Pete picked Lucas up from school and took him for an ice cream. Now Lucas bursts through Dad’s back door babbling away about his favourite flavour – mint choc chip. I watch his little mass of black curls race through the kitchen. The sight of him laughing and joking with Bean soothes my anxious state over what I am going to say to Pete.
Once Lucas is playing with his Batman figures in the living room and is out of earshot, I turn to Pete. He’s stood by the back door looking out across Dad’s vegetable patch. ‘Why did you lie to me about Noah contacting you after he left for Ireland?’
Pete looks taken aback. He runs a hand through his black curly hair. ‘What?’
‘You heard what I said, Pete. Why did you lie to me?’
‘That was years ago, Alice,’ he mumbles, before bending down to pick up one of Lucas’s tennis balls which is outside the doorstep. ‘You need to let the past go.’
‘No, Pete, I will not let this go.’
He lets out a heavy sigh. ‘I loved you, Alice. I wanted to protect you from him.’
‘I never needed your protection, Pete.’
He looks at me. ‘The second he gets back, and you start working together, he starts filling your brain with stuff that happened twenty years ago.’
‘It’s important to me,’ I exclaim. ‘I have a feeling you’re not telling me everything and now I want to know the truth.’
He lets out a sarcastic laugh. ‘The truth? Well, the truth is that I loved you too much, Alice. From the moment we first met in nursery I’ve always loved you. I can still see you with your long red hair, blue eyes and cute smile asking me to play on the climbing frame with you. In primary school I used to fight any boy who wanted to sit next to you. When Noah told me he’d asked you to be his girlfriend, I hated him. My so-called best friend was going out with the girl I’d spent years loving.’
‘Did Noah know you liked me?’
Pete shook his head. ‘I only had to look at Noah with his angel-like blond hair and tanned face to know who you were going to choose. You were always going to choose him over me. I hated those years you and Noah were dating. Having to go to school every day and seeing you with him. Listening to Frankie day in, day out telling me how great you and Noah are. The day Noah left for Ireland, I knew he wasn’t coming back. I’d spent years wanting you to be mine.’ Pete studies the tennis ball. ‘Noah broke you into a million tiny pieces, Alice, and I was the one who put you back together.’
My heart is pounding against my chest. ‘But you lied to me?’
He lets the ball drop. ‘Alice, it doesn’t matter. The past is gone now. I lied to protect you from Noah.’
‘If you’d have been truthful and told me you were still in contact with Noah, I could have…’ I stop as Pete’s glaring at me.
‘What, Alice? You could have left me again for Noah?’
‘Mummy,’ Lucas rushes into the kitchen, ‘can I have tea?’
Pete ruffles Lucas’s hair. ‘This is who we should be focusing on, Alice. Our son.’
A car door slams. Dad is returning. His eyes light up as soon as he sees Pete in the doorway.
‘What a nice surprise,’ gushes Dad, giving Pete a hug.
Pete grins. ‘Guess who has been filling your daughter’s head with nonsense, Brian?’
My neck and shoulders stiffen.
Dad’s smile fades. He looks at me. ‘Alice, I was worried this would happen.’
Pete lifts a squealing Lucas up. ‘Brian, I told her to stop listening to Noah and start focusing on this little guy.’
Dad beams with pride at Pete and Lucas. ‘Such a wonderful sight. You three make a wonderful family.’ Emotion and anger are rising in me. I disappear upstairs as Dad says, ‘Don’t you agree, Alice?’
Anger at Pete for lying to me and at Dad for continuing to view Pete as some sort of hero bubbles away inside as I lie down on my camp bed. Closing my eyes I also feel a twang of sadness. Dad would never be like that with Noah. He would never rush to welcome Noah like he does Pete.
‘Alice,’ calls Dad. ‘Come down here, I have news.’
Hauling myself up I walk downstairs to find Pete sat on the sofa grinning. Dad rushes over to me with his phone. ‘Pete has been helping me persuade Scott to pay us back some of the money we lost with the wedding cancellation.’
‘What?’ I gasp, looking at Dad and Pete.
