry syrup?'

‘Yes, please!' Kia carolled.

Tony squirted on far too much, and Leanne raised an eyebrow.

‘More! More!' Kia squealed. ‘I think that's probably enough,' Tony said, and handed the bottle back to the ice-cream man.

‘Your teeth will fall out,' Leanne said, with mock-reproach. ‘And what do you say?'

‘Thank you, Tony.'

‘No problem.'

As Kia concentrated on her ice-cream, Tony said, ‘I bought these because I'm celebrating.'

‘What?' Leanne asked, eager to know.

‘I've got a job.'

‘Oh, that's great news.' She was genuinely pleased for him. After he and Markie had fallen out, Tony had found that no one in Bradington would employ him as a doorman because they knew Markie would have something to say about it.

‘Yeah. I'm working for a construction firm in Manchester, heading up their security.'

‘Congratulations!'

‘Well, it's a lot of sitting around and dealing with jobsworths but I don't mind. It's money, and that's all I'm bothered about.'

Leanne threw her arms round his neck and kissed his cheek.

Kia screwed up her face, looking more than a little perplexed. ‘What are you doing, Mummy? Is Tony your boyfriend?'

Leanne glanced at Tony, then back at her daughter. ‘Yes, I think he is,' she said, smiling. Just then a flash went off beside her and she whirled round. A photographer with a long-range lens was snapping pictures of them as he straddled his moped.

Tony marched over to him, but Leanne shouted, ‘Leave it, Tony. They're not worth it.'

‘What's your problem, mate?' Tony growled.

‘Only doing my job,' the photographer replied.

‘Well, why don't you piss off and do it somewhere else?' Tony suggested menacingly. Leanne grabbed Kia and walked away.

The photographer bypassed Tony and drove in front of Leanne, still snapping.

Tony ran after him but this time it was Leanne who lost the plot. ‘What the hell do you think you're doing?' she asked, pointing a finger at the man. ‘I'm trying to have a walk in the park. Is that against the law?'

‘No.' The paparazzo snapped away.

‘Leave. Us. Alone!' Leanne yelled. He kept taking pictures. Kia dropped her ice-cream and burst into tears. ‘Now look what you've done,' Leanne complained.

Tony ran towards the photographer, who slung his camera over his shoulder and twisted the throttle on his bike. ‘If I see you again, I'll have you!' Tony shouted.

‘I'm sorry,' Leanne said, as the photographer sped off. ‘That hasn't happened for ages.'

‘I can't believe it happens at all,' Tony said angrily.

Kia was still crying. ‘I didn't like that man.'

‘Neither did I, darling,' Leanne said, exchanging a glance with Tony, who, she could see, was trying to keep a lid on his anger for Kia's benefit.

*

Markie was sitting at his desk, boiling with rage. He had been there since seven that morning, but
he wasn't going to call Leanne. He'd have it out with her face-to-face as soon as she came into the office.

The door opened and Leanne walked in. She didn't look at Markie's desk, as she was usually first in the office. Then she turned – and nearly jumped out of her skin. Her hand flew to her heart. ‘Jesus Christ, Markie!'

Markie threw the tabloid paper at her. ‘What the fuck is that?' he asked.

Leanne stared at the picture. She looked up at him, then back at the paper. ‘Another Married Man For Leanne,' the headline screamed.

‘I feel sick,' she said.

‘Not as fucking sick as I do,' Markie said. The picture showed his sister embracing Tony O'Brien, with Kia, utterly bemused, beside them. ‘Tony?' he said. ‘What the fuck are you, of all people, doing with Tony?'

‘We went for a walk. I like him.'

‘So it's not enough that you two are talking behind my back at the wedding, you have to hook up with him afterwards. He's no one to you, just an ex-mate of mine who used to work for me. You can go out walking in the park with anyone you want – but, no, you have to make things difficult and go with Tony. I'm beginning to think you have fuck-all sense of loyalty.'

Leanne's eyes flashed. ‘That's utter bollocks and
you know it. I'm as loyal to you as the day is long. But I like Tony and I happen to think you've treated him like shit.'

‘Really? Well, thanks for the lecture but you can get home and sort your head out.' Markie had had enough for one day.

‘What?'

‘You heard. Go home. Have the rest of the week off. Sort your head out about Tony and come back to work when you've kicked him into touch and you're not making a show of yourself.'