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It was as if someone had lit a touchpaper. ‘Of course, I don’t! Not that he takes any notice of me these days. And this isn’tyourhouse any more.’ How dare he come in here and start laying down the law.
‘I paid for it. The equity will come to me.’
Did he seriously just say that? ‘Not according to my solicitor, it won’t.’
Kenneth looked shocked. ‘You have a solicitor?’
‘Of course, I do. What? Did you think I was just going to roll over without a fight?’ She advanced on him. ‘Think again, buster.’
‘So that’s how it is? You’ve turned into the scorned wife, determined to bleed her ex for all he’s worth because he had the audacity to want a better life for himself.’
Connie felt like she’d been slapped. A better life? ‘If I have turned into that woman, Kenneth, it’s because you’ve turned into the kind of man who’s so desperate to cling onto his fading youth and be adored and flattered, like some weak, pathetic saddo, that he’d leave his home and family for a tart with two brain cells!’
Alex appeared in her peripheral vision. ‘Seriously guys, chill, will you?’
Kenneth waved Alex away. ‘Stay out of this, Alex. It has nothing to do with you. Get back to your drug-taking, or whatever it is you do all day. It certainly isn’t working, that’s for sure.’
Connie saw red. No one talked to her son like that… well, no one other than her. Mother’s prerogative, and all that. ‘Hey, don’t speak to him like that. Unlike you, he’s done nothing wrong.’ Other than buying and smoking illegal substances, but now wasn’t the time for semantics. She stepped in front of her son, protecting him from further abuse. ‘Leave him out of this. This is between you and me.’
‘You’re defending him?’
‘Too bloody right, I am. Because that’s what a good parent does. They stick around, no matter what the provocation, or how tough it gets. They don’t abandon their kids for a new life just because they’re vain and selfish andbored!’
Kenneth looked unnerved. ‘You’re being hysterical.’
Hysterical? He didn’t know the half of it.
‘Like an unhinged female. I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.’
If this was supposed to shame her into submission, it did the opposite. ‘Fine. Put ’em up.’ She adopted her boxing stance.
Kenneth’s eyes grew wide. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Let’s sort this out once and for all, like proper grown-ups.’
‘By boxing?’
‘Works for me. Come on, what are you afraid of?’ She began shuffling, like a female middle-aged menopausal version of Muhammad Ali.
Alex tugged on her arm. ‘Mum, please…’
‘You’re insane.’ Kenneth darted for the door like a deer being chased by an irate bear.
‘And you’re a lousy, cheating coward! So I guess we both get to be disappointed!’ she yelled after him.
The front door slammed, rattling the pictures in the hallway.
‘Christ, Mum. What the fuck?’ Alex ran his hands through his hair.
‘Language.’ She smacked her son’s arm. ‘Show some respect.’
His expression softened into concern. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ She smoothed down her dress. ‘Hungry?’
Alex stared at her, wide-eyed. ‘Er…’
‘I take it that’s a yes.’ She patted his chest. ‘Take a seat, I’ll serve dinner. Seems a shame for it to go to waste.’
