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‘Louise’s car broke down on her way over to drop off Bella’s computer,’ Andy says, looking slightly sheepish. ‘I happened to be right behind her when it conked out. The engine wouldn’t even turn over. Tom’s towed it to his garage. Poor Louise was soaked to the skin, so I brought her home to dry off.’
‘How very lucky for her,’ I say, through gritted teeth.
‘Wasn’t it?’ Louise says.
I don’t believe for one second this is a coincidence. She probably sat in a side street for hours, waiting for Andy to go out, before staging her little “breakdown”. I want to slap her stupid, smug face.
‘You might as well stay to dinner,’ Andy says to her. His arm is casually resting on the back of the sofa, andshe smiles up at me from within the safe circle of his loose embrace. ‘I bought more than enough fish and chips to go round. The boys never finish theirs, anyway.’
‘Andy,’ I say tightly. ‘Could I have a word?’
I stalk into the kitchen, my body quivering with rage. How can he not see what she’s doing? She hijacked last weekend, and now here she is again, inserting herself into the middle of our family time.
Andy shuts the kitchen door behind him. ‘Look, I know it’s not ideal, but what else could I do?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Let her call the AA, like a normal person?’
‘Caz, I’m not going to leave my children’s mother stranded in the pouring rain by the side of the road,’ he says tersely. ‘We live two minutes away. We’ll have a bite to eat, and she’ll be off. Come on, where’s the harm?’
If I create a scene, I’ll just be playing into Louise’s hands. I made that mistake last week, and she came out smelling of roses, while I ended up reeking of something altogether less fragrant.
‘Fine,’ I say. ‘We can have the fish and chips while Tom looks at her car, and if he can’t fix it today, we can call her an Uber.’
‘Actually, I’ve already said she can have the Range Rover.’
‘Andy! I’ll need it next week to pick up the dresser for Kit’s room. How long have you lent it to her for?’
He looks uncomfortable. ‘The Honda’s on its last legs.What if she’d broken down with Bella and Tolly in the car?’ His voice takes on a defensive note. ‘We have the Audi. We leave the Range Rover sitting here for weeks at a time, and even when we’re here, we hardly use it. We’re in walking distance of the station, and it’s impossible to park the damn thing anyway. It’ll be a lot less hassle without it.’
It’s not about the cars. It’s the way Andy allows himself to be manipulated by Celia and Louise that drives me crazy. When it comes to the Roberts women, he has all the spine of a jellyfish.
‘You’vegivenher the car?’ I say, unable to hide my anger. ‘You don’t think you should have run something like this past me first? This affects both of us! It should have been a joint decision.’
‘The Range Rover was our car before you and I even met,’ Andy says, a little truculently. ‘I think it’s up to me if I give it to Louise or not.’
‘And the Audi was mine. That doesn’t mean I’d donate it to the RSPCA without talking to you.’
We glare at each other. The battle over Louise has ebbed and flowed over the same domestic territory for years now. Periodically, we call a truce, and we’ll have a few months of peace and quiet; and then Louise will drop a grenade between us, demanding money for Bella’s braces or changing the summer holiday schedules when we’ve already paid for flights, and we’re right back to square one.
The kitchen door opens. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt,’ Louise says, looking anything but.
‘You’re not interrupting anything,’ Andy says. ‘We were just about to put the fish and chips on plates. Caz, can you find the vinegar and Worcestershire?’
‘I’m sorry, but I can’t stay for dinner after all,’ Louise says. ‘I just had a really unpleasant text from Gavin, the farmer who owns the field opposite me. He says my kitchen porch is collapsing because of the rain. I can’t let that happen – he’s looking for any excuse to get the house condemned.’
‘Condemned?’ Andy exclaims. ‘What on earth for?’
‘He wants me to sell the bottom paddock to some developers so they can get access to his land to build a new estate. I’ve refused, and he’s not happy about it. Look, I’d better go. You know how rickety that porch is – some of the beams are rotted right through. I need to get back and see what’s happening.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Andy says.
‘Oh, there’s no need—’
Andy shoves the warm plastic bag full of fish and chips into my hands. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Louise. I’m not leaving you to sort this out on your own, especially if you’ve got a vindictive farmer on the warpath. At the very least, we need to get a tarp over the porch until we can get someone out to fix it. Caz can look after the kids for an hour or two.’
‘What about dinner?’ I protest, as I follow them into the hall.
He looks at me like I’m feeble-minded. ‘I’ll have mine later.’
